Nitrous, Blowers, and Turbos - Car Craft Street Race Class NMCA

Larry Hourcle
Another of the Mustang Fox-body clan, Larry Hourcle immediately set the bar with his top qualifier 9.482/144.16 effort based on his 310ci EFI and supercharged small-block. Also using a PMS tuner, the TFS Twisted Wedge-headed small-block relies on moving a bunch of air with a Vortech T-Trim supercharger. "We only had time for three test passes on the car on an eighth-mile track before we came down here," Larry says. But clearly that was good enough for the No. 1 spot. This gave him a bye in the first round but put him up against Dezotell in the second round. He lost to the '05 class champ with a slowing 10.247 at only 107 mph.

Jeff Sealey
Sealey decided to compete in Street Race with his Mustang but discovered after he arrived that the class was a little quicker than he had anticipated. On paper it looked as if he was way outclassed. "I drive this thing on the street all the time," he says. Regardless of the comparison to the Street Race times, this is an impressive car when you look at the minimal changes from stock.

The aging stock short-block sports a set of stock GT40-P iron heads, a Cobra intake, the FRPP B303 roller cam, 24-pound injectors, and a 175hp NOS nitrous shot. Jeff retained the spindly 3.31-geared T5 and added an FRPP clutch and 3.73 gears with an Auburn limited slip. For chassis mods, he welded in the torque boxes, added SSM lower control arms, relocated the upper bars, and went racing. "I know the T5 won't live forever, but I don't power-shift Third gear, and it hasn't broken yet."

With all this in place, the Mustang qualified with an 11.50, and Jeff says it has run a best of 11.0 at 115 mph. For a drive-it-anywhere Mustang with stock iron heads and a small shot of nitrous, that's plenty quick.

Michael Fratena
The lone Camaro in a field of Fox Mustangs was reason enough for us to search out Michael Fratena's bright orange '89 Camaro. But with the hood off, the F-body sports a way different combination, with a turbocharged small-block blowing through a CSU-modified 750-cfm Holley carburetor. We'll lay out the car in more detail when we do a complete feature and after Michael has had a chance to dial in the Camaro's true potential. The Camaro qualified Second with a 9.663/141.15 effort and got all the way to the semi where he met eventual winner Mike Dezotell. "We were still working on it when it went in the trailer to come here," Michael says. Wait till they get this Bow Tie all sorted out. That's when you'll hear the nitrous and supercharger guys start complaining.

Remaining Races on the NMCA Schedule
NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing I
July 27-30, 2006
Route 66 Raceway
Joliet, Illinois

NMCA Hot Rod & Muscle Car Nationals
August 25-27, 2006
Maple Grove Raceway
Reading, Pennsylvania

NMCA Hot Rod & Muscle Car Nationals
September 15-17, 2006
Atlanta Dragway
Commerce, Georgia

NMCA World Street Finals
October 5-8, 2006
Memphis Motorsports Park
Memphis, Tennessee