Compiled by SEMA Editors
 Tanner Foust had a perfect weekend, taking his Andretti Rallycross Beetle to wins in every heat race at the ARX of Austin at the Circuit of the Americas. |
Tanner Foust Wins at Circuit of the Americas to Take Championship Lead in ARX Series
Tanner Foust had a perfect weekend at the ARX of Austin at the Circuit of the Americas, taking his Andretti Rallycross Beetle to wins in every heat race, the semifinal and final of the event. In the final, Foust took the lead on the third lap and then withstood extreme pressure from a trio of Subarus. Foust now leads the championship by 17 points from Patrik Sandell going into the last round of the year, at Mid-Ohio, October 5–6. Sandell’s teammate Chris Atkinson is just two further points adrift.
NMRA Announces 2020 Ford Nationals Event Schedule
The NMRA Ford Nationals has released its 2020 all-Ford event schedule. New for 2020 are compact race schedules for the NMRA Gateway Rumble, held at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (Madison, Illinois) and the NMRA Ford Motorsport National, which takes place at Maple Grove Raceway (Mohnton, Pennsylvania). The season opener is once again at Bradenton Motorsports Park with the NMRA Spring Break Shootout. The season concludes at Beech Bend Raceway with the largest Ford high-performance event of the year known as the NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival.
February 27– March 1
26th Annual NMRA Spring Break Shootout
Bradenton Motorsports Park (Bradenton, Florida)
April 2–5
12th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals
Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Georgia)
May 14–16
2nd Annual NMRA Gateway Rumble
World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (Madison, Illinois)
June 25–27
20th Annual NMRA Ford Motorsport Nationals
Maple Grove Raceway (Mohnton, Pennsylvania)
July 30-August 2
15th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing
Route 66 Raceway (Joliet, Illinois)
October 1–4
22nd Annual NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival
Beech Bend Raceway (Bowling Green, Kentucky)
 Shawn Langdon beat teammate J.R. Todd in the Funny Car finals last Sunday during the eighth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. |
Langdon, B. Torrence, Enders and Stoffer Come Through With Countdown Wins at AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals
In an all-Kalitta Motorsports final round, Shawn Langdon beat teammate J.R. Todd in the Funny Car finals last Sunday during the eighth annual AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. Billy Torrence (Top Fuel), Erica Enders (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle) all won in their respective categories at the second of six races in the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs. It is also the 20th of 24 events during the 2019 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Langdon, a former Top Fuel world champ, became just the second driver in NHRA history to win in both nitro classes at St. Louis, going 4.068 seconds at 310.41 mph in his Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry to beat Todd, the defending world champ. Torrence beat his son Steve in an all-Torrence final round, going 3.835 at 319.67 in his Capco Contractors dragster. Enders snapped a winless drought that stretched back to early last year by going 6.598 at 208.36 in her Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Camaro to slip past Matt Hartford’s 6.621 at 207.30 in the final round. Stoffer picked up her first win in four years in Pro Stock Motorcycle after going 6.869 at 197.74 on her Stoffer Enterprises/Big St. Charles Suzuki to beat points leader Andrew Hines’ 6.871 at 196.59 in the finals. It is Stoffer’s ninth career win as she also jumped to second in points behind Hines. The Mello Yello Drag Racing Series continues October 11–13 with the third of six races in the Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship playoffs—the NTK NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte.
 Falken Tires scored first in the 7F Class with SAVVY Off-Road and its new Jeep Gladiator in SCORE International’s first-ever Lucerna Baja 400. |
SAVVY Off-Road’s Jeep Gladiator Takes the Win at Baja 400
Falken Tires scored first in the 7F Class with SAVVY Off-Road and its new Jeep Gladiator in SCORE International’s first-ever Lucerna Baja 400. Participating in the 7F Class requires the engine and body manufacturer to be the same. SAVVY fielded two teams of drivers: Dan Fresh and co-driver Mike Kim and Dave Cole and co-driver Matt Fallis. The 52nd Annual SCORE Baja 1000 is the final event on the race series 2019 schedule. It runs November 19–24.
Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Event to Honor 2019 Inductees in Las Vegas
The Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame will welcome its class of 2019, Sunday, November 3, at the South Point Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas. Inductees include Frank "Butch" Arciero Jr., Lynn Chenowth, Bobby Ferro, Robby Gordon, David Higgins and Steve Morris.
 In NMRA Edelbrock Renegade, Tim Knieriem pitted his ’95 Mustang against Alton Clements’ ’89 Mustang, and the men fought all the way to the finish, but Knieriem was the one to get there first and put a 4.754 at 152.68 mph in the books to make his win official. |
Race Wrap: 21st Annual Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals and Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival
The 21st Annual Nitto Tire NMRA All-Ford World Finals at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, was run in conjunction with the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival last weekend.
VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw: Domenic DiDonato and Phil Hines met in the finals, and while Hines had a slight holeshot advantage, his ProCharged ’01 Mustang spun and couldn’t hold off DiDonato’s turbocharged surge in the opposing lane. When the men crossed the stripe, it was Delaware’s DiDonato and his C&D Autotech ’08 Shelby GT500 who finished first and snatched up the win with a 4.482 at 164.09 mph final run of the weekend.
NMRA Edelbrock Renegade: Tim Knieriem pitted his ’95 Mustang against Alton Clements’ ’89 Mustang, and the men fought all the way to the finish, but Knieriem was the one to get there first and put a 4.754 at 152.68 mph in the books to make his win official.
ProCharger Modified Street: In eliminations, Brad Schehr and his ’89 Mustang met with the number-two qualifier Martin Connelley and his ’86 Mustang for a battle of the ProCharged Fox Mustangs in a close final. Connelley was 0.006 on the tree to Schehr’s 0.014-second light, but Schehr picked up the pace and crossed the finish going 7.740 at 177.59 mph over Connelley’s 7.750 at 176.939 mph effort to capture the win and lock up the championship title as well.
Advanced Fuel Dynamics Limited Street: Bill Putnam in his UPR Products ’94 Mustang met Mike Ciborowski in the final, where Putnam motored past and posted an 8.674 at 158.32 mph, while Ciborowski slowed a touch to 9.358 at 127.50 mph and added a runner-up bonus.
Richmond Gear Factory Stock: Charlie Booze Jr. driving Justin Fogelsonger’s Fox Mustang met Fogelsonger himself in the finals, where Fogelsonger edged Booze with a winning 10.356 at 128.05 mph pass and doubled up on the celebrations due to the all-Fogelsonger final.
G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock: Nathan Stymiest in his ’92 Mustang met Jacob Lamb in the finals, where Stymiest crossed the finish first. The overall championship, however, went to Clair Stewart II who met his match in the second round but had accrued enough points along the way to get the job done.
Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle: Charlie McCulloch took his ’04 Mustang home with both the event win and the season championship safe and secure in his possession while Jason Henson had to face the harsh reality of going out on a -0.001-second redlight.
ROUSH Performance Super Stang: Larry Firestone piloted his ’08 Mustang into the finals where his perfect 0.000-second light and nearly dead-on 11.251 at 123.62 mph pass on his 11.25 dial-in translated to a win over Robert Ball, whose ’15 Mustang ran 10.763 at 129.68 mph on a 10.79 dial. Along the way, Firestone was also named the season champion.
ARP Open Comp: Elmer Long’s ’91 Mustang stayed right on the money six times in a row and the final 11.336 at 113.84 mph pass on an 11.30 dial-in did the job to get the win while Dennis Corn came up short for the runner-up rights, although Corn’s season had been strong enough to christen him the overall champion.
Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning: Mike Motycka’s ’79 F-100 ran 12.186 at 103.30 mph on a 12.13 dial-in and defeated Amanda Saad in the finals, while Randy Conway upstaged everyone by collecting his fourth consecutive season championship for the class.
Race Star Wheels Ford Muscle: When Jeremy Smith left before the tree activated, the win light lit in Lloyd Mikeska’s lane and he cruised to a clean victory while Smith was defaulted to the runner-up spot and Jon Butsko was deemed the champion for the 2019 season.
McLeod by Raybestos 10R80 Throwdown: Terry “Beefcake” Reeves was top dog for the day when he defeated Heinz Stock in the Throwdown finals, going 9.183 at 126.55 mph in his ’18 Mustang over Stock’s 10.532 at 92.57 mph trip in his ’19 model.
Hellion Turbo Battle: Keith Rhea was on top, having run 7.1965 at 195.00 mph in his ’04 Mustang in the finals, while Justin Jordan had an uncharacteristic red light in the other lane and took himself out of the competition.
Mickey Thompson Cobra/Terminator vs. GT500 Shootout: The final showcased two GT500s that are both owned by Dwayne Hickman. Hickman drove his white ’10, while London Chassis Dyno’s Chad Epperson drove his new ’10 “Blacksnake” ride. Epperson had the advantage at the stripe and his 7.694 at 181.15 mph gave him the win.
QA1 True Street: Mike Jovanis’ three-run average of 8.280 seconds was followed by Troy Eaton’s average of 8.614 seconds to round out the runner-up spot. The quickest of the 9-second group was Alex Corella, while Jason Wagoner was the winner for the 10-second category. Meanwhile, it was Jeff Cottrill who found success in the 11-second section, while Mike Moistner, Greg Easrey, Chris Rusch, and Rodney Ward won the 12-second, 13-second, 14-second, and 15-second segments, respectively.
Bracket 3: Top honors went to Leticia Hughes, as she chased down Mike Moistener in her ’18 Mustang with an 11.396 at 123.34 mph pass on her 11.38 dial-in, while Moister went 12.024 at 100.85 mph on his 12.00 dial.
IDIDIT King of the Street: The battle for bragging rights came down to Jeff Bloem and Mike Jovanis. The two late-’80s Mustangs lined up and the men were neck and neck down the track, but Bloem got the win with a 7.659 at 182.35 mph time slip to Jovanis’s 7.754 at 180.77 mph retaliation.
TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout: Mike Niehaus got the overall win in a double-breakout scenario over Clint Derango in the finals of the “Chicago-style” eliminations.
Holley Grand Champion: Michael P Gallagher won the late-model class in his ’16 Focus RS. Meanwhile, John McKissack won the vintage class in his ’66 Ford Fairlane and nabbed top honors in the truck class.
For more racing news, visit Performance Racing Industry’s (PRI) website.