October 2022 RPM Magazine

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As far back as anyone on this planet can recall, humans have been drag racing.

Here at RPM, we’d like to think that early cave men got their kicks from one on one straight line action by hopping on an evenly matched pair of smaller, less ferocious, creatures and having at it to see who gets the most meat from the days kill. Ten there were chariot

drags, horse races (side by side in the old west), horse-drawn wagon shootouts and, of course, our beloved automobile came into the picture and the rest is history. Te one single common factor in all of this drag race action though, is “no-prep” – there were no special processes done to the dirt, gravel, tar and chip or asphalt to aid in traction. Sounds like fun, right?

Drag racing racing where preparation racing morphed and eventually said something spinning my a concoction make a hard dustry ran with Street drags come dangerous were caught

racing would start as street where there was obviously no to the road surface. Street morphed into organized drags eventually somebody somewhere something like “man I’m tired of my wheels” and came up with concoction of who knows what to hard surface sticky, and the in with it.

drags would continue but be dangerous (and more costly if you doing it) as the numbers of

If you’re looking for body imperfections, better bring a magnifying glass as Stace prepped the original steel body to perfec tion before laying down the slick black skin.

cars on the road increased and got a lot more power, and even backroad drags were risky. Being a curious lot though, us racing folk found ways to feed our need for speed with variations of drag racing, and things have come almost full circle through no-prep and no-time racing. Te goal of no-prep drags is to emulate street race conditions as close as possible and bring back the adren aline and risk factor that made street racing so appealing for both partici pants and fans alike.

The Hager family loves Fox Body Stangs and this ’86 LX with recent body and paint upgrades was debuted earlier in 2022 along with the fresh engine combo. Right from the get go you quickly notice the old school vibe of the car, a tribute to the early days of Fox Body Mustang drag racing. Even the hood scoop is a taller take on the orig inal 1969 Mustang style scoop that was used on Fox Stangs long before the first cowl hood was ever produced.

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4-eye Mustangs are few and far between these days. “Stace” at CT knocked the body and paint out of the park with the black ure thane “with extra black” commanding long looks wherever the car goes.

Tese days, legal street race action can be found at drag strips and other suitable venues around the world, and, while it’s not for everyone, the father and son team of Brad and Braeden Hag er have made it their place to race, and have been collecting some serious hard ware to back up their success in it.

For Brad, it all started in high school during the summer of 1979 with the purchase of a 1968 Firebird from his Grandfather. Soon afer, he’d get his first taste of street racing in a 1972 Chevelle he acquired, and afer finishing univer sity he would purchase a brand new 1988 5.0 Mustang 5 speed LX which would set the stage for a life-long addic tion to Mustang Fox Bodies, horsepow er and racing.

“In 1989 I joined the J&P Perfor mance Race Team headed by brothers Joe and Paul DaSilva,” Hager explained. “With bolt-on parts the 88 LX would go 11.90 at 112.7 mph naturally aspirated in 1990.” With the desire to go quicker and faster growing with each pass in the LX, Brad would purchase a 1984 GT Mustang that would turn mid-tens with a Windsor mill and eventually, with the help of a local Ford guru Jeff Chatter son, be equipped with a 351 Cleveland with plate nitrous kit and Doug Nash 5-speed running 9.61 at 143mph.

Inside the car a chromoly 8.50cert cage protects the driver and is accompanied by a vin tage Ford Motorsport 10,000 rpm tach along with an array of custom gauges and RCI seats complete with custom stock-appearing covers. A leg endary Long shifter and RCI 5 point safety harness round things out. With the backseat area being retooled during the back-half process, there’s enough wheel tub to accom modate a sizeable tire if the need arises.

Tis car would be the springboard for Hager to start Boss Racing Brant ford out of his garage, a business that specialized in small block Fords and cylinder head mods.

Since there’s power in numbers, Brad would partner up with Jay Misener for the next 7 years but would leave the industry to build a family and family busi ness. By 2005, with the horsepower fire inside him growing out of con trol, Brad got back into

Boss Racing part time, but this time concentrat ed on grooming his son to continue in both the business and the driver’s seat.

“Braeden bought his first 1986 Mustang 5.0 LX for $500 in 2006 at the age of 12,” Brad said with smile. “Our father/ son racing team built this car from scratch and by 2010, at the age of 16, he went 11.84 at 115mph with his 306ci 5 speed N/A Mustang.”

Now here’s something you don’t see every day. The vin tage Australian 4 bolt main iron Cleveland block was spe cially prepped than filled with a Bryant billet 3.500 stroke steel crank, Groden 6” aluminum rods and custom JE pistons with in-house hand shaped domes. The custom grind cam is a super-secret piece designed by Hager and made by Comp. Cast 4V Cleveland heads were custom prepped and ported by Boss Racing and flow378cfm on the intake and 248cfm on the exhaust @ .750 lift. A cus tom cast intake was also Bossprepped and is topped by the ultimate all-motor bling – a Thumper 1050 billet Dominator style carburetor.

Te apple definitely fell directly under the tree here, as Braeden and his dad continued to build their engines inhouse and 9 years later, Braeden’s ’86 would go 9.68 at 140 mph N/A with a 410 Windsor engine and Nash 5 speed. Braeden took the bull by the horns and now also builds Boss’ Nash Transmissions and rear diffs.

Just like his dad, Braeden gravitated to

wards rowin’ the boat with a stick shif over an auto trans and the pair have raced consistent ly in some type of stick class ever since, and most recently, with their latest Fox Body in the Ontar io Street Outlaws (OSO) No Prep Stick Shif Se ries. “We have been very fortunate to be undefeat ed with 8 victories in the 2021 OSO series and our luck has continued so far in 2022.”

Photos 1 through 3: Brad’s first Fox Body, a 1984 GT was also raced with a Cleveland stick combination during the nineties.

Below: Brad and Braeden at the engine dyno with the latest Cleveland they built for the No-Prep Stang.

Motivation For The Build:

Thanks To:

The car is a back-half min tub with ladder bar/coilover rear sus pension that hangs a custom Ford 9-inch rear diff with the center section built by Braeden Hager. Although it’s set up to accept a sizeable 31x13 tire, they have currently been run ning a 10.5 non W slick with outstand ing results.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, “the only successful no-time racer is the one who knows how to play the game”, and by that we mean the off-track game. In other words, don’t ever give out too much in formation, and when you do make sure it’s not accurate! Brad, howev er, has surprisingly provided us with an abundance of information on his Tech Sheet, confident that the car’s on-track performance speaks for it self. Afer all, in the no-prep no-time

game, raw horsepower is only part of the equation, especially in stick shif racing.

Te pair acquired this 1986 Mus tang LX as a mini-tubbed rolling chassis in 2008. Tey added front and rear suspension parts over the years and toyed with different fuel and ig nition systems. Te current mill is a 358-inch Cleveland engine backed by a Nash 5 speed. Te car, with fresh mill and fresh extensive body and paint work by Stacy Cromwell at CT

Auto Collision, was debuted this year with Braeden taking on full time driv ing duties. “I have driven it a couple of passes, when Braeden lets me, and it’s definitely a challenge but the ulti mate fun ride at the same time,” added Brad.

Te Clever has been fitted with all the goodies and tricks of the trade possible, but most notably, it was cre ated using an old school, and rare, Australian 4 bolt main iron EX192540 block.

Left to right: Tom Douglas, Stacy Cromwell, Braeden Hager and Brad Hager.

er deciding on a near bullet proof rotating assembly, the duo went to work on a set of Ford 1971 D1 closed chamber 4V heads and developed a custom grind COMP cam, specs of which are on a need to know basis only. A hand-ported intake and Tumper Dominator style carb top things off. Oh, and by the way, you won’t find a power ad der on this no-prep hot rod!

You will notice an old school vibe throughout the build, and that is completely intentional – the elder Hager has passed on not only his skills, but also his love of early drag racing to Braeden. While high tech has been used in a number of ar eas throughout the car, the interior has that early 5.0 drags feel com plete with Vintage Ford Motor sport 10,000 rpm tach, Autometer gauges and RCI seats with custom stock-appearing covers. A legend ary Long shifer and RCI 5 point safety harness round things out.

Aside from a stockpile of win hardware, Brad recalls one partic ular matchup as being the most memorable experience to date. “It was our closest race with a fellow stick shif racer,” he recalled. “We heard he made 1500HP on a chas sis dyno, which turned out to be true. We met him in the finals and as I watched the two cars stage I moved behind them afer bringing Braeden to the starting line. Te flagman signaled to both cars and

they were set to go. One final glance at the rear of the cars and I noticed our opponents license plate, it read ‘8SECONDS’ ...and we still got the win! And that’s why we race by the adage, ‘No-Prep? No Problem!’”

Special Thanks to The Cordage Heritage District by Forge & Foster for the amazing photo shoot location.

Story Taylor

Dan VanHorn is one of those people who always loved cars but didn’t truly dive head frst into this crazy world of horsepower until the Gen 3 Hemi came along.

Dan’s first Gen 3 was a 2006 Dodge Charger, and as soon as he brought it home, he began to get the itch and that’s when he knew the Mopar com

munity would become a big part of his life. He started joining forums and groups and before he knew it, he was involved with the Modern Street Hemi Shootout which is now in its thirteenth season and going strong. “Focused on racing, several of my fellow Mopar en thusiasts would meet at the track and challenge the internet talk with real same-day same-condition matchups settling friendly cross country rival ries. It started as small track rentals at

ATCO Raceway and eventually devel oped into the Modern Street HEMI Shootout which is a full blown Gen3 HEMI only points series consisting of 6 events a year,” explained VanHorn.

Dan would eventually swap to a 2013 Challenger, going 8.90s on nitrous and becoming one of the fastest in the country. Afer that, he got into a 2016 Dodge Hellcat Charger, installing a 4.5 Whipple with supporting mods and a drag pack.

The most recent Dodge Challeng er design, based on its popular original 1970’s bodylines, has been a huge success for Dodge. Add in a Hemi with a few turbos along with a slick wheel and tire combo and you have a drop dead gorgeous musclecar.

The Deuce is stock bodied with minimal swaps to lighter com posites. It looks factory, is still water cooled and could be street driven…not bad for a 7-second quarter mile heavy hitter!

Although streetable, the bound aries of being a daily driver were pushed to the max, so he sold it in fa vor of a daily driver and started a full race program.

During the 1960s to 1970s mus cle car era, every gearhead knew the word “Hemi”, and what it meant if they lined up beside one. It was and

is Mopar’s golden child of engines – big, bad and powerful. As a result, this muscular V8 became a signif icant contender on the street and track. Te combustion chambers were hemispherical, which helped atomize the air and fuel mixture, making more efficient power. From 1966 to 1971, Mopar produced the

ever-popular 426 Hemi, code-named “Elephant”. Chevy had their “Mouse” small block and “Rat” big block, so Mopar went with Elephant, and you’d be surprised to know how many big cube race motors are based on the Mopar Hemi platform, including NHRA’s Top Fuel dragsters.

Bare essentials of racing were a necessity for the interior of the Challenger, mostly because of it’s portly 4,000lb factory curb weight. Along with replacing all the glass with Lexan and Optic Armor, weight savings were real ized through stripping all of the non-essential factory panels out and swapping in carbon where needed. A rear seat delete also helps in the quest for weight loss as does a single race seat and Glasstek dash. Holley’s super-big 12.3-inch Pro dash sits front and center.

Chrysler made the bold decision to bring back the Hemi name in 2003 as a light duty truck motor, but it eventually found its way into many other platforms, in cluding the redesigned Challenger, a throwback from the early 70s. Tis came at a time when the continuous Mustang and Camaro lines were recapturing many de sign aspects of their six ties and seventies kin folk. And to say that the new Challenger was a success is an understate ment – they were flying off showroom floors like

crazy and continue to do so today!

“Te Deuce” as it is known, is a 2009 Dodge Challenger that Van Horn purchased from a friend, however, this was a twin-turbo piece and not like anything Dan had been involved with before, and that’s exactly what he wanted.

“Te Deuce was born,” VanHorn said “Out of simply choosing the name because it was my 2nd ‘race’ car with 2 tur bos, but even more so, I wanted to make the car ‘Te $hit’ AKA ‘number 2’ or ‘deuce’”.

1320 solutions built the 378 inch HEMI using a Dodge OEM BGE Hellcat iron block then ¾ filled it for strength. An OEM Demon crank spins MGP billet aluminum rods pinned to Diamond pistons.

A trick pair of ThiTek Bear alumi num heads were studded in place and the Plazmaman intake defi nitely takes center stage under the hood. With a factory-like vibe, in our opinion, if Dodge offered a twin turbo Hemi Challenger it would/should look like this under the hood.

Regardless of outcome, every pass is an unforgettable experience!

For the most part, as far back as the sixties, a built Mopar has always been the black sheep at any track, and full kudos to anyone who built one to run at the top of the pack as you know they’ve spent more money, more time and had more headaches to make it there.

At the time Dan found this car, twin turbo Hemi builds were scarce for those very reasons. Te Mopar world

is flooded with factory ported, Whip ple, and nitrous examples; but even today, there’s only a handful of Gen 3 Hemi turbo builds in the country.

Gearhead Fabrications (GHF) com pleted the most recent version of the Challenger, before VanHorn and friends sunk their teeth into it. “Mario Abascal of GHF signed off on the deal convincing me it was a great bang for the buck.

While you never get your money back from mods, I was willing to pay a slight premium knowing the cars his tory and involvement with the Mod ern Street HEMI Shootout in this case and there weren’t many builds remote ly close to this caliber in our platform. Mario and his team continued to sup port the build and got it back to race form before I picked it up.

ET & MPH:

Most unique feature(s) about the car:

“Best thing about this car is its still full bodied, runs on water, could easily be driven on the street and heavy for what we do. 3600 lbs race weight. Pretty unique build having one of only a handful bolt-in 4-link conversions utilizing a CV joint axle setup encased in a solid tube style housing making it solid. We have done no cutting to the body and use a small tire in an effort to keep its OEM look. “ Motivation for this build:

“I have aggressively built the car to compete in the Modern Street HEMI Shootout Outlaw Class which is led by chassis cars with 3300 lbs race weight as a rule. I want to push our platform as far as it will go and competing in the HEMI Outlaw Class is doing just that.”

Thanks To:

“Current build was done by a very close friend Chris Dufresne. The entire build was done in his driveway with another close friend Andy Wagner there the entire way. There is no doubt Mario Abascal and Matt Kesatie of Gearhead Fabrications have been extremely involved but being Florida based it was difficult for them to maintain the car and my demands. I decided to con tinue the build at home here in the Virginia and Maryland area and Chris Dufresne gave up an entire year of his own time to get us where we are now. Amazing to say the least.”

Most memorable experience with the car to date:

“Best memory to date is the first time the car ran a 7 second pass and experiencing it with so many of my friends that were at the Modern Street HEMI Shootout event when it happened. Watch ing the videos and hearing the roar of excitement by so many that I didn’t even know were cheering us on was humbling and an absolute sense of accomplishment for all of us. We have be come a family as only a racer can understand.”

We were mid 8’s with it exceeding its previous best within the first couple outings! Of course there is never enough. We al ways want more... so here is where we are with that quest 3 years later.” Van Horn added.

Dan tells us that the only areas of the car that remain untouched from its pre vious life are the turbos, shifer, race seat, valve cov ers and wheels. Everything else has been upgraded or changed as part of the pro cess and the current build was done with a very close

friend, Chris Dufresne, in his driveway with another close friend, Andy Wagner, involved every step of the way as well. “I have done quite a bit of the work my self on weekends and eve nings with the guidance of Chris and Andy to keep me on track.”

To put it bluntly, the Challenger is a pig from the factory, weighing about 4,000lbs without a driver. Although Te Deuce looks rather factory, luckily they were able to get 400lbs out of it during the project.

Dan rightly boasts about the Challenger being so “factory”. Let’s face it, having an OEM body and trim Challenger at close to full weight (3,600 lbs) running 7-second hits is defi nitely something to be proud of!

Te car is a production body and the paint remains an OEM Brilliant Black; that paint covers every stock body pan el except the Anderson Composites roof and trunk lid. Te doors are factory but modified for weight reduction, including the replacement of the original glass with Lexan windows. An Optic Armor wind shield and rear glass were also installed to remove more weight. Te Challenger rides on black 15x4.5 Bogarts wrapped in Mickey ET front runners and 15x9.5 rears with Mickey 275/60/R15 Pro Street Radials.

Suspension components are unique, specifically, the ACME High-Perfor mance Laboratories “Big Stick” offset four-link rear cradle. It’s a four-link con version with a CV joint axle in a solid housing allowing for no cutting to run a decent tire and retain the factory look. Wesley Motorsports-valved Bilstein coilovers reside on all four corners and the front incorporates a Chromoly cra dle, AAD tubular a-arms and Flaming River manual steering rack.

Te modern Hemi isn’t the Hemi we used to know; they are arguably no longer “true” Hemis. Regardless, the platform can be impressive, such as Te Deuce’s heart. 1320 Solutions started with an OEM BGE Hellcat iron block and filled it 3/4 for even more rigidity. Te base of the short block is a factory Dodge Demon crank, followed by MGP billet 6.240 rods and Diamond thermal and friction-coated pistons, totaling 378 inches of Mopar power. A Gearhead Fabrications turbo spec cam com pletes the short block.

An FTI TH400 transmission backs the boosted mill. It consists of a Reid SFI case, billet input shaf, FTI valve body and dump valve, and Coan 2.1 first gear.

1320 then installed TiTek Bear cast aluminum heads with sofened chambers and the latest dual valve spring assembly along with Demon Performance studs, Johnson sof travel lifers, and factory rockers. Fi nally, a trick billet Plazmaman intake manifold tops off the turbo Hemi. A Holley Dominator controls the car, complete with Hemi smart coils, sensors, and Racepak Smartwire. Atomizer 700 injectors, a Water man Lil Bertha 17 GPM pump and Plazmaman billet fuel rails supply fuel from a 10-gallon cell. Air enters through twin 76/75 Precision Gen 2 ball-bearing turbochargers and is then forced through a machined aluminum Motion Raceworks 102mm throttle body. Gearhead Fabrications handled both the hot and cold sides of the turbo plumb ing. Precision blow-off valves and Turbosmart wastegates complete the turbo system.

Tey finished the build-off with a billet bolt-together converter. Next, the Driveshaf Shop hooked the rearend up with several differ ent goodies, including one of their bolt-in 9-inch housings stuffed with Pro 3.89 gears and severe duty axles.

Aside from the body and tubular suspension modifications, much of the weight reduction came from the car’s interior. Dan has the bare racing essentials and not much else.

Stephen/Lauren Eades

Story & Photos: Wes Taylor

Stephen Eades’ took his Datsun 280Z over the top. The exterior of the car is flawless thanks to Dark City Customs who added a Retrospec front nose, Ztrix fiberglass doors, Pro Graphx KPMF gloss Cop per Black Starlight wrap and Optic Armor win dows. The factory shape of the 280 is meant to cut through air with little resistance.

Although Eades grew up around cars and has been into anything with four wheels back as long as he can remem ber, with limited resources to work with, Stephen had to work hard to buy bolt-ons for his cars, which were all LS Chevy powered. Eventually, it became pretty tough to jug gle finances enough to have extra money to put towards

going fast, so he took the bull by the horns and purchased a tig welder and, with the help of a friend, learned to weld. From that point, he began to make things for himself that he could afford for his builds and eventually started work ing on friends cars. He built up his skill set for a few years on the side while working full-time at a company called

Stephen Eades is a Chevy man through and through, but you might question that statement when you first see his latest creation.

The 1978 Datsun 280Z came onto the car scene during what were arguably the worst years for the American mus cle car. There was little no muscle left in the Big 3 offerings during what is known as the smog era, where engines were stifled with new emission con trols. Many popular models were axed and others were market-tested as sub compacts and compacts such as the Mustang and Challenger, which failed miserably. Datsun was an up and com ing import brand and the 280Z was a catchy compact that carved corners pretty well. Plus it looked sleek and sporty.

This video was taken before the current modifcations:

Te Chapman Group, and they ended up backing him to start his own shop, and that’s when the doors opened for Rock Sold Mo torsports (RSM); Stephen now employs three full-time employ ees and a part-timer. I’ve person ally watched his business grow, and he’s even been a generous supporter of my own efforts.

Te original RSM shop car was an F-body and the plan was to sell it, take a break from owning a car for a bit and invest in the shop, but as they say ‘you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone’ and once sold, the itch to go fast returned quickly.

Te new idea was to find a small chassis for a swap and make something light and fast.

“ Te 280Z caught my eye be cause of the long engine bay and just the overall shape of the body seemed like it would be some thing unique to start with,’ Eades said. And he soon found his car in South Carolina listed for $3000.

Te 1978 Datsun 280Z was in over all decent running condition with the factory in-line six that had been hot rodded and tur bocharged and the OEM 5-speed trans mission still intact… but it wouldn’t be for very long. Once the factory motor was pulled it was a bo nus to find out that it was worth pretty

much what Stephen paid for the whole car.

Te 280Z, body code S30 was in pro duction from 1975 through 1978 and they feature a long hood with sloping top that ends at the back of the car. A hatch is integrated into the rear, form ing what Datsun called a ‘three-door coupe’.

The build is a product of the owner’s Rock Sold Motorsports shop and they complet ed the 25.2-spec cage in-house. The 280 is a dedicated race car inside with a single race seat and single “gauge”; the FT600 digital dash.

The number of pedals indicates that this hot rod is shifted –3-pedal setup is an FFP custom billet clutch/brake/throttle pedal bly with hydraulics.

Once the 280 was home, Stephen began the tear down. Te original Du Hast build was a simple twin-tur bo, stock block, rods, and pistons LSX combination and afer two years of tor ture, they realized the fac tory body couldn’t handle it anymore, so in the summer of 2019, the quest to build Du Hast 2.0 began. As for the name “Du Hast”, it’s nothing glamorous and simply refers to one of Stephen’s favorite songs, but it is sort of catchy. Datsun designed the 280Z to be a fun car to drive on twisty roads but Stephen and the guys at Rock Solid had a much different plan for it. Te first order of busi

ness was a 25.1 certified tube chassis built in-house and RSM also designed and fabbed the four-link, wish bone style rear suspension. TBM brake strut assemblies make up the front along with AFCO struts, while JRI shocks handle rear duties along with a 2-inch PAC an ti-roll bar. Te stiffened chas sis sits on Billet Specialties 15-inch wheels wrapped in a Mickey Tompson 24-inch skinny up front and 28x10.5 radials out back.

Te car was sent to Dark City Customs for body work, where they installed a Retrospec front clip, Ztrix fiberglass doors, and Optic Armor windows.

Afco struts were used up front while a 4-link with wishbone and PAC 2” anti-roll bar and JRI shocks suspend a fabricated 9-inch out back.

Tey then wrapped it instead of paint, using a unique KPMF Gloss Copper Black Starlight col or. Stephen had a good thing go ing with that stock blocked twin turbo LSX-based platform but, like most of us, for the new build he wanted more, so TKM took delivery of an LSR tall deck block, then prepped it for assembly. A Callies CCW Magnum crank starts off the short block. It spins GRP aluminum rods and custom TKM pistons and they polished it off with a trick spec’d cam for the soon to be boosted combo.

This video was taken before the current modifcations:

Back in the day, the often underestimated 280Z was actually pretty fast and known on the street for taking out countless unwitting challengers. Four decades later, that enviable reputation is fiercely upheld by Stephen Eades’ ruthless marauder. It is said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. “Du Hast” is proof of that concept.

Te top end also received a full host of goodies, starting with Mast Black Label aluminum LS3 295cc heads and TKM’s own Top Fuel hoops. Te head’s inter nals are all top-notch; Jesel steel rock ers, custom Xceldyne valves, Manley springs, oversized TKM 7/16 pushrods, and then Plazzmaman billet valve cov ers were used to cover it all up. A CNC machined Plazamaman intake manifold with throttle body finishes the package. Methanol fuel comes from a Waterman mechanical pump through a Fuellab regulator and into Fueltech 720lb in jectors. An FT600 ECU controls the car with help from IGN-1 Smart Coils, all wired by Micheal at MJB Performance.

Tis time through, Stephen decided to go with a large single turbo and this gi ant 104mm NLX unit came from Bull seye Turbochargers and was coupled with Turbosmart wastegates and blowoff valves to take care of exhaust gases. Of course, the turbo system’s entire hot and cold sides were built in-house.

Eades has always been a stick-shif guy, from his F-body to Du Hast ver sion 1 and he wasn’t about to change that with DH 2.0, but this is no run of the mill stick setup. Tick Performance, a leader in afer-market manual trans missions, took a Tremec T-56 six speed and converted it into one of their racespec four-speed units.

Du Hast is the pinnacle of what Rock Solid Motorsports is and can do...

Te innards consist of a G-Force gear set, a billet front sprayer plate, and Tick’s shifer to top it off. Power trans fers through an eight-inch Advanced Clutch dual disc slipper; these systems allow slip, giving less shock to the drivetrain when shifing and allowing guys to leave harder. Once power gets through the clutch, it’s taken through a carbon Driveshaf Shop driveshaf and then into a Hammer Concepts and Designs 9-inch rear end. Te custom 9-inch features a heavy-duty Strange center section stuffed with a 3.40 Pro gear set, 40 spline gun drilled axles and a spool.

Te interior uses mainly carbon fiber to save weight; Stephen sits in a Kirkey seat and uses all of the latest safety features, such as the Fireade suppression system. FuelTech’s FT600 control screen sits on the steering column, ready to relay pertinent information, take commands and make any changes as needed.

Du Hast is the pinnacle of what Rock Solid Motorsports is and can do.

Tere are off-the-shelve parts on the car and quite a bit of custom work at the same time, but Stephen’s end goal was to show off the shop and have fun doing it.

Since this is a very fresh build, Du Hast has yet to make a pass, but it will soon enough. Until then, we can all enjoy a little something different mixed with a lot of something tried, tested and true…a wicked 401inch turbocharged LS!

Left to right: Joey Anthony, Cody Walton, Ethan Moore

Maybe back in 1964 the Ford Falcon Futura was thought to be the car of the future…and in one respect it was.

Te body was much small er than most North American offerings and featured some

aerodynamic-looking body lines, which would catch on a few decades down the road, but aside from that, it wasn’t packed with any ground breaking innovation.

Te Falcon was a model pro duced by Ford from 1960 to 1970 ½ with the ’64 hardtop being the most popular.

This early Ford print ad is typical of the era.

Bill and Willie Maus set out to build a Pro Street car with no experience in a complete build whatsoever. Armed with the will to learn, a small garage and modest driveway, along with the help of family, friends and neighborhood gearheads their dream became reality.

A unibody design, it was dubbed by some as the first compact car marketed by the Big Tree American automo bile manufacturers. Te sec ond-generation Falcon was introduced in 1963 but took a back seat due to the intro duction of the Ford Mustang, which would of course become legendary. Nonetheless, find ing a Falcon, let alone a Futura model, is becoming more dif ficult with the passage of time. For Bill Maus and his son Willie, building their family

Falcon has been a journey well into their future, but through dedication, determination and family support, their Pro Street dream was completed. Raised around cars his entire life, Bill’s father was in the Ford V8 Club of America, and had a 1940 Deluxe Coupe. “I worked with my father and his friends on helping restore vehicles from steamers to flathead V8s until I was in my early teens,” Maus explains. “And around 13 years old I found Late Model Dirt Track racing.”

Bill started working as part of the crew on a Late Model which is where he learned wrenching and engine building skills. “I was completing cylinder head work, calculating cam specs and doing machine work on lathes and Bridgeport machines,” he added. At 18 he moved on to dirt bike

racing but just one year later, a crash would put an end to that. Looking for a new way to use his energy and skills, he started building motors for friends for everything from mud bog trucks to street/strip cars. He would build himself a massively lif ed 1950 Chevy pickup to race in the

bogs and took up wrenching on mo torcycles and even boat engines, as well. Ten came marriage, children and life, but eventually the passion to build something for himself and his family would return…enter a 1964 Ford Falcon Futura.

During the build, their bodyman had to move out of state with family which left the rest of the work squarely on the shoulders of Bill and his son. Once again, diving in with both feet, the pair completed an outstanding job and had a slick coat of Ford FX Burgundy base coat clear coat applied on top of their handywork.

Bill’s sister Becky and brother in-law David gave his son Willie the Falcon when he was 16 for being an honor roll student.

While it was in running condition, it was in need of TLC, so Bill and his son worked on it to the point where it was drivable. No mods were done to the 289 engine and eventually the oil pump would fail clearing the way for one of the most popular swaps of the day; a Ford 5.0 roller motor. Te original Pro

Street movement was still underway, but they kept the car fairly tame, aside from the new engine.

Afer a few more years and getting the car into the 12-second zone along with running local car shows, the de cision was made to go Pro Street with the Falcon. And Bill is the first to admit that they were diving into the deep end; “Willie wanted a car like Uncle David had who had a blown 1968 big tire Ca maro, so we went to work.

The standard Pro Street big fat rear tires and skinny fronts consist of Weld Pro Star 15x15 rears with Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R 29x18R15 tires and 15x3.5 fronts.

Tis is the first time we had ever attempted to build a car and we had no idea what we were about to get into. It didn’t help that we didn’t even know how to weld, but we learned what we needed to pretty quick ly.”

Pro Street was a mas sive gearhead movement through the eighties and nineties that mimicked the look of Pro Stock and Pro Mod cars of the time; low stances, slick engine mods (usually with something poking out the hood), and the one thing that all Pro Street rides had to have;

steamroller-wide fat rear tires and skinnies up front. While the origi nal era slowed substan tially by the year 2000, over the past 10 years we have seen a resurgence of Pro Street, something we here at RPM call Pro Street 2.0.

Once it was disas sembled, media blasted, primed, and sealed, Wil lie’s close friend who was in charge of the body resto while going to school to become a body and paint specialist, had to move out of state, which put the bodywork back on the shoulders of Bill and Willie.

Bill, Willie and their crew hand-built all the floors and custom fire wall, and the tubs, trunk pans, and transmission tunnel are from S&W Racecars. The cage started off as 10-point S&W piece that Maus added bars to. Tattoos Upholstery did the custom interior work and aftermarket gauges were inset into the dash face alongside the facto ry equipment and are complemented by a Monster Tach. Main cage work is well hidden and blends in with the roofline and the rear is, of course, made up of big wheel tubs that have been carpeted in black.

“Again, with little ex perience, we cut off and welded a complete right rear quarter panel including the taillight and trunk area on the car made and installed patch panels for the low er lef rear quarter panel and on the lef side be tween the driver’s door and the wheel opening.” Te pair moved from the body to suspension and started by removing the old front suspen sion and shock towers and installing a TCI Mustang II style front suspension with a man ual rack and pinion and Corvette disc brakes.

Tis build was a fam ily affair but then un expectedly hit a major roadblock when Bill’s

brother in-law David passed away at the age of 46 from a heart attack. Te car sat for 2 years, but was eventually dust ed off and dragged out for work to begin once again. Te small Maus family garage and drive way is where most of this build happened and because of that, the build took an interesting turn. Bill explains; “Once we started working on the car outside in the drive way, not only did my son Willie, daughter Tracie, wife Becky, Father inlaw Al and granddaugh ter Leah (Who was just a baby less than a year old) get involved but all the neighborhood teen age gearheads wanted to get involved, too.

Deciding to go with cubic inches, the engine of choice is a stout and reliable 454 cubic inch Chevy big block. Since the cars sees street/strip and show duty, all the bases have been covered in both the build and appearance of the naturally aspirated Rat. The car runs 10.00 on slippery street tires, telling us it’s a solid 9-second ride with the right hook.

Over the 5-year build, a countless number of people donated thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears to create this 1964 Ford.

“So you might say this car is a family and neighborhood effort,” Maus added with a smile.

Tey soon purchased an S&W Racecars back-half kit and went to work. Te complete package in cluded everything from the frame rails and rear end housing with axles to the rear suspension with double adjustable ladder bars, ad justable panhard bar and coilover shocks. Tey also opted for brakes, wheel tubs, transmission tunnel and trunk pans from S&W. Once the back-halved section of the

chassis was complete they fabri cated the subframe connectors and installed the 16-point roll cage, which started out as an S&W 10-point cage kit.

Since the Falcon would see most ly street duty with an occasional track hit, this time, Bill and Willie decided to take advantage of the ‘no replacement for displacement’ rule, and add some cubes to the Falcon. Working on a budget, they went with the wildly popular and easy on the pocketbook 454 big block Chevy. Te powertrain was

sourced from an older motorhome for a whopping 500 dollars, a deal Bill couldn’t pass up and once it was torn down, upgraded with a list performance parts and reas sembled, more modifications were made to the Ford to fit its new GM based drivetrain. Included in those mods were moving the firewall back to fit the new mill in, and of course, get something poking out of the hood, namely twin carbs.

From there, it was all hands-on deck customizing and finishing the build, and Bill and Willie can proudly say that not one single part on this ’64 Ford was lef un touched. And for the Maus family and their friends that helped in the project, despite the hardships and challenges along the way, building the Falcon was a journey that they wouldn’t trade for anything!

Labor Day weekend

is considered to be the unofficial end of summer by most unless you are a fan of the Yellowbullet Nationals, then it’s the start of a wild race weekend, one last hurrah before you get the kids to school, close the pools and prepare for the fall.

Te country had been under siege by record setting heat waves this year. All eyes were on the forecast for Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland which was hot days, cool nights and not a chance of rain in sight.

Race promotor Monty Mikho and his wife Maria were prepared for this race with help from the team at Ce cil County Dragway getting the track in record setting shape. Race trailers were flowing into the gates non-stop, no doubt the fans and racers were ready for a huge weekend of the wildest rides on the east coast.

Tis race may be the lone event with a full spectrum of classes lef in the immediate Mid-Atlantic states. Te 2022 Yellow Bullet Na tionals would feature nine classes of Heads Up and Index racing. 2022 also marks the year that the highly competitive 10.0 Index and Pro Dial classes were added back into the mix, and sure enough, all classes showed up big time! So sit back, relax and en joy our RPM recap of the action.

Radial and recently No Prep Kings star Manny Buginga made his Pro Mod debut at this Nationals in his brand-new ProCharger Hemi equipped ZL1 Camaro. Buginga has been now Pro275 Mustang called “Fred” along with his tribute to our late Champion Blake Copson both his cars. Not a bad first outing with a new car and never being in a Pro Mod, Manny mention that it couldn’t happen without the support of his team and family.

This family of four racing generations has been blessed with an amazing year leading the in the NEOPMA (Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association) with many wins, and becoming low Bullet Nationals champion is icing on the cake. Qualifying number one and taking Mike Decker Jr. a tidy $32,500!

the points solidly becoming the new Yel the title earned this Yellow Bullet a force with his Copson “BCOP” on Manny made sure to

Thevarious power ad ders of Pro Modified are quite the draw, fans again enjoyed the variety of big cubic inch flaming Ni trous, screaming ProChargers, ear shattering Screw Blowers and of course the Turbocharg ers.

Te Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association again filled much of the class with its members, specifically 18 of the 24 came from “NEOP MA” celebrating their 30th year as the longest running Pro Modified Series. Now get this, inside of this race was a four-car shootout with the top

four qualifiers of first round qualifying for $13,000. Tat race would be held during the 2nd and 3rd qualifier with Jim Halsey, Mike Decker Jr., Todd Tutterow and Robert Gallegos. Tutterow’s 3.64 @ 204 would come out on top facing off against a lifing Mike Decker Jr. Tis race was sponsored by a bevy of racers, owners and more.

Last year’s fall YB Nats champion Mike Decker Jr. would top the field with a blistering 3.605 @ 208 in the screw blown 2017 Deckers Salvage Camaro entry also capturing the $2,500 number

one spot put up by various racers and sponsors. Melanie Salemi would put the 2019 Resolution Racing Services, Al-Lee Installations, Slice and Ice Camaro solidly in second with a Roots Blown 3.611 @ 206. Filling in the number three spot was Tutterow post ing a strong 3.614 @ 207 in the P2 Contracting/P2 Racing 2020 screw blown Camaro.

A full 16 car field was now on paper and ready to go Sunday. It was fast and close racing when Mike Decker Jr. would meet Melanie Salemi in the finals. Te tree went green and Decker was out first with

The sleek 2022 GT500 Mustang of Robert Gallegos, a ProCharger combo adorned with the BASF / Crash Champions sponsor logos couldn’t repeat his fantastic first qualifier number as he had to pedal this run to fend off Todd Tutterow.

an .026 reaction time getting out in front of Salemi’s .047. Decker would hold the lead with his quickest time of the day, winning with a 3.596 @ 209 besting his Top MPH 208 of qualifying and capturing this oh so close race as Salemi fell

with an almost identical 3.599 @ 206. Te MOV (Margin Of Victory) on this race was a mere .022 as they crossed the line at over 206MPH. Exciting final as Mike Decker Jr. takes home the Church View Farms Pro Modified $30,000!

Jim Halsey, the manager and longtime partner of the Yellow Bullet Nationals was far off his usual pace 3.362 @ 207 that has brought him three PDRA “Professional Drag Racers Association” championships and multiple low ET records. Halsey also participated in the mini qualifying shootout but couldn’t close the deal on it.

Some call him “King Tutt” but mainly he’s a championship driv er, owner and tuner. Todd took out eventual Yellow Bullet Na tionals Pro Mod Champion Mike Decker Jr. in the mini qualifying shootout taking home a cool $13,000.

Just less than a year ago, Mel anie Salemi took the $50,000 prize at the Bradenton Snow bird Outlaw Nationals and was looking to get another 30K this year at Yellow Bullet. Salemi took the “Sidepiece” ‘19 Camaro to the finals where she fell to Mike Decker Jr. in the closest race of the weekend, losing by only .022 at the finish line.

Racepromoter Monty Mikho has been a vocal supporter of the pop ular Pro275 class since it started.

Te much quicker times on the tiny tires has a special appeal to many fans and racers. Te track certainly must be prepped properly to guarantee the best performances. Te field featured 24 cars going afer the $20,000 in prize mon ey. Steve Woolley in his stunning 2018 C&F Race Cars C7 Corvette powered by a Screw Blown Hemi topped the lad der with a blistering 3.722 @ 201. Shawn Ayers in the Fletcher Cox Racing roots blown, DiSomma Racing Hemi powered 69 Camaro tuned by Jon Salemi would follow in second with 3.756 @ 201. Man ny Buginga was third with 3.760 @ 199.

Again there was a top four round one qualifier shootout race that too would be held during the 2nd and 3rd qualifier featuring Steve Woolley, Manny Bugin ga, Shawn Ayers and Bob Clayton for an additional $5,000 prize put up by racers Mo Hall, Manny Buginga, Joel Wensley, Steve Woolley and Fletcher Cox. Steve Woolley’s 3.75 @ 200 would take that $5,000 win over a lifing Manny Buginga.

Afer a grueling 16 car elimination,

Mo Hall has come from the ranks of Outlaw 10.5 to the now popular Pro275 cess. Always in the hunt with enormous 959ci Fulton Racing Engines copious amounts of Nitrous, it paid off with a brilliant set of passes netting title for 2022 and $20,000 to go with it!

You may remember the car and the name, Bob Clayton and the car a GT500 Mustang were featured on the cover of the March 2021 RPM and exceptional in quality. Bob is getting more seat time and the car

ProCharger equipped Mag. This car is quick car is responding well.

“ Te “People’s Champ” Mo Hall, a veteran of Cecil County Shootouts for over a decade in his slippery 2007 HFR Fab rication C6 Corvette filled with a Fulton 959ci topped off with multiple stages of ni trous was set to battle the Philadelphia Eagle Pro Bowl Defensive Lineman Fletcher Cox owned roots blown 69

Camaro wheeled by Shawn Ayers. Te tree dropped and Shawn Ayers got the jump, .029 to Halls .055 as both streaked to the stripe it was Mo Hall’s 3.765 @ 196 taking the win and $20,000 over Ayers’ 3.819 @ 198.

Pro275 with great suc Engines power sprayed with netting Hall the Pro275

Manny Buginga’s Pro275 Mustang affectionately called “Fred” is a tribute to the late Blake Copson. It’s brutally quick and fast on the small radials and big tires alike.

This car will take your breath away; it’s a show car, a race car, it’s hard to tell. It reminds me of a fighter jet heading towards me as I take its picture. Steve Woolley in his stunning 2018 C&F Race Cars C7 Corvette powered by a Screw Blown Hemi topped the Pro275 ladder with a blistering 3.722 @ 201 and took the mini shootout $5,000 earlier in the rounds against Shawn Ayers / Fletcher Cox in the Roots Blown 69 Camaro.

The fans sure love that Pro Bowl / Super Bowl winning defensive lineman of the Philadelphia Eagles Fletcher Cox comes out and works hard as the crew chief and owner of the team. Shawn Ayers has had the seat in this gorgeous 69 Camaro for a few years now. The team would runner up against the likes of Mo Hall in the finals.

This was a huge win for Scott Parson to become the new YB Nats X275 Champion as he had to face off against Ron Rhodes in the final. James Smith stated “ We have been struggling so much with this thing. We found a problem and tried to band aid it and it worked some times lol. But we won’t ever give up. Congratulations to Scott Parson for being a bad ass driver and Sonny Nichols for being the best crew”.

Thesesmall tire terrors draw a huge crowd, stock style suspension and wild combinations make the fans go crazy.

Veteran X275 racer Ron Rhodes put his BES 500 cube small block, Holley EFI equipped 68 Camaro out of Rhodes Custom Auto in Del aware into the top spot with a very solid 4.226 @ 160. Follow ing closely was Dom DiDonato in his Turbocharged 5.8 Liter L&M Racing Engine Shelby Mustang to light the boards at 4.235 @ 175 also capturing Top MPH. Justin Palmer in the teal green 1990 Mustang Notch back, DiSomma Racing En gines, ProCharger, Holley EFI equipped small block put up a solid 4.243 @ 167 as the third on the ladder.

Scott Parsons in the JSC Race Cars, Scotts Hauling, BBC ni

trous 68 Camaro, affectionate ly named “Farm Girl”, took the win over a red-lighting -.003 Ron Rhodes 4.293 @ 167. “It wasn’t a pretty race, but we’ll take it,” stated James Smith (who has been on the cover of RPM Magazine TWICE). Tat $10.000 pot was a welcomed prize with a lumbering 7.984 @ 62 run.

Dom DiDonato in his Turbo charged 5.8 Liter L&M Rac ing Engine Shelby set the Top MPH with an amazing 174MPH on stock style sus pension but would lose first round by way of a Scott Par son holeshot.

It’s almost impossible to write something about X275 without having Ron Rhodes in the recap. The Rhodes Custom Auto 68 Camaro was really on a mission this weekend and took a chance on the tree red lighting his final round away to Scott Parson.

Qualifying well on the Ladder, Justin Palmer in his DiSomma Racing Engines, ProCharger, Holley EFI equipped small block 1990 Mustang would fall in the first round of X275 to the ProCharger equipped Mustang of Brendan Mills.

Bill Trovato is recognized as being one of the most suc cessful Oldsmobile engine experts with his skills and knowledge in his own book “Oldsmobile V-8 Engines: How to Build Max Perfor mance”. Trovato took the Yellow Bullet Nationals Ul tra275 championship title after taking out the turbo charged Mustang of Dave Fiscus.

Ronny Rhodes’ EFI, Rhodes Custom Auto, Calvert sus pension leaf spring 68 Ca maro, though qualifying well in the number two po sition, fell to the eventual runner-up Dave Fiscus in the semifinals.

Ultra275 grows in popularity each year, with a whopping thirty-four cars in the lineup for the 2022 YB Nats!

Shawn Pevlor would top the list in qualifying with 4.489 @ 160 in his well-known ProCharged 89 Mus tang. Next, local veteran of Ultra275

at such a young age, Ronny Rhodes in the Rhodes Custom Auto Calvert suspension leaf spring Camaro rolled up in number two spot with 4.499 @ 155, and Stephen Barnett would fill the third qualifying place in his 93 Mustang with a 4.530 @ 155MPH.

In the finals, veteran racer Bill Tro

vato of BTR Performance in his stun ning Fifh Gen 2010 Camaro artfully tuned by Mike Tompson of TNT Performance would put Dave Fiscus in the turbo six-cylinder 93 Mustang on the trailer with a .076 and 4.528 @ 155 run to Dave Fiscus losing .047 4.574 @ 160.

Dave Fiscus stated after his runner up finish in the “Buzzin Half Dozen” turbocharged six-cylinder Mustang; “Congratulations to Bill Trovato and your hard-working team. It was an honor to meet you in the Finals at one of the toughest radial races of the year. Yellow Bullet Nationals brings out the best of the best! Ul tra-street class was stacked with many challenging drivers and crew chiefs. It’s a true honor to be among such a wonderful group of racers”.

Shawn Pevlor is no stranger to top qualifying numbers, he set the Ultra 275 standard a few years ago and again Pevlor sat on top of the ladder with a 4.489 @ 160 in his ProCharger equipped ‘89 Mustang.

A welcome new face to in the Warriors Drag Racing team Kaitlin Quartuccio get ting her feet wet in some heads up racing with her stunning Skinny Kid Race Cars prepped 63 Chevy II filled with a Fueltech sprayed LSX. Kaitlin took her first steps in Ultra Street and now has turned to the Warriors. She may be a young fresh face to this class but rest assured, the Quar

tuccio name is rich in racing, with her father Ken being one of the most prom inent Heads Up drag racers with multi ple Pro Mod, Radial and Radial VS Word class championships. The whole team is always on hand which includes dad Ken, her mother Denise, sister Kelsey, Uncle Dennis, BF Jason and Johnny Miller the full-time mechanic.

Larry Mack and his wife Diana brought 43 cars to Cecil County. Tis class is again an absolute show stopper. Well wishes to Larry as he was on the premises while still re covering from a massive quin tuple heart bypass but pulled this all together like the champ he is.

Jacob Nauman in his abso lutely stunning Nitrous assist ed 1970 Chevy Nova which was featured in the pages of the March 2021 RPM Magazine would top the list, qualifying strong with 4.230 @ 165MPH, also receiving a $1,000 bonus from Gordian Energy Services. Bill Cole’s ear-splitting Pro Charger equipped 2002 Fire bird would sit in the number two spot 4.264 @ 172, and fill ing in third on the ladder was Mike Gerber running 4.269 @ 169 in one of the coolest Chevy S10 trucks with brilliant green paint sporting nitrous.

Gerber would take the hole shot win over Naumann in the battle of the Warriors “A Class” and the big prize of $7,500. Nau mann was quicker with 4.274 @ 163 but his .106 light would be too much to give away to a well put together pass by Gerber; .068 light and 4.297 @ 168.

Tink Liptrap in his nitrous blazing classic 65 Chevelle put competitor Harry Troxel on the trailer by way of a holeshot. Te .170 light by Troxel was too much to give away with a much lower ET 4.427 @ 165, Liptrap stayed out in front for the full 1/8th mile with .038 leave on a 4.476 @ 168 run.

WARRIORS

Winner of the Warriors “B” class, Tink Liptrap usually wow’s the crowd with flaming wheels up Nitrous Passes. This year he found hi8s way to the Yellow Bullet Nationals winners circle.

One of the Warriors toughest competitors, Mike Gerber in the nitrous assisted S10 took the Warriors champion title for 2022 in the “A” class.

Fan favorite Doug Sones and his early Corvette coupe with a blown and injected Big Block puts the fans on their feet with every pass. His son Creighton also competes in this class. The car is simply violent, and the crowd loves it!

This stunning 1970 Chevy Nova of Jacob Nauman may look quite familiar as you have seen it on the cover and In the pages of RPM Magazine as a feature. His number one qualifying position netted him a $1,000.00 bonus from Gordian Energy Services with a blazing 4.230 @ 165.

Mostreaders know that I personally have always been a huge fan of this class since its inception. Tere’s nothing cookie-cutter about this class and the cars that run it.

Tis year featured a 60-car class all vying for a massive purse of $10,000. Larry Dufresne with his 2004 Mustang would put the dead-on 8.500 on the boards at 167MPH to lead the pack. Stand out 8.50 racer Alfonse Magliocco who has been featured here in the pages of RPM Magazine locked in a blazing 172MPH Top MPH of the meet in the 2002 Camaro featuring ProCharger induction and a Fonse Performance LS.

Afer a stream of rounds to get this class to the final two, number three qualifier Mike Good in his killer 70 Camaro would face Carl Blasé, the number 57 qualifier who ran under the index at 8.499, in a 2000 Mustang powered by a Nitrous assisted big block Ford. Rookie to the class Carl Blase and the “ Te Mistress” Mustang found their way into the winner’s circle with an 8.556 @ 155 against Goods’ 8.557 @ 158.

Mike Good’s high-flying 1970 Camaro wows the crowd all the way to the run ner-up position, breaking out of the 8.50 ¼-mile Index in the final.

Al Fonse of New Jersey’s “Fonse Performance” surely made some massive horsepower to put top MPH of 172 on the boards with ProCharger / LS power. The Car is gorgeous, painted like Eddie Van Halen’s guitar. This family eats, sleeps and drinks drag racing, Al and Amy’s twin sons run the Ju nior Dragster series and I believe are currently leading the points.

Coming from the 57th position in qualifying (due to qualifying under the Index with an 8.499)

Carl Blase plowed through a very good group of 8.50 racers to make it to the winner’s circle in the Ford powered 2000 Mustang sprayed with Nitrous for a huge $10,000 purse. The Rack Em Up Racing team wanted to thank sponsors Big Daddy Fishing Rod and Racks, along with friends and racers Fonse Performance, and Shane and Rachel Stride of Bankrupt Racing.

This class was a fan tastic addition this year as everybody loves seeing the more facto ry and street looking rides duke it out in index racing, and there were thirty-three cars entered for 2022.

Larry Cagliano in his In duction Solutions Nitrous equipped 2000 Chevy S10 with a near perfect 10.003 @ 132 run sat atop the lad der for qualifying. In the fi nals, Joe Timinski’s 9.998 @ 134 would take the win and the $3.500 over Ron Reiss’ 9.986 in a double breakout.

What a great addition this class was; fantastic cars, great racers, all very skilled at this tough in dex with thirty-three cars entered. Larry Cagliano in his Induction Solutions Nitrous equipped 2000 Chevy S10 with a near perfect 10.003 @ 132 sat atop the ladder.

Joe Timinski’s 9.998 @ 134 would take the win and the $3,500 over Ron Reiss 9.986 in a double breakout final.

The father and son team of Nick Ross and Dylan Ammons is one that is the epitome of competition. Dylan was introduced to index racing just a couple of years ago by his father and the Mustangs of this family af fair are serious contenders in the monthly street car shootouts. Dylan’s Blue 1992 hatchback hangs the tires and Nicks silver 1992 hatchback takes the smoother approach, keeping it on the ground with both run ning Fonse Performance power. As of right now, Nick is number one in the local Street Car Shootout points and Dylan is at number four and in the hunt. On one of the qualifying passes, both Nick and Dylan lined up to light the boards with identical 10.015’s only separated by MPH!

Alwaysone of the biggest classes at the YB Nats is Top Sportsman with fify-five entries and Cecil County regular Erica Coleman put her Camaro into the number one spot with a blistering Fulton 959 / Nitrous combination 3.887 @ 194MPH. Eliminations were frantic with so many cars, and in the end it was Doug Farace’s 4.623 @ 144 run in the 63 patriotically painted super charged Vette falling to Bill Janke’s 4.201 @ 173.

Interestingly, the Janke’s had mentioned that they were unable to come to this race, happily at the last-minute plans changed and here they sat in the winner’s cir cle on Sunday with a check worth $10,000 in their hand.

Always one of the biggest, diverse classes at the YB Nats is Top Sportsman with fifty-five entries and Cecil County regular Erica Coleman was in the number one spot with a blistering 3.887 @ 194MPH.

Eliminations were frantic with so many cars, in the end it was Doug Farace in the 63 patriotically painted supercharged Vette falling to Bill Janke’s 4.201 @ 173 in the nitrous Camaro.

Theenormous Pro Dial bracket class featured ninety entries in their re turn to the YB Nats. Countless rounds ensued until two were lef standing. Regan Fox would fall to newcomer to this type of racing Ryan Bamond whose

father participates heavily in the Top Sportsman class with a Pro Mod style 68 Camaro. Ry an’s first try netted him $2,500 and a trip to the winner’s circle claiming the Pro Dial Cham pionship Title of 2022 Yellow Bullet Nationals.

Afera very successful week end of wild racing, Monty and Maria Mikho had nothing but praise for the Halsey family and the Cecil County crew who were working non-stop all weekend in some very harsh, hot conditions. All this couldn’t have happened without Monty’s loy

Pro Dial featured a whopping ninety entries into this year’s return to the YB Nats. Countless rounds ensued to the final two. Ryan Bamond’s first try in this type of racing netted him $2,500 and a trip to the winner’s circle claiming the Pro Dial Championship Title of the 2022 Yellow Bullet Nationals.

al Sponsors and YB Nats team: R.V. Carey’s, Hoopes Fire Prevention, Inc., Induction Solutions, Jesel Valvetrain Innovation, Mickey Tompson Perfor mance Tires & Wheels, Purnell Body Shop, BRODIX Cylinder Heads, Pen ske Racing Shocks, ProCharger Super chargers, Salvato Designs, X275 Cham

pionship Series, International Defense & Aerospace Group, Church View Farm, Gordian Energy Systems, Pro Torque; and of course his team; Maria Szkudlarek Mikho, David Mikho, Rob ert Brian, Patty Comparato DeMichele and Megan Ann who all worked tire lessly to make this event possible.

Want More?

Click to read last year’s RPM Mag Yellow Bullet Nationals feature online!