NOPI Drag Racing Association - Let's Go For A Little Ride

The first two rounds of qualifying did not produce any record-breaking passes, but there were a few notable exceptions. In the Toyo Tires Pro 4 Cylinder class, JoJo added another eight-second pass to his resume with a solid 8.95 @ 157 mph. And by doing so, the Castrol-sponsored driver continued to give the single-digit salute to all the companies that passed on him. Another underdog that deserves mention is Ara Aslanian's Bullish Motor Racing. On Saturday Ara's teammate George Ioannou laid down a 7.68 @ 185 mph while only running about 65 percent of the maximum boost on the Turbonetics turbo fitted to the 2JZ motor in his Pro Import Solara. In the APC Pro Outlaw class, Carlos Montano owned qualifying with his 8.85 @ 149 mph. But the BFG Northeast Nats was the first time the World Racing Celica went down the track. Rado's launch was one of the hardest we've seen from a FWD car but the Celica just didn't sound right for the remainder of the run. It was later discovered that the car was only running on three cylinders but even on a mere trio of slugs Christian's Celica clicked off a 9.53 @ 152 mph. We can't wait to see it fire on all four.

Instead of more racing on Sunday, we got the single-digit salute from Mother Nature with the threat of severe thunderstorms which prompted the NDRA officials to cancel the race. The eliminations will be completed at the K&N NOPI Gateway Race Wars in Madison, Illinois, on August 10-11. That should make the action even faster and, er, furiouser at Gateway.

By Vin Walker

Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!