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Re: Fastest street car?
Man, I LOVE this thread!
I have worked for ProMedia Publications since 2001 when we started the PRO Fastest Street Car Series. I had the honor of working side by side with the legendary Dave McClelland announcing the innaugural event in Bowling Green, Kentucky and to this day I STILL get excited going to the races. When ProMedia bought the rights to the NMCA name and logo, they rekindled what is, in my opinion, the greatest street car racing organization in the world.
The NMCA offers an incredible street legal class known as True Street. Originally sponsored by MSD Ignition (Thanks to Todd Ryden for all the great times!) and now backed by Tremec Transmissions, True Street affords street driven cars of all makes and models to test their mettle against each other. ALL cars are given a thorough safety inspection including all DOT requirements. Back-half cars and stock suspension cars are legal, but full tube-chassis machines are prohibited. When the competition starts, all cars are required to finish a 30-mile cruise (I know, this pales by comparison to 1000 miles on DW) and then, after a minimal cool down period, they make three back to back passes. Now here is the kicker... at NO TIME AFTER THE START OF THE CRUISE ARE THE RACERS ALLOWED TO OPEN THEIR HOODS UNTIL THEY COMPLETE THE FINAL PASS. I was the director for the True Street category in 2004 and 2005 and I am here to tell you, I went over these cars with a fine tooth comb before they were allowed to compete. On several occasions, drivers would not have working turn signals, horns or lights. These drivers were given the ultimatum: fix it or don't race. You would not believe some of the thrashing and parts robbing from cars in the parking lot!
I have personally seen some of the quickest cars in the US. The car that has impressed me most (so far) is the bad ass Rambler or Brian Anderson. In 2006, Anderson showed up at the South Georgia Motorplex near Valdosta, Georgia to compete in True Street. I had never seen the car prior to the event but my buddy Tim Bodrey who is from the Warner Robins area was always telling me how cool and quick it was. I teched the car in and it passed with flying colors. Brian was concerned about tire size and did not realize we would allow up to a 325mm drag radial in competition. Anderson had 275/60R15's on his ride. During the Saturday morning test session, the sun came out and heated up things in a hurry. By 10:00 am, it was 105 degrees with about 85% humidity. The track was greasy and the air was as bad as it could possibly be for racing purposes. The sinister black Ambassador pulled into the water box, smoked the crap out of the M/T radials and proceeded to the starting line. I was on the microphone, and my jaw hit the floor when I personally witnessed Brian rip off a 8.38 at nearly 170 mph on those little drag radials!
This year, True Street racing returns to the land of fast street driven cars: the Northeast! Atco New Jersey will play host to the NMCA Hot Rod and Muscle Car Nationals at Atco Raceway June 6-9. The baddest of the bad will be there. Two-time True Street Champion Paul Ferrruci will try and garner another crown with his ProCharged Magenta Malibu Marc Schankweiler and his SB2-headed small block Nova will try and capture his second TS victory. Craig Cusamano, Mike Cerminaro, Frank Calicchio, Adam Esterland and Tom Heatley will all be vying for top honors in this killer event. Who knows who else will show up? Maybe 2-time champs Gary Willders and Steve Critchlow will amble in to heat things up. Maybe 4-time champ Frank Savage and Brian Anderson will show up to really blow the lid off of this thing. I am looking forward to it and for any of you in the Northeast, you do NOT want to miss this one!
Man, I am licking my chops. This race is going to be off the hook!
Ron
Man, I LOVE this thread!
I have worked for ProMedia Publications since 2001 when we started the PRO Fastest Street Car Series. I had the honor of working side by side with the legendary Dave McClelland announcing the innaugural event in Bowling Green, Kentucky and to this day I STILL get excited going to the races. When ProMedia bought the rights to the NMCA name and logo, they rekindled what is, in my opinion, the greatest street car racing organization in the world.
The NMCA offers an incredible street legal class known as True Street. Originally sponsored by MSD Ignition (Thanks to Todd Ryden for all the great times!) and now backed by Tremec Transmissions, True Street affords street driven cars of all makes and models to test their mettle against each other. ALL cars are given a thorough safety inspection including all DOT requirements. Back-half cars and stock suspension cars are legal, but full tube-chassis machines are prohibited. When the competition starts, all cars are required to finish a 30-mile cruise (I know, this pales by comparison to 1000 miles on DW) and then, after a minimal cool down period, they make three back to back passes. Now here is the kicker... at NO TIME AFTER THE START OF THE CRUISE ARE THE RACERS ALLOWED TO OPEN THEIR HOODS UNTIL THEY COMPLETE THE FINAL PASS. I was the director for the True Street category in 2004 and 2005 and I am here to tell you, I went over these cars with a fine tooth comb before they were allowed to compete. On several occasions, drivers would not have working turn signals, horns or lights. These drivers were given the ultimatum: fix it or don't race. You would not believe some of the thrashing and parts robbing from cars in the parking lot!
I have personally seen some of the quickest cars in the US. The car that has impressed me most (so far) is the bad ass Rambler or Brian Anderson. In 2006, Anderson showed up at the South Georgia Motorplex near Valdosta, Georgia to compete in True Street. I had never seen the car prior to the event but my buddy Tim Bodrey who is from the Warner Robins area was always telling me how cool and quick it was. I teched the car in and it passed with flying colors. Brian was concerned about tire size and did not realize we would allow up to a 325mm drag radial in competition. Anderson had 275/60R15's on his ride. During the Saturday morning test session, the sun came out and heated up things in a hurry. By 10:00 am, it was 105 degrees with about 85% humidity. The track was greasy and the air was as bad as it could possibly be for racing purposes. The sinister black Ambassador pulled into the water box, smoked the crap out of the M/T radials and proceeded to the starting line. I was on the microphone, and my jaw hit the floor when I personally witnessed Brian rip off a 8.38 at nearly 170 mph on those little drag radials!
This year, True Street racing returns to the land of fast street driven cars: the Northeast! Atco New Jersey will play host to the NMCA Hot Rod and Muscle Car Nationals at Atco Raceway June 6-9. The baddest of the bad will be there. Two-time True Street Champion Paul Ferrruci will try and garner another crown with his ProCharged Magenta Malibu Marc Schankweiler and his SB2-headed small block Nova will try and capture his second TS victory. Craig Cusamano, Mike Cerminaro, Frank Calicchio, Adam Esterland and Tom Heatley will all be vying for top honors in this killer event. Who knows who else will show up? Maybe 2-time champs Gary Willders and Steve Critchlow will amble in to heat things up. Maybe 4-time champ Frank Savage and Brian Anderson will show up to really blow the lid off of this thing. I am looking forward to it and for any of you in the Northeast, you do NOT want to miss this one!
Man, I am licking my chops. This race is going to be off the hook!
Ron
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