It had been a long and somewhat eventful weekend in Joliet, but we finally neared the end as the classes reached semi-finals and finals, and you couldn’t have asked for better racing. Some classes we pretty much knew who was taking it home, like Dave Dudek in F.A.S.T. with his legendary Hemi-powered Road Runner, but other classes, like Nostalgia Muscle Car, weren’t so cut and dry. Three cars we are very familiar with in that class all got shut down: Andy Warren’s 1971 Caprice broke out, Brenda Blair’s 1977 Caprice Coupe came up just a touch short and Mike Slaverio broke out in the finals, losing to Jerry Stamps’ Plymouth Duster.
But what had the crowds, the photographers, and anyone else with eyes on the edge of their seat was when they started the NMCA vs. NMRA showdown, the actual Super Bowl event. What’s on the line? Bragging rights, and one seriously badass ring for the winners. No, really, take a look:
Yeah, you can bet that the runs for that pretty little piece were going to be hotly contested, and they were. Monster burnouts, red lights, and even a burndown between Pro Mod driver Steve Summers and Street Outlaw runner up Andy Manson turned what was a 13-run sideshow into the entire reason for the event.
As the racers celebrated in Winner’s Circle to rock music, I sat back for a moment and had to smile: two racing series, three solid days of runs, lots of tire smoke and race fuel, and good times. How do you not enjoy stuff like this? Take it from someone who got to experience it for the first time: go next year. You can bet that we will.
Click on a photo below to see the final rounds of racing from Joliet!
