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Spectacular! The only way to describe the NDRA’s Virginia Race Wars
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Records, upsets and one of the largest crowds ever to attend a sport
compact drag race. Paisley, Rau, Kubo, Demaree, Shepard and Medina
topped their fields in finals that had the crowd standing and
applauding wildly.
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Paisley Upsets the Status Quo in Pro Compact. |
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NOPI TV’s Pro Compact undoubtedly had the biggest upset of the weekend with Craig Paisley treeing XBOX Cup Champion Ara Arslanian in the finals with a remarkable.008 light. The Paisley Automotive Tacoma launched perfectly with front wheels high gaining a quick car length on Ara. Craig performed flawlessly, never lifting, power shifting, hard changing crossing the line with a 7.303 at 183.0 MPH. Ara’s Solara was unable to make up the two tenths advantage he left at the lights but had a better ET at 7.22 at 200.35 MPH. Craig was so pleased that he was the first driver to take out a Bullish team car in a final round in more than a full season. Arslanian congratulated Craig on the run of his life but assured him not to take it for granted. In other Pro Compact action, George Ioannou bettered his standing NDRA ET record in first round qualifying with a strong 6.79 but destroyed a Bert Gaertner prepared 2JZ trying to back it up in second round qualifying. Mr. Excitement, Carlos Montano had a strong showing in his Pepe Loco MX6 but also suffered mechanical problems. Veteran driver Manny Cruz had a new look for his P/C Cougar but was also plagued with mechanical problems throughout the weekend but still finishing as a semi finalist.
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Brent Rau starts 2004 on top of the points race with ET & MPH Records Brent Rau’s Osofast ACT Eclipse started his weekend by eclipsing the class ET record with 7.59. Rau has his program looking the best of all NOPI Street Performance Compact Pro Outlaw RWD competitors with the exception of exploding an intercooler in 2nd round qualifying his weekend was nearly perfect. Brent charged through the field which included Paul Efantis, Carlos Perez and Bill Walls taking the P/R win, setting the new ET record at 7.73 and the MPH record 175.46 MPH. For anyone that doesn’t already know Brent’s Eclipse is a four cylinder, perhaps the best four in the world. Carlos Perez ran really strong all weekend in his RX7 running an 8.22 in the finals. XBOX Cup Champion Paul Efantis in the Lucas oil Solara started strong with a record pace round one pass at 181.76 MPH. The MSP- Lucas Oil Products team later suffered a broken wheelie bar after a hard launch and a flat rear tire keeping them from the finals, a first in 11 NDRA events for Paul E. |
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Lisa Kubo killed all NOPI.com Pro Outlaw FWD records becoming the NDRA’s first FWD in the sevens. The Saturn Motorsports team thrilled the crowd with a 7.828 pass at 190.62 a feat that many people thought couldn’t be done. The goal was to run in the sevens but the margin was huge. When Princess Lisa rolled into the burnout box in the P/F finals against John Brown red hot Civic everyone was on their feet and cheering the pair, John tried Lisa with a .081 light to a .142 and ran a strong 8.837. This was a Lisa Kubo day, she blasted through the gears with a perfect run setting a new all time undisputed Pro FWD record with an amazing 7.727 at 191.38 MPH. All agreed that her two runs were worth the price of admission. In addition to winning the event, Lisa Kubo is the first inductee in the NDRA’s Seven Second Club, sponsored by NOPI, Weld Wheels, Real Wheels and Darton Sleeves. As the first inductee, Lisa also receives a $10,000.00 bonus. Achieving such an accomplishment, a seven second pass is a Pro FWD has long been thought as nearly impossible but give credit to team owner Jim Epler for putting such a talented group together which includes Gary Kubo, husband and crew chief for Lisa, crewmembers Artie Armendariz, Mike Sprecher, and Charlie Shafer. This Saturn Motorsports Team has made racing history. Please find time to congratulate them.
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Nitrous Express Pro 4 Cylinder had several teams unable to make the
field at Virginia Motorsports Park as many new competitors move into
this class. Number 1 qualifier, Joe Demaree, with an E.T. of 8.967 @
165.94 MPH moved through the field with perfect driving and perfect
tuning for changing conditions round by round facing Gardella in the
finals. Gary Gardella faced number 2 qualifier, Chuck Seitsenger in
round 1 running an NDRA best E.T. of 8.465 @ 167.16 MPH to Chuck’s
personal best E.T. of 8.90 @ 150 MPH to take the round win and move
through the field to face Demaree in the Finals. First Demaree beat
Gardella off the line, they were even at the 330 but Demaree began
to pull at the top end winning his 3rd NDRA event of his career with
a pass of 9.36 to Gary’s 10.35.
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Pro Stock See New Names Top the Finals |
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NOPI AEM Pro Stock looked like it was going to be an all Scott
Mohler- MOPAR weekend as he qualified number one and had the fastest
MPH with a 132.01 MPH pass. Scott the 2002 NDRA XBOX Cup Champion
would succumb to mechanical problems in round one allowing the most
loyal driver in the NDRA, Lisa Feeheley to advance. Otis Evans and
Dedrick Medina fought through 13 competitors to make the final
elimination round where Dedrick Medina ran down Otis Evans to win
the NOPI AEM Pro Stock class in the Virginia Race Wars
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NDRA new comer John Shepard fought problems with to much traction in
the BF Goodrich Tires Pro Street Tire class breaking practically
every driveline component on his talon. Finally before eliminations
he detuned his engine and never looked back defeating Orin Bivins in
the finals.
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Sportsman racing will be run as a championship series in the NDRA in 2004 and what a great show they put on for the fans of Virginia. Here are the results for the final rounds in all Sportsman and Bracket classes. |
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Teresa Sherrill Winner Brittany Kindle Semi Finalist
Power Street Jim Hucks Winner
Exedy Clutch Turbo 6 Keith Fortner Winner Dan Schechter Semi Finalist
Lloyd Wyche Winner J Chasengnou Semi Finalist
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Comp 4 Jeff Reinoehl Winner Howard Shoaf Semi Finalist Brian Ballard Winner Matthew Keller Semi Finalist
Ronnie Cameron Winner Chris Sutton Semi Finalist James Stewart ll Winner Craig Marable Semi Finalist |
Story And Photos Supplied By NOPI / NDRA NOPI ONLINE |