2009 Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing - Family Feud - NMRA/NMCA Joliet, Illinois '09

Pro Outlaw 10.5
In what could arguably be called the most exciting final of the event, Dan Millen zipped by West Coast phenom Doug Sikora within inches of the stripe, and captured the victory in Turbonetics Pro Outlaw 10.5 with a 6.72 to Doug's 6.76. "We got lucky like you wouldn't believe. The boost tube on the turbo blew off right at the end of the pass. I'm not sure if it would have made any difference in e.t.'s-maybe a 6.71 or a 6.70-but it definitely could have killed us if it had have happened sooner in the run," said Dan.

John Urist showed fellow Freak Show competitors that his Nitto-sponsored Fox coupe is also capable of running in the 7.30s. John clicked off a string of e.t.'s in the high 7.30s, which had the pits abuzz with excitement over John's matchup with John Kolivas in the Super Street Outlaw final. The Fireball pulled all the stops and hit the Tree a bit too hard in that final, redlighting his chances of earning a Super Bowl victory in SSO.

Super Street Outlaw
No, you're not seeing things, those really are the letters S-S-O on the windshield of John Kolivas' 94mm turbocharged '95 Cobra. In his first NMRA race since winning the Drag Radial points title in 2008, John brought his 'Stang out of its retirement from NMRA competition and entered the 10-Inch-Tire Freak Show, using Mickey Thompson 275/60-15 drag radials instead of the class-standard 28x10.5 slicks. The "little" radials carried John to his first victory in ProCharger Super Street Outlaw, as well as helped John rewrite the class e.t. record books four times and establish 7.32 as the new all-time low.

If people didn't know the name "Doug Sikora" before the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl, they surely know it now, as the PSCA Outlaw 10.5 regular definitely made the most of his big adventure from Southern California to Route 66 Raceway. On Saturday, Doug scorched the 1,320 with an eye-popping 6.69 e.t. (at 206.32 mph) to snare low-qualifier honors, and in eliminations, guided his '00 Mustang GT to a final-round showdown with Dan Millen in the Pro Outlaw 10.5 category. "I was aware of the e.t. record (6.77) coming into the event, and thought we were good enough to come out and just compete," says Doug. "But when we went 0.71, and 0.69 and 0.68 after correcting the fuel problem (the team spent about six hours cleaning the fuel system on Friday night after learning that the VP Q-16 fuel Doug uses for PSCA competition is illegal in the NMRA), I was happy-a little shocked, actually. I didn't take credit for the record because Dan Millen runs this deal regularly and we won't be at any future events, but I definitely think i

EFI Renegade
Big Dan Rawls is on an event-winning roll in DiabloSport EFI Renegade. Dan's victory over Bart Tobener in the final round at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl makes his win count two in a row, as he also took top honors in the class at the Milan, Michigan, race. "We had a few problems but we stayed at it, and Steve Johnson made some great tuning calls that also helped us reset the class e.t. record with an 8.44 in the first round (of eliminations)," says Dan.

Jason Lee's string of final-round victories in 2009 came to an end at the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing, with his -0.052 red-light loss to Enzo Pecchini in the Drag Radial final. "It was Enzo's day," says Jason. "I was trying to cut down the Tree a little bit since my car was a little down on power, but he really made a great pass. I don't think I had enough to beat him anyway (if there had not been a red light), to be honest with you."

Drag Radial"It's been a long time coming," says Enzo Pecchini of his first NMRA victory in the tough BFGoodrich Tire Drag Radial class. "Drag Radial is never smooth as silk, but the car ran consistently all weekend and finally got into the 8-ohs." Enzo's clean coupe ran low-8s throughout eliminations, with the best shot coming in a third-round single (8.01) and a follow-up 8.02 against Jason Lee in the final.

EFI Renegade runner-up Bart Tobener cites tuning (changes in the launch program) and tire-pressure adjustments (added a half-pound of air) as the keys to his success at Joliet. "The best my car has ever 60-footed was 1.32, and it was below that all weekend after I made the adjustments," says Bart, who knocked off past champions Brian Mitchell and Bob Cook on his road to the final round.

Real Street
Once again, defending 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords Real Street champion Bruce Hemminger returned to action at his home race (Bruce is a Chicago-area native), and once again won the eliminator at the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing (Bruce took top honors in Real Street at the 2008 Bowl). "I had a lot of help from great sponsors, my crew, and, of course, my soon-to-be-wife, Debbie," says Bruce. In a bid to repeat as class champion, Bruce says he will continue to run all of the remaining races this season.