2009 NMRA World Finals - Final Draw

Keith Neal started of the 2009 season strong with a big win at Bradenton. He was working hard to close it out in fine fashion too. He qualified just a couple ticks behind eventual champ Dan Millen with a 6.91/200 rip. That ranking squared Keith's twin-turbo, small-block '04 Cobra against Dwayne James in Round 1. Fortunately for Keith, Dwayne was way off pace with an 11-second pass, so Keith cruised to the win. Round 2 found Keith taking on Dan "The Desert Eagle" Millen. Both racers were a bit off their qualifying pace, but Keith was quicker on the Tree and faster to the stripe for the win. Alas, the flip of the coin didn't fall his way.

Super Street Outlaw
Hellion Power Systems main man John Urist can only wish that his Giants were trying to get one for the thumb. Instead, John cemented himself in the history books as one of the most dominant racers in Mustang racing lore by taking the Bowling Green win and earning his fifth Nitto Diamond Tree ring. This season hasn't been the cakewalk of year's past, however. John had plenty of worthy challengers, and he only qualified in the fifth spot with a 7.52/194 run. However, he would find his e.t. stride in eliminations running a bracket-like string of 7.30 passes every round. While a few racers actually beat John at the Tree, his closest challenger, Don Burton, only got within 0.2. The final round was an anti-climactic race that found John running a 7.31 when he could have coasted to the stripe for another win.

EFI Renegade
Alton Clements made the switch to modular power this year, and he rode that change to a Bowling Green win and an EFI Renegade championship! The South Carolina racer relied on a little luck when Dan Rawls went out in Round 2 due to a transmission failure, which meant Alton could take the championship if he won the event. Alton utilizes a Sutton HP powerplant, but MV Performance's Tim Matherly provides technical support as well. Alton relies on Vortech power and Pro-Formance Transmissions to help get the power to the slicks. At Bowling Green, Alton ran 8.30s-8.40s on his way to the win.

Jason Lee has flown the ProCharger banner for a few years now, and now he can add a Drag Radial championship to his racing resume. Jason pretty much had the championship wrapped up coming to Bowling Green, but he wasn't going to take it easy. He didn't have his best qualifying effort, but he was able to get the car tuned up for eliminations. It was relatively smooth sailing until the final round against Sean Lyon. Sean laid down an impressive reaction time, and Jason, even though he ran an identical 7.97 pass, wasn't able to come around for the victory. However, he does have the championship to take with him into the 2010 season.

Drag Radial
Many Drag Radial racers spent quality time with the tech department at Bowling Green because of turbocharger issues. Sean Lyon even ran into problems with the turbocharger on his Drag Radial ride, but he and the Panhandle Performance crew were able to get them straightened out and repaired in time for eliminations, where Sean was pretty much unstoppable. It wouldn't be till the finals against Jason Lee that Sean would get a side-by-side drag race, but thanks to a 0.421 reaction time, Sean was able to stay out front for the win.

Making it an all-modular final round, Bob Cook drove the Sutton HP car to the final thanks to 8.50s all weekend. EFI Renegade was a fun class to watch at Bowling Green with the championship battle still being fought at the event. Bob was doing his part to play spoiler since he didn't figure into the points championship. When Bob races, he's not one to drive like Miss Daisy. He even ran a stellar 8.46 in the semis against Larry Hourcle. He needed another 8.46 or quicker to win the event over Alton Clements, but the car didn't have for the final.

Hot Street
Like EFI Renegade, Hot Street was up in the air at Bowling Green. Usually Charlie Booze Jr. is right in the thick of things, but it was a tough season for the former champ. Charlie simply dominated the race from start to finish, maybe setting the stage for another championship run in 2010. Charlie's Kuntz and Company 400ci combination ran 8.50s all weekend, and when combined with his usual work at the Tree, Charlie's hard to beat. At Bowling Green, it didn't happen.

Real Street
Early on it looked like Bruce Hemminger had come to dominate. He laid down a blistering 9.49/141 pass to set the tone in Real Street. However, it didn't really surprise anyone that Tim Matherly answered with a 9.47/144 blast to announce that he wasn't going away quietly. At least part of the reason for Tim's impressive performance is the emergence of the Trick Flow Two-Valve parts, but Tim always seems squeeze maximum performance from whatever combo he's running. That played out in eliminations, as Tim blew past Matthew Johnson in Round 1 and edged teammate Jim Breese in Round 2. It was his final-round hit against Paul Wiley that would ring throughout the off-season as he cut down the Tree and put up an astounding 9.43/145 to take the win.

Don Bowles needed some help to win the 2009 Hot Street championship. Defending champ Robbie Blankenship was the only one standing in Don's way, and Max Gross took out Robbie to pave the way for Don's championship run. It wasn't easy for him at Bowling Green. The team had to work on the car quite a bit during the event due to engine damage. Don was able to rally to make it to the final and take the championship in the process.