2012 NMRA Season Finale - Beech Bend Raceway

Jason Lee is another racer with a stranglehold on his class of choice—Drag Radial. Though he has to feel like he brings a knife to a gunfight at times, Jason uses consistency and track knowledge to his advantage. For 2011, the ProCharger stalwart battled Sean Lyon's turbo machine all year long; in the end, it came down to the tie-breaker, and that was Jason. Sean and Jason earned the same amount of points for the year but Jason attended more events, which broke the tie.

We're going to start calling Brian Mitchell "Mr. EFI Renegade." His 2011 championship is his fourth in the long-running class. Brian saved some of his best work for Bowling Green, qualifying with an 8.31 at 162 mph, then running an 8.29 against Bob Cook in the semis. However, Brian's reaction time was a bit slow, but Bob was out with a 0.420 light, and Brian couldn't catch up to Bob's 8.38. Though we're sure Brian wanted the win, he had already wrapped up the EFI Renegade championship by that point.

You want to know how to win an NMRA championship? Follow Pure Street racer Brandon Alsept's lead. The only race he didn't make it past the first round was at Bowling Green. Otherwise, he went rounds at every race, winning a few on the way. That consistency is what it takes to win a championship in every sport. Brandon uses a BES Racing-built Two-Valve with a carburetor to run bottom 10s. With Pure Street going the way of the caribou, Brandon has the distinction of being the last NMRA Pure Street champion. This class was folded into NMCA's Mod Street class, and as we type this, Brandon is busy getting his car ready for competition.

Bruce Hemminger once again sat out the fist couple races of the NMRA season and set out to make up for lost time, and points, the rest of the way. In 2010, he wasn't able to close the gap, and Tim Matherly took home the Nitto ring. For 2011, Bruce was able to make up the difference, and it didn't hurt that Tim Matherly wasn't his usual consistent self all year. Tim was going back and forth between his two cars all year, but Bruce stuck with his familiar '86 coupe, and with consistent low 9-second passes and top qualifiers along the way, he once again took the Real Street championship. With Real Street also going away, Bruce's next move is up in the air. He also crashed his tried-and-true '86 at MIR's Import versus Domestic race at the end of the year. However, you can bet the car will be ready for 2012 wherever he chooses to race.

Pro Outlaw 10.5 Mike Murillo had his Pro Outlaw 10.5 car running on rails at Bowling Green. He was consistently in the 6-second range each pass, and that's what he needed to do in order to not only win the race, but win the Pro Outlaw 10.5 championship. It was down to Mike against Tim Essick for the championship, and Tim wasn't going down without a fight. Mike set the record at Bowling Green, which helped his championship points chances, but Tim was going rounds, too. It would come down to the final round. Mike was able to make another 6-second pass, while Tim would struggle, giving Mike the win and championship.

Super Street Outlaw Looking to take advantage of the cool Bowling Green weather, John Urist's ProCharger-motivated coupe flirted with the 6-second zone every pass. Chris Tuten was hot on his heels with his own 7.0s, and there were several other SSO racers taking advantage of the cool temps to run career bests. However, John didn't win six championships on sheer luck, he worked for them. He had to do the same for his seventh championship, which he had to earn at Bowling Green by running consistent 7.0s to win the race over Terry Elam in the final.

Drag Radial Sean Lyon had to be careful at Bowling Green. With the cooler temps and outstanding track surface, he had to keep from running in the 7.40s since his coupe is only 7.50-second legal. He could probably get away with a single 7.40 pass, but that would probably be it. Panhandle Performance's Mark Biddle, Sean's tuner, probably had the 7.50 tune-up in the car all weekend, although a 7.47 did slip out in Round 1 against Orson Johnson. Sean and Mark were able to keep the car out of the 7.40s the rest of the race, but 7.50s were enough to get past class champion Jason Lee in the final.

EFI Renegade Whatever race Bob Cook shows up at, he is a threat to win. It seems you can't count him out, and you know he's going to have a stellar reaction time. Like in every other class, EFI Renegade racers were going quicker and faster at Bowling Green than they had all year. Bob and Brian Mitchell recorded the quickest side-by-side pass in EFI Renegade history with an 8.389 for Bob and an 8.292 for Brian. Even though Brian was almost a tenth quicker, Bob came out swingin' with a 0.420 light compared to Brian's 0.529 reaction time. The difference in reaction times was enough to keep Bob out front for the round win. In the final, Bob was able to put a couple tenths on Joel Howard and his spotless '86 GT, which was hurt by the time the finals came around.

Hot Street Though Hot Street racers don't have a power adder to help take advantage of the cool air, they were also running quicker and faster than they had all year. The championship was up for grabs with Charlie Booze coming into the event with an ever-so slight lead over Robbie Blankenship. Charlie was able to take the top qualified spot, but the championship would come down to whoever won the race between the two. Though every round was close, Charlie and Robbie would do battle at the end. Even though Charlie chopped down the Tree, Robbie was able to make up the difference at the top end to take the win and the championship.

Real Street Our boy Jay Meagher had been in a retirement of sorts from racing trying to grow his Real Street Performance. He had John O'Brien's coupe in the garage, and he had the engine combination as well. He just never was able to put together time and money to make a race. Plus, an extended vacation took up most of his summer, but when he returned he was ready to make a comeback, and boy did he ever! Though his first pass down the track didn't look great, he made adjustments. Still, he didn't have the quickest car in competition. However, what he did have was consistency. He ran in the 9.40s all of Sunday, which was enough to get past a struggling Tim Matherly in Round 1, Bruce Hemminger in Round 2, and Jim Breese in the final. Way to go, Jay.

Pure Street Pure Street racers were seeing red at Bowling Green thanks to several redlights during Sunday's eliminations. Shawn Johnson set himself up to take advantage right off the bat by securing the Number 1 qualifying position with a stellar 9.98. Once the redlights started, Shawn simply ran his race each round. Shawn hovered around the 10.0 range all weekend, and a couple opponents knew they would have to take a shot at the Tree to get the round win. Of course, none were successful, allowing Shawn to finish the year on a high note.

Factory Stock Brian Campbell had himself quite the race weekend at Bowling Green. First off, he won the Columbus race, which was finished at Bowling Green. Then in a shootout set up by Louis Sylvester Sr. for the Top Eight Factory Stock racers, Brian won that, too. Then he finished off the weekend by winning the World Finals, as well. Brian really had the car hooking hard at Beech Bend Raceway, which is the name of the game in Factory Stock. Races are won and lost at the starting line in Factory Stock, and Brian had it all figured out.

Terminator/GT500 Shootout An added attraction for race fans at Beech Bend Raceway was the event's Terminator/GT500 shootout. Though there were many quick cars within the class, Joe Logan's Vortech Xi-Trim-supercharged '04 Cobra handled his business. Joe's car was simply ridiculous, running 8.20s seemingly every pass to take the class' inaugural win.

Mod Muscle Though Reggie Burnette Jr. won the war, Randy Mounce won the battle of Beech Bend Raceway for 2011, but it wasn't for lack of trying on Reggie's part, since the two did battle it out in the final round. All the Mod Muscle heavy-hitters were in attendance, but class competitors also seemed to have itchy trigger fingers because there were several redlights, including Reggie in the final, giving Randy the win.

Super 'Stang BMR Suspension's Allan Miller had a really good year in the Super 'Stang class, and he finished it off with a win and class championship. Allan steadily worked on his reaction times this year, and his '11 GT cooperated with times right on his 11.94 index. In the final, it was Allan's '11 GT against George Dockery's '11 GT, but Allan's 0.550 reaction time pretty much sealed the win right off the bat when George slept in with a 0.731 light.