SANTA ANA, Calif. -- Route 66 Raceway is quite possibly the nicest drag strip in the world, which is part of the reason that the NMRA racers were getting excited for the 2004 event since even before the beginning of the season. Unlike last year, the weather was perfect, and as predicted the crowd was huge. Route 66’s crack track staff had the surface hooking so hard that nearly every pass resulted in a big wheelstand, broken parts, or a new record!

The ProCharger Pro 5.0 class almost lost its 2003 class champion when Don Walsh Jr. decided to take a year off, but Walsh came back out to race at the Kansas City NMRA event, and won Pro 5.0 with Phil Pickering’s machine. Walsh and Pickering were back at Route 66, and once again won, taking out Michael Hauf in the final with a brutal 6.656 at 207 mph to Hauf’s 6.833 at 203. That makes it two in a row for Walsh, who is in a points battle with semifinalist Vic Williams.

MSD Super Street Outlaw once again had the fans on their feet, with 20 high-horsepower, small-tire machines running ridiculously quick elapsed times. The semifinal pairing of Sam Vincent and defending champion John Urist delivered the closest race ever in the history of the NMRA, and perhaps organized drag racing in general. Vincent won by a margin of only .0001 seconds. That’s one-ten-thousandth of a second! That victory propelled Vincent to the final round to face Jim Blair, who had earlier stunned the crowd with the quickest pass in class history; a 7.508 at 186mph. In the final, Vincent once again got the holeshot and looked like he had it, but the extra power he dialed into the engine overcame the tires at mid-track, and that allowed Blair to get past him for the win with a 7.57 at 188. Honorable mention goes out to Zack Posey who ran top mph of the event, at 189mph.

ProCharger EFI Renegade was another class that saw its record book thrown out the window. Brian Mitchell did the deed, running as quick as 8.658 at 159mph. Bob Cook, winner of the Columbus race, was the number one qualifier with an 8.66 of his own, but the final round came down to Mitchell versus Chad Allmandinger’s ’80 Capri. Allmandinger had a relatively easy time in the first two rounds, then got lucky with two singles into the final. Unfortunately, that’s where his luck ran out, and breakage kept him from giving Mitchell a fight for the title.

Edelbrock Hot Street continues to be all about the Booze Brothers, and Charlie and brother Brian, along with crew chief Matt Wirt, scored their sixth straight win in NMRA competition. Booze has also been the number one qualifier at all six races, as he is on his way to accomplishing something that has never been done in the NMRA before: a perfect season. Booze took out first time finalist Andy Schmidt in the final round, when Schmidt left just a tick too early.

The points aren’t tallied yet, but the BFGoodrich Drag Radial championship looks to be a lock, with Phil Clemmons winning the Route 66 event, his fourth of the year. Clemmons was looking to reset the record with passes in the 8.20s, and though he wasn’t quite that quick, he still did the deed with an 8.354 at 170. In the final, Clemmons faced Procopio “Cope” Cusamano, and Clemmons won with an 8.46 to Cope’s 8.897.

The 5.0 Mustang Real Street class saw Craig Baldwin take his second straight victory. The final round was set to be a barn-burner with Baldwin (who won the previous race, at Kansas City) taking on points leader Tim Matherly. But it was an anticlimactic race, when Matherly announced that he had blown a head gasket, giving Baldwin a single to the victory.

Tremec Pure Street has seen Rich Groh and Gene Hindman in the final round at most of the races this year. Groh made it to the final at Route 66, but this time he faced Darin Hendricks, the 2003 class champion. Groh had run as good as 10.49 at 127mph, but Hendricks was also stepping up his performances all weekend. But Rich Groh made it to the winner’s circle again, winning with a 10.49 at a thundering 130mph to Hendricks’ 10.64 at 124.

BFGoodrich Factory Stock continues to be dominated by overhead cam power, as 4-valve Cobra engines have powered all the winners so far in 2004. Bob Cosby won the first two races and the fifth, while Shawn Johnson won the events in Ohio and Pennsylvania. At Route 66, Cosby set the low ET (11.489) while Johnson set top MPH (116.92). Cosby faced pushrod representative John Leslie Jr. in the final, marking the first NMRA final round for Leslie. Leslie did his job and got a big holeshot, but couldn’t hang with Cosby’s Cobra on the top-end. Cosby won with an 11.467 at 116 to Leslie’s 11.998 at 111.

Vortech Modular Muscle had 30 cars entered, and the finalists were two of the most experienced racers in the class; Robert Hindman and Roxanne Shepard. Hindman and his back-half Mustang got to leave first, and when he got the light and cut a .041-second reaction time, Roxanne went for the trans brake, and it didn’t work. That pushed her through the lights, disqualifying her and giving the win to “Mr. Modular,” Robert Hindman.

Johnny “Lightning” Wiker is having a career year, with several NMRA wins and dual wins at the World Ford Challenge. He made it back to the winner’s circle at Route 66 by taking out the defending champion, Mark Morales, in the final round.

Toyo Tires Open Comp had a huge field of 41 cars entered, led by the 9-second ’65 Fairlane of Speedy Petey Ricart. The final came down to Milton Grow’s beautiful ’78 Fairmont taking on John Morris’s 2002 Mustang cop car, and Grow got the leave with an .043-second reaction time and ran a 10.634 on his 10.59 index to take the win over Morris’s 9-second paddy wagon.

The Superchips Bracket classes were very competitive at Route 66, and Pro Ford had a repeat winner in Rich Kent. Kent’s alcohol-drinking Pinto took out Bill Lueck’s way-cool ’66 Cobra in the final. Superchips Super Ford was won by Wayne Grabowski’s ’92 Mustang (Duane Grow’s Maverick runner-upped) and Superchips Street Ford saw Mark Gheer’s first-gen Lightning beat Anthony Vinardi’s Fairmont.

Hedman Hedders Wild Street saw Tim Huspen crowned King of Illinois with a 9.591-second average from his mid-‘80s Mustang. Brian Russell’s 10.75 made him the runner-up, while Paul Stahulak, Eric Lozowski, Tony Serno and Carole Lissy won the 11- through 15-second brackets, respectively (there was no 14-second bracket winner).

The SLP Burnout Contest was won by Kevin Hart of Plainfield, IL, while the Runner-up was Bloomington’s Doug Laning. The UPR Top Qualifier Awards once again went to Don Walsh (ProCharger Pro 5.0) and Jim Blair (MSD Super Street Outlaw), and the Best of Show winner was Rey Perez’s ’65 Mustang GT 350.

Next up is the 4th Annual NMRA Ford Nationals at Atco Raceway, in Atco, NJ, on August 13-15, 2004. This one is always a good race at a really fun track, so make sure to attend.