The eleventh season of the NMRA Keystone Automotive Ford Nationals is set to kick off this coming Friday, March 6th, 2009, and run through Sunday March 9th at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida.  With twelve competition classes taking the track in addition to the Spring Break Shootout class presented by Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords Magazineand Tremec True Street, plus three separate bracket-racing categories, a car show, swap meet, and more, the stage is set for one hell of an exciting weekend of racing.
The eleventh season of the NMRA Keystone Automotive Ford Nationals is set to kick off this coming Friday, March 6th, 2009, and run through Sunday March 9th at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida.  With twelve competition classes taking the track in addition to the Spring Break Shootout class presented by Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords Magazineand Tremec True Street, plus three separate bracket-racing categories, a car show, swap meet, and more, the stage is set for one hell of an exciting weekend of racing.

Last season, Turbonetics stepped up to sponsor the NMRA’s Pro Outlaw 10.5 class, and the racers in the class decided to make it worth their while.  Conrad Scarry and Dan Millen battled all season long, with Scarry coming out as the champion in his first season racing with the NMRA.  There are a few racers that will be debuting new rides, others who have spent the long offseason revamping their own programs, and a pack of racers that are chomping at the bit to get back on the track.  Preseason testing has yielded excellent results for a few of the heavy hitters, Jerry Morgano, Scarry, and Mike Murillo included.  Expect to see 6.60’s and big MPH all weekend long.

The ProCharger Super Street Outlaw class is coming off an exciting Tenth Anniversary season that saw legendary SSO racer John Urist crowned as the NMRA’s first four-time champion.  With offseason rules changes that are sure to shuffle the deck in the Super Street Outlaw class, along with rumors of new cars to debut and past racers returning to action, Super Street Outlaw is sure to please anyone who is a fan of this insane class.

Another class that’s sure to please the fans is the wild BFGoodrich Tires Drag Radial class.  Offseason rules changes have set the class on its ear, and the racers scrambled all winter to get their cars lined out to meet the new rules.  Last season saw three-time champion John Kolivas make his farewell tour, leaving the door open for longtime Drag Radial racers like Bob Kurgan and Jason Lee to take over the reins in this traction-challenged group.

DiabloSport’s EFI Renegade class is home to perhaps the NMRA’s largest contingent of heads-up racers, but nowhere will you find a group of guys ready to smack-talk each other both on and off the track.  With elapsed times dipping into the low 8.40’s towards the end of 2008 from nitrous-powered racers Dan Rawls and Brian Tuten, another winter of power-searching is sure to advance this class yet another step up in 2009. 

With a new sponsor on board, the Eibach Springs Pure Street class is sure to please this year.  Last year’s champion, Brandon Alsept, spent the offseason completely reworking his car and powerplant in an effort to find even more power with which to dominate the competition on the track.  But his fellow competitors won’t lay down for him; they’ve been working hard to find that extra little bit they’ll need on race day.  There will be new cars debuting in this class as well. 

Live results will be provided on the Web all weekend long on the NMRA’s Live Timing system at www.1320go.com/nmra.  If you’re a fan of Ford drag racing, Ford show cars, or just drag racing and show cars in general, stop on out at Bradenton Motorsports Park this weekend and catch some wheelstanding action and beautiful show cars!