Thursday Coverage: NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival

Sep 28, 2023

Despite today’s damp conditions, the race trailers wound through the scenic entry road leading to the historic Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, setting the stage for the season finale. The Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Scott’s Trailer Sales Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival caps off the 25th Anniversary of the series in grand fashion, with everything from championship drag racing and drifting to off-road action and a massive car show.

Though today’s test ’n tune sessions were sidelined, the rest of the show will go on, and the good news is you still have time to make it out to the Ford event of the year.

As the weekend rolls on, fans will experience specialty classes, including the debut of Street Bandit 10.10 presented by Whatever It Takes Transmission Parts, a new index class geared toward quick street machines that will blossom into a full-schedule championship class next season. In addition, the massive Circle D Specialties True Street field running on Saturday will spawn two special events on Sunday with the eight quickest rides battling in Mickey Thompson King of The Street Shootout and the eight quickest manual-transmission racers squaring off in the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout.

Of course, we are already looking forward to jumping back to the future with the radically nostalgic Retro Meet, which will take place on the Beech Bend oval after the corner-carving autocross, bodacious burnout contest, and tire-slaying drifting action comes to a close on Saturday night. Capping off a day of Ford fun with a trip back to the ’80s and early ’90s will make you feel like a kid again.

But before that happens, qualifying action kicks off tomorrow, and eliminations begin on Saturday, which will decide the season champions and racer’s placement in the coveted Top 10 for the 2023 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals season standing. Stay tuned to this page and our social media for updates throughout the weekend from the Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Scott's Trailer Sales Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

In time for the final race of the season, Whatever It Takes Transmission Parts Limited Street Kevin McMullen was determined to bring his latest SN-95 race car out to the Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Scott's Trailer Sales Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival. Stepping up from the Coyote Stock ranks, where his former competitors still support him, McMullen turned to Donathen Racing to build a flyweight race car that can tip the scales as light as 2,175 pounds without him in it. Powered by a naturally aspirated, 339-cube Coyote based on a Voodoo block and heads, it was built from a shell and McMullen only received the engine from MPR Racing Engines two weeks ago, so he thrashed to get the car up and running. Fellow racer Samantha Moore of Vector Motorsports tuned it up, but his only testing on the car is driving it to tech. He says it is tuned down so he can work out the bugs, but McMullen would be thrilled to run an 8.99 this weekend.

Nate Stymiest (left) sold his Coyote Stocker to NMCA Factory Super Cars stalwart Tripp Carter, who is having an absolute blast campaigning the high-flying Fox in NMRA competition. Stymiest is still teaching him the ropes of reading the car’s data, but Carter says he still has to get better, but he is loving the challenge. He loves running the car so much that he barely touched his famed ChickenMan Cobra Jet at the last dual event.

Since the last race in Michigan, Keith Ciborowski only washed his car and parked it in the garage, so he is happy with how it is running, and the ability to stick with the same turbo all season has helped with consistency. Though he got a late start racing this season because he was busy working on other projects, Ciborowski thinks he has a shot at moving up in the points standings if things go his way in VP Racing Madditives Renegade at Beech Bend Raceway this weekend.

Tim Donathen tweaked his Coyote Stock Fairmount wagon in advance of the Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Scott’s Trailer Sales Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival. He had a smaller rear tire and shored up the alignment in the hopes of getting the launches more controlled and car's speed a bit higher. It’s the off-season where he has bigger plans including a fresh paint job and lighter bumpers built at his Donathen Racing shop. He also plans to add a cowl hood to help evacuate under-car air for improved aero, and he picked up a 3D printer to create custom inlet tubes for his car and customer cars.

From drag racing and drifting to off-road action and beautiful car shows, the Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals Presented by Scott’s Trailer Sales Featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival has plenty to see. However, when it comes to photo ops, it’s tough to beat a backdrop like BIGFOOT, which is on the property this weekend.

TREMEC All-Female True Street Class Returns in Bowling Green

Following a successful run at the NMRA events in Orlando and Norwalk, the popular TREMEC All-Female True Street Shootout will return during this weekend’s Whipple Superchargers NMRA World Finals at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky.

The TREMEC All-Female Shootout provided female Mustang and Ford owners an opportunity to get on track and compete for cash and awards in an easy-to-run format, where it takes only three runs to win. True Street has long been a staple of NMRA competition, as it allows for any Ford, Lincoln or Mercury and any skill level. In True Street, drivers are racing against the clock, as their three-run average is used to determine a final score. Drivers also get plenty of time runs, too, so they can practice. All-Female True Street, along with all the specialty classes, will receive extensive coverage here on NMRAdigital.com and in Fastest Street Car magazine.

There are awards for the quickest overall average and runner-up, and also for those drivers closest to elapsed time breaks from 9.00 to 15.00 seconds.

The last time the All-Female class raced in Norwalk, there were a record 34 entries and they were led by Gabby Lujan in her Miami-based ’90 Mustang GT with an 8.56 best and a solid 9.28 average. The field also included NMRA regulars such as Jamie Flora, Autumn Schwalbe, Jenn Fahey, and Elaine Moistner, who won the 15-second class.

The rain overnight and this morning did not dampen the excitement for the final NMRA race of the 2023 season. Once the gates opened, the racing rigs lined Beech Bend Raceway’s picturesque entry road as resilient racers prepare for tomorrow’s on-track action.

NMRA