ProCharger celebrates a major milestone in NHRA history with a first ever centrifugal win, on Sunday, April 9th at the Division 2 LODRS at Valdosta, GA. Teammates Jeff Taylor and Bo Butner of Indiana squared off in the Competition Eliminator final, after carving through a field of 22 cars. Bo’s ProCharger equipped class AA/SM 2005 Chevy Cavalier took top honors with a 8.056 E.T., after Jeff, in a class H/SMA 2005 Grand Am, jumped out a little too early. Congratulations Bo!

The NMRA’s Pro 5.0 class, it’s quickest and fastest, had a great turnout of 14 cars at Bradenton. 3 time Class champion Don Walsh, Jr. showed everyone why he has been the class champ. Even with new restrictions and weight penalties, ProCharger’s consistent performance and Don’s consistent driving skill combined into an unstoppable force. After qualifying #2, Don knocked off one 6.70 after another, taking the win with a 6.702 @ 205.66. In Real Street, 2 time champion Tim Matherly both qualified and finished in the runner-up spot, posting a best run of 10.126 @ 132.02.

In Bradenton Drag Radial action, ProCharger performance set the pace with lowest E.T. numbers in every round. And the number was eight – eight seconds, that is. 14 of the 16 cars qualified in the eights in a competitive field, with 3 of the top 4 qualifiers ProCharger equipped. Eric Laferriere led the pack at qualifying with a smoking 8.181 @ 170.42 mph run (setting a new NMRA E.T. record in the process), but lost in the second round when John Kolivas pulled a holeshot on Eric, who was absolutely no slouch off the line himself! John’s .015 kick at the light was just barely enough to offset Eric’s quicker time. Congratulations Eric on the new record, and to Mauro Vitale for his DR runner up status with a best run during eliminations of 8.249 @ 169.97!

At the NMRA Ford Nationals in Reynolds, GA, Super Street Outlaw had some incredibly exciting racing, with John Urist posting a eyeball bulging 196 mph qualifying run that no one believed (OK, who spiked that clock?), until he did it again in eliminations! The final race with Urist against Sam Vincent was decided by .003 seconds (!) with John now second in points. Also in SSO, Zach Posey qualified in the #1 position with a 7.532 blast, also in a nearly 3,200 lb car!

Martin Ochs has built the worlds fastest Mercury Marauder, using a ProCharger F-1R running at 21 psi. He recently ran a 10.637 @ 129.75 at Atlanta with his big black Merc. His car currently DynoJets at 597.38 horses and 461.45 ft. lb of torque. ProCharger also powers the world’s fastest blown 3 valve Mustang, 5.0 Mustang, Pontiac GTO, and the fastest pump gas car ever, a F-2 powered Chevy Nova, among many, many other records.

John Urist ran all over the Super Street class, running a 7.56 at just under 190 mph. He accomplished the win in NMRA trim, with extra weight and smaller tires than allowed. Amazingly, John was only 3/10 off the pace of the “W” tire cars all weekend, even though he ran 200-400 pounds heavier than these cars.

At the April 7-9, 2006 NMCA Hot Rod and Muscle Car Nationals at Bradenton, Florida, 2005 NMRA Street Race Champion and record holder Mike Dezotell made the long drive down from Seekonk, Massachusetts and blazed through Street Race. After qualifying 4th at 9.73, he snapped out a couple of 9.3s to intimidate the competition during eliminations. In the final, he was up against Stephen Carroll in the battle of the Mustangs. “Dez” got out first and held on for the win with a 9.474 @ 146.48 to Carroll’s 9.66.

In the Drag Radial class at Atlanta, Phil Clemmons jumped in a borrowed car with a straight up ProCharger F-2 and ripped through the field, qualifying number one and never looking back, dipping into the 7’s at one point, before winning with a 8.477. Way to go Phil! After dominating NMRA Drag Radial, Phil looks like he is set to tear through Fun Ford as well. We continue to wish him tremendous success. In Street Renegade, class record holder and F-2 racer Dan Schoneck qualified in the number one position with a 7.888 and finished in the runner up position.

Don Walsh, Jr. and his new ProCharger F-3 once again pushed the envelope in Fun Ford action at Atlanta, by setting the quickest and fastest pass ever for a true 5.0 blower equipped Mustang with a rip snorting 6.43 @ 217 mph. The only one faster, at 224 mph, was running unrestricted twin turbos, a manual transmission and a larger displacement engine. Keep in mind that Don’s car runs zoomies and a 3 speed with converter, so he is giving up anywhere from 6-9 mph with this configuration. Don had an incredibly strong performance considering he only had a total of 4 runs with the new blower, just getting nicked by 2 thousandths in the second round by IHRA National Champ John Nobile. Congratulations to Donnie for the milestone in putting HUGE power to the ground and for getting the car switched over so quickly in between a busy race schedule.

In Drag Radial at Reynolds, many ProCharger cars went up in tire smoke, but Chad Doyle with his F-1R was 3 mph faster than the Vortech racers (MPH=HP). Several other ProCharger cars also outran the Vortechs, and had low E.T. for several elimination rounds as well. Vortech is already claiming that they have this years Drag Radial championship in the bag. Unfortunately for their desperate wishing, at this point ProCharger equipped Mauro Vitale is currently in the #2 spot in points, with the Vortech racers WAY down the list. Give it up guys!

Jay Mingolelli set the pace in EFI Renegade at Reynolds with a blistering 8.648 @ 163.61 mph qualifier, beating everyone else’s time by a tenth. Now that’s kicking it up a notch. This guy is definitely one to keep an eye on, as he continues to raise the bar, after last year becoming the first modular Renegade racer into the 8’s. Congrats Jay!

Speaking of Drag Radial, ProCharger competitor Vortech’s new top of the line V-24 race blower made its debut at Bradenton, but quickly got muscled aside in the second round. Not a good result after 7 years (!) of development time, especially so after losing to a ProCharger standard STREET blower. Kinda makes you question those wild 2,000+ H.P. claims.