All the previous Grove No Prep event classes were contested at the Ice Breaker No Prep, Big Tire, Small Tire, Stick Shift, Street. These groups were run heads up first to the finish, with an instant green start off the tree. Early morning participation may have kept some racers home, but each class had solid representation. The lightest turnout was Big Tire but local racer Chuck Schultz was the winner with his big-inch powered second-gen Camaro, shod with battle scars and cut of roof. It’s a nasty piece.  Ross Okun rowed the gears to a victory in the Stick Shift class, which is appears to be one of the fasting growing categories at these deals. Long live the hand mixers! 

The Street class was huge and after a mandatory street cruise, and several rounds later Joey Allen and Matthew Manton, Jr. split the purse with the sun dropping almost as fast as the February temperatures. Small Tire is traditionally the largest contingent of racers at the Grove No Preps, and the 2024 Ice Breaker was no different and again, at the end of the day the cash was split between Wesley Skinner and Tommy Kolankiewicz in their Fox Bodies. 

The Ice Breaker race this time had a bracket racing class, called Daily Driver, complete with buybacks! To no one’s surprise, the bracket racers showed up big time, filling four lanes of the Maple Groves ample staging area! With a 15.00 second et cutoff for the 1/8th mile, most competitors left the real race cars at home and jumped in their daily driver or the tow rig. Even with the slower racing, the competition was nonetheless fierce. I saw several .00 lights and tight winning packages from the bracket racers chomping at the bit for a hit of the tree! Two veteran bracket racers waded through the tough field to the final, where Nikki Adams bested Martin Flegal to the win. 

With the regular race season starting in a few weeks, the No Preps are on hold…for now. If you can’t wait for the next one the traveling circus known as No Prep Kings will be kicking off their season at Maple Grove Raceway, hit up the track website for more info and tickets. See you at the Drags!

https://www.maplegroveraceway.com/monthly-race-schedule/

https://www.platinumroofingandrenovations.com/

The post 2024 ICE BREAKER NO PREP PHOTOS: JOE GRIPPO HAS SENT IN ALL KINDS OF ACTION SHOTS AND VIDEO FROM MAPLE GROVE RACEWAY! appeared first on BangShift.com.

That means multiple galleries over multiple days, so keep coming back to check them all out here.

I’ve raced and announced a fair amount in the state of Florida and can tell you that the fans there are awesome. And boy did they get a great show at the 2024 Gators. Everyone that goes always comments on how fun the crowd is there and they aren’t kidding. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as they loved the live action.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE OTHER GALLERIES FROM THE GATORS

The post Our 2024 Gator Nationals Photos Continue With An All New Gallery From Rich Pasley. The People, Cars, Action, And More You Dig. appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Photos by David Whealon) – NHRA Drag Racing at the Gatornationals was off the hook yet again in 2024! We’re talking huge crowds, great racing, and a good time had by all! This is the start of a whole new year of NHRA Drag Racing and we know this season is going to be something special. We’ve got great nitro action photos from Gainesville thanks to longtime contributor David Whealon. David was in Florida shooting all kinds of fun stuff at the Gatornationals and sent us a whole bunch of his favorites.

That means multiple galleries over multiple days, so keep coming back to check them all out here.

I’ve raced and announced a fair amount in the state of Florida and can tell you that the fans there are awesome. And boy did they get a great show at the 2024 Gators. Everyone that goes always comments on how fun the crowd is there and they aren’t kidding. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as they loved the live action.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST GALLERY!

The post Our Final David Whealon NHRA GatorNationals Photo Gallery! Great Action Pics Of Top Fuel, Funny Cars, Pro Mods, And More Plus Links To All The Rest! appeared first on BangShift.com.

The points are handed out before the field is split into classes, so overall field size and talent depth are both important factors. That can often make early season stops and those in geographically remote locations like Portland or Sebring offer more potential for big points, than the sold-out events with stacked fields that will come later in the year. With a second stop at Thunderhill now in the books, the points battle is beginning to take shape across all the classes in the series. Even though these cars could be separated by thousands of miles and may not face off in the regular season, many tight battles are already emerging.

Duke Langley’s ’02 Corvette has been dominant in the Nine Lives Racing Lucky 7 Outlaw Class, but he always seems to be waging a battle with his car, to keep it on track. Langely lost the battle at Thunderhill and couldn’t even make the start, which now puts Danny Weller’s Camaro and Jamie Elliott’s Corvette in a tie for first place in the class with 399 out of 400 points at the first two events. Langley can still get around them, but it will probably take at least one perfect weekend for him to do it and the longer he waits and the more points they gather, the tougher that task will get.

In the Speedtech GTV Class, Ryan Breezee’s first place finish at Thunderhill only placed him third overall in the season-long points chase, while the Camaros of Chris Smith and Larry Woo hold onto the top two spots from their runs at Sebring. Breezee is only signed up for one more event this season at Weathertech Raceway Laguna Seca and it will take a 490-point run there for him to pass Smitty for the lead in points…if Smitty does no better than 472 points in his remaining three events.

Breezee won the GTV Class at Laguna Seca in 2023, but a sold-out field with lots of competitive cars limits points opportunities and Breezee was able to win the class there with 462 points. He may win again at Laguna Seca this season, but if he wants to get around Smitty to win the class championship, he’ll probably need to find his way to Portland.

A transfer case failure caused defending No-Limit Engineering GTT Class champion, Stephen Dorrick, to stumble badly out of the gates at Sebring. He still managed to win the class, but only posted 405 points, which now leaves him fourth after three trucks passed him at Thunderhill. David Carroll’s 41-point lead is not insurmountable, but if Carroll or Dustin Reed do well at Portland, Dorrick may need all three of his remaining events to catch either one of them.

In the After Dark Speed GTS Class, Bob Sobey’s Nissan GT-R posted a 13-point win over Jordan Priestley’s Model 3 at Thunderhill. The two are scheduled to square off again at Laguna Seca and if Sobey posts another win, it would make it hard for Priestley or anyone else to catch him. Priestley will have at least one more shot to do it at Road America and a run at Portland could make things very interesting. If Priestley were to move into the lead after Portland, that would force Sobey to travel from Arizona to the Virginias to try to reel him back in at one of the last stops of the season.

The tightest races can be found in the Lingenfelter GTL Class and the Viking Performance GT Class, where the point differential between first and second is two and one point, respectively. Both of those classes also look to be at least four-horse races. Ryan Mathews’ Corvette holds a two-point lead over Lane Farka’s Porsche GT3, but Mike Rovere and CB Ramey haven’t run any events yet this season. In the GT Class, Matt Ramirez’s Mustang holds a one-point lead over defending class champion, Dave Schotz, who is one point ahead of Austin Barnes’ Mustang, while Jonathan Blevins will wait until the final two events to try and take back the GT class title.

Compelling battles can be found at every stop in this series, so if one of these events comes to a track near you, don’t miss out on your chance to see these incredible machines in person. Learn how you can drive among them at www.DriveOPTIMA.com 

The post Ultimate Street Cars at Thunderhill: Round Two of the Ultimate Street Car heads to Northern California appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Photos by David Whealon) – NHRA Drag Racing at the Gatornationals was off the hook yet again in 2024! We’re talking huge crowds, great racing, and a good time had by all! This is the start of a whole new year of NHRA Drag Racing and we know this season is going to be something special. We’ve got great nitro action photos from Gainesville thanks to longtime contributor David Whealon. David was in Florida shooting all kinds of fun stuff at the Gatornationals and sent us a whole bunch of his favorites.

That means multiple galleries over multiple days, so keep coming back to check them all out here.

I’ve raced and announced a fair amount in the state of Florida and can tell you that the fans there are awesome. And boy did they get a great show at the 2024 Gators. Everyone that goes always comments on how fun the crowd is there and they aren’t kidding. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as they loved the live action.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST GALLERY!

The post Our 2024 NHRA GatorNationals Action Photos Continue: Whealon Outdid Himself Getting Us All The Action Shots Right Here! appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Photos by David Whealon) – NHRA Drag Racing at the Gatornationals was off the hook yet again in 2024! We’re talking huge crowds, great racing, and a good time had by all! This is the start of a whole new year of NHRA Drag Racing and we know this season is going to be something special. We’ve got great nitro action photos from Gainesville thanks to longtime contributor David Whealon. David was in Florida shooting all kinds of fun stuff at the Gatornationals and sent us a whole bunch of his favorites.

That means multiple galleries over multiple days, so keep coming back to check them all out here.

I’ve raced and announced a fair amount in the state of Florida and can tell you that the fans there are awesome. And boy did they get a great show at the 2024 Gators. Everyone that goes always comments on how fun the crowd is there and they aren’t kidding. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as they loved the live action.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST GALLERY!

The post More 2024 NHRA GatorNationals Action Photos: David Whealon Brought Us All The Action, And The Shots Start Here! appeared first on BangShift.com.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS JOE GRIPPO GALLERIES 

Walking into Blair’s is like stepping back into time. Don’t expect a spotless, sanitary white glove environment, this is a hardcore speed shop with oil-stained floors, with boxes and parts everywhere. Various engine builds are lined up and waiting to be paid for and picked up.  We spied a FE Ford ready to rumble on the run stand, a few 351 Cleveland’s and of course a few big and small block Chevys. The walls are lined with chrome do-dads and serious race equipment. Looking deeper we see lots of cool hand lettered sings, and vintage awards and photos from years of Drag Strip activities. Heading to the back rooms we find the well-used machine shop, fully equipped with mills, lathes and other heavy machinery needed to crank out high performance engines. Check out the inventory of cylinder heads, cranks and blocks waiting to roar again. After showing up unannounced, Phil gave us free reign to wander around the entire shop and shoot some photos. It was a great experience chatting with Phil about the old days and hearing a few war stories of all the past names and personalities that have passed through Blair’s over the years. We bought a few t-shirts, thanked Phil for the hospitality and headed out. This experience got me wistfully thinking about my local shop, K&G Speed Associates that closed a few years ago. These remaining speed emporiums need our support, so, when possible, buy local when you can, long live Blair’s Speed Shop!

Our next destination was another Southern California staple of hot rodding, Mooneyes Equipment in Santa Fe Springs. The Moon name and logo is ubiquitous in land speed, drag racing, and all facets of the automotive hobby. From fuel blocks, tanks, and wheel discs to custom accessories for motorcycles, VWs, and trucks Moon Equipment has what you need to add the finishing touch to your ride. I personally have a silver Moon metalflake steering wheel on my race car! The Santa Fe Springs location is part retail store, part shipping warehouse and part fab shop, and part museum. The store is great with so much cool stuff in every square corner. Check out the Ed Roth scale model diorama featuring all Big Daddy’s creations, an amazing amount of detail work is in there. Exiting through the gift shop leads to another room that takes you back in time. Check out the huge display case and shelves full of vintage speed parts and insanely cool artifacts from the history of Mooneyes. And upon turning around, there sits Dean Moon’s personal ’34 hot rod with wire wheels, bobbed fenders, and glowing yellow paint. Adjacent to the roadster is a perfect recreation of the old Mooneyes Dragmaster rail job, complete with a gorgeous Potvin blown little Chevy mill. The dragster was rolled out into the bright sunshine and was simply stunning. The back area of the Moon complex is the shipping and receiving section, nothing too exciting, unless you know the story of Carroll Shelby coming to Moon in 1962 with the idea of building his own sports car. I was standing right where it happened. The lore goes something like Shelby, ever the promoter, was telling all the magazines he had multiple Cobras ready to road test, when he had only one! So right there in in the Moon shop that single Cobra was painted numerous times for the car mag scribes to drive and report on, giving the illusion of a fleet of cars ready to be sold. Wild stuff!

Across the parking lot is the fab shop. Moon tanks and wheel discs are spun, welded and hand finished right there on site. Once again, the laid-back Moon staff gave us carte blanche and we wondered around trying not to bother the dudes actually working. We checked out the machines, tooling, welders and all the other stuff utilized to produce these iconic speed parts. Hanging from the rafters was another complete Dragmaster chassis, and a bitchin’ ‘glass Anglia gasser front end hung on back wall. A few Bonneville and El Mirage running Streamliners with Moon livery were being maintained in house, as well. So much neat eye candy was everywhere.
To paraphrase Ice Cube, “…Today was a good day”.

CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS JOE GRIPPO GALLERIES 

Us BangShifter’s need to support these places, as they are truly hallowed ground for us hot rodders, we ended the trip by grabbing a few more t-shirts. I went with the classic black and white Mooneyes tee in double fat!

Join the Blair’s Speed Shop Facebook group to check the history:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1460627117571926

And buy something cool from Mooneye Equipment:
https://www.mooneyesusa.com/

The post An East Coasters Tour Of So Cal Hot Rodding History: Part 2 – Mooneyes Shop Tour Photos From Joe Grippo. appeared first on BangShift.com.

(Photos by Darr Hawthorne and Kim Fuller) The 2024 March Meet is in the books and boy was it rad as usual, despite some wet weather surrounding the event. The March Meet is something truly special and an event that will always be near and dear to my heart. We live-streamed the March Meet for many years and people still ask us if we are going to even though it has been a few years now since we had to stop. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to do what we can to make sure you have great photo coverage from this epic spot. Our fearless west coast man about town Darr Hawthorne was on site, along with longtime contributor Kim Fuller, taking photos and getting into all the action.

Held each year in McFarland California, just north of Bakersfield, the March Meet is one of the oldest drag races in the country. Famoso Dragstrip is as modern as they come when it comes to track surface, but features the old-school charm and feel that you only get from an old dragstrip. There are no fancy jumbotrons, not huge tower with VIP suites, and there is more space at the fence taken up by motorhomes than bleachers which is just the way we like it. But every year in March the die-hard fans flock to Famoso for the March Meet and make a festival out of what has become one of the most iconic races in the world.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS WE’VE ALREADY POSTED

The post March Meet 2024 Photos: Our Final Gallery Of Nitro Funny Cars, Altereds, And More! Nostalgia Drag Racing Greatness Right Here. appeared first on BangShift.com.

That means multiple galleries over multiple days, so keep coming back to check them all out here.

I’ve raced and announced a fair amount in the state of Florida and can tell you that the fans there are awesome. And boy did they get a great show at the 2024 Gators. Everyone that goes always comments on how fun the crowd is there and they aren’t kidding. We hope you enjoy the photos as much as they loved the live action.

The post 2024 NHRA GatorNationals Action Photos: David Whealon Brought Us All The Action, And The Shots Start Here! appeared first on BangShift.com.

Walking into Blair’s is like stepping back into time. Don’t expect a spotless, sanitary white glove environment, this is a hardcore speed shop with oil-stained floors, with boxes and parts everywhere. Various engine builds are lined up and waiting to be paid for and picked up.  We spied a FE Ford ready to rumble on the run stand, a few 351 Cleveland’s and of course a few big and small block Chevys. The walls are lined with chrome do-dads and serious race equipment. Looking deeper we see lots of cool hand lettered sings, and vintage awards and photos from years of Drag Strip activities. Heading to the back rooms we find the well-used machine shop, fully equipped with mills, lathes and other heavy machinery needed to crank out high performance engines. Check out the inventory of cylinder heads, cranks and blocks waiting to roar again. After showing up unannounced, Phil gave us free reign to wander around the entire shop and shoot some photos. It was a great experience chatting with Phil about the old days and hearing a few war stories of all the past names and personalities that have passed through Blair’s over the years. We bought a few t-shirts, thanked Phil for the hospitality and headed out. This experience got me wistfully thinking about my local shop, K&G Speed Associates that closed a few years ago. These remaining speed emporiums need our support, so, when possible, buy local when you can, long live Blair’s Speed Shop!

Our next destination was another Southern California staple of hot rodding, Mooneyes Equipment in Santa Fe Springs. The Moon name and logo is ubiquitous in land speed, drag racing, and all facets of the automotive hobby. From fuel blocks, tanks, and wheel discs to custom accessories for motorcycles, VWs, and trucks Moon Equipment has what you need to add the finishing touch to your ride. I personally have a silver Moon metalflake steering wheel on my race car! The Santa Fe Springs location is part retail store, part shipping warehouse and part fab shop, and part museum. The store is great with so much cool stuff in every square corner. Check out the Ed Roth scale model diorama featuring all Big Daddy’s creations, an amazing amount of detail work is in there. Exiting through the gift shop leads to another room that takes you back in time. Check out the huge display case and shelves full of vintage speed parts and insanely cool artifacts from the history of Mooneyes. And upon turning around, there sits Dean Moon’s personal ’34 hot rod with wire wheels, bobbed fenders, and glowing yellow paint. Adjacent to the roadster is a perfect recreation of the old Mooneyes Dragmaster rail job, complete with a gorgeous Potvin blown little Chevy mill. The dragster was rolled out into the bright sunshine and was simply stunning. The back area of the Moon complex is the shipping and receiving section, nothing too exciting, unless you know the story of Carroll Shelby coming to Moon in 1962 with the idea of building his own sports car. I was standing right where it happened. The lore goes something like Shelby, ever the promoter, was telling all the magazines he had multiple Cobras ready to road test, when he had only one! So right there in in the Moon shop that single Cobra was painted numerous times for the car mag scribes to drive and report on, giving the illusion of a fleet of cars ready to be sold. Wild stuff!

Across the parking lot is the fab shop. Moon tanks and wheel discs are spun, welded and hand finished right there on site. Once again, the laid-back Moon staff gave us carte blanche and we wondered around trying not to bother the dudes actually working. We checked out the machines, tooling, welders and all the other stuff utilized to produce these iconic speed parts. Hanging from the rafters was another complete Dragmaster chassis, and a bitchin’ ‘glass Anglia gasser front end hung on back wall. A few Bonneville and El Mirage running Streamliners with Moon livery were being maintained in house, as well. So much neat eye candy was everywhere.
To paraphrase Ice Cube, “…Today was a good day”.

Us BangShifter’s need to support these places, as they are truly hallowed ground for us hot rodders, we ended the trip by grabbing a few more t-shirts. I went with the classic black and white Mooneyes tee in double fat!

Join the Blair’s Speed Shop Facebook group to check the history:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1460627117571926

And buy something cool from Mooneye Equipment:
https://www.mooneyesusa.com/

The post An East Coasters Tour Of So Cal Hot Rodding History: Mooneyes Shop Tour Photos From Joe Grippo. appeared first on BangShift.com.