McCurdy And Hard Again In The Finals At Capitol Raceway

After the mid-season break, the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association returned to Capitol Raceway to continue the second leg of its series. The Association allows a month or so mid-season for teams to freshen up, take some summer vacation time with family and get prepared to end the season on all cylinders. President John Mazzorana put together a very accommodating schedule this year to keep the racers well rested and happy to return, it’s like a big family.

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NEOPMA understands full well we were heading into the dog days of summer and hoped for a little relief for just one of the races, but the sun was blistering again as Capitols surface was in the high 130 temps during most of the qualifying which didn’t hinder number one qualifier Tommy Gray from laying down and incredible “heat of the day” 5.928 @ 237 as a testament to the preparation of Capitol Raceways team of track technicians. Steve Drummond put all the other “power adders” on notice he had massive horsepower on tap in second with a strong 6.015 @ 247 taking top MPH of the three sessions. Kevin McCurdy always finds himself high on the right side of the ladder placing him three 6.038 @ 239. Dwayne Wolfe has stayed consistently high in the ladders and didn’t falter with his solid 6.041 @ 236. Tyler Hard’s massive “Switzer Dynamics” nitrous tune ups gave the fans what they wanted and placed well 6.095 @ 237. Newcomer “Casey Stemper” still getting a handle on his new “Vette” brutalized the 1320 with a pedaling 6.148 @ 227. Fredy Scriba chose a soft tune as they have been trying to harness the new power of this “Fulton Bullet” and played it conservative at number seven 6.151 @ 234. Jeff Rodgers in the “Executioner” was wheels up most passes but his driving skills earned him a 6.362 @ 230 to finish the top eight. Matt Deitsch who had been focusing on his sons driving last few races pulled his formidable Camaro out and stated he was a little too aggressive with his clutch and pedaled to a 6.46 @ 218. Steve Assenmacher was well off his usual times fighting tire shake but kept it in one piece to earn him a decent spot 6.649 @ 158. Matt Willey would bring his “hammered” 57 Chevy into the competition with a stout 6.985 @ 199. Doug Farace in his gorgeous “All American” 63 Vette wanted to stay conservative and put himself in the ladder 7.220 @ 191. All Motor “Charles Redd” launched his Camaro hard and brought up 7.327 @ 187. Gary Hood “Gary Hood Race Cars” made his debut in his stunning nitroused 63 Vette and was shaking it down with new car bugs his broken driveshaft was unrepairable in the short sessions. Leroy Dewdney also had issues with his beautiful silver 63 Vette. Dave Brodsky came out in his primered GTO on spray but didn’t finish the Saturday Session. Allan Juhasz was on fire “literally” as he had put down his “best ever” 6.702 @ 188 on Friday Night as his Grand Am was on the top end decided it was time to put a hole out the side of his “smallish 632’s cylinder head” at around 900ft. Damage to the cylinder head was non repairable, Juhasz pointed to a covered mass in his pits and said he will be ready again soon with “more cubes” as a new motor “carbs to pan” sat below the cover.

Eliminations Round One:

Just short of one car in the field, Tommy Gray earned his bye run with some changes made after qualifying they wanted to keep the RPM’s lower and balance the power with a stator change in the torque converter, their tune up was right on as he again nailed a 5.928 with a big 242MPH. Jeff Rodger’s Mustang and Ford power liked the cooler temps as he sprayed a nitrous flaming pass for the win light 6.362 @ 215 to put away Matt Deitsch who tried valiantly to harness tire shake 6.462 @ 215. Charles Redd 7.327 @ 189 would fall to Dwayne Wolfe who keeps his new “Andy McCoy – Mike Janis powered” Camaro in the “OH’s” 6.041 @ 237. Tyler Hard blisters the track for a brilliant win and ET as he crossed the beams 6.095 @ 238 and Doug Farace can say he took on one of the hardest hitters in Pro Modified Drag Racing 7.22 @ 192. Steve Drummond gets a bye run as Leroy Dewdney breaks and Drummond screams to a strong 6.013 @ 247 MPH again. Steve Assenmacher would click off a nice clean pass 6.32 @ 212 as Fredy Scriba gets sideways into his run and aborts early. Kevin McCurdy 6.038 @ 216 begins his way to the next round as Gary Hood cannot start. Casey Stemper moves on with another brilliant pass 6.146 @ 241 to have Matt Willey give it his best 6.985 @ 199.

Eliminations Round Two:

Tommy Gray was on a tear both days looking unbeatable with a string of low 5.90’s to put fear into anyone who challenged him. Jeff Rodgers was his foe in the opposite lane almost four tenths behind. Rodgers had his pipes lit from the hit as Gray was pulling hard his teams fears became a reality as the “stator” in the converter had trouble harnessing the massive power. Rodgers would move on to the semis as he stayed in it after a mid track wheelie 6.661 @ 209. This was Dwayne Wolfe’s reckoning match up as Tyler Hard was his opponent. Last race at Atco these two would not get to finish their final so it was going to be a tough race. Both cars blistered the tires through their burnouts and as crazy as it sounds, Dwayne Wolfe’s header broke during it and could not run, though it would have been very hard to catch Tyler Hard’s nitrous flaming 5.987 @ 239. Casey Stemper’s first round would be against the point’s leader Kevin McCurdy. Stemper 6.919 @ 155 threw a ton of power at his rival and shook as Kevin McCurdy 6.045 @ 241 would gain see the stripe ahead of his competitor.

Semi Finals – Finals:
Both Hard and McCurdy would move on to the final round taking out their opponents Jeff Rodgers and Steve Assenmacher respectively. As with any show like NEOPMA brings, one can only count on having things go smoothly through the event. Two major oil downs and a quirk in the staging of the 5K bracket race held up the finals to the point that curfew would be in effect again and “Team Hard” would head home to finish this round of finals at Maple Grove Raceway August 29th.

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