2012 brought the heads up race community in the Northeast the closest racing we have ever seen, and it shows just by looking at how close the points were up to the final moment in each class.  Race teams worked hard all year, through all types of hardships, from weather to mechanical, and still managed to shatter records in every class we follow.

Outlaw 10.5

Steve Gorman (Precision Transmission / Precision Powdercoating ) had a very strong year this year, finishing second in points at Cecil County Dragway and fourth at Atco Raceway.  Mo Hall (R.V. Carey Plumbing and Heating) also had an extremely strong year,  setting the bar high for the Nitrous 10.5 entries, finishing fourth at Cecil and second at Atco Raceway.

As much as Gorman and Hall tried up until the last minute, they were not able to catch ‘Kid Kwik’ TJ Kasper out of the Gil Christy Motorsports / Kasper’s Korner camp, who took home the Double Crown, taking both Cecil and Atco Outlaw 10.5 Championships for 2012.  The entire team worked hard the whole year, with the help of their new engine program out of DiSomma Racing Engines and a ton of track time learning how to tune their setup.  The highlight of TJ’s year was at the Shakedown Nationals, running a 4.08 @ 201MPH , and backing it up later in the event, taking both the Quickest and Fastest Outlaw 10.5 records!

Outlaw Drag Radial

Frank Soldridge (PSI Speed Solutions) had an amazing year, getting a handle on their ODR Mustang and destroying both the Cecil County Dragway and National Outlaw Drag Radial records, with a 4.29 @ 185mph pass during the October Outlaw Street Car Shootout at Cecil.  His efforts, while extremely impressive, landed him the number two spot in points at Cecil, behind the 2012 Champion, Bill Dutka.  Dutka sports a unique Malibu, J&E Performance Powered, and brought on John Balinsky of OAB Tuning this year, a very successful move!  Dutka reset his personal best each race, and is looking forward to 2013 to  continue lowering that number.  Dutka also took home third place honors at Atco Raceway.

Team J&E was busy at Atco Raceway within Outlaw Drag Radial, providing the powerplant for Bill Dutka’s third place finish.  Konstantine Zografos, with a late season start, ended up in the fourth place spot.  At the top of the pack was Marcus Thompson (UPR Products) in his sick 1980 Mustang, taking home the points championship for the year. Marcus had his tough times at  Cecil this year, trying to tame the wild beast under the hood and put the power to the ground, but he had it figured out by the time he needed to up at Atco, enough to take the crown.

275 Drag Radial

275 Drag Radial is the source of a ton of “discussion” on the Bullet every day, mainly due to the incredible on track performances that we see in our own back yard twice a month during the racing season.  Rich Bruder and family set the X275 world in a spin this year, with dominating performance and even induced mid-year rule changes.  That didn’t keep team Bruder down, who along with Mustang Mike Modeste and Procharger power, motored their way to a second place finish at Cecil County Dragway, and a first place crown at Atco Raceway.  The competition was tough between both tracks, especially at Atco where Ron Rhodes (Rhodes Custom Auto) was on Bruder’s bumper the entire season, eventually ending up with a second place finish.

Down at Cecil County, Nitrous entries surrounded the Bruder Family at the top of the points, with Ron Rhodes finishing in third place by a mere four points.  Dean Marinis was able to edge by Rhodes and Bruder, taking home the points championship for 2012.  Marinis’ bright orange Mustang does not only look great, but runs great as well.  Dean’s car may not put on a show at the starting line, but the numbers that show on the scoreboard draw a reaction each and every time he makes a pass.  Dean puts a ton of work into chassis and engine tuning and has reaped the benefits of his hard work.

8.50 Index

Alfonse Magliocco Jr. (Fonse Performance) was looking to back up solid performances in 2011 this season, and he did quite well, taking home fourth place at Cecil County Dragway, against some extremely tough competition.  Angelo Valla had a strong year, finishing second at Atco Raceway, with Zach Obert quite close behind him.  Mike good, always a tough competitor, took home second place honors at Cecil.   Despite everyone’s efforts, there was one race team that was able to best them, and take home the championship at both Atco Raceway and Cecil County.

That race team and driver would be Harry Gerb (H&J Motorsports, Fonse Performance).  Harry’s Firebird would take home the awards at any car show he showed up to if he wanted, but he chooses to spend his time battling the 8.50 Index competition.  His hard work paid off, beating out Mike Good and Angelo Valla at the last races of the year, taking home the jacket at two tracks in the same year.  If you follow 8.50 Index racing, you know how difficult that is! Congratulations Harry, we look forward to seeing you dominate in 2013.

10.0 Index

Carey Cable (J&E Performance Powered) and the entire Cable family are not only good friends of ours, but also seasoned 10.0 Index Racers.  Carey constantly goes rounds, and his effort put him in the third place spot at both Atco Raceway and Cecil County.  Ahead of Cable at Atco was another Nova, that of Doug Frisch, who beat out Cable for the second place spot by 12 points.  In the lead by a good bit and taking home the 10.0 Index Championship at Atco Raceway in 2012 was Ed Riordan Jr, in his ’69 Pontiac Firebird.  Riordan’s racing operation is a family affair, like most teams, and his win was well earned by over thirty points.

At Cecil County, Christian Benedict was able to beat out Carey Cable for the second place spot on the year, in his ’88 Mustang.  Both Carl Ungaro and Rich Sosnowski did their best to try and win, but brought up the third and fourth place spots.  Taking home the top honors for the year was Rob Ward, having a strong year and finishing the year with a six point advantage over the number two spot.

11.50 Index

At Atco Raceway, when you mention 11.50 Index, you can also take the time to mention the Harvey Family, which usually has at least one entry going rounds each race.  Dave Harvey Jr. took home top honors for the Harvey Family this year, with a third place finish in 11.50 Index.  Jim Schmidt, making the trek from Connecticut for each race, had a great year and finished second, beating Harvey by over 20 points.   The story of the year, however, goes to Bob Perrottet, who absolutely dominated the class by over 70 points and took the championship for the 2013 season.

For Cecil County 11.50 Index Racing, Jim Schmidt was at the top of the ladder yet again, with a solid third place finish, making his mark on the 11.50 Index community.  Keith Huffman, a Cecil regular, finished ahead of Schmidt in the number two spot by 7 points.  Taking home the win for the year was Steve Gurnick, beating out Huffman by 4 points.  Gurnick is a Cecil regular, who drives his ’85 Mustang to and from the track for each Street Car Shootout.  Most of the time, he’s leaving from the Winner’s Circle, as he is a very successful racer in 11.50 Index as well as Pro Dial, where he doubled up and also took home the 2012 Championship.

Ultra 275

Ultra 275 surprised everyone this year, with passes dipping extremely low in the 5 second range by the end of the season.  John Keesey’s wild paint job had everyone’s attention at Cecil, and not only did it look fast, his Mustang performed well and he took home the fourth place spot for the season.  The top three spots were taken up by racers that battled to the last inch each race – Marc McCloud, Todd Geisler, and Mike Barry.  Barry’s Malibu took home third place honors with 55 points.  By a mere two point margin, Marc McCloud inched by Todd Geisler for the championship, 69 points to 67.  We’re looking forward to see if these guys can hit he 4’s in 2013!

Outlaw Big Tire

We saw 20 entries in Outlaw Big Tire at Cecil County throughout the 2012 season, a strong showing, and many more combinations expected for the 2012 season.  The range of cars that come to compete in this class is impressive, from Fieros to late model GTO’s.  One of the best looking rides belongs to James Houston, who took his ’64 Ford to the third place position for 2012.  He was beaten by a mere point by Charlie Boy Micallef’s 70 Chevelle, who took the number two spot.  Taking home the win for the year and having a dominating  year was Tom Tarsia.  Tarsia’s Supercharged entry blew out eardrums on each pass, making his way to the winner’s circle a few times on his way to the 2012 Championship.