Summer may have just shifted into high gear, but there’s plenty of real estate left for it to stretch its legs. The NMCA All-American Nationals rolls into Summit Motorsports Park for the second-to-last race of their exciting 2022 racing season, which has seen tire smoking action all over the Midwest and Southeast. “Rolling into Norwalk, Ohio, NMCA always has strong momentum and that includes Dodge // Mopar HEMI Shootout participation as well,” said Steve Wolcott, CEO of NMCA. “Almost all 75 free entries (courtesy of Dodge) are spoken for, so the staging lanes will be filled with modern-HEMI^® powered Dodge, RAM, Chrysler, and even Jeep vehicles that have this legendary powerplant under the hood. These guys and guys let it fly down the 1320 and have a blast. The NMCA invites all HEMI racers to bring their street and race cars and have fun with us at this weekend’s All-American Nationals.”  

During the last NMCA race at US 131 Motorsports Park, the car counts were huge, the competition was intense, and mother nature decided to have the last word. Sunday morning, drenching rains soaked the pits and staging lanes and put all the eliminations behind schedule. Racing was put on hold until the skies cleared, and the track was able to dry out, but some of the class eliminations had to be postponed and rescheduled for this weekend’s Norwalk race. This included the Holley EFI Factory Super Cars, as Drag Pak pilots AJ Berge and David Davies made it past round one at Martin until the rains came. Now, they, along with the other racers, will duke it out in Norwalk first for the Martin winner’s trophy and check during the qualifying sessions. Our racers can also possibly ‘double-up’ if they win Sunday’s eliminations at Norwalk so this weekend can have a big payout.

AJ Berge of Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) will once again be doing double duty tuning and keeping the DSR Drag Paks in the groove. He’ll also be racing his Security Dodge Power Broker sponsored Challenger Drag Pak in the Holley EFI Factory Super Cars category. It’s no easy task, but AJ and DSR Drag Pak co-crew chief Kevin Helms are up to the task taming these 1500-horsepower beasts and getting them to hook-up on nine-inch slicks. “We had no rest during the break! We discovered during maintenance that we actually hurt the transmission during round one at 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, so it looks like we dodged a bullet. While we were at it, we swapped engines knowing we have a double-header so we are going to give it all we can to double up and get our first win in competition,” noted AJ.

“Being based in Cleveland, this is a home race for me. It will be a busy couple of days with finishing up Holley EFI Super Cars elimination rounds that got cancelled while we were at the NMCA Power Festival at 131 Motorsports Park up in Michigan last month. Now, we’ll finish those up during qualifying sessions here at Norwalk. The schedule is a little tight, but we are just going to run our normal deal that we’ve done all season,” said Dave Davies, CEO of Constant Aviation. “The carry over race from Michigan will make it challenging and fun this weekend. I’m looking to get some test passes in on Thursday, then make our first qualifying run during Friday count. The second qualifying run will really be an elimination round from the NMCA Martin, Michigan race. My crew and I will have a good handle on my Drag Pak.”

“I’m looking forward to racing at my home track in Norwalk again. Last time I ran an NMCA race was last March at their season opener in Bradenton, Florida. I was lucky enough to get to the Winner’s Circle. Happy to support the Bader Family at the track this weekend and will be thinking about Bill Bader Sr. who recently passed away,” said DSR Challenger Drag Pak driver and multiple event winner Mark Pawuk. Since Mark’s performance has massively stepped up this season, he and rest of the Drag Paks racers will be ready for whatever those COPO Camaros and Cobra Jet Mustangs have under their hoods.

There will also be a contingent of old school muscle competing at the NMCA All-American Nationals as both the FAST (Factory Appearing Stock Tire) and Factory Stock machines will be blasting down Norwalk’s drag strip on skinny reproduction bias ply tires. For these casual racers, it’s still a challenge not to shred the tires at the hit of the throttle in their big block powered machines, that produce enough torque to rotate the earth. “We are looking forward to racing at a great track as the NMCA does a wonderful job prepping the starting line,” said Bob Karakashian. The Farmington Hills, Michigan resident and lifelong Mopar_® racer is bringing his mint 1970 Plymouth HEMI ‘Cuda to Norwalk to rumble with the competition. “I love this race and my ‘Cuda is dialed-in and ready to rock. These past few weeks, I’ve done the usual routine maintenance to keep my HEMI happy!”

Mike Marple from South Lyon, Michigan, is a product designer during the week, but on race weekends, he’s going wide open in his gorgeous (and original) 1969.5 A12 Plymouth Road Runner. With a 440 Six Barrel under the factory fiberglass lift off hood, starting line finesse and traction are key to laying down fast times and going rounds. “Norwalk is a really good facility, and my Road Runner really hooks hard at this track. It’s also fun to just hang out with friends and bench race in the pits,” smiled Mike.

Summer is reaching the finish line pretty quick, so if your need for speed is still not satisfied, head over to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, and get your ticket punched. If not, here’s what you’re missing!

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