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Photography - Stephen Jones |
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Photography - Stephen Jones |
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31st
Annual Mountain Motor Nationals
Sponsored
By Outback Steakhouse
May
16, 2009
After spending several days in Ocean City, MD for the Summer Cruzin' event, I made the long trip to Maryland International Raceway (MIR) for the 31st running of the Mountain Motor Nationals. One of the longest running events at the strip, the MM Nats features a host of top IHRA Pro Stockers and Pro Mods. Local favorite Robert Patrick headlined the 7 car Pro Stock field. Scott Cannon was supposed to be at the track in competition, but had some problems with his car and didn't make it.
The Northeast Pro Mod Association was another major feature of this event with 12 blower cars and 12 nitrous cars. Local favorites Tommy Gray and Larry Plummer in the blower class and Mark Hayes and Ed Burnley in the nitrous class. Gray, Plummer, Burnley, and Hayes are major players in the MIR Frantic 8 class.
The junior dragsters and local top, modified, and motorcycle ET racers were busy qualifying early in the day amongst test runs for the Pro cars.
Weather was a factor in this event as strong storms and rain were predicted for late evening. The track staff even adjusted the qualifying and elimination times for the Pro cars several hours earlier than originally planned. In fact, this came to fruition just before the final Pro rounds. The lanes were full of ET cars waiting their turn to race...and then the rains came...probably around 10:45 pm. I've never seen so many race cars make synchronized turnarounds to head back to the pits. Obviously, it was too late and too futile to attempt any track drying as the rain wasn't going to let up. There was no final round at this event. The purses were divided up between remaining racers
Even though the packed pit grandstands and pretty full spectator stands were denied a final round, there was plenty of terrific weather, excellent competition, very few cleanups, and NO accidents throughout the race day.
Stephen Jones
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