25th Annual Mountain Motor Nationals
The Silver Anniversary

By Stephen Jones

John Nobile made the 25th Anniversary Mountain Motor Nats a winning one for GM.
Photo by Stephen Jones

More Event Photos Here

Maryland International Raceway
Budds Creek, MD
June 18, 2003

It's Wednesday night, several days before the "official" start of summer, and all the action in southern Maryland starts right here at MIR for the 25th and SILVER Anniversary edition of the Mountain Motor Nationals. Touted as the "world's fastest Pro Stock Race," this event will include some of the IHRA's quickest cars with their "mountain motors" practically bulging out from under the hoods. We'll also have MIR's Frantic 7's... some of the best local Pro Mods you'll ever see. Top NHRA driver Jim Yates is also here this Wednesday night for some testing prior to the long drive to St. Louis for the upcoming event.

It's currently near 3:30pm and quite overcast here, BUT the local weather reporters have promised that we will have NO rain tonight which will be a break for this rain soaked area. We're currently running "open" runs for all the cars in the facility, including the all the regular bracket racers here at MIR. The weather has finally broken and the sun is making a rare appearance here in southern Maryland. The grandstands are filling up fast and tonight's program is about to begin.

The first round of Mountain Motor Pro Stock is in the books with 8 out of 12 cars qualified so far. IHRA Pro Stock standout Carl Baker is currently qualified #1 at a 6.620/211.66 run while Fredericksburg, VA's Frank Snellings, Jr. rounds out the field at a 6.797/205.54 run. Frank Gugliotta, who was the talk of all the internet drag racing sites this past late May after some incredible low 6.50 ETs at MIR's Pro Stock Open, is currently NOT qualified... along with Steve Williford, Wayne Bishop, and Harold Robinson. 

MIR's Frantic 7 has a full field this evening with only one car -- Billy Farmer's gorgeous '57 Chevy Pro Mod -- not qualified. Larry Plummer has his '63 Corvette qualified #1 with a 6.614/213.10 pass and Severn, MD's Jeff Rodgers in his wildly altered '68 Mustang rounds out the field with a 7.919/147.28 pass

The 2nd and final qualifying round is now completed. Carl Baker holds on to the top spot with a 6.606/211.66 pass while Tim Nabors holds the 8th and final qualifying slot at a 6.691/209.75 effort. The event non-qualifiers include Barney Squires and Wayne Bishop. Final eliminations will start within the hour and will have Carl Baker facing Tim Nabors, John Bartunek against Frank Gugliotta, Floyd Cheek facing John Nobile, and John Montecalvo vs. Steve Williford. 

The 2nd round of MIR's Frantic 7 qualifying is now complete with Aberdeen, MD's Kent Ferrell on the pole position with a 6.549/213.20 pass and Amar Riley's '92 Trans Am bring up the 7th and final slot with a 7.340/188.81 run. Unfortunately, Billy Farmer and his gorgeous '57 Chevy Pro Mod had all sorts off trouble in the final round after the chute popped out around the 60-ft. mark. Dale Brady and Jeff Rogers also failed to qualify. In the Frantic 7 first round of eliminations, Kent Ferrell will get a bye run, Ed Burnley will face John Coles, Larry Plummer takes on Amar Riley, and Marc Hayes will face off against Chris Rembish.

The first round of Mountain Motor Pro Stock and Frantic 7 eliminations has been completed. In a terrific race, Carl Baker (.439) holeshots Tim Nabors (.460) right off the starting line, but Nabors takes the win light with a 6.636/200.92 over Baker's out of shape 9.786/90.44 pass. Frank Gugliotta gets the win over John Bartunek who fouls out with a .279 reaction time. Check out Gugliotta's numbers...6.631 at 211.46 mph! Next up were John Nobile and Floyd Cheek. Nobile gets the holeshot (.457) win over Cheek with a 6.628/207.78 vs. Cheek's clicked off 8.246/121.56 pass. The final two cars in this round... Steve Williford gets the win with a 6.687/208.04-mph pass as John Montecalvo gets way out of shape right off the line and aborts the run. Nabors will take on Gugliotta and Nobile will face off against Williford next round.

MIR's Frantic 7 started with Kent Ferrell's 6.520/214.01 bye run. Next up, Ed Burnley and his beautiful PREDATOR '94 'Vette Pro Mod took on John Coles and his '92 Trans Am. Burnley gets a HUGE holeshot jump (.421 to a 4.94), but gets way out of shape shortly past the tree and clicks off. Coles ran an unimpressive but winning 7.417/176.60 pass. Larry Plummer faced off against Amar Riley. Plummer got a big holeshot lead (.4.66 to a .563), but gets out of shape and aborts the run. The final pair has Marc Hayes vs. Chris Rembish. Hayes gets the holeshot win (.529 to a .828) over Rembish who must have been taking a nap. It's Ferrell vs. Coles and Riley vs. Hayes in the next round.

The Pro Stock semi finals have just been completed. Frank Gugliotta gets a huge holeshot advantage (.419) right off the starting line over a very late Tim Nabors (.488) and holds off a hard charging Nabors with a 6.637/208.30 pass to Nabors' 6.639/209.26 run. Up next, John Nobile gets the holeshot (.456) advantage over Steve Williford's .506 reaction time. An excellent, tight race followed with Nobile advancing to the final round with a 6.663/208.14 pass over Williford's 6.613/209.52. Nobile will face off against Gugliotta in the final round. Gugliotta will have lane choice. Should be a great race.

The Frantic 7 semi final had Kent Ferrell facing off against John Coles. Ferrell (.432) gets the holeshot over Coles (.463) and goes on to win the race with a 6.497/215.07 pass over Coles' 6.706/209.72. Marc Hayes faced off against Capital Heights, MD's Amar Riley. Unfortunately for Riley, his parachute unloaded right after the burnout and his race day was over. Hayes takes the bye run with a strong 6.681/212.56 pass. Hayes will take on Ferrell in the final with Ferrell getting lane choice. 

The 2003 Silver Anniversary Mountain Motor Nationals is now in the history books with Nobile taking out Gugliotta who leaves the starting line too soon (.329) and fouls out. Gugliotta tossed out an excellent 6.620/211.43 while Nobile took the win at 6.647/208.68 with a .424 reaction time.

The Frantic 7 final was a wild one! Marc Hayes got the slight holeshot over heavily favored Kent Ferrell and his red, white, and blue '63 'Vette. Both cars got completely out of shape about 100 feet out. Ferrell's Vette was veering left and right and he wisely gave it up. Hayes was having his own problems, but managed to get the car under control and take the win. Hayes went 7.131/181.13 mph with a .433 reaction time to Ferrell's 12.555/66.50 shut off.

That's it from Southern Maryland's favorite place to race...MIR!

Full Event Photo Coverage Here

Stephen Jones
http://nitrofuel.net/nitroexpress.htm