Larry McBride crinkles the rear t ire-wall as he dumps the clutch and t wist s the throttle on h is way to a solo run for the Top Fue l victory .
Jeff Reel (near lane) and Rick Stetson got c lean starts i n the Pro Comp
f inal. but Stetson was too strong on the top end and took the win .
J
NMRA National Championship
Drag Racing Series: Round 2
McBride, Stetson
on top at
Southern Nationals
By Gary Van Voorhis
Photos by Mike Church and Van Voorhis
COMMERCE. GA, APR . Ii
Roland Stuart (far lane) broke his motor in this Top Fuel eliminat ion ru n
against Sam Wills after Wills red -lighted . Stuart couldn 't make the f inal.
L arry Mc Bride co llected his first-ever NM RA
Top Fuel victory w hile Rick Stetson continued a win n i n g strea k in P ro Comp w h ich
dates back to m id -1 98 1 as the NM R A ran a
twa class show at the NH RA's
Southern Nationals at Georgia 's Atlanta Dragway.
McBride, who is in his third
10
seaso n as th e rider o f th e J ohnson
H igh Perform an ce Kaw as aki , co llect ed his vi ctory with a sol o run o f
i .53 seco nds a t 182.5.' mph . Roland
;
Stua rt, who wa s to me et iVl cB ride i n
th e T op Fu el fi na l, h ol ed tw o p iston s
in th e eng ine o f h is S u zu ki m ount in
winn in g h is tick et to th e fin al a nd
didn't hav e spa re parts to fix it.
Stetson's run s, o n his H arrv 's Machi ned Part s S u zu ki, vari ed o ;, lv sixhun dr edths o f a secon d from qua lif yin g ri g h t th rough th e winning run o f
8,52/ 152.02. J eff Reel , o n th e Reel
P erform an ce & M a chin e Suzuki
turned in a 8.6i1148.2i pass in losing.
In th e previ ou s tw o o u tin gs for the
NM RA a t th e So u the rn Nationals,
o n ly th e Top Fuel cl as s was sh owca sed . For th is even t, th e Pro Camp
class was ad de d and it proved to be a
good d ecisi on o n th e part of NiVIRA 's
Jim H arris.
A field o f seven en tr ies showed for
T op Fuel qu alifying with only four
making th e field . Sa m Wills, wh o
didn 't race a m a j ori ty o f even ts last
sea so n, put hi s Kawasaki T op Fu eler
into th e top qu alifying pos itio n by
o ne- h u n d re dt h o f a seco n d ov er
iVlcBride,
Rol and Stua rt qualified third o n
just o ne p ass. Stua rt fir ed up the bike
