The weekend of June 21-22 was the time, and Maryland International Raceway was the place for what can only be described as a landmark event for import drag racing. On these dates, NOPI and the NDRA came to town, bringing with them some of the world's greatest drag racing teams. Due to the efforts of some of the industry's top pros, many long-standing records were broken. And if the drag racing alone wasn't enough, NOPI brought along all the vendors, music, foam parties, and judged shows that make up the rest of The Fast and the Furious Racing Series.
The largest milestone of this, the DC Race Wars event, occurred Saturday evening, when Erick Aguilar raced his Erick's Racing/STR all-motor Civic coupe down the 1320 in 9.991 seconds. During eliminations on Sunday, Erick took the win over Cloyse Holland with a 10.02 at 133.95, setting a new trap speed record in the process. It's interesting to note that this time last year, the quickest and fastest all-motor four cylinder in competition was a rear-wheel-drive Volkswagen running 10.40s. The rate that Erick's Civic has progressed is amazing. Congratulations, Erick.
The fastest runs of the weekend belonged to the Bullish Racing team. Ara Arslanian broke the NDRA Pro Compact speed record in qualifying when he drove the RWD, 2JZ-GTE-powered Street Glow Solara through the traps with a speed of 203.34 mph, and later backed it up in with a 203.030. In the Pro Compact Finals, Ara went on to take the win with a 6.960 at 201.67 over Abel Ibarra's run of an 8.64 at 116.19 in the famous RX-7.
The bar that is the speed record for the Pro Outlaw FWD class was raised once again by Christian Rado. Chris' run of 8.50 at 178.78 not only set the new speed record for his class, but was also enough to earn him the win over Steven Thompson in the finals.
Another Outlaw class record was set by Brent Rau, who made two 7-second passes in his Osofast Racing Eclipse. Those runs garnered him the title of first Pro Outlaw RWD racer in the 7s. Although his fastest run of the day was a 7.84 at 173.9, the record officially stands at 7.96 at 173.9.
As ground breaking and entertaining as the racing was, it was still only part of the show. As expected, the judged show also attracted some stiff competition. Cleanly modified imports, domestics, and even some mini-trucks competed against each other for placement in every category imaginable. With a total of 63 winners in 38 categories, almost everyone drove away a winner.
Many vendors were present, all with high-dollar displays that showcased the products they sell. Most impressive was GM's interactive tent that displayed a part-by-part comparison between its Ecotech drag engine and its production counterpart. Still, it would've been more impressive to see one of its cars actually make a pass.
Undoubtedly drawing the largest crowd of the day was the bikini contest/product toss/foam party, but as the bikini contest began, the rain began to fall. Fortunately, we were lucky enough to take shelter in the contestant van with half a dozen scantily clad hotties.
They say consistency wins races. If that's true, look for the 2003 racing season to be the most exciting yet. This weekend was a clear display of the abilities of the current teams, cars and drivers in import drag racing. Look for the drivers who won each class to dominate the rest of the season. The consistency of racers such as Erick Aguilar, Ara Arslanian, Brent Rau, Christian Rado and Paul Effantis will be tough to beat