Sometimes, the best parties are the ones that “just happen.” Such was the case with this race. Announced at the last minute as basically a “feeler” to see if the Factory Appearing Stock Tire (F.A.S.T.) crew could pull off a “full bore” version next year. Christened the ZddPlus/NPD Fall F.A.S.T. & F/S Nationals, a total of 49 examples of America’s best classic muscle cars were in attendance.
Right from the start, it was understood that scheduling an impromptu event just two weeks after the Fall Nationals and only two weeks before another F.A.S.T. race scheduled at the end of the month, that the car count would be light at this past October 15th and 16th weekend. With that in mind, this weekend’s Fall Martin event became a full bore Factory Stock (F/S) race and a Test-n-Tune “mini” FAST race.
For those unfamiliar with the groundbreaking race series, F.A.S.T. cars are regulated to look 100% stock (sans safety equipment) but with anything inside the engine to make it haul the mail. Meanwhile, a Factory Stock car is far more restricted with no ported heads, stroker cranks, roller cams, etc.
For the less-restricted F.A.S.T. class, the car count was light as expected with heavy-hitters like Ed and James Cook, Lane Carey, and Dave Dudek, sat out the event, spending their time readying their machines for the upcoming MIR event this October 31st. F.A.S.T. regular and major contender, Rick Mahoney in his super-fast ’68 Pontiac Firebird did show though, testing exhaust systems and still trying to tune this relatively new combo in. Rick first showed up in F.A.S.T. late last year in his Scott Tiemann-built Pontiac and ran a staggering 10.41 at 131mph this Saturday, taking the first qualifying position and race win for this event.
Tony Dicicco, yet another new F.A.S.T. racer, showed up in his blacked-out ’70 HEMI-powered Dodge Super Bee and spun his way to a 11.38-second pass at 124mph. Trying to mend his time, some quick changes were made unfortunately causing the flex plate to shatter during the very next pass putting a early end to Tony`s weekend.
Adrian Beltrame showed in his wicked ’69 Firebird, out-driving almost the entire field. He runner-upped against Dudek earlier this year at the Spring F.A.S.T. Nationals. Adrian fell to Waligora in the F.A.S.T. semis and ran in the 11.40 range.
The Factory Stock (F/S) class saw plenty of action with all the big shots attending. Julie Pennington in her ’69 L88 ‘Vette set a new Factory Stock record with a lightning-fast 11.31 at 122mph! That pass earned Julie the number one qualifier and took the race win. Larry Weymouth`s 69 L88 ‘Vette driven by Jordan Pennington ran the second fastest time of the event at an 11.34 @ 122, with the third fastest being Larry Kirkum`s ’69 ‘Vette with a 427 Tri-Power running 11.41-seconds at 120mph.
It was obviously a good weekend to own a Corvette as the lightweight ‘Vettes are hard in beat in Factory Stock trim. The fastest Mopar was Bob Karakashian`s ’70 HEMI ‘Cuda with a 11.75-second pass at 118.90mph, with the second fastest Mopar being Paul Petcou`s 70 440 6-Pack Challenger running a 11.98 @ 113. Terry Pennington’s ’69 ZL1 Camaro ran a respectable 11.67 @ 117. In the Factory Stock class, the quickest eight cars run off in a sportmans ladder while the rest run in little two out of three mini shoot-outs with the car closest to their E.T.s.