NM Motorsports Report October 2022

Catch

Reggie & Margret Tibbetts

Sweet Pea

NMMSR staff

By Spencer Hill

by Sydnee

By Michael Gonzales

Publisher: RaDine William Media RaDineWilliamMedia@gmail.com

Editor: David Swope & Spencer Hill

Design & Layout: David Lansa & Spencer Hill

Writers: Dominic Aragon, TheRacingExperts.com

Jonathan Fjeld, TheRacingExperts.com Michael Gonzales, NM Motor Events (FB)

John Haverlin, TheCircuitJournal.com Spencer Hill, GlobalMotorSportsReport (FB) Sydnee Hamblin, @WHM.photog raphy on Instagram

“Officer” Dan Brockett, SouthwestDriftSocial on Facebook Gene Grant, ABQDragway.com Cole Cusumano, TheCircuitJournal.com

David Swope, NMMotorSportsReport.com Jim Costa, YearwoodPerformance.com

Photographers: Blown Bug & Sweet Pea: Motorsports Photojournalist, Scott Welch w/ ScottWelchPhoto.com

Johnny Capels: Provided by Gary Tilley Motorcycles at Albuquerque Dragway: David Swope & Sara Pennington w/ CherryBombPho toWorks.com

RODS at Albuquerque Dragway: Sara Pennington w/ CherryBomb PhotoWorks.com

Concours Du Soliel: David Swope & SeeHotCars on Facebook Gentleman’s Drive, Provided by Michael Gonzales Eric Green: Eric Green’s Facebook Page & Sara Pennington w/ Cher ryBombPhotoWorks.com

4 Crown: Sydnee Hamblin w/ @ WHM.photography on Instagram No Coast Drift Party 12: Trent Reeves & NCDP on Facebook Spooktacular, Hooters Spooktacular Facebook Page NASCAR, TheRacingExperts.com: Dominic Aragon NASCAR, TheCircuitJournal.com: USA Today, Amber Searls & Getty Images: Chris Graythen, Meg Oliphant and Sean Gardner Tricks of the Trade: Yearwood Performance Facebook Page

Cover photo: Reggie Tibbetts, Blown Bug & Margret Tibbets, Sweet Pea. Photography by Motorsports Photojournalist – Scott Welch, ScottWelchPhoto.com

LOVE IS NOT JUST FOR HERBIE!

Reggie & Margret Tibbetts, a love story for the ages

Photos by Scott Welch, ScottWelchPhoto.com

Margret and Reggie were both born in 1955 in Wiesbaden, Germany, just 20 days apart and both Air Force Brats. Margret’s Mom was German and Margret speaks fluent Ger man, “Reggie tut einfach, was ihm auf Deutsch gesagt wird“…..giggle - Reggie just does what he’s told to do (translated from German).This is somewhat where some of the influence of the German VW comes from as they were introduced to VW Bugs at a very early age.

Reggie Tibbetts has lived most of his life in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When they first started dating, they drove VW Bugs and traveled to Colorado in one many times through the pass to visit friends and family. Reggie and Margret have been happily married for 45 years. Margret, being a real “car gal,” and Reggie have been through

numerous VWs over the years. They have owned, built or flipped more than 75 VWs over four decades including 45-plus Ovals, five Split Window Beetles, Karmann Ghias, Notchbacks, and six Splitty Buses. The two of them also owned a1977 Brazilian 15-window Bus, two Split Window Bugs (1950 and 1951), along with numerous Oval Window Hardtop and Ragtops. Margret and Reggie have put on car shows in Albuquerque for over 30 years to include The Supernationals and The Hot Rod and Custom Summer Car Show Series.

Reggie used to rescue Volkswagens from local wrecking yards and had over twelve 1957 and older VWs in his back yard at one time. He and his friend, Steve Guerra, would drive all over the state of New Mexico, purchasing VW’s and

bringing them home to restore. They were a dime a dozen in those days, so you could buy them cheap and make a little money from them.

Reggie was a tradesman in his early days, trained in welding, woodworking, and millwright work, giving him skills to fabricate and use almost any type of equipment and materials on the cars he built. He started by building Good Vibrations the sand rail during in the 70’s and his love for bugs never stopped.

A couple of years ago, Reggie’s love for Blown GM En gines and early VW’s, came together. Reggie noticed that a 1956 V8 Oval Window Volkswagen he had been following online for about 10 years was up for sale again on a Facebook Site called Ovals and Split Window Bugs.  He contacted the owner back east and discussed the details.

A price was immediately negotiated, and a deposit sent for the bug, within the hour. The owner was barraged with requests for information about the bug and had a line of folks looking to purchase the bug as well.

The Bug was built by Richard Elenberger in Los Angeles, California back in 2007. It’s been told the Richard was a chassis builder for John Force and built this car over a couple of years as a hobby car at his home. The bug has a full tubular chassis, with a 4-link hung 9” narrowed Ford rear-end, a racing powerglide transmission and a 383 Stroker small block chevy motor that turned 725 Horsepower on the Beck Racing Engines Dyno. The engine has Electronic Injec-

The rear area of the car, where the engine used to be, has a fuel cell, large radiator and

is set up with all the racing gauges, switches and comp shifter for going fast!

Parts List

SWEET PEA

• Built by Scott Drapkin Amaheim, CA Est 2011

• Featured in Hot VW’s Magazine in 2012.

• 2180 cc Engine, Stroked, Balanced and Blue printed, Full Race Freeway Flyer Tranny, Nar rowede and Lowered beam, Disc Brakes and Rare BRM Chrome Wheels.

In October of 2021, Margret was shopping for her next cool ride and found her current 1956 VW Oval Window Bug on a VW for sale site called SAMBA. This slick ride did not show well in the pics but after discussing the car with the owner and receiving a variety of new pics, a sale was completed, and the car was shipped from Huntington Beach, CA, to Albuquerque, NM.

BRE

ARP

ARP

FEL-PRO

BRE

BRE

BRE

BRE

RCD

TURNKEY OPTIONS

BS

Polished

MSD

This bug was a frame off build in 2011 by Scott Drapkin and his father with no short cuts. It was stripped to the bare shell and painted Beryl Green and was trimmed with all new parts to include side trim, dash pieces, new bumpers and lights. Scott also advised Reggie and Margret that the bug was featured in Hot VWs in 2012 and after locating a copy he had it framed to be displayed at the events the bug is shown at. It was fitted with BRM chrome wheels and radial tires. The engine is a 155 HP VW 2180cc racing engine. The engine has a stroked crank, balanced and blueprinted and has D port heads that have been ported to the intake manifolds and two 48 Weber carbs and electronic ignition. The VW transmission was built to handle the horsepower but still be able to cruise the freeways at 75mph easily The interior is fresh with a full tweed interior from door panels, and seats. Inside, there is a very rare, polished aluminum Berg Racing locking shifter. The rear amber lights were imported from Sweden and were original accessory lights, giving the back of the car additional rear lighting include blinkers and stop lights.

Margret and Reggie are now enjoying taking their cars to shows and sharing time with all of the car owners that attended their shows for many years. Each bug has won a few awards which Reggie and Margret feel honored to receive.

“The Golden Greek” Johnny Capels: A New Mexico Motorsports Legend

By Spencer Hill

The successful career of Johnny Capels was one that followed a path far different than most. Working his way from car builder, to driver, and eventually to series president across multiple sanctioning bodies was an impressive achievement that acquired the appreciation from many for “The Golden Greek” of New Mexico, Johnny Capels.

Capels was born on May 20th, 1936, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He first launched his storied career in racing at the ripe age of 15 while building and driving Super Modifieds in his home state of New Mexico. Although most of his career is highlighted by his time at the “roundy-round” tracks, Capels was also active on the drag strips in the mid 50s with a winning fuel rail. By 1960, Capels was a major player on the dirt oval scene holding the single-lap track record at Speedway Park in Albuquerque from 1960 until 1962, when it was broken by Hank Arnold of Tucson.

First dubbed “The Golden Greek” by long-time National Speed Sport News writer, Bill Hill, Capels earned a lifelong nickname that was a nod to his ancestral heritage while

also allowing him to gain some attention from the many track promoters in the ‘60s that were on the search for brilliant drivers to battle at their facility. Capels’ first United States Auto Club start came in October of 1963 at the familiar Speedway Park in a midget. He placed 9th in the event won by Bobby Unser but ran competitively against some of the greatest names in the sport such as Parnelli Jones and Roger McCluskey. It was the fuel he needed to work even harder at making it to the big stage.

Additionally, Capels was heavily involved in the New Mexico Motor Racing Association, as he was president of the series in 1965, chairman of the board in 1966, and champion in 1967. His NMMRA Championship was often credited to his innovation both in the garage and at the track. Assisted by crew members Earl Leaverton and Ray Davis, the team were among the most well-coordinated at the track.

-Story continues on page 10

About “The Stripper” Special

Johnny Capels’ “Stripper” was one of the most renowned cars to come out of New Mexico in the 1960s. Famous for its innovation and attention to detail, the Dodge-powered Super Modified got its name from the custom aluminum body shaped by fellow driver, Hank Arnold, that was purposely designed for its ability for quick removal. It was powered by a 413inch Dodge on Hilborn Injection with a Hunt Vertex mag, JR Pistons, Perfect Circle rings and a Schneider cam. It also included lightweight push-lock aircraft fuels, built by Capels, and Halibrand magnesium knockoff wheels on all four corners.

Like many Super Modifieds at the time, Capels ran a transverse spring with one shackle on the right-hand side. Some of the other interesting specs included Gabriel adjustable shocks, with tubular front and rear axles by Anthis Automotive. A Halibrand mag quick-change rear end and parallel torsion bars that adorned the rear of the car with the nerf bars and torsion arms connecting to an Airheart brake caliper, mounted on the rear axle hubs.

The bright red-orange No. 6 with a contrasting black seat was hard to miss as it travelled across the southwest in the late ‘60s. However, just in case you couldn’t see it in person 55 years ago, fans of “The Golden Greek” have another opportunity to see a piece of history in person thanks to Albuquerque’s Gary Tilley. Tilley has worked hard over the past few years to bring “The Stripper II” to life for race fans in the Land of Enchantment. Finally, in summer of 2022, Tilley and the new generation of Capels’ marvelous Super Modified hit the track at Sandia Speedway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fans were surprised with a glimpse at history for the first time in over half a century. For a limited time, you can see the replica of Capels’ famous “Stripper” at select events around New Mexico courtesy of Tilley and his crew.

In March of 1968, it was time for Capels to take the next step in his career and he made the decision to move to Indianapolis to pursue a career in the USAC National Sprint Car division while joining the Unsers on their USAC National Championship programs. It was during his electrifying 1968 season when Capels won his first and only USAC National Sprint Car feature as a driver at Erie County Fairgrounds in New York with Al Unser’s resurrected ECCA Chevy.

Meanwhile, Capels’ work outside of the cockpit was equally impressive. He was an integral part of back-to-back Indianapolis 500 victories with Al Unser and the Johnny Lightening Special in 1970 and 1971. He was also crew chief for Joe Leonard’s back-to-back USAC National titles in 1971 and 1972. On the dirt, he earned the USAC Championship Dirt Car titles as mechanic with Big Al in 1973, Mario Andretti

in ‘74, and as a car owner and constructor for Pancho Carter in ’78.

In 1975, Capels partnered with car owner Alex Morales and took on a new role as the team’s chief mechanic and team manager, scoring victories with Pancho Carter and Johnny Rutherford, before purchasing the Indy Car operation following Morales’ death in 1988. The next year, Capels was the first to introduce the Alfa Romeo engine to the Indy Car circuit.

During its formation in 1979, Capels was one of seven initial investors of the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He later served as President and COO starting in 1989. He then moved to the role of Senior Vice-President and

Director of Competition for USAC in 1992 before serving as President and COO of USAC from 1997-2001. He continued his contributions to USAC as the Chairman of the Board of Directors from 2002-2010 and led a reorganization of the club that helped revive the organization. He will forever be remembered for being a personable man that strived to educate others through his magnificent love for innovating the sport he loved.

Capels was inducted into the USAC Hall Of Fame in 2019 before passing away on June 9, 2022, at the age of 86.

Outlaw 2 Wheeled Bracket Series

By Gene Grant

When Chris Stringer, long time local motorcycle drag racer and founder of the Outlaw 2 Wheeled Bracket series (sponsored by Law Tigers Motorcycle Lawyers) was getting the planning together in 2021 for what would turn out to be a wildly successful inaugural season in 2022, he could not have predicted the final result; three strips over two states and an enthusiastic response from the local go fast motorcycle scene.

“More people show up every race. We had an 18 bike field at the most recent,” Stringer said. “I push for variety more than anything. Crotch rockets, baggers, Sportsters. It’s not just drag bikes. Alex Alcala won two events riding a Harley - Davidson electric.”

The 2022 eight event circuit included Albuquerque Dragway, Hobbs Airfield Speedway, and Penwell Knights Raceway in Odessa TX. It’s handicap start drag racing, which allows all levels of both machine and rider to be competitive. A full on, mid eight second drag bike can stage up against a 14.00 bagger or a first gen sport bike and everyone has an equal chance.

“Over half were new, never been down a strip before. Never staged a car. Nothing. They enjoyed it so much they stuck with it,” Stringer said.

Stringer also competes on the circuit, holding a slim points lead with one event to go in late October. The racing has been so fierce all season the current top five are bunched at the top, with all five having a chance to win. How good has the racing has been? The average margin of victory this season has been .048.

2023 plans include adding races in Tucson and Pueblo CO., with Arroyo Seco Raceway near Deming and Roswell Dragway/Alien City Dragway looking to join as well. Because of that, Chris Stringer also sees pos sibilities for a constructors series, as participation will increase with more venues on the calendar.

“Outside of one rain out, the 2022 season was basically flawless,” Stringer said. “It’s been a long time coming and it was way beyond expectations. To see it take off like it has is a blessing.”

2021 Champion: Robert Costa

2022 Points Leader: Mike Keenan

The Real Outlaw Door Slammers started in 2009 as a local Pro Mod association for racers in the Southwest. Primarily running at Albuquerque Dragway, most teams are from New Mexico and West Texas. Running 4 to 5 races each year, a champion is crowned at the end of each season.

Entries are limited to left hand steer cars with working doors, aka Door Slammers. Each engine combination is allowed with any power adder. Many teams run Nitous Oxcide, Blowers/Super Chargers, or Turbos.

The cars compete in the 1/8 mile and the quickest 8 cars qualify for each race. A standard 8 car pro ladder is used for eliminations.

All cars must be left hand steer cars and have working doors. Cars and drivers must meet all NHRA guidelines and safety rules that pertain to the speed and ET of their ve hicle. All vehicles will be inspected before qualifying starts.

Qualifying runs: If you have trouble during a qualifying attempt, and your front tires did not cross the burnout box, you may push off to the side, get your car fixed and be put back into line at the end of the qualifying line. If your front tires crossed the burnout box, that is your qualifying attempt. If you are randomly pulled to be a first pair in a qualifying run and cannot make the call, you will forfeit that qualifying session. (Weather and track safety are the ex ceptions to the rule). If a qualifying session is not complet ed due to weather, no runs from that session will be allowed to count toward qualifying.

Performance Limiting Rules:

Screw Blowers with a “c” Rotor limited to a maximum of 92% overdrive

R.O.D.S

Real Outlaw

Door Slammers

Screw Blowers with a “d” Rotor limited to a maximum of 110% overdrive

The Director has the right to set other perfor mance limiting rules as he sees necessary

Any car that enters a R.O.D.S. event will not be allowed to enter the local bracket rac ing program.

Crew Shirts: Proper attire: R.O.D.S. requires that all team members who will be on the starting line wear matching team shirts. We would like for all teams who run in R.O.D.S. to look professional and greasy t-shirts are not the image we are looking for.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive celebrated its 2nd year this past month on Sunday September 25th in classic style. This event is the car version of the famed Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride that showcases motorcycles. Both events are themed retro and dapper as participants are encouraged to dress up to help raise awareness about Men’s global health issues with drives happening all over the globe at the same time! The other fun aspect is the Gentleman’s Drive is open to vehicles that were produced before 1980 so the visual is great with vintage rides and dapper dressed participants for all to see.

It is an on-road motoring event, uniting pre-’80s classic cars, designed to encourage enthusiasts and vintage car owners around the world to dress dapper and drive for men’s health. Funds raised by our Distinguished Gentlefolk support our charity partner, Movember. These funds are invested in vital research and programs for prostate cancer and men’s mental health to support the wellbeing of men all around the world. The Distinguished Gentleman’s Drive is a themed event, where drivers and their passengers dress dapper to complement the elegant design of their vehicles.

ERIC GREEN ALL OUT CALL OUT II

Dave: How many years have you been going to the All Out Call Out?

Eric: Gosh, I’ve been doing it for about 10 years. I missed one year, but I, but I have come to know some of the people that organize that race. I’ve come to become good friends with them, so they’re just people I like to be around. It’s a very fun event. This is a who’s who of people who like to drag race. The cash prizes are big enough that that it pulls the people out to go and try and win that money. Especially in the unlimited class, there’s five separate classes with, you a time index. There’s one unlimited class with the biggest jackpot biggest prize going to them and they have the 2,000 horsepower cars. So, you know they’ve got a lot of money into those rides, but it’s just a fun event. The stands are usually packed with fans. There’s just a lot of energy.

D: How many cars were there?

E: There were 220 cars registered. I was Big Boys class. There were, I believe, just a little over 50 cars in the class I was participating in.

D: Talk about what it’s like to go all six rounds and end up with a victory.

E: So, what’s kind of cool is before you start everybody in the race in your class gets together and you’ve all got a ticket with a number on it and they just start drawing tickets and if your ticket is drawn, you get to choose who you race that round. It’s good to go around and check out all the different cars and just try to gauge which car looks like it’ll be tough to beat or does this look like it’ll be an easy win for me? And so, for the first few rounds, that’s who I’m going to call out. But for the first few rounds, people were calling me out. I have lost in the early rounds of that race on many occasions. But this last weekend was just one of those weekend’s where I had a great day, and my first three wins came somewhat easily. Then my race after that, I took on the two-time defending champion. I beat him at the

light and my car ran a little under the number. I raced out and got a big lead on them and then slammed on the brakes, close to the Finish Line so I didn’t go under my 11.5 time. Then I drew a bye in the semis. For the finals. I took on another good bracket racer and I was able to get out ahead of him just a little bit. I did run out to a decent lead where I knew I had enough of a buffer rather than hitting the brakes at the end. You are kind of guessing. You can’t go under 11. 5. On one where I hit the brakes, I ran 11 .56.

D: Wow, so just six hundredths of a second?

E: There’s a lot going through your mind when you’re making an 11-second, quarter-mile pass. How

much room do I have to hit the brakes? Who am I racing? So, on the back half of the track, you’re doing a lot of things in just a couple seconds. It ended up being my day. I had a great day and the best part about that day was my son (Gus, 8 years old) wanted to go with me. I was like, look this is a long day and if I have a good day and I keep winning, we’re going to be out there a long period of time, he said no dad, I want to go for sure. He was with me the whole night. When I’d come back, we would high-five and go walk around a little bit, get some refreshments and then get ready for the next race. They were handing out trophies at midnight once again and I did get the win, it was a lot of fun.

4 CROWN NATIONALS

A Night to be a NOS Driver

By Sydnee Hamblin

The best drivers in the nation converged on the coveted Eldora speedway on September 24th for the 40th running of the 4 Crown Nationals. Four classes of cars from the nation’s leading touring series met to battle for the titles. A total of 119 cars filled the pits for the event, marking the only time all four series met on the same night over the 2022 season.

The Tezos All-star Circuit of Champions sprint cars, USAC Silver Crown cars, USAC NOS Energy midgets, and USAC Amsoil Non-Wing sprint cars made up the classes competing. 34 wing sprints, 29 in the silver crown division, 16 midgets, and 40 non-wing sprint cars. Of the four classes competing, three of them were championed by

NOS Energy sponsored drivers.

With a $10,000 paycheck for the winners of each division, several

payday. The four main event feat was only championed one time by the famous Jack Hewitt in 1998. Two drivers in the 2022 competition attempted the four-class feat: Chris Windom and Logan Seavey. Of the drivers to compete in all four classes, Seavey was the only to make all four main events.

drivers competed in multiple classes. A $40,000 bonus was offered to any driver that could win every class making for an $80,000

The stars of the night began to shine as the A-mains began to roll. In the midget main, Chris Windom drove to a dominating win making it back-to-back victories in 4 Crown midget competition. Starting fourth in the feature, Windom took the lead in his NOS Energy sponsored number 89 on lap three and never looked back, fighting off hard charges from Chance Crum and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid. This marks

Windom’s first feature victory of 2022 after turning his focus to wing sprints this season.

In the non-wing feature, Justin Grant proved that lapped traffic was no match for his NOS Energy number 4. Taking the lead from Jason McDougal on the fifth lap, Grant was able to hold off late race charges from C.J. Leary and Brady Bacon for his sixth USAC nation victory of the season. Also making strides in the non-wing feature was Logan Seavey who claimed the hard charger award with a 20th to 12th run.

The All-Star Circuit of Champions made their lone appearance at Eldora speedway, where “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney made his seventh victory lane appearance of the 2022 season. Leading all 30 laps of the feature, Courtney was able to hold off Justin Peck and Aaron Reutzel in his NOS Energy 7BC.

In the final main event of the night, the USAC Silver Crown cars took the track for their 50-lap feature. Logan Seavey was able to make his long night worth it driving from the 3rd starting position to victory lane, making it the second back-toback 4 crown victory of the night. It also makes Seavey 2 for 2 in Silver Crown competition at Eldora speedway.

NO COAST 2022

Open Letter on Facebook from “Officer” Dan Brockett

First need to thank 10 Tenths Motorsports: Scot Foxx, Shea Seefeldt and Valino Tires, USA Mike Jiang for keeping me driving all year, and sponsoring me as well as the series. As well as Charlie Fegan for even letting us do this in the first place. Of course Abo Satsukawa and Ian Andresen for coming all the way from Japan.

Where to even begin? 14 years of

drifting, 12 years of The No Coast Drift Party, 13 years running events in New Mexico, all because of a stupid (but life changing) ride along in 08 from CJ Ko and Travis Avery. That got me into Pro Am, XDC, Keep Drifting Fun, going viral in motorcycle vs car, Formula Drift, doing demos out front at SEAMA, being a judge at Klutch Kickers, being the us arm of gktech. com, becoming a stunt driver and

being on a few TV shows to boot. All of those have introduced me to amazing experiences and people around the world.

But nothing can even hold a candle to cultivating and running the local drift series here in Abq, which resulted in No Coast being born in the first place. The friendships formed, the amount of people who make this their yearly

pilgrimage, those that come that don’t attend any other drift events, those that have been to all of them (Anthony Ciocca, Mike Rempkowski and Chad Sheridan), and those whom this is their first one continue to amaze and inspire me to keep this thing going no matter what.

No coast has always been my vision of what a drift event should be. All inclusive, metal band fueled, insane fun, activities outside of drifting, lots of drinking, a real party, cageless tandem and more seat time than you can even handle. Wrap that into 3 days with your best buds and you get no coast. I’ve been to a lot of events around the world, and nothing has even come close to the magic that no coast has become. Seriously blows my mind every time I think about it. Will Parsons I’m so glad you came man, being pit between you and Mikey all weekend was fucking amazing.

The reason behind that magic, is every single driver that has ever come, and or continues to do so from all corners of the USA. I CANNOT THANK YOU ALL ENOUGH FOR COMING TO MY STUPID EVENT IN THE DESERT, AT A TRACK THAT EATS MORE TIRES THAN YOUR YEAR OF DRIFTING ELSEWHERE COMBINED. He yelled. Seriously you guys are why I do this. I love seeing you all every year, and I love even more that my ig and fb feeds are nothing but no coast for an entire week afterwards. Heart = Happy.

The driving this year was better than any previous driving I have ever seen in New Mexico, hands down. The 40car train Saturday night with no wrecks stoked the entire booth so hard we were screaming. What a fucking event boys and girls.

I need to thank my start line bois, Bubba Price Gerard Jacinto and Jeff Marquette, plus Ryan Wolf helping as well, Tim Knope for being the best damn media guy / driver / media wrangler a guy could ask for, they have been doing this tirelessly for yeaaaaars. Charlie Mund for running tech and making the tech stickers my face lol. Johnny Hernandez for tirelessly changing tires for us all weekend, Jesus Nunez for keeping NCDP metal ever since NCDP 2, my wife Michaela Hajkova for basically letting

me disappear for a month before the event to get it all done, Victor Varela and his girlfriend for slinging whiskey garage all damn weekend, Ismael Alires and Lucas Robles for helping above and beyond with logistics. And every single person that offered a water, hug high five, chat, tandem, beer, whiskey, media shot, or anything else all weekend, you made No Coast Drift Party 12! The best goddamn drift event on the planet. Especially Andrew Oeffinger and his legend whiskey sours

I love you all so very much, and I really hope we get a 13.

Valters Bože I love you for these epic shots my dude.

Love, Dan

Competitive action, lower attrition highlights Talladega playoff stop

By Jonathan Fjeld, TheRacingExperts.com

LINCOLN, Ala. — Tensions were high before Sunday’s YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway – and they remained high during the race as it churned out 57 lead changes but just six cautions for 25 laps.

Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney were two of the 17 NAS CAR Cup Series drivers who swapped the lead 57 times.

On the last lap, Elliott passed Blaney and took his fifth win of the season – tying 2022 with 2020 as his win ningest season.

Elliott won with a stronger push from Erik Jones on the outside lane, while Blaney faded to second after Michael McDowell couldn’t get back to his bumper after getting disconnected in turn 3.

“When the 11 drove back off of me, it kinda pulled me and Blaney apart and we just didn’t get reconnected quick enough. There’s not a whole lot I could’ve done, other than drag back to the 11 but I was a little bit slow to do that seeing the 9 was also disconnected on the outside,” McDowell explained to TRE.

“But they were able to get reconnected and generate that run a little quicker. Wish we could get a redo but you don’t get a redo.”

“I think the only thing I probably would have done differ ently is, one, realize that the 11 was laying off the 34 in the middle of three and four and faded back with them,” Blaney said.

“It just happened really quick and then I probably would have coming to the checkered – if we would have won or not, I don’t know – but got back to the bottom – kind of do the fake high, go low, but he was watching and I was kind of far back. “

Just ten drivers were officially involved in the six cau tions that fell Sunday. Seven drivers were involved in a multi-car wreck on Lap 25, Corey LaJoie blew a tire in turn 2 on Lap 46 and Daniel Hemric stopped near pit road exit on Lap 183.

With safety top of mind and rear-end hits a concern, Harrison Burton attracted some looks when his car sus tained left-rear damage in the Lap 25 wreck. After the wreck, however, Burton said he was okay and was more frustrated with his fourth DNF in four traditional SS races this season.

“I wanna get out here and win these things. This is a good opportunity race for us and felt like we were gonna have a good car – then we were crossed up sideways and in the wall so, big bummer,” Burton told TRE.

Corey LaJoie finished 35th after blowing a tire in turn 2 and wrecking out on Lap 44. LaJoie was treated and released from the care center but sent a post-race tweet indicating he was shaken up from the wreck.

From there, no others wrecks took place and the only other cautions occurred for Hemric and the Lap 60 and Lap 120 stage ends.

The 144 wreck-free laps marked the longest stretch of a Talladega race without any wrecks since the 2019 GEICO 500 when no wrecks took place during a 165-lap span between Laps 17 and 182.

Questions arose about what led to the cleaner action Sunday.

“It was intense racing, a lot of pushing. The bumps were big and I’m surprised we didn’t have more incidents. It was a fairly clean race but there were no agreements between the drivers and I’m glad we thankfully came out of here okay,” said McDowell.

“We had a meeting Saturday and it didn’t really change the racing. I’m standing here right now and cannot be lieve we wrecked. I thought, with that last restart, we’d

Elliott, Blaney and McDowell topped Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Todd Gilliland, Daniel Su arez, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe, in 10th.

wreck and they’d all pile in. That’s what we’ve seen, that’s what we saw in the Daytona 500 but, for some reason, we didn’t see it here,” said Ross Chastain, who finished fourth after leading a race-high 36 laps.

“It was just not doing the dummy moves, the extra-ag gressive blocks, but honestly you’re landlocked with this package to the first two lanes. You try to make a third lane and you just go nowhere,” said William Byron, who finished 12th and led 1 lap.

“It didn’t look like anyone was being cautious. Talladega has a whole extra lane wider than Daytona so you’re

able to give everyone a little more space. And Tal ladega has more grip than Daytona so there weren’t as many wrecks, thankfully,” said Kyle Larson, who finished 18th after leading 8 laps.

In the owner playoffs, the No. 45 23XI Racing car, piloted by Bubba Wallace, is 10th, 24 points behind the cutline. In the owner playoffs, Ryan Blaney’s No. 12 team is out while the teams behind everyone else above William Byron in the driver playoffs are above the cutline in the owner playoffs with the points listed.

DENNY HAMLIN ADDRESSES NEXT GEN WOES, ROUND OF 12 AND PIT CREW SWAP

By Cole Cusumano, TheCircuitJournal.com

Could this finally be the year Den ny Hamlin delivers his first NASCAR Cup Series title? Tribula tions with the Next Gen car forecasted a dim outlook for the driver of the No. 11 in 2022, but it appears he could be catching fire – and collecting reinforce ments – at the perfect time.

With only 10 top-10s through 29 races, it’s safe to say this has been far from Hamlin’s best campaign. Although he found sporadic success in the form of two regular-season victories, the traditional dominance hasn’t been there.

To be fair, dominance, in general, has been hard to come by with the newest iteration of NASCAR’s seventh-gener ation stock car, but struggles tend to get magnified for someone of Hamlin’s stature. As has been the case for most veterans in the NASCAR Cup Series, it’s been difficult for Hamlin to adapt to the vehicle.

In a span of two months, the car’s flaws have been on full display with parts failures, random fires, and impacts that have led to injury – which Hamlin experienced firsthand after a wreck at Daytona International Speedway, and from an ownership perspective as Kurt Busch continues to be sidelined with concussion-like symptoms following a crash at Pocono Raceway.

Now 41 years old and in the waning stages of his 17th full-time campaign and second year as a co-owner of 23XI Racing, Hamlin has become an intuitive ambassador for the sport. He couldn’t help but take to Twitter following the conclusion of a chaotic Round of 16.

“We just need another version of [the Next Gen car],” Hamlin told The Circuit Journal. “You don’t need a complete rebuild, but certainly, this car needs some work done to it – which most cars do

when they initially come out. I guess NASCAR hasn’t been reacting as fast as we would like to see them.”

NASCAR caught the ire of former champions Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, and Martin Truex Jr. after a slew of mechanical failures prevented both race wins and advancements from the opening round. For Hamlin, the Next Gen model of teams being

issued common parts isn’t the issue, but rather the quality of the products and the lack of initiative to right these wrongs.

“You’re going to have to rely on the teams to help develop it because there’s just not enough people at NAS CAR to be able to tackle all the things that we’re fighting,” Hamlin said. “We’ve made alterations to the car that weren’t

planned to try to band-aid it, but how could we go ahead and get these teams involved? They’ve got the smartest en gineers of anyone out there, so let them be part of the design process.”

The good news for Hamlin, even with the sluggish regular-season effort and mayhem-filled Round of 16, he was able to avoid elimination and actually asserted himself as one of the best driv ers in the opening round of the playoffs.

Not only was Hamlin one of three driv ers to place top-10 in each race in the Round of 16, but he also scored two runner-up finishes and amassed a 4.3 average result – second-best to his teammate Christopher Bell. How ever, the next three-race set figures to be even more hectic than the opener, with tracks like Talladega Superspeed way and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval looming.

The game plan for Hamlin going for ward is simple: strive for consistency and build up stage points.

“For myself, personally, it’s going to be about qualifying well, getting stage points, and then not messing up on pit road,” Hamlin said. “If we can do those things, we’re gonna make the final eight, and then we’ll win our way into the final four from there.”

Hamlin knows he’s still at a disadvantage in the Round of 12 due to his lack of playoff points built up throughout the regular season. He anticipates that topfive runs with stage points earned will be enough for him to advance into the semi-final set.

As for Hamlin’s biggest threat to his first title, that would be himself. Far too often has he seen victories slip away due to a series-high 34 pit road miscues through 29 races.

Following Kyle Busch’s early exit from the playoffs, it was announced Hamlin would be inheriting the No. 18 pit crew. This should be a massive shot in the arm for the driver of the No. 11, as Rac ing Insights ranked his new crew sec ond overall in average four-tire pit stop times.

“I mean, we needed something to spark us, for sure,” Hamlin said. “It’s the last stop for us that has kind of been the Achilles heel. It kept us from winning a lot of races, and JGR felt like it was the best way for us to get a quick result.

“You’re going to have to bring your best if you’re going to make it and win a championship. Statistically, the 18 team is the best at JGR, so they felt like it was the best opportunity for us to win.”

This is the same pit crew that has consistently completed stops in the nine-second range and won the pole for their driver in the All-Star Race earlier this year. Perhaps the most significant perk for the 41-year-old is the sense of familiarity.

The revered leader and jackman Kellen Mills, and rear tire changer Lee Cunningham worked with Ham lin the last few years before swap ping teams in 2022. In addition to their herculean efforts this season, the pair of crew members guided the No. 18 team and Daniel Hemric to a NASCAR Xfinity Series champion ship last November.

Hamlin will look to forge his path into the Round of 8, beginning with the AutoTrader EchoPark 500 from Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

NASCAR Coverage

Source of Auto Racing News since

The Hooter’s Halloween Spooktacular Car Show had grown to be one of the largest car shows in the Southwest. Reggie and Margret Tibbetts raised thousands of dollars for local charities, celebrated with a Halloween Themed event that was punctuated with a fantastic car show and entertained automobile enthusiasts every year with the Spooktacular. The Pandemic interrupted this community celebration for 2020 and 2021.

The TEAM at the NM Motor Sports Report is going to bring back the Spooktacular with the help of Reggie & Margret, John & Tessa at Hooters and you! We can’t do this by ourselves, and we hope to continue the legacy set up the Tibbetts.

Our goal is to transform the Spooktacular to a community event that includes a car show. Our entertainment will start off with a LIVE broadcast of the NM Motor Sports Report on ESPN Radio 101.7 the TEAM. Interviews will be coming from the event during set-up. Rolling in of the show cars and booths will start at 7:30 (please be patient and kind as we invade the parking lot).

Steve Haydu with Steve’s Cruising with the Oldies with be our Master of Ceremonies and DJ for the event starting at 9am. In addition to playing classic “car show” music, Steve will blend in Contemporary, Country and Hip Hop – a little something for everyone. We have many door prizes available too.

Trophies will cap-off the event which were sponsored by Advanced Technology Services Inc (ATSI), Albuquerque Dragway, Car Crafters, Jackson Compaction and Yearwood Performance. The judging will come from the participants, every car entered will have a vote. Voting cards will be distributed at registration.

Please participate in any way you can with your family and friends. Dress-up, bring your car, Trunk or Treat, play games and visit the booths. This event is FREE to the public!

Thank you!

Dave, Spencer, RJ & Andres

Photos are from prior Hooter’s Halloween SpooktacularEvent information

TRICKS OF THE TRADE

by Jim Costa / YearwoodPerformance.com

A tale of two Jims

Seems a little odd to be a topic in “Tricks of the Trade”, but I assure you it has everything to do with it. I am Jim Costa, owner and operator of Yearwood Performance Center in Albuquerque, Jim Riedel is the track manager at Albuquerque Dragway. Many people get the two of us mistaken for the other very often. It could be our dashing good looks (audience laughs) or that we’re both named Jim or that we are both involved in local motorsports and the fact that my brother Robert owns the dragstrip probably doesn’t help either.

I am flattered that people think I would work as hard as Jim does at the dragstrip because I what I do isn’t hard work, I just work a lot. Jim Riedel is affectionately what we call an “asphalt farmer”. He’s been doing it for 15+ years, about the same time I took over Yearwood performance. He gets on his tractor and runs up and down the dragstrip preparing for the races. He and his crew sure all the racers and spectators stay safe, I can only imagine the daunting task of getting the track ready and prepared every weekend. A lot of the time they all go without mention. But I can tell you, none of the activities out of the dragstrip would happen if it weren’t for Jim and his crew of men and women. If you ever think they don’t work hard, volunteer to help out there sometime. Between the very long hours, the weather, it has got to be rough for everyone there. But they do it for the love of the sport, drag racing.

Me on the other hand, I have similar traits to the other Jim, I try to make sure Yearwood Performance has everything the local racer needs to be prepared for their races. Weather that is Torco racing fuels, Hoosier slicks and M/T drag radials, many many engine components, MSD ignition products, Racepak data logging, lots of engine gaskets, or tons of AN hoses and plumbing needs. We have 2-barrel carbs all the way up to Holley Dominators, or if your fancy is fuel injection, we have that too. If you’re needing all of the electronics for engine management, delay boxes, two-steps, etc, we are here for you.

The Jims have known each other for a long time, we met when Jim was crewing for the late Lawren Jones (RIP) probably 25 years ago. We have built cars and careers together. It has been a fun ride. So, the next time you’re at the track and you need a part for your race car, don’t ask the asphalt farmer Jim, come to Yearwood, and the next time you’re at Yearwood and you ask about the track Jim might know the answer, but Jim will be more than happy to let Jim know your needs.

Jim Costa

Jim Riedel