E-Bodies win at Pomona and Orlando
Mopar Super Stock fans had a bit to cheer during the opening weekend of the 2012 NHRA Lucas Oil Series season as Mopar drag cars won on both coasts. Super Stock has been given new life by some of the latest package cars, but it was the venerable 1970 ‘Cuda that landed the applause at two events, the Winternationals in Pomona and the Division 2 point race it Orlando Speed World on February 10.
In Florida, John Kakalecik,of Whitehouse Station, N.J., was running in SS/CA and had gone through five competitors to meet with Arnie Martel in the final. Martel was very red in the money round, while John hit a respectable .016 light and went 9.133 on a 9.01 dial when Martel slowed. Especially satisfying was the fact that Martel was in one of the very first new 2012 Camaros, which he had set-up to run in SS/B Modified.
It was noted racer Mike Cotton of Broken Arrow Oklahoma in his 1970 SS/JA 340 model that made the best of it all. Cotton had qualified and raced six other drivers successfully before coming up against multi-time national event winner Jody Lang and his GT/KA Chevy Malibu. Cotton banked an .001 light that allowed him to cross the stripe ahead of Lang by an unreal .003 when Lang was dead-on his dial-in with a 10.851 on a 10.85. Cotton’s Big M paint scheme is a big hit…
Mike Cotton, 2012 WInternationals Champion, image courtesy Mopar by Bruce Biegler.