Welcome to The ROCK | 2022 NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals from Rockingham, NC

SID297

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Welcome to The ROCK | 2022 NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals from Rockingham, NC

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Photos by StacyStangz


Tucked away in a quiet corner of rural North Carolina sits two historic motorsports complexes that are both finding new life in 2022. Situated on either side of US Highway 1 is Rockingham Speedway, which is a 1 mile oval opened in 1965 and home to some of the greatest stock car racing in history, and opposite it is Rockingham Dragway. While the Speedway saw its last NASCAR Cup race in 2004, renewed interest and a multi-million dollar injection of stimulus money has it on track to see major racing events return in the near future. However, the drag strip across the road has been continuously operating since 1970 and has a schedule full of new racing events on deck in 2022.



Over the next several weeks The Rock will play host to Street Car Takeover, Modern Street Hemi Shootout, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, NHRA National Open, and even Donk Racing Donkapalooza. However, we’re on site this weekend for the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals. That race is traditionally held at Atlanta Dragway in Commerce, GA. Unfortunately; that track is but one of a number of motorsports venues that have fallen victim to closure due to local development, in this case an electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant. Still, the NMRA/NMCA crew saw this as an opportunity to bring their form of grass roots drag racing back to The Carolinas for the first time in several years.



The SVTP crew rolled into the track on Thursday evening to find an already impressive crowd of racers on site and making test hits. By the time I got stirring around outside this morning there was already a line of racers about an 1/8 mile long waiting at the gates to get in. If the early indicators are correct, I expect a sizable crowd for the domestic racing action this weekend. The vendor midway has many of our favorites; including Team Beefcake Racing, HP Tuners, Livernois Motorsports, Johnny Lightning Performance, Mahle, Sun Coast, Mickey Thompson Tires, Trickflow, Holley, VP Fuels, and more. Food options look pretty good, especially the BBQ (side note: they even have a cigar vendor and beef jerky salesman on premises), and if the temps stay in the 80’s I may have to partake in an ice cream or two over the weekend.



I expect the racing action to be exciting. The track prep team is putting in overtime to make sure the racing surface is properly sticky, and evening temps drop off quickly as the sun sets. I doubt we’ll see Bowling Green-like times, but the cars should be very competitive. In any event, the weather looks to be beautiful for the next few days and there’s no better place to be this weekend than at the track. I love the smell of VHT in the morning. I’ll be updating this thread throughout the weekend with more pics and a handful of videos, so be sure to keep an eye on this thread or make the trip out to The Rock. Either way you won’t be disappointed.


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CobraBob

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Nice photos! Nothing like the smell of drag racing in the air. Looking forward to updates as you get them. Have a great weekend, Travis.
 

351stang

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@SID297 The track prep there is great. I've run 1.72 60' on street tires there. When are the events or did I already miss them?

/edit I found it and may bring my kid to Sunday. Thanks for posting!
 

SID297

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The track prep was much better today. The air quality is pretty crappy, but the venue has been great so far. Looks like the locals are aiming out to spectate. I saw one guy wearing a Super Chevys shirt and I don’t think they’ve run that here since the 90s.
 

CobraBob

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I used to compete in Super Chevy shows back in the late '90s. Still have my Class Winner jacket from 1998. That's a Show I'll never forget. My granddaughter was only 5 years old at the time and she was on cloud 9 when my name was called for winning my Class. She walked up with me to receive my jacket. Memories I'll have forever!
 

CobraBob

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The start of that new video was perfect! High revs and the smell of race fuel in the air. Thanks for the vid. I checked this thread tomorrow for more.
 

beau t

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Sid297
I was just researching the 6 speed vs 10 speed the other day Thanks for posting that up!
 

RedVenom48

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Godzilla is a bad ass engine. But lets not forget that Ford took a page out of GM's playbook. Simplicity of an OHV design and large cubes.

Love or Hate GM, but their LS is King of Sportsman Racing for a reason. Literally pull a truck motor out of a truck, stuff into *insert random shitbox capable of a V8* and add boost. Profit.

LS' main advantage now and going forward is availability. They made literally millions of these engines. Its going to take a long while before Godzilla even sniffs the success of LS as a swap candidate.
 

Cobra Therapy

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Godzilla is a bad ass engine. But lets not forget that Ford took a page out of GM's playbook. Simplicity of an OHV design and large cubes.

Love or Hate GM, but their LS is King of Sportsman Racing for a reason. Literally pull a truck motor out of a truck, stuff into *insert random shitbox capable of a V8* and add boost. Profit.

LS' main advantage now and going forward is availability. They made literally millions of these engines. Its going to take a long while before Godzilla even sniffs the success of LS as a swap candidate.
gm has done nothing but steal from Ford for years.Stock or Modified,to me Ford makes the better motors.The world record for the standing mile is a FORD GT over 300 MPH.No gm is even close.
 

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