Domestic Muscle Cars Take on Force-Inducted Imports at Maryland International Raceway

LSX. LT1. Coyote. 5.0. 13B. 4G63. 2JZ. K-Series. What do all of these acronyms have in common? They are all racing at what has become one of the most anticipated racing events of the year—the World Cup Finals, Import vs. Domestic presented by Wiseco. What started out as a local gathering to cap off the season turned into an epic event drawing more than 40,000 fans!

Maryland International Raceway hosts this annual end-of-the-season sendoff. The combination of Jason Miller's legendary track prep (seriously, ask any racer who has attended this race) and the cool, dry air that the northeast experiences in the autumn months set the stage for records to fall. And they do. Every year, someone resets a record or two. Racers come here to win and to push their setups to the limits. The payoff is quite the show for both participants and spectators!

See all 108 photos This nitrous-breathing 2000 Mustang owned by James Smith snagged the win for the domestics in the Warriors v. Tres Cuarto Class with a 6.755 at 200.11 mph.

For Michael Washington, this event has become a fall tradition. He has been going to the event since 2007, where he runnered-up in Wild Street. He then raced in All Motor before moving to True Street in 2017 and 2019. As he said, "The event is one of the biggest, most organized and competitive events held all year. The air is always awesome with it reaching -2,000da (Mineshaft Air)" This year he brought his record-holding N/A Coyote-powered 1993 Mustang, named "Pure Evil."

In addition to the "horsepower weather," this event is unique in that it combines classes so that the import equivalent of a domestic class can race each other. Nowhere else will you see such matchups. World Cup Finals draws attendance from over 10 different countries due to this unique opportunity to race against cars that normally would never happen. From dedicated track cars to HOT ROD Drag Week veterans, they can all be found here. Oh, and then there is the little detail of over $145,000 in winnings to be had!

What Are the Classes?

Mickey Thompson Tires Outlaw vs. Extreme

ATI Performance Products Radial vs. Modified

Precision Turbo and Engine X275 vs. Hot Rod

King Racing Warriors vs. Tres Cuarto

JPC Racing Street Fighter

Fuel Injector Clinic Wild Street

Real Street Performance Super Street

Driveshaft Shop True Street

Competition Clutch All Motor

Platinum General Services Pro street Bike

The rules for some of the classes allow for racers to have a bit more freedom for chasing fast times. Washington's Fox-body, for example, regularly an NMRA car, was able to shed some pounds as the True Street class does not have a minimum weight. Normally the car has to weigh 2,675 in NMRA Limited Street Class trim but for WCF, he was able to remove 200 pounds and get it to a more svelte 2,475 pounds.

Where did all the weight go? Well, HO Fibertrends fiberglass doors, Optic Armor Performance door glass and back window and Schoneck Composites carbon fiber 1/4 glasses all did the trick! Also, a fiberglass front bumper with built-in ram air scoop was installed. The doors and bumper were painted and installed by Eric Bardekoff at EB Customs in Ronkonkoma, NY.

True Street also allows any transmission so for Pure Evil, a G-Force Transmissions GF5r 5-speed transmission was installed. Normally, Pure Evil is fitted with a G-Force G101a four-speed per NMRA rules. Leonard and Mike Long spec'd out the gear ratios, while Paul Long did the transmission assembly. Washington pointed out that the aforementioned Longs are not related. The 744HP N/A monster was ready to take on the imports.

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The first round of qualifying kicked off on Thursday afternoon. The track spent the morning prepping and drying the track after some weather moved though. The crew at MIR are top notch and had the track more than ready to handle the massive amounts of horsepower that were set to punish it. Weather would continue to prove to be an issue, though. As the first pair of cars pulled up to the line, it started to sprinkle. Once again, the track had to re-prep, but the hour-long delay did not hinder the program at all. Washington's first hit off the trailer on Thursday was an 8.56 at 155. However, the car has too much gear for the air so the team decided to change shoes to the 28-inch Micky Thompsons for the next qualifiers on Friday.

The change in weather from Thursday to Friday was not an understatement. Thursday was near 80 degrees and Friday morning started out at a near freezing 34 degrees Fahrenheit and remained chilly for the rest of the event! This would set the stage for some impressive runs for the reminder of the event—if the racers can keep the wheels on the ground! For Pure Evil, the new tires resulted in two aborted runs for Q3 and Q4. An early evening crash on Saturday ended up shutting down the track for an extended period of time, allowing for too much condensation to build up on the track. A second crash shortly after the first one caused the track to call the event for the evening. Unfortunately, for the Pure Evil team, Q5 would never come. However, they were still qualified 14th out of 40-plus turbo, blower, and nitrous cars!

Meanwhile, for our AWD friends, the catch-22 about a super sticky track is that it can be extremely hard on the drivetrain, and several of the AWD teams were plagued with axle and transfer case woes. Boostin' Performance's Red Demon, a 1995 Eagle Talon and a favorite amongst the imports at the event, were faced with such issues. They eventually got it sorted out and made it into the show.

Eliminations Sunday greeted the racers to yet another frosty start but quickly turned into a beautiful fall day. Pure Evil was set to run against Adriana Noonen's first generation Eagle Talon. The Talon, a very formidable turbocharged AWD automatic machine was running consistently in the eights all weekend, minus a few fuel delivery hiccups. The two made for a great matchup, and a classic import vs. domestic battle. (Although, it can be argued that the Eagle Talon is more domestic than import.) The fact it runs a Mitsubishi engine with Chrysler badging places it in the import arena to most, though! Michael ended up losing the round to the Talon, and has he put it, "held our head in shame." Although there is nothing to be ashamed about. Pure Evil's 1.19 60-foot on that run shows the N/A powered beast can hold its own against its forced inducted competitors. Washington hopes to get the car out one more time before the snow flies (which at the time of the writing may be too late as winter appears to have come early) to grab that 8.499999 slip!

Results

Outlaw V. Extreme: Juarbe with "El Humilde" 1986 Corolla 2JZ 6.506 at 236.51 MPH

Juarbe with "El Humilde" 1986 Corolla 2JZ 6.506 at 236.51 MPH Radial V. Modified: Carlos Olivo with "Karma" 2006 RX8 13B (Rotary) 6.511 at 208.10 MPH

Carlos Olivo with "Karma" 2006 RX8 13B (Rotary) 6.511 at 208.10 MPH X275 V. Hot Rod: Tony Hobson 2014 Mustang - 438 CID 6.733 at 195.19 MPH

Tony Hobson 2014 Mustang - 438 CID 6.733 at 195.19 MPH Warriors V. Tres Cuarto: James Smith 2000 Mustang 622 CID 6.755 at 200.11 MPH

James Smith 2000 Mustang 622 CID 6.755 at 200.11 MPH Street Fighter: Jacob Conant 2014 Mustang GT500 500 CID 7.152 at 189.71 MPH

Jacob Conant 2014 Mustang GT500 500 CID 7.152 at 189.71 MPH Wild Street: Martin Connelley 1986 Mustang SBF 7.482 at 182.82 MPH

Martin Connelley 1986 Mustang SBF 7.482 at 182.82 MPH Super Street: Patrick Pelchat 1989 Supra 2JZ 8.356 at 166.89 MPH

Patrick Pelchat 1989 Supra 2JZ 8.356 at 166.89 MPH True Street: Joe Fisher with "Taco" 1997 Tacoma 2JZ 8.229 at 167.36 MPH

Joe Fisher with "Taco" 1997 Tacoma 2JZ 8.229 at 167.36 MPH All Motor: Aweis Adde 2000 Integra B-series 10.339 at 94.91 MPH

Aweis Adde 2000 Integra B-series 10.339 at 94.91 MPH Pro Street Bike: Jeremy Teasley 2006 Suzuki 1000cc 6.565 at 219.58 MPH

Team domestics, or in this case Team Mustang, held their own against the lightweight imports taking home the win in a number of the classes! Along with the regular racing, a few world records were also broken over the weekend. Mech Tech's "Loquito Killer" 20B Rotary-powered 2009 Mazda RX8 broke the world record for a rotary engine with a 6.083 at 229.70 MPH. The C20XE powered 2005 Chevorlet Cobalt from Caca Daud Racing out of Brazil took the 4-cylinder record with a 6.162 at 225.07 MPH.

The World Cup Finals is an event that any hard core racer should experience. There is no other event where you can see such a wide variety of cars and engine combinations. All of which are not only fast, but stupid fast! Although for Team Pure Evil, the event ended a bit early, just being invited to the event is an accomplishment and something to be proud of. We can all rest assured that the Coyote-powered forced induction killer will be back next year for some fun!

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