Dedication pays off!  The Number One Hot Street Story...                            Page 2

By Jason Reiss
Photography by Brian Carner

March 2002

Chris and Billy got to talking late in 1998 about following some of the NMCA Real Street circuit.  Running Billy's 1985 T-Top Mustang GT all season, the team struggled to qualify each race.  With Billy handling the driving duties, and Chris as the crew chief, they spent countless hours testing at the track, building the car, and trying to run with the best NMCA had to offer at the time.  The team went almost the ENTIRE season without winning even one round of competition.  Kind of different from what we've grown to expect from these two, but it's what happened.  At the last race of the year, the team finally accomplished its goal of winning that round.  Speaking candidly, Billy stated "We were happy to win one round of racing.  I was so happy, I didn't even want to run the next round."   This can attest to the difficulties that the team encountered that season, and the struggle of running a vehicle that was excellently designed, but did not have the resources, nor the experience, to be at the top of the class.

Fast forward to 2000, when the fledgling NMRA ran its full season for the first time.  Billy and Chris made the conscious decision before the beginning of the season to run in the new Edelbrock Hot Street class, since they could take most of the old Real Street parts, and put the car right into the NMRA class. Their goal was to not only win rounds, but to win races.  The car came out for the first time at the NMRA Motorsport Nationals at Maple Grove, which, coincidentally, is their home track.  Billy and Chris encountered some difficulties at that race, and did not fare well.  However, the groundwork was laid for the dominance that was soon to follow.  They also followed the NMRA through the rest of the season, and had their best success at the NMRA Byron race, where the team achieved their goal of winning the whole race.  At Bowling Green, the NMRA's final race of the season, the team yet again encountered difficulties, smashing the headers on Saturday, ending their chances of  being able to compete at all on Sunday. This only fueled the team's competitive desire to win in 2001.  At the same time, the exposure delivered to the stunning Hot Street entry made the team decide to build another car, to be run in the NMRA's Real Street class.

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