Englishtown, New Jersey is no stranger to racing. The Old Bridge Township Raceway Park features drag racing action practically year round. For the first time, NOPI has added Englishtown to its Drag Racing Event Series. On the weekend of May 3-4, 2008, racers from across the country and Puerto Rico congregated to compete at the NOPI Spring Nationals.

Single-Digit Slips

Executing single-digit quarter-mile sprints proved to be attainable for the veteran drag racing competitors that were in attendance. In the all-motor class, Jeremy Lookofsky ran a 9.253-second quarter mile with runner-up Norris Prayoonto close behind with a 9.455-second blast in the finals. In qualifying, Lookofsky cleared the 1320 with a new NDRA record time of 9.23 seconds. The Hot-Rod class also saw some incredible time slips as well. Kenny Tran piloted the Scion tC down the track in only 8.012 seconds with runner up Bryan Jimenez coming in only 0.29-seconds later. Brent Rau piloted the Modified class Mitsubishi Eclipse to a scorching 7.086-second time slip.

Pro Class Punch

The Pro class also delivered incredible e.t.'s as racers vied for the top spots on the podium. Gary Gardella and Marty Ladwig, both driving Pro FWD-class Chevy Cobalts, delivered seven-second runs with Ladwig edging Gardella with a 7.167-second pass. The Pro RWD class was won by Carlos Montano when he eclipsed the 7-second barrier with a 6.953-second pass. Runner-up Jorge Lazcano finished with a 7.061 blast down the 1320, unable to beat Montano's low elapsed time.

Smoke And Burnt Rubber

The NOPI Drift Series joined the NOPI Drag Series at Englishtown as well, bringing 25 drifters, their cars and crews to New Jersey. Fans were treated to an action and smoke-packed weekend of drifting action as the drivers smoked the tires throughout the Englishtown Road Course. Competing against an ocean of Nissan's, only the Pontiac Solstices of Ryan Tuerck and Ali Aljibouri stood against the Nissan-saturated field.

Ryan Tuerck eliminated Evan Tuerck in the first round and faced the only other Solstice at the event in round two of eliminations. Aljibouri could not out drift Tuerck, as Tuerck continued up the ladder. In the third round, Tuerck beat Forrest Wang to advance to the finals. Nathan Brasz also earned a spot in the finals when he defeated Stewart Leask.