What do you get when you combine one of the fastest dragstrips in the United States with the fastest imports? The answer: new records and new personal bests for several racers. More than 5,500 fans came to watch their favorite racers compete in the IDRC Firebird Nationals, the first of two events to be held by the IDRC in sunny Arizona.
The talk of the town was the all-motor record being broken by Erick Aguilar and his B-series '95 Honda Civic coupe. The Erick Racing Engine-sponsored Civic blistered the track with an elapsed time of 10.683 at 125.16 mph. The previous record, held by Jeremy Lookosky's L'Natural CRX, was 10.73 at 129 mph since October 2000.
Bisi Ezerioha also accomplished the unthinkable, breaking off a 10-second run down the quarter with his all-motor single-cam CRX. Ezerioha's 10.930 at 123.92 makes him the world's fastest all-motor single-cam. Adam Saruwatari in the A&L-sponsored Pro Class NSX beat his previous personal best e.t. with a 7.771 at 171.84mph.
Bfgoodrich Tires Street Class
The obvious favorite in the Street Class was Ari Yallon. He's been unstoppable, but would he be able to make it two-for-two at IDRC competition? Yallon had some heavyweight competitors, which included Saad Saad's 1000-horsepower Supra, MotoRex's nitrous-assisted Skyline and Peter "Fei Lo" Yeung's RX-7. For Yallon to win, he'd have to bust out his bag of tricks.
In round one, both the Skyline and Peter were eliminated. MotoRex hurt an engine while the RX-7 broke an axle at the line. This would set up Saad to face number-four qualifier Ryan Carwin and his '71 Celica with Yallon getting a bye run. Carwin got to the finish line first and beat Saad to advance to the finals. However, in the finals, Carwin was no match for Yallon, as the Rotary Performance RX-7 breezed to the finish line with a 10.470 to Carwin's 11.000.
Importdrag.Com All-Motor Class
The battle in the All-Motor Class was hot and heavy. After the slaughtering by the Bugs at the IDRC opener in Palmdale, the Honda gang was ready to take revenge. But the Bugs were also ready and they garnered three of the top five qualifying spots to prove it. Erick Aguilar and Norman Aubry were the only two Hondas in the top five. There was a full field of 16 qualifiers in the All-Motor Class and there were no upsets in the first round as all the top qualifiers advanced to the quarter final round.