Englishtown, NJ - Tropical Storm Allison does not like import racing; after she wreaked havoc on the WIC event in Houston, TX, her remnants swept across the northeast and spoiled the inaugural NHRA Summit Import Drag Racing Nitto Nationals at the famed Englishtown Raceway Park strip. The Raceway Park and NHRA staff did their best to get one day of racing in before the event was rained out on Sunday. Overcast skies and reports of scattered thunderstorms kept some of the crowds away on Saturday, but those who ventured to the track for occasion were treated to some the finest import racers that truly represented all corners of the country. The two pro qualifying sessions that were run between a brief, heavy downpour saw record runs, some scary crashes, and a good preview of the likely match-ups for the eliminations.

We called it first back in May - Mike Crawford and the Phatridz/ Forward Motion Neon became the World's Fastest Neon with a 10.18@135 pass at Raceway Park. At the Nitto Nationals, the car again stunned the crowds and fellow racers with an incredible 9.78@142 pass that also make it the first and only Neon (and one of the few fwd non-Hondas) to break the nine second barrier. When we spoke to crew chief Darryl Cox and the crew a month ago, they made it clear their mission was to get the 2.4L (Chrysler Minivan block!) Neon into the 9-second club. They accomplished their mission in with some experimentation in boost and nitrous settings over the past few events they've attended. The success of the Phatridz/ Forward Motion team is sure to open the doors to more Neon campaigns in the future.

Angela Proudfoot, in her new pro car, furthered her record for Fastest East Coast Female with a 10.30@132 run. Crew Chief Chris Neidemire expects further success with tweaks to the setup. The pro car is an evolution of the streetcar that she took to 11.4 sec. success. With the support of sponsors like Turbonetics and Tanabe, the streetcar was taken apart and rebuilt over the off-season and is powered by a B18C1 powerplant that has produced 546 hp on the dyno. The success of the Proudfoot team is impressive when you consider that the car has gone from a 17 second streetcar to 10.3 record holder in the period of just two years.

The event also saw the return of one of the pioneers of the east coast, Rafael Estevez and the DRT Civic. Several years ago, the Civic coupe was one of the first cars on the east coast to break the ten-second barrier. The car returned with an innovative twin-turbo setup that has run low ten second runs during shakedown runs and a 10.71@146 run during the second round of qualifying to make it the quickest twin-turbo Honda to date. The rare setup has been reported to make 600 hp in mildly tuned form and is capable of more. Welcome back DRT.

The second round of qualifying was also plagued with some scary close calls and crashes. Garry Marsh and his WrightTouch Eclipse broke an axle in second gear and tossed the car hard into the right retaining wall and a 900-degree spin. Marsh was unhurt as track officials quickly responded to the scene. In the Modifed Qualifying session, Ara Arslanian launched hard and looked to be on his way to another impressive run when the oil filter let go and sent the car into a 130 mph fishtail that put the crowd on their feet. The only thing that prevented Ara from crashing into the retaining walls was road racing honed driving skills. At one point, the 1,000 hp Supra had spun around 180 degrees and was sliding towards the wall before Ara flipped it back around to safety. The third incident occurred when Puerto Rican racer Jorge Juarbe's old school 7 sec. Mazda wagon went up on its two left wheels after an attempt to get the car back on the track grooves. The car then landed on its right side and slid across the median into the path of a hard charging R.J. Simrock. Fortunately, R.J. let off once he saw the Mazda in trouble and was able to stop in time. Remarkably, the crew reported only body damage and was ready to run for Sunday. Despite the common misconception, the rain before the qualifying session was not responsible for any of the mishaps as track crews were especially careful in the track preparation under the difficult conditions.

Team Puerto Rico was one of the major contingents at the race. Representing the fastest field ever assembled from the island, the group featured rotary and piston powered bullets Siguel Racing RX-7 (the World's Fastest Door Slammer) 7.37@181, Chivi-King (the World's Fastest Toyota) 7.71@178, Sammy Promotion 7.64@178, Contreras Auto's Single Turbo VG30DET powered Pro Mod Z, Rafaelito FC3S RX-7 7.66@176, and La Nueva Vivian Mazda wagon. Although they were unable to compete this weekend, they will all be on hand again for the IDRC Nitto 555R Summer Slam Nationals on June 30-July 1 at Englishtown.

The biggest focus of the Pro Class though was the Nitto/Enkei/Jackson Racing NSX of Adam Saruwatari. The east coast debut of the carbon fiber bodied exotic was only the third time the car has been at the track. Even so, the car had run an impressive 8.3-second pass at the WIC, Houston qualifying and another 8-second pass during Friday night shakedowns at Englishtown. After correcting a problem with the Motec engine management system on Saturday, Adam took a light pass in the NSX to a 10.01@131 timeslip during the second round of qualifying. During Sunday's rainout, Adam spent a few minutes with us talking about the NSX. According to Adam, the NSX is in some respects easier to drive than his famous RX-7. The 3 and a half-year project involved many unknowns in both chassis and engine work but is well sorted at this point. Unfortunately, this may have been the last time the northeast will see the NSX this year, as Adam plans to compete only in the remaining Battle and NHRA Import Series. Adam also had his RX-7, and another street NSX in the trailer, but was unable to display them because of the weather.

Besides Neons, Sentras were out in force to dethrone the Honda reign. Led by Jamie Farrer's (World's Fastest Sentra 10.05@142) Sentra, the clan also included the 10.3 sec Backyard Productions SE-R of Kristian Ichazo from Florida, and the AEBS Sentra of Chad Trower from California.

California racers like Lisa Kubo and Jojo Callos were also in attendance. Kubo wasted no time and took only one qualifying run to take the number one spot with an impressive 9.43@151 blast. Jojo decided to join the 9 sec. party with his own 9.92@143 qualifying run. Christian Rado and the World Electronics Integra were coming off their record 8.91 sec record run, which was made with a Gary Kubo built spare engine under the hood.

The Lone Star state sent its own posse of racers including Jotech's Kenny Tran and his potent 9-second Civic. Another Jotech car that made the trip was blue hued EK of Viren 'the Virus' Singh. In its first year of competition, the team has high hopes that the 10.3 sec car will break the nine-second barrier soon. Texan Cotorres Gee and the Hocus Pocus Civic qualified number 2 in the All Motor class with an 11.60@113 run.

As the Sunday rains poured, many of the racers stayed on to do some bench racing and catch up on the latest gossip.

The Sunday rain cancellation may have spoiled the inaugural NHRA Summit Nitto Import Nationals, but the impression was left. The NHRA Import series brought out one of the most diverse group of racers ever assembled for an import event. Raceway Park and the NHRA are working to set up a rain date for the event. Check back here or at www.nhraimport.com for the latest news.

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After two rounds of Qualifying -