NOPI Sport Compact

Toyota/Scion Drivers Score One Win, One Second Place and One Heartbreak at NOPI NJ Nationals

ATCO, NJ - Toyota driver Kenny Tran won his race, Johnny Maguda was runner up in his, while Chris Rado was eliminated from final day competition in the first round due to the failure of a four-dollar part, on a cool and cloudy day at the NDRA NOPI Nationals at Atco Raceway in Atco, N.J. Sunday afternoon.

"My Toyota Scion tC tracked straight and the motor is still good," said Tran on his Hot Rod class victory. "It really liked the cool weather. After setting a 182.45 mph for top speed in class yesterday, I was hoping to reset the national record today, but fell a little short."

"I actually did my best time yesterday, a 7.98 second run under similar conditions to today, but I was disqualified for the car being 15 pounds underweight," he noted. "But I'll take the 8.03 run (174.26 mph) we did today. The car is prepped and ready to go for next weekend's event in Englishtown, N.J."

This was Tran's second consecutive strong outing. He is currently the NOPI Hot Rod class' national record holder, which he set the last time he ran at Moroso.

A rookie driver with a brand-new car, Maguda's Toyota Celica ran progressively faster in each round of Sunday's event on his way to a NOPI Unlimited Street class runner-up result. Starting with a 8.55 sec./167.75 mph pass in round one, his next trip down the quarter-mile was 8.366 sec., good for 168.24 mph. His final run of 9.41/183.79 was good for second place.

"The track was terrible in my lane," he explained. "I paddled it the best I could, but second was the best I could do. The car can make 1300 horsepower, but we had to detune it and change the fuel due to changes in the regulations. I'm still a rookie and I know I'm still learning. But I'm picking it up real quick! I'm looking forward to next weekend."

Rado's race came to an early end due to his Scion tC breaking a front seal in the day's first round of eliminations, after being the third fastest qualifier from Saturday in the Pro FWD class.

"It's a big disappointment," Rado said. "We had what it takes, being cool and overcast it was optimum weather for horsepower, but we broke in the first round. A front seal is about a four dollar part. Breaking that was a first for us. But now it's on to the next event."

The NOPI Nationals series now heads to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, May 3-4.