Battle of the Brands

Cobra Jets will race COPOs and Drag Paks in a heads-up NMCA battle

By Steve Turner
Photos by Steve Turner and courtesy of Ford Performance

We love watching the Cobra Jet Showdown at select NMRA events. Ford Performance’s factory drag Mustangs are capable of 8-second passes right of the Auto Alliance line, and they get even quicker in the hands of experienced drag racers. Seeing them race each other is fun, but there is a lot more drama when they race against their Motor City rivals. That is going to happen this season in the NMRA’s sister sanctioning body, the National Muscle Car Association.

“We’ve had several Cobra Jet Showdowns in both NMCA and NMRA events and we’ve seen plenty of COPO Camaros and Drag Pak Challengers enter some of the Index classes in NMCA,” NMCA General Manager Rollie Miller said. “To have all these specialty racecars in one class and to do it heads-up for the first time is going to be a whole lot of fun for racers and spectators alike.”

The class is open to both the naturally aspirated and supercharged versions of the factory drag cars with the NA cars receiving a big weight break. Winners and runners up will be included in the NMCA Pro Contingency program.

“Ford racers are highly competitive among themselves, but nothing brings out their highest performance like racing against our cross-town competitors,” Jesse Kershaw, Ford Performance Drag Racing Parts and Competition Manager, said. “It will be the first time all three brands are mixed up for an all-out fight to get to the finish line first.”

Even the Cobra Jet’s rivals are excited about the chance to battle it out with Ford’s factory drag star.

“When we re-introduced the COPO for the 2012 racing season, we knew it would just be a matter of time until we had the chance to race the Cobra Jets and Drag Paks in a heads-up race,” Curt Collins, COPO Marketing Manager, said. “NMCA is bringing this to the track not only for the manufacturers, but for racers and fans. This new class is going to crown the ‘King of the Quarter Mile.’”

“Heads-up racing is always exciting, and when paired with Mopar Challenger Drag Paks it becomes special,” Dale Aldo, Mopar Motorsports Marketing Manager added. “We look forward to following this new race series and wish the series and racers a great 2016 inaugural season.”

The 2016 NMCA season begins on March 10-13, 2016 at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida, and the Factory Super Cars class will run at all six events, including the two NMRA vs. NMCA events in Commerce, Georgia, and Joliet, Illinois.

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