JOLIET, IL - Three time PSCA Outlaw 10.5 Champion Doug Sikora and his Sikora Racing 2000 ProCharged Mustang attended the NMRA/NMCA SuperBowl in Chicago this past weekend and came 0.015 from a perfect weekend (Well almost perfect)

Before Doug, Jason & Brian began the 2000 mile trek to Illinois, just being competitive was the main goal. That quickly changed after the 1st round of qualifying was in the books as Sikora blasted a blistering 6.71 and took the provisional #1 spot. During the mandatory NMRA "Fuel Check" Sikora quickly learned that the fuel he had been using (Q-16) was not allowed by the association and that run was disallowed. Many of his fellow Pro Outlaw 10.5 competitors heard or watched the pass and Doug's pit was busy with congratulations and idea's on how to rid the fuel system of the Q-16 oxygenated composites so it would be able to pass the fuel check using the replacement fuel (C-16) The Sikora Racing Team worked until 4am removing all the fuel related parts & pieces to decontaminate them using the exhaust gasses from their generator and rental car, that's right the rental cars exhaust pipe was plumbed into the fuel cell and run for hours using the carbon monoxide gasses.

After flushing the system out with fresh C-16 (Thanks to Rob Golobo & AJ Powell) and several re-tuning tips by some of the world's best fuel injection minds that were in attendance, Doug was ready. Tired, but ready With the 2nd round of qualifying canceled due to the facility curfew and cold track conditions (That's right, unseasonably cool mid to low 50's once the sun went down) One round was all that was left for Sikora to make the show. No one knew what to expect since the car has never run on anything but Q-16. As the Mustang left the starting line everyone knew it was "on a pass"!! But when the 6.69 flashed on the scoreboard, Sikora's crew was kinda in disbelief as Doug recorded his quickest pass to date and now had a chance to own a coveted NMRA record as well. And one more thing, that put him back at the #1 qualified position!

"The track is one of the best around"  said an excited Sikora. "Plus we have never experienced this good of atmospheric conditions" Sikora went on to say. Now it was time to get ready for elimination's as this event featured round 1 directly after qualifying on Sat evening. Sikora had a bye and preceded to run even quicker (6.68) to move to the semi's against the series points leader Mike Murrillo.

Sunday's elimination's brought new challenges as the 3 remaining contenders all were Champion's (Mike Murillo, Conrad Scarry & Dan Millen) and with boosted big horsepower combination's that could easily run 6.60's or better, Sikora had to be on his game. In the Semi's against Murrillo, Mike left the starting line first but had problems down track and Sikora had a slower ET than the day before (6.725) but that was good enough for lane choice in the finals as Millen posted a 6.726 to defeat Conrad Scarry.

The final round was going to be "one for the ages" and everyone knew it!! Both cars were running very consistent and the driver's had a little added pressure since the cars were so evenly matched, it might come down to the dreaded reaction times? As the cars staged it seemed like many of the race teams came from the pits to witness this epic "East Vs. West" battle. When the tree dropped, Sikora took what looked like a instrumental starting line advantage (.423 to .449) Doug was also quicker to the 1/8th, but couldn't hold off the big turbo charged horsepower of Millen, and was passed right at the finish line. Millen's 6.727 beat Sikora's 6.768 by 0.015

This weekend's performances by Sikora gives him a little extra confidence going into the big Street Car Super Nationals this Nov 19-22 in Las Vegas as many of the teams that competed in Joliet will be making the trip out west to compete at "America's Greatest Drag Strip" Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "Not sure if we can run in the 60's at the Vegas altitude" claimed Sikora "But we are sure gonna try"

Doug would like to thank Charlie Harmon and Steve Wolcott of the NMRA/NMCA for all the hospitality, the entire Route 66 track crew on near perfect track conditions all weekend, all the NMRA/NMCA racers and crew members that welcomed us as if we were family, my Sikora Racing Team (Jason, Brian, Bob, Roger & Mel) for all the long hours, couldn't have done it without you guys!! And all my sponsors that came through and supported this opportunity:

Pettis Performance www.pettisperformance.com
Street Car Super Nationals 5 www.streetcarsupernationals.com
PSCA www.pscaracing.com
ProCharger www.procharger.com
Accufab Throttle Bodies www.accufabracing.com
RacePak www.racepak.com
Brandt Racing www.brandtracing.com
Mikes Transmission www.mikestransmission.com
Speedwire  www.gallo-teck.ca/speedwire/
CP Pistons www.cppistons.com
Mickey Thompson Tires www.mickeythompsontires.com
& Bob