Drag-And-Drive Competitors Make a Splash Street Racing at MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights – Borggren, Kline and Rundle Claim Class Wins
The legendary Woodward Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan has a history of hopped-up rides using various spots on the road for testing and “fun runs” in the original muscle car era.
MotorTrend and Dodge have been writing some new chapters to the Woodward Avenue storybook, as Roadkill Nights has put on a massive show the last seven years.
After several years of running a stretch of Woodward Avenue that is asphalt, the big news for 2023 was the “race track” moving to a section of concrete road in downtown Pontiac.
Taking the street and preparing it for side by side eighth-mile runs is a tumultuous task, and this year’s event was compounded by a massive amount of rain on Friday night. But the Total Venue Concepts (TVC) group got it handled for 120 entries to have a fun day racing on Woodward Avenue.
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Despite a decent amount of rain in the early afternoon hours, the TVC crews got Woodward Avenue back looking like a track, ready for competitors to make two hits on the street. Once those hits were complete, the quickest eight cars in Small Tire and Big Tire were selected to run off for a $10,000 purse in each category. The defending champions from 2022, Mikael Borggren in Small Tire and Joe Barry in Big Tire, were quick enough to earn a shot to attempt a defense at their titles.
Small Tire
From the larger Small Tire field of 76 rides, round one started with Borggren facing fellow turbo runner David McKenna. The ’88 Mustang of McKenna was looking to upset the Valvo wagon, but Borggren got a huge holeshot at the start and stretched it to a multi car length victory.
Next pair featured Alan Robinson’s Mustang against Nick Ryan’s Trans Am in another all-turbocharger battle, and Robinson put Indiana on the board with a win over Ryan.
Fellow Indiana and Mid America Kustoms runner Adam Wright staged up with the clean ’65 Ford Falcon of Sick Summer competitor Johnny Hopewell in the next battle, and the turbocharged Camaro of Wright took out the naturally-aspirated ride of Hopewell.
The final pair of round one Small Tire pitted the all-wheel-drive F150 of Alex Chud against Alex Bergdoll’s Camaro. Bergdoll was hoping to put a third Indiana ride in the semifinal round, but the holeshot from Chud’s truck would prove the difference, keeping Bergdoll at bay by just half a car length at the finish line.
With four cars left, the semifinal pairings started with Wright opposite Robinson in an all-Indiana, Mid America Kustoms match-up. At the arm drop, Wright got a slight jump while Robinson went wheels-up in the right lane. A quick pedal job brought the front end down, but that gave Wright just the amount of room he needed to go on to win by a half-car length margin.
To determine an opponent for Wright, Borggren staged the Valvo opposite Chud’s pick-up. At the arm drop they left together, but Borggren would start pouring in the boost while Chud’s truck slowed just past the halfway point.
The final round in small tire had Borggren looking for his second-straight class win, but to get it would mean going through a tough and very consistent Wright.
At the drop of the arms, Wright got out ahead of Borggren by just a tad. But the Volvo wagon of Borggren pulled around by half-track, and by the finish line was a smooth car length ahead for his second-straight Roadkill Nights Small Tire win.
Big Tire
First pair out in the 8-car Big Tire class would be David Schroeder and the Canada-based ’66 Corvette against Michigan’s own Mike Mislivec and his supercharged ’82 Trans Am. At the arm drop, the Trans Am moved first, and although Schroeder closed the gap within the first hundred feet, the Corvette got close to the center line. A quick pedal job by Schroeder and he once again tried to run down Mislivec, but instead plowed several cones on the center line in a losing effort.
The next pair was a nitrous versus turbocharger match-up, with the rare Pontiac Acadian of Jimmer Kline against Aydan Bailey’s ’57 Chevrolet station wagon. The twin-turbo LS of Bailey got the holeshot, but Kline sprayed his way around for a couple bus lengths finish line margin of victory.
An all-red classic Chevrolet battle staged next with the nitrous-infused ’69 Nova of Eric Mills going against David Hekhuis’ supercharged ’71 Chevelle. This one would be a lopsided battle, as problems for Hekhuis gave Mills an easy win.
That brought up the final battle of round one, and a pair of previous winners on Woodward Avenue, as Alex Taylor and Joe Barry would duke it out. Ironically, Barry and Taylor staged up on a test run earlier in the day, and she got a massive holeshot on him and carried the lead through the finish line. In the rematch, Taylor once again got off the arm drop first, but this time Barry would pull around her by a fender-length for the win to wrap up round one.
The semifinals found all three power adders represented, and Mislivec would face Barry to figure out what boosted car would get the first final round berth. The blown Trans Am was looking to prevent the Barry from another final round appearance, and at the arm drop, Mislivec got a big holeshot as the Trans Am left first wheels up. This put Barry in the position to have to come from behind for a win, and at the stripe it was a half car length victory for the ’56 Chevy of Barry.
The second pair would be an all-nitrous match-up, with Mills and Kline duking it out. At the arm drop they left together, and after a touch of tire spin, Kimmer got hooked up and blazed his way to a victory by over a car length over Mills.
So, the final round would be a pair of former winners, as the defending champ Barry would tangle with Kline, the 2021 champion. At the hit it was close, but the nitrous Canadian Acadian of Kline would prove too tough to get back around, and Kline notched his second Roadkill Nights win, handing Barry his first loss since 2021.
Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match - Mentors and Rookies
Another part of the Roadkill Nights experience is the Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match, where Dodge supplies a number of teams with a crate engine that must be used in their choice of Dodge / Mopar brand vehicle.
Alex Taylor took home the win in last year’s competition, but for 2023, the challenge would change to 2-person teams of a mentor and a rookie. Six teams would make the field, and to determine the pairings, a random chip draw or callouts would do the trick.
As soon as the offer for callouts was made, Team Throtl with Quinn Clark driving and Rickie Fernandez as the mentor called out driver Erica Schrull and mentor Rob Damn of Team Dahminators. Just moments later, Team Corruptt’s Kayla Rundle called out the Lacey Blair from Team Truck Yeah. That meant by default, the Sick Bastards team with EJ Naegeli driving and Tom Bailey mentoring would stage with Team Soul Snatchers driver Lee Carter and mentor Herman Young.
Naegeli and Carter would stage up first, and unfortunately Naegeli tossed the drive belt on the burnout, silencing the ’65 Belvedere and giving Carter a tune-up run and a pass to the semifinal round.
Team Throtl and Clark faced Schrull from Team Dahminators in the next pair, and Clark got the jump while Schrull dropped the clutch pedal and watched her hopes go up in smoke.
The final match-up of round one put the only truck in the field, Team Truck Yeah with the mentor Justin Keith and driver Blair, against Team Corrupt’s Rundle. This one was also a bit lopsided, as Rundle made her mentor Tony Arme happy by driving the ’69 Barracuda to a convincing win over the pick-up.
The lone pairing of the semifinal round pitted the Viper of Team Throtl against Team Soul Snatchers’ Dodge Charger. Some of the smack talking between these two had the crowd hyped for this match-up, but at the arm drop it was all Team Throtl, as Clark was over two car lengths ahead at half track and never looked back for a convincing win.
With three cars remaining in the semifinal round, that meant Rundle would get the single to the final, and although the Cuda moved around a little at the hit, she gave it a quick pedal and motored down the left lane to prepare for the final.
So, the final would be Viper versus Barracuda, Clark versus Rundle. Some figured that with three years of experience at Roadkill Nights, Team Throtl would have an edge in the final. But at the arm drop, the Viper spun the tires, and Rundle would rocket to the finish line to earn the victory for Team Corruptt.
Tom Bailey recently put out a video on the results of the new Durango, as well as EJ wheeling the Belvedere and Aydan’s results in the station wagon:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Hard Target images and Kayla Rundle.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com