Roadkill Nights Hosts a Full Day of Action at M1 Concourse – Borggren and Kline Top the Small Tire and Big Tire Classes, While Evans Claims First-Ever Win in Direction Connection Grudge Race
Pontiac, Michigan has hosted the popular MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge event since 2015, and although a few locations have been used, the constant for almost every year was Woodward Avenue.
For the 2024 edition of the event, M1 Concourse swung open their gates to welcome not only the car show participants and spectators, but also host the racing on their straightaway for the first time in event history.
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The drag racing action would be the main focus of a full day of activities. Dodge brought out several cars, both new and classic, to display alongside their multiple crate engines available through Direct Connection.
The Dodge Thrill Rides proved to be a popular attraction all day, with Dodge Charger Hellcats using the entire skid pad at M1 Concourse.
Dodge also offered up the Hornet Offroad Experience on a dirt course, and driving simulators were also part of the package at Dodge’s displays. M1 Concourse would also play host to a sizable car show and number of manufacturers as well.
With the Roadkill name, that meant an appearance of David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan, as they showed up to the event as part of an episode to be available later this year on the MotorTrend channel.
In keeping with previous drag racing action, the open competition would be separated into two classes, Small Tire and Big Tire. Limited to a 275 drag radial or a 28-inch-tall x 10.5-inch-width, the Small Tire class has seen Mikael Borggren and his turbocharged Volvo station wagon at the top the past two years.
The Big Tire side of the equation witnessed returning champ Jimmer Kline bringing back his nitrous-huffing ’66 Acadian, looking to once again stay atop the field for another Roadkill Night check.
Due to M1 Concourse requests, the straightaway was unprepped, and with a 30 foot width, competitors might not have felt as inclined to “ride it out” as in years past. After nearly six hours of open track time for competitors to get familiar with the new surface, the Top 8 in both Big Tire and Small Tire were announced, and given a short amount of time to prep for round one.
When competitors returned to the lane in front of the crowd, they were given instructions on how races would be staged up, and chip draw would determine pairings and lane choice.
The Big Tire class started with the familiar blown Trans Am of Michael Mislivec opposite Mersinas Demetrios in an old-school technology big tire car versus modern all-wheel-drive GT-R. What could’ve been an interesting match-up was over early, as the GT-R of Demetrios suffered problems off the line, while Mislivec rocketed to a 5.20 time.
The second pair would again stage up all-wheel-drive versus classic muscle, as John Paul Delisi’s Jeep Cherokee staged up with Jeffrey Hall’s Buick Skylark. Although the turbocharged LS-swapped Buick sounded plenty rowdy, the Jeep would get the jump and stay ahead for a 5.28 to 5.38 victory.
James Barnebei was to have faced Timothy Scherbinski in a Ford versus Chevrolet battle next, but when Scherbinski’s black Nova couldn’t make it to the starting line under power, Barnebei got a single to move to the semifinal round.
That left Kline’s 1966 Acadian to battle the all-wheel-drive F-150 of Shane Maley, and Kline owned this pairing from start to finish with his second-straight 4.98 clocking to conclude round one and advance four drivers to the semifinal round.
The chip draw for the semifinals pitted Mislivec versus the final all-wheel-drive entry of Delisi, and the Trans Am went wheels-up off the starting line and led A-to-B for a 5.18 to 5.34 victory over the Jeep of Delisi.
That meant the supercharged ’69 Mustang of Barnebei faced the tall task of trying to unseat defending champ Kline. At Jason Rueckert’s arm drop, the Mustang moved first, but Kline would score his best pass of the day at 4.94 and a multi-car-length victory.
Could Kline score a back-to-back victory in Big Tire? Mislivec was hoping to score the upset in the final round, but Kline unloaded a 4.85, the best run of the entire event, to regulate Mislivec to the runner-up spot, and give Kline a fourth Roadkill win.
“The first run on Saturday didn’t work,” Kline said. “So I put in a tune-up I knew would work, and that got me back in the game.” The second run of qualifying netted Kline a 5.00 time, followed by a 4.98 on the third run, so he stayed in the pits after that and waited on the call for Top 8.
Kline’s performance continued to improve throughout the day, and the 622 cubic inch engine kept getting a little more nitrous each time. “I kept grabbing the second kit a little quicker each time,” said Kline. “Normally we leave on an Induction Solutions fogger and then bring on the plate, but after first round we switched that shit around!”
In the Small Tire class, a titanic first pair put Adam Hodson and Austin Sanchez on the starting line, and a holeshot-aided 5.24 from Hodson held off the quicker 5.21 from the third-gen Camaro of Sanchez. David Diehl staged up next opposite the ’99 Camaro of Jeffrey Kalo, and a solid 5.18 from the Mustang of Diehl clipped the 5.39 from Kalo.
Borggren faced the Fox Mustang of Glenn Ward, and the Volvo delivered low e.t. of round one with a 5.14 easily handling the 5.80 from the Mustang. The final pairing of round one of Small Tire put Dave McKenna against Brian Acton, and this Ford versus Chevy battle went to the Ford, with McKenna’s 5.26 hitting the finish line ahead of Acton’s 5.41 pass.
The first pair of the final four in Small Tire put Hodson opposite Diehl, and although Hodson got the jump, Diehl managed to reel in the ‘Gap Train’ in a 5.11 to a 5.30 outcome.
That would pit Borggren against McKenna, a familiar feeling for both as they’ve matched up several times in the no-prep world. McKenna got the jump off the starting line, but a 5.12 from Borggren managed to squeak by McKenna for the win.
That would mean a highly-anticipated battle between Borggren and Diehl would be the final round, with the competitors coming into the final round separated by just one hundredth of-a-second. Borggren got a slight jump off the starting line, but Diehl would stay alongside the entire length of the track.
At the finish line, it was mere inches separating the two, but Borggren held off the fast-approaching Diehl, with both drivers clocking 5.13 times. “I didn’t expect to win,” said Borggren. “If it had been on the same road as before, we might have had an advantage. But doing it at M1 Concourse, it was a curveball. We had to make drastic changes.”
How close was the final round from Borggren’s view? “I had absolutely no clue who won. I was in front mid-track, but he was catching me. It was an exciting race.” This marks a third-straight win for the Volvo driver, the first in Roadkill Nights history.
The third part of the drag racing action was Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Match, where Dodge supplies a number of teams with a Hurricrate 3-liter twin-turbo crate engine that must be used in their choice of Dodge / Mopar brand vehicle. Alex Taylor took home the win in 2021 and 2022, and Kayla Rundle did the deed in 2023.
Morgan Evans and Allison Kovalik hoped to keep the winning-record 100-percent intact for the female side in 2024, but Westen Champlin, Herman Young, Tom Bailey and Garrett Reed were hungry for a win as well. After Bailey and Champlin found the driveshaft as their weak links, it would be down to four drivers in eliminations.
The first pairing of round one pitted ‘Demonology’ Young against Evans, and although Young got to the finish line first with a 5.65 from his cart, he got loose during the run and crossed the centerline, meaning Evans would go to the final round on Young’s disqualification.
Reed would face Kovalik to determine the other finalist slot, and a huge holeshot got Reed the win via a 6.37 over the quicker 6.17 from Kovalik.
So a pair of rookie race drivers would determine the fourth champion in the Direct Connection Grudge Race, and the final would be a big win for either driver. The drivers flipped lanes based on chip draw from their first round match-ups, and at the arm drop Evans jumped out to a big lead that Reed could not overcome, giving Evans her first-ever competition win.
“When the truck was completely stock with a 318 cubic inch engine in it, I took it to the track before we tore it apart and ran a 20-second time with it,” said Evans of her first-ever drag strip experience. “We didn’t even take the air conditioning stuff out of it for this, and we’re hoping to make a fun street and strip ride.”
For someone with only one time drag racing, the final round was an emotional experience. “Halfway down the track I started crying. I was so far out on him; I figured I had it won.”
Dodge also awarded a $5,000 bonus to the quickest Dodge-powered Dodge on the property, and that honor went to Tom Bailey and his Dodge Durango Hellcat.
For the latest video from Sick, including racing action from Roadkill Nights, click below:
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Alex Rocheleau.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com