Nissen Dominates High Altitude Nationals (photo by Brandie Nissen)

The long running High Altitude Nationals returned to Colorado last year at Pueblo Motorsports Park.  For 2016, the event is back and bigger than ever.  Featured this year is the Top Supercharged Thunder competition from the Rocky Mountain Superchargers.

Highlighting the June 25th event is Jim Chase in the Wicked Quick '57 Chevy funny car.  Chase blew out the Top Supercharged Thunder field at the Kansas International Dragway Spring Nationals with a 6.40 e.t and a 210 mile per hour speed.  The beautiful black Chevy is complete with airbrushed trim details and relies on hemi power to dominate the e.t. and speed records.  Chase and partner Joe Wetsch will make the long trek from Bismarck, North Dakota to race at the Southern Colorado track.

Alongside Chase will be Tom "Fireball" Furches whose Pontiac funny car competes with the North Dakota team in both performance and appearance.  Furches' car is a patriotic red, white, and blue.  It's called "Made in America" and has topped 200 miles per hour while currently holding the points lead for the season.

The track will also host a Friday night warmup for the Nationals and hope to see many members of the National Street Rod Association who will be meeting in Pueblo on Saturday.  We'll have the results of this exciting race in our next number.

Great Bend Kansas entrant Trey Newkirk will bring his 200 mile per hour Fiat Topolino to the race to square off against Colorado racers, Tom "Fireball" Furches and Chris Vogel.  The Top Supercharged entries reach speeds that allow the Motorsports Park to claim the fastest race cars in Southern Colorado.

A special Chicago style eliminator makes the Pro supercharged / All Stars a fan favorite.  A new program has been added this year, the Competition Products Challenge which pits the winners of four races into a final four format to determine the overall winner.  That Challenge was added to provide an additional competition format for fast cars and regular Pueblo Motorsports racers.

Alma Nebraska businessman Matt Nissen brought his dragster to Pueblo Motorsports Park and vanquished the entire field in Pro Supercharged/All Stars as the track and the Rocky Mountain Superchargers hosted the High Altitude Nationals.  Nissen nipped final round opponent Tom Boelter's "Midnight Express" altered by just thousands of a second on the 7.50 index.  In Top Supercharged Thunder, the six second funny cars of Jim Chase and Tom Furches squared off with Chase eking out the win.

Matt Nissen

 
Next up for the Superchargers and the Competition Products challenge is the Summer Nationals at Kansas International Dragway in Maize (Wichita) Kansas on July 16th.

NOSTALGIA DRAG WORLD - By Ed Arcuri with Phil Ross; Photos courtesy of RMS & Brandie Nissen