After a breakout season in the NMRA’s Super Stang class in 2012, where he finished the year on top as the class Champion, Chad Wendel has continued putting solid performances on the board so far in 2013. Despite a second-round breakout loss at the Florida event, the Moser Engineering-sponsored racer has continued to hone his skills. He didn’t fare terribly well in Atlanta at the second event, going out in the first round at the hands of Marvin Knack on another breakout, but he had a great showing at the most recent event this past weekend at Maryland International Raceway in Mechanicsville, Maryland. 

In order to make it to the final round there, he was the lucky recipient of a single pass in the randomly-paired class in the first round, which allowed him to take a shot at the tree. He became the top qualifier with a stout .015 reaction time after the first round, then proceeded to saw his way through the competition on Sunday, where he finally fell in the final round at the hands of longtime class competitor Pete Espeut in a hard-fought battle. Other opponents to fall by the wayside on the day were the notoriously-hard-to-beat Joe Cram, where Wendel ran an 11.998 on a .97 dial-in, and David Leichty, who took the loss in a double-breakout race.

Super Stang is one of the more difficult classes of competition in the NMRA with more than 20 cars regularly appearing, and rules that allow you to dial your own ET on Sunday prior to eliminations. That dial must stay the same throughout the day, providing an extra layer of challenge to the racers. Wendel has proven to be one of the more proficient at this challenge, but it’s still anyone’s game come race day. His choice of mount is a naturally-aspirated 2007 Mustang GT that features a full suspension from BMR and a number of other touches to achieve the ET’s. Wendel has been racing for over 25 years and started out with a Fox Body Mustang like so many of us before switching to the current ride.