NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

There is a long history of racers who compete in NHRA’s Comp Eliminator class and ultimately make the leap into Pro Stock but there aren’t too many who take the opposite approach and compete in Pro Stock before moving to Comp. That will change at the upcoming NHRA Summernationals in Englishtown when Vincent Nobile makes his debut behind the wheel of former Comp champ Vinny Barone’s C/Street Roadster. Nobile will be pulling double-duty since he will also maintain his regular ride in Nick Mitsos’ Mountain View Tire & Auto Service Pro Stock Camaro.

“I’m not sure how this happened to tell you the truth, my dad [John] called me up one day and told me that I’m driving Vinny’s Comp car in Englishtown. I didn’t ask any questions. I just said, ‘Okay, that’s fine by me.’ I am excited. It will be a cool experience. Vinny always has fast cars so we will definitely be competitive. I’ve never raced in Comp before so it will be a new challenge.”

Nobile began racing in the Pro Stock class at age 19 and he’s got 10 wins in 20 final rounds while driving for the Mountain View team. Other than Pro Stock, Nobile admits that his driving résumé is a bit thin with only a handful of E.T. bracket races on the docket.

“My only concern about this deal is racing on the bottom bulb [full Tree],” said Nobile. “I think I’ve only bracket raced about three times in my life. Last November, I did drive our crew guy, Ryan Priddy’s Nova at the big bracket race in Las Vegas. I had a lot of fun and did pretty well. I went 11 rounds during the weekend so I’m hoping that experience helps me out.”

Barone’s roadster was built by Suncoast Performance and it’s powered by a 269-cid V6 engine built by former Pro Stock racer Tom Martino. The car runs in the C/Street Roadster class which features a 9.05 index. Depending on conditions, the car should be capable of performances in the 8.3-second range.

“Right now, it doesn’t look like we’ll get to make any runs before Q1 in Englishtown so that will be my practice,” said Nobile. “Vinny is putting the car together now and I know he’s really pumped up about it. My plan is to just kind of wing it. I know the car will be fast and the conditions at Englishtown are usually pretty good. My goal is to not go out there and hit the index too hard and maybe we can do some damage on race day.”

The way Nobile sees it, any seat time is a positive thing and having the opportunity to drive one of the sport’s most competitive Comp Eliminator cars cannot be a bad thing. Also, the fact that Elite Motorsports teammates Erica Enders, Jeg Coughlin and Alex Laughlin also race in various Lucas Oil Series categories isn’t lost on Nobile.

“It seems to be a thing with our [Elite] team; everyone loves to race and we try to drive as often as possible,” said Nobile. “Why let Jeg and Erica, and Alex have all the fun?”