Story Rob Keister/Drag Racing Action Online

Images – Dave Cappolina & JRC Photos 

 

Maryland International Raceway (Mechanicsville, Md) – The newly formed East Coast Index series kicked off their 2026 season in style down at Royce Miller’s Maryland International Raceway this past weekend. The brainchild of promoters Dave Cappolina, Nick Ross, Steve Hryckowian, Harry Gerb amongst other racers to give the index racers another shot at racing on the off weekends from the Streetcar Shootout races at Cecil County and race for very large purses, their motto “Fast Cars, Fat Payouts”. All events are run at the 1/8-mile distance and are scheduled for 4 visits to the southern Maryland facility in 2026 with the hopes of a possible points series in 2027.

In 5.50 index it was Carl Blasé Sr, the owner of Rack’em up racing taking the win in his mustang. Carl does a lot for the 8.50 index classes and supports in any way possible with his company. Carl said, “it was a great weekend, great event, the track was on point, the payouts were great and the little added bonuses of oil from LAT was a great surprise. We can’t wait to get back to MIR in July”. In the finals Blasé took down Brandon Quade in a battle of mustangs in the final. At the hit Quade pushed the tree a little too much and turned it red handing the win to Blasé. The semi-finalists were Harry Gerb & Louie Martinez.

In 6.00 index it was local racer and NHRA .90 racer Craig Porter taking the win in his pretty mustang that he has owned for a few seasons. Craig said “I wanted to come down and support the series and some quick work to remove the throttle stop and to work I went. This car is an old index car from up in the PA area, so people were great to see the car was still out running”. Craig took on Dylan Ammons in the finals in yet another mustang final and in a good race Dylan took too much stripe and broke out with a 5.99 to Porter’s conservative 6.05 for the win. The semi-finalist was Wes Washington in the good old Leroy Brown.  

In the final class, which was 6.50 index, it was an all-family affair in the finals and bragging rights for the drive home. Lee Grinnell got the best of his son Brian in the final round of the first 6.50 index series race. Lee had to say, ‘it was a great event, wish we had a few more cars, but it will grow over time as the word gets out, this was a dream day with running my kid in the final and couldn’t ask for a better event and great payouts”. As we mentioned Lee took down his son Brian in the finals after Brian had the starting line advantage but broke out by .010 to hand the win to his dad. In the semis was Bruce Wilson and Rob Farley.

The East Coast index series would like to thank all the sponsors who help make this series run and help increase the payouts for all the racers. The next event is scheduled to be on July 10th & 11th at MIR in combination with the Mid Atlantic Super Series on the 11th and the chance for racers to stay over and run another class on Sunday with the Mid Atlantic Series also. If you would like more information, you can check out their FB site (East Coast Index) as they go live once a week to discuss the events, results and any changes needed to make this a strong series.