Race Pages Digital: Moore Made It A Mission to Lock Up Limited Street Championship

Samantha Moore is persistent.

She wants to go fast and be a front-runner in NMRA JDM Engineering Limited Street, and she works around-the-clock to be sure that she is.

Moore, who co-owns Vector Motorsports with Dan Sienkiewicz, came very close to earning a championship in the category in 2021, and was committed to earning one in 2022. Her dogged devotion was crystal clear to everyone who watched her wheel her car in competition.

She left snowy Michigan for sunny Florida for the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in March at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, where she set the pace in qualifying with an 8.15. She then posted an 8.32 on a solo pass in the first round of eliminations, and won the second round of eliminations with an 8.14 before heading to the NMRA Winner’s Circle with an 8.15 against Stacey Roby, who went -.004 red.

She set the pace in qualifying again, this time with an 8.08 at the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by MAHLE Motorsport in April at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina. In her Mustang set up with a 5.0L Coyote engine built by Chris Holbrook of Holbrook Racing Engines, Turbo 400XLT by Coan Engineering and ProCharger P-1X, she got by the first round of eliminations when her opponent had trouble before earning her second event win of the season, this time with an 8.18 against Del Holbrook.

On a roll, Moore led qualifying with an 8.13 at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing presented by Fuelab in May at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois, and won the first round of eliminations with an 8.11. When the final round of eliminations rolled around, she put an 8.15 on the board, with Stacey Roby in the other lane, to pick up her third consecutive win of the season.

She qualified in the second spot with an 8.08 at the NMRA Ford Performance Nationals in June at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio, and won the first round of eliminations with an 8.02 when her opponent had trouble. She followed that with an 8.00 on a solo pass in the second round of eliminations and an 8.11 to defeat Stacey Roby, who was right there with an 8.15, in the final round of eliminations.

“In Norwalk, we were having issues with intake manifolds and we were battling it through qualifying, which cost us the number one qualifier spot,” said Moore. “But, with ten minutes before they were about to call Limited Street to the lanes for the first round of eliminations, I made the decision to swap intakes, again, to our third backup intake, and Dan (Sienkiewicz) and I were able to make that swap like a NASCAR pit crew. I threw in a guess tune with seconds to spare, and was able to reset the class record (with an 8.003 and 171.86 mph), which was a great feeling.”

Ready to race in her home state, Moore motored to an 8.02 to lead qualifying at the Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by TorqStorm Superchargers in July at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan. She had a solo pass in the first round of eliminations, and later defeated Stacey Roby with an 8.02 in the final round of eliminations.

“It’s a constant effort to keep the car alive, happy and healthy, while also making improvements to it, throughout the season in order to keep going faster, but that’s why we do this,” said Moore. “The car is relentless, but so are we. Not matter what it takes, we will do it.”

With an exceptional end in sight, Moore belted in for the Whipple Superchargers NMRA Ford World Finals presented by Competition Clutch featuring the Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival in late September, early October at Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky. She led qualifying with a jaw-dropping 7.96 and landed at 8.05 on a solo pass in the first round of eliminations before finishing as the runner-up against Del Holbrook with an 8.01 to his 7.94, despite a misfire in cylinder number seven. Additionally, she re-set her own class records with a 7.968 and 173.18 mph and was the first racer in JDM Engineering Limited Street to dip into the 7s.

The hard work and the hustle helped her become the 2022 NMRA JDM Engineering Limited Street champion.

“Winning this championship validates all of the hard work and dedication that we have put into this car and our program, and it proves our knowledge and capabilities, not only physically and mechanically on the car, but within ourselves, pushing past limits and beyond boundaries that I once regarded as unreachable,” said Moore. “We set goals, achieved these goals and far surpassed expectations, always learning something new each time which makes this entire journey invaluable. It’s one thing to say you’re going to do it, and know you can do it, but the feeling of actually doing it and winning this championship is hard to put into words. I would like to thank my friends and family, especially the guys at my shop, Vector Motorsports. A special thanks to Dan Sienkiewicz, my business partner and crew chief, as absolutely none of this would be possible without his support, help and knowledge. A huge thank you to all of my sponsors, especially Jason Coan of Coan Engineering, Chris Holbrook at Holbrook Racing Engines, ProCharger and ZPE Griptec. I could go on for days thanking sponsors and supporters, but without them, I would not be able to race.”

The NMRA will celebrate Moore and her fellow champions at the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals Awards Ceremony, held during the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show, Dec. 9, 2022, at the Indiana Convention Center.

Please watch for upcoming stories about each of our champions on NMRADigital.com and RacePagesDigital.com as well as in Fastest Street Car magazine.