While three-second passes are nothing new in radial racing, the fact that it took over a year for the first side-by-side, sub-4 second race to happen indicates just how hard it can still be to push these high-horsepower cars on small tires into the threes. That drought was ended at this weekend’s U.S. Street Nationals at the famed Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, however, in spectacular fashion in the Pro Drag Radial final between DeWayne Mills and Scott King.

Twin-turbo Pro Line power pushed Mills deep into the threes off the trailer in pre-race testing, as he threw down a 3.92 with an almost impossible 208 mph trap speed. He maintained that pace throughout the weekend as he ransacked the field with a flurry of deep-3.90’s to reach the final round. Scott King, driving Bubba Livingston’s “Golden Retreiver” Mustang from the Killin’ Time Racing camp, found a solid stride in qualifying with some deep 4.0’s and steadily improved the numbers from his nitrous-injected hot rod throughout the weekend. The pair went head-to-head in the final round on Sunday evening, where Mills took the win in an epic side-by-side shootout, 3.91 to a 3.96. Mills’ elapsed time is good enough to make him the third quickest radial racer in history, while King’s 3.962 just nipped Rick Thornton’s 3.968 to take the fourth spot on the list.

Since returning to competition after entering low-earth orbit – and subsequently returning rather violently to terra firma – at Lights Out 6 last February, Mills has been on a mission. He and his fan-favorite ‘Golden Gorilla’ Camaro blitzed the radial world at the end of the 2015 season and if this weekend’s performance is any indicator, it looks like 2016 may be much of the same.

However, King and the KTR team aren’t to be taken lightly. Besides Goldie, the team also fields the second quickest radial car on the planet, Jeff Sitton’s flame-throwing fourth-gen Camaro, along with infamous blown Shadow Fox body Mustang owned by Phil Shuler and driven by Steve Jackson. Mills, KTR and the rest of the heaviest hitters in Radial vs the World will all be gearing up for the upcoming $50,000 payday at this years Lights Out 7 later this month, so look for some more wicked numbers in the coming weeks.

Thanks as always to Hans Pierre Jr. of Free Life Films for his excellent footage!