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We are racing here at Memphis International Raceway with eliminations all day at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion! Make sure you stay tuned to Dragzine today for updates from the pits and more.
Before the first round of LDR there was a moment of silence for Montie Smith, former crew chief for Chad Henderson who recently passed away. Henderson was able to pick up the round with a 4.40 over Bobby Kruck who had a series of massive wheelstands and ended up in Henderson's lane at the top end.
Barry Mitchell was able to get a clean lap in on his single with a 3.91 et after struggling at times during qualifying.
Mark Woodruff defeated Greg Powrie in round 1 and put up the biggest MPH of the weekend at 211.16.
The X275 class is now wide open after number one qualifier, and current class record holder Rich Bruder lost in round 1. Bruder's weekend came to an end when he was way to quick on the tree with a -.162 red light start.
Ultra Street number one qualifier Shawn Pevlor continued to show why he is the class of the field during the first round of eliminations. In his bye run he laid down a booming 4.79 pass with his new EFI combo to stay almost a full tenth quicker than the rest of the field.
LeRoy Nabors Jr. recently purchased Charles Hull's X275 Mustang and has been deadly consistent with a string of 4.60s this weekend. Nabors was able to take out number 9 qualifier Nickey Notch with a 4.664 lap.
After Justin Cyrnek smashed the MX235 record on Friday he was protested by a racer and subject to a turbo inspection. Cyrnek passed the inspection with flying colors but struck the tires on his bye run and only managed a 5.10 pass.
DeWayne Mills was not able to make the call in the second round of Radial vs The World due to some serious engine issues. “The motor bent a couple of push rods on that last pass so we’re done. We already hurt one motor really bad this weekend and didn’t want to put any holes in this one,” Mills said
Jeff Lutz was just trying to get Mad Max to behave and make a nice A to B pass in round two. The team's goal was to pull some of the power out of it to settle the car down and get a clean pass in. Their plan worked as the car made a clean 3.94 pass and is ready for more power.
Jason Rueckert has his Cutlass running fairly well this weekend with a few passes in the 4.19 and 4.20 range. For the second round, he will be facing Andy Essary and had loaded a hot tune-up in the car to keep marching towards a win this weekend.
After having some issues in the first round, Joel Greathouse has been able to get his race weekend back on track. His team was just doing some basic between round work when we stopped by and are confident they will be able to go deep into eliminations today.
MX235 racer Phillip Reichardt got the win in round two with a nice 4.82 pass. “We’re really happy and just want to keep going in this thing. It’s been a long weekend and we want to win that check,” Reichardt said about his goals for the weekend.
Jamie Stanton is ready to take the gloves off for the third round of X275 and push his nitrous-fed Camaro even harder. “We really just had a soft tune-up in it last round, but now with the track coming around and sun going down we will throw more at it,” Stanton said.
Tim Hendricks was the model of consistency during eliminations in the MX235 class. His 1994 Firebird was in full bracket car mode ripping off a series of 4.67 and 4.68 passes during the money rounds. In the finals, Hendricks was able to drive around Vince Franks in his 1983 Camaro to pick up the win in the MX235 class for the event with a 4.74 pass.
Clint Downs wasn't a household name in the X275 category before the Outlaw Street Car Reunion, but with his huge performance this weekend that could change. Downs qualified seventh on the ladder and proceeded to chew through the entire class like it was his play thing. With a string of passes in the 4.50s or quicker Downs took out X275 kingpin Jamie Stanton followed by Kenny Hubbard. In the finals Downs became a true giant killer when he beat a wheelstanding Dean Marinis with a 4.42 lap, his quickest of the day.
Ultra Street was the Shawn Pevlor show once again. Pevlor secured the number one qualifying spot and the just marched right through the field with ease by being smooth and consistent. In the final Pevlor had a bye to get the win after Joe Greathouse had catastrophic engine failure in the semi-final round.
Pro Street Motorcycle rider Rodney Williford left zero doubt about his abilities at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion. Williford lead the event wire to wire by qualifying number one, and then picking his way through the class to pick up the win in the finals over Gabe Fredrick with a 6.825 lap.
6.0 Index winner Joey Nugent fought his way through the 64 car field to pick up the win. In the finals, he beat Aaron Boehmer with a 6.06 pass to Boehmer’s break out run of 5.98
David Smith made some serious cash this weekend behind the wheel of his S10 in the 7.0 class. On Thursday he won the bonus index race and $4,000 in cash, then on Sunday he picked up the 7.0 class win to grab another $5,000.
If Vegas was putting odds on Andrew Alepa's Corvette being back so soon at a race after the devastating fire it suffered at Lights Out 8 they would have been long, to say the least. The team came together to get the car done, and with Daniel Pharris behind the wheel they took an unproven machine after the repairs and mowed the entire Radial vs The World field down at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion. The final was shaping up to be an epic battle between Pharris and Barry Mitchell, but just before the 60-foot mark Mitchell lost traction and Pharris motored on to pick up the easy win.
If you would have asked Matt Bell on Thursday if he had a chance at winning the LDR class when he rolled in the gates at Memphis International Raceway he might have laughed in your face. Bell's car wasn't even running on Thursday, as it there was no engine between the front fenders when it rolled out of the trailer. The team thrashed hard, but was only able to qualify 26th. When eliminations kicked off Bell turned his Mustang into a twin-turbo bulldozer and pushed his way through the field like they were nothing but gravel. In the finals Bell took out number one qualifier Travis Esselman in an exciting race where they both ran nearly identical 4.17 elapsed times, but Bell was quicker on the tree with a .060 reaction time to get the win.
