Here at powerTV, we’re car guys in the purest sense, in that we believe every car should be and deserves to be driven. Whether if its  a died-in-the-wool rust bucket “Rat Rod” with more value to the scrap yard than to the auto market or a million dollar one-off custom, if you can’t drive it, then what’s the point.

The entire concept of the expansive heads-up doorslammer arena that exists today was founded on the principle of 100% real street cars that were licensed and insured with working headlights, tail lights, turn signals, and other essentials, were capable of being street driven, and had most likely partaken in more than their fair share of illegal street races.

Over the years, however, that whole model morphed into what it is today, where the vast majority of the cars are purpose built and to our knowledge the only venues that still perform a “cruise” is the True Street category in the NMCA and NMRA and Hot Rod’s Drag Week.

Every now and then, though, you find a racer who still “gets it,” and isn’t afraid to take what’s essentially a race car by all definitions with plates and insurance on it out for a little siesta on the roads near his home. Today’s small-tire machines are expensive, purpose-built race cars with short fuses, and as such, they’re not driven quite the way we think they ought to be, and thankfully, Crossville, TN native and Outlaw Drag Radial racer Jim Howe Jr. is one of the exceptions to the rule.

Howe’s Camaro At the Radial Rumble Last Fall

Howe Jr., whose 548 cubic inch, roots-blown ’68 Camaro on 315 radials has clicked off laps down in the 4.60’s to the eighth-mile, is no stranger to public roads, and he’s already promised additional video (with more juice in the camera battery next time) in the future. In our minds, this is what should truly define a heads-up “street legal” doorslammer.