There’s a saying in heads-up racing: “get in where you fit in,” and Jason Hoard is living that life to the fullest these days. Hoard has made the switch from Radial vs The World to Pro 275 and so far it has been a great decision based on his performance at last weekend’s U.S. Street Nationals. Hoard plans on making a statement at Lights Out 11 to show the world he’s the fastest man on a 275 radial tire.

Hoard’s 1969 Camaro was built by Travis Strampher at Midwest Machine and is an all-steel car that looks like it could win a car show on any given Saturday afternoon. The 521 cubic-inch BAE 8 HEMI that Designed Performance has built sucks in plenty of boost from a pair of 102mm Precision turbos to create the horsepower needed to set the record in Pro 275 with ease. The details of the car including fabrication of the turbo system, plumbing, wiring, and tuning are handled by Dan Saitz.

When Hoard began building his Camaro, Radial vs The world was a 3.80s class, but over the past two years, the performance required to be a contender has exploded to new levels that he wasn’t anticipating. Hoard funds his entire racing operation himself, with Doug Edwards as his crewman at most events, so there are no spare engines in the trailer, and that means they have to race smart to keep the car in once piece for the entire race weekend.

“Donald dropping the weights in Radial vs The World for all the combinations over the last year and a half is one of the biggest reasons for the switch. The change in the Pro 275 rules also moved that process along, since the Camaro fit so well. Real cars like mine and the Tim Slavens-driven Camaro really struggle to get down to weight, and even if they can, it’s hard to get the weight percentage correct at the 2,825-pound minimum. If you were building a brand new car with just metal skins you could do it, but no one will go that route, they’ll just build an extended wheelbase composite body to get all the advantages those offer,” Hoard says.

The U.S. Street Nationals was Hoard’s first chance to see what his Camaro would do on a set of smaller tires. Running this level of horsepower on set of Mickey Thompson 275 radials is something Hoard has never done before, but he was looking forward to the challenge it presented.

“We used the event at Bradenton as our test session for the move to Pro 275 and it went well overall. On our third pass we ran a 3.88 at 200 mph, but then had some issues over the next few days and only ran a 3.96 in qualifying. We found a self-inflicted issue with our rear shocks that Mark Menscer helped us solve to get us ready for the first round of eliminations. The air got better and we ran a 3.844 at 204 mph that was good enough for the Pro 275 record, until Ron Green reset it about 60-seconds later,” Hoard explains.

Make no mistake, Hoard is coming to Lights Out 11 with the intentions of winning Pro 275, but he knows it will be a challenge. There’s going to be plenty of tough competition lining up in Pro 275 so Hoard plans on packing his A-game in the trailer for the event.

“Our goal as always is to win when we show up, and it would be extra sweet to take our first major win at Lights Out. Everyone is going to get faster and we know there’s going to be some great competition, but we’ll strive to learn something every trip down the track. If we improve and can compete at the top we’ll leave with our heads held high. As I said before, it takes more than just turning the wick all the way up, and we look forward to the challenge of racing with the best on 275s,” Hoard says.

If you want to see Jason and the rest of the Pro 275 class put on a show during Lights Out 11 you’ll want to be at South Georgia Motorsports Park February 12-16. SpeedVideo will also have the event live RIGHT HERE thanks to presenting sponsor COMP Cams along with ProCharger, Vortech Superchargers, SCE Gaskets, FuelTech, FAST: Fuel Air Spark Technology, Whipple Superchargers, Late Model Engines, Edelbrock Performance, and Optic Armor.