The Thunder Valley Raceway Park near Oklahoma City plays host once again to the granddaddy of all No Prep races this weekend, as nearly 200 of the baddest Big Tire, Small Tire, and True Street racers from around the street and grudge racing worlds collide in one place, with bragging right and cold hard cash on the line! We’ll have coverage and tons of great photos coming to you throughout the weekend right here on Dragzine, all made possible by the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology!
We stopped by John Andrade's pit to get the latest from The Cutty crew. He is here for the invitational this weekend which is a fan based voting structure choosing 31 cars to compete from across the country with the thirty-second car earning his spot by Racing your Way In on Friday though way ran into a rain delay last night. The car was back halfed but he prefers the small tires and went back to his roots and is sporting a TT5 29. Power comes from a 408 LS from Texas Speed fed by a 94 MM Forced Inductions turbo. He is supported by DJ Safety, Renegade Fuels, American Street Rods, Be Cool Radiators, G Body Parts dot com, Optic Armour Windows and Aeromotive. He is also sporting color from Brit's Army which he credits as a good luck charm and helps to spread awareness for her struggle with Leukemia. John is shown with his wife Misha.
Rob Gibbany drug his White Rhino extended cab 1993 Silverado out for some Big Tire action this weekend but took a loss early in the day Friday to Kayla Morton in a round one call out. He has entered the Outlaw Street class today and may have a match race with Kracker, an 88 short bed Chevy with a blown big Chevy with NX Nitrous. Rob is a Chevelle guy but had the truck and it evolved to what you see here after sporting a lift kit and Mud Terrain tires back when he was in the marines based at Camp Pendleton. The name come from the first paint job he put on it which was basically all orange peel which had folks thinking it was Rhino lined. The name stuck and he embraced it eventually taking it to Mickey's Chassis Works and upgraded to a 555 big Chevy on two NX Foggers. He is based in Moore Oklahoma and uses Thunder Valley as his home track. Brent Austin drives the Megalodon Camaro based out of Roanoke, Virginia. He has had this car just about a year ago but has raced basically all his life and worked as a fabricator in his own Bad Boy Metal Shop. The Camaro was based out of Texas and he made the deal and brought it home before setting to work updating it from front to back and doing a full back half. Brent does all the work he can himself including the transmissions, tuning and engine assemble with machine work done by Hudson’s machine in Roanoke. “I just want to thank the people back home and the girls at Southern Vape Escape that support the Megalodon and myself.” – Brent AustinMike Murillo has his SCT sponsored Mustang here for the invitational today. They were busy prepping the car this morning so we didn’t interrupt the teams efforts prepping the car.The Racing Shirts.com crew is here this weekend selling mech and talking with folks in the pits. From left to right Sean Cook, Tom Bobolts, Lloyd Hunt and Anthony Watson.
Brent Austin put his Megalodon Procharged Camaro in the rain delayed Big Tire final against Gaylan Smith’s 57 Chevy Texas Bounty Hunter and put up a game fight but came away in the losing end of the match after going to the tape at the finish line to confirm the outcome.. Austin left first but the home built ride just didn’t have enough to stay in front of the full tilt Pro Mod of Smith.
Steve Wiley and Jerry Bird paired up in the final of the Race Your Way in with Bird taking the loss after a foul start after they went to the tape for confirmation.
These are the pairing for round one of the Big Tire Invitational and Small Tire classes The very first pair down the track in today’s eliminations resulted in a small mishap and a short cleanup. No injuries were reported and the white Mustang returned to the pits under it’s own power with no serious damage.
The Hulk 1967 Chevy belongs to Matthew Frost based out of Colorado and is entered in Outlaw Street today. Outlaw Street is similar to True Street but has no tire or suspension rules. All cars must be street legal, run a DOT tire and complete a thirty mile cruise prior to racing. He regularly races the car in PSCA 10.5 Outlaw using a 632 cubic inch big Chevy force fed by twin 88MM turbos making over 2000 horsepower backed by a two speed 400 transmission rolling on a new pair of MT ET Street tires. He faced off with a street driven Chevy II and came away with the win and will more on to round two. Shown with his wife June. The “Blue Nightmare” 1926 Ford Sedan belongs to Steve Sicking based out of Dean, Texas. Steve takes the car to local shows, bracket races and sees duty on the street from time to time. The car was purchased about three years ago as a race car but wasn’t fast enough for Steve so he stretched it and added horsepower upgrade from D&L Performance Machine. The team raced several no prep events last year and has been successful with the car and is a crowd favorite. Power comes from a big block Chevy topped with a roots blower and a little nitrous to cool the intake charge.
Crusty Nova came away with the win in a close exciting match with the Beater Bomb who pulled a long wheel stand, staying in it to the stripe in a match that went to the tape o determine the winner. Tony Foulks was called out by Shawn Ellington in the Murder Nova as the first pair down of five callouts in the Big Tire Invitational class. Ellington may wish he didn’t do that but there has been a lot of talk on his pod cast leading up to this event. Foulks took the win in the Blue Dragon advancing to round two.Michael Henson with his Plan B Corvette was up next against the Honey Badger in a good match earning the win with a small gap at the stripe.Chucky lined up his Death Trap twin turbo Mustang with the Bank Note Nova coming away with a decisive win pulling away down track. Chucky will be another tough racer to get around today if he keeps making passes like that.Brian “Chucky” Davis in the Chris Tuten Racing Camaro was paired up with Steve Wiley in his blown Corvette Pro Mod. Wiley has been running on rails so far and this was no exception as he freight trained his way to the next round in the Grim Reaper.The Reaper was favored in a match with The Texas Twister and came away with the win with Butch losing an engine past the stripe resulting in a cleanup on the top and a short brake for the racers and starting line staff.Megalodon paired up with Birdman in a race that had a lot of crowd interest with Birdman coming away with the win in a very tight race.Kye Kelly is zero for two in two years here against John Doe after their match in round one.Larry Larson was paired up with Hellenor in round one coming away with a win to advance to round two.Da Luv truck out of Alabama uses a nitrous small block for power and advanced to round two of Small Tire.Big Marc and Jesse Jennings are the promoters of the Outlaw Armegeddon here at Thunder Valley as well as being involved in No Prep racing getting it’s start here about nine years ago racing backwards from the top end. The cars have evolved over the years bringing full blown Pro Mods to events, large spectator counts and now live feeds with a global audience. They have been going to various states and tracks across the country since then as this form of racing blew up even more with the popularity of the 405 and Street Outlaws TV show on the Discovery Channel.The Small Tire final paired up Boost 12 with Flacco after a long day of tight racing. Boost 12 got away first with Flacco kicking the tires putting an end to his night as he watched the turbocharged mustang drive away earning the win the Deans Performance Fast Forward Race Cars Mustang.The Outlaw Street class was filled with unique cars, and trucks and tons to tights racing this weekend. Steve Sicking waded through the field with his 1926 Ford to meet up with the modern muscle of a LS powered Nissan 240 of Casey Rance who surprised a lof of people day with the performance of his car. Sicking allowed Rance to get away first and he was gone like the wind taking a large lead early and going on the take the class win.The final four in the Big Tire Invitational were Jerry Bird vs. Steve Wiley and Michael Henson facing off with Gaylen Smith. All the drivers would make good runs and close races but the final played out to having the two Pro Mods meeting for the big money round. Smith was favored after making several clean straight passes today but Wiley nailed the light taking a starting line advantage and running it out the back door earning the win, two big handfuls of money and bragging rights till next year till the next Outlaw Armegeddon.The Grim Reaper crew loud and proud and already planning their next event with a new car on the way soon to do more damage and bring home the $$$ in no prep racing.One of the high light Grudge matches of the night after the official class finals was Doc vs Kye Kelly. The crowd was favoring Kelly in the Shocker as he had made more passes on the day but Doc had the Street Beast ready to rumble and was eager for a run. When the light dropped it would be The Shocker that faltered and stumbled at the hit with Doc getting away clean taking the win for a 5K payday.
Another anticipated match was with The Kracker and The Mutt in a redemption race for The Mutt as he took a loss to the black Silverado here last year. They put on a show with side by side burnouts before getting staged. The Mutt was away first launching imminently into a big wheel stand, dragging the bumper and sending the truck crocked into the other lane. Gladly both drivers were on their toes and were able to avoid contacting each other in the hairy situation. Kracker took the win by default as The Mutt crossed the center line.
The Thunder Valley Raceway Park near Oklahoma City plays host once again to the grandaddy of all No Prep races this weekend, as nearly 200 of the baddest Big Tire, Small Tire, and True Street racers from around the street and grudge racing worlds collide in one place, with bragging right and cold hard cash on the line! We’ll have coverage and tons of great photos coming to you throughout the weekend right here on Dragzine, all made possible by the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology!
Jeff Lutz is on site with his Mad Max Camaro do do some no prep racing. He has been featured on the Street Outlaws show and just wrapped up filming season eight with the car on the show with season nine to start in a few weeks. The car has been 5.70’s in the quarter mile and has performed very well on a no prep surface. He has raced Drag Week and won Drag Weekend last year in California. We asked him about the competition here this weekend and he listed Birdman as one of the top cars to beat.Shawn Ellington brought the Pro Like Racing powered Murder Nova out to play here at Thunder Valley Raceway Park this weekend for the biggest No Prep event in the country. Shawn says “Let the chips fall where they may” in regards to grudge races this weekend after he broke the rear end last weekend. He has a new set up under it now so will start off looking for an A to B pass in Big Tire Outlaw class.Larry Larsen is here with his little S 10 turbocharged monster which was the first street legal car in the 5’s a couple of years ago in Vegas. We didn’t get a chance to speak with him yet but the other racers will be on the hunt to take him out early once we get into racing.Doc is here with his Street Beast 70 Monte Carlo and the car is looking great after a total rebuild by Bob Mendel out of Tennessee upgrading to a double frame rail chassis and dropping near 700 pounds from the car which still retains it’s steel roof, quarters and trunk. He is running the same engine from Morgan and Sons Racing Engines and Monte Smith nitrous though now managed by Haltech engine management. “I feel invigorated the way the car is performing now, it’s absolutely a dream.” Doc.This Chevy II Wagon goes by the name of Swamp Thing thanks to the folks at Hot Rod magazine who did a story on the car last year. We spoke with Chris Taggart, the PR man and brother or the driver Ryan Taggart. The car was built at their shop Tags Hot Rod Shop in Brandon, Mississippi and uses a Reher Morrison 632 topped off with Nitrous Express components for power. The team made it’s no prep debut here last year after showing it for a while including a Super Chevy Show that led to the Hot Rod article. Kills for the team include Mike Murillo just recently in Alabama and Birdman earlier this year. Keep an eye on these guys for sure this weekend.We were able to catch up with James Finney aka Birdman this afternoon with his new car that debuted back in January. The Firebird was built in 1999 by Jerry Hass and campaigned in Top Sportsman before being purchased by Finney. He was a long time nitrous racer before swapping to turbo combo about 4 years ago. Long time friend Chad Rogers handles the tuning and tuned fro Todd Moyer for a number of years. He won his last race at Hattiesburg against The Godfather which is part of a four race series put on by Mike Murillo.The first class to get underway is True Street which had a drivers meeting about 2:30. The class has a good turnout with a wide variety of cars and power adders.
Leah Ochs is here with her Fairmont wagon running out of Ochs Performance and a member of the “Fairmont Mafia” with several cars in True Street this weekend. Ochs has been in business for 20 years in Plano, Texas. Leah's family has raced for years which is how she got the bug. Her brother drives the Black Betty Fairmont. It's all about good times for this crew, winning just makes it better. We had a little down time at the end of True Street after an incident with the wall and a Mustang. The driver was ok and out of the car quickly. The crew didn’t take to long to get the track ready for the Big Tire cars.A very nice wheels up launch for this long roof Malibu. The track is coming around after some rubber is getting put down on the scraped surface.Ryan Martin drug his Radial vs the World Camaro out for some no prep action this weekend. A bit of a surprise seeing the team here and not on the super sticky radial prep surface he normally races on. We will have a chat with Ryan and crew later.Kayla Morton drives this Procharged big block Mustang. She has been making a name for herself recently on the no prep circuit and going rounds. She earned the win over the White Rhino long bed dually.
We aren't sure who drives this unique old school rod but it sure is cool. It's powered by a supercharged big block Chevy topped off with a fogger nitrous system. He ran well but took a loss to Jerry Bird in this match. Here is a car we have not seen for a few years down in Orlando at the World Street Nationals. Larry Baker owns this mostly steel Impala based out of The Rod Shop with a pair of Garrett turbos providing boost. He met with the Burnin Money Nova earning a berth in round two with a straight clean pass.Steve Wiley blasted off a great pass taking the win in the Bird Hunt’R Corvette.Charlie Davis piloted The Lizzard to a win over the Kracker 1500 Chevy pickup. This car was crashed just a few weeks back with the Texas based team thrashing to make repairs so they could be here this weekend.Troy Scott has his Opel out for some action this weekend. The popular engine builder has offered $5,000 to anyone who wins using one of his engines tomorrow. He took the win over Jerry Chambers’ Vette but took a loss in round two this evening.The Grinch and Boosted GT were up in Joliet a coupld of weeks back for an exibition grudge race where he came away with the win after Boosted GT spun the tires at Route 66 Dragway. His day is over after one round in Small Tire taking a loss to a clean nitrous huffing Chevy II.
The Black Bettie Fairmont struggled in his round one match with this AWD import from Mark Machine Shop taking a loss as the left lane puffed out copious amounts of smoke. The track checked clean after the run. We will see if the little import will make it back for round two. Tony V took the win against the Firebird in a nice match. He will advance to round two in Small Tire.
Old School Chevy Luv pickups are popular here this weekend with three racing in Small Tire and another was entered in True Street. The center truck was knocked out after his clearly out of shape pass. These little short wheelbase trucks can sure be a handful to drive with this kind of power. Boosted GT won his first round pairing in a decisive manner leaving his opponent sitting at the line.
Farm Truck and Azn are here signing autographs and hanging out. Neither made runs today but we had 128 cars making runs today. 54 in Small Tire, 44 in Race Your Way In Big Tire and 30 in True Street. The Outlaw Street competitors will be coming in on Saturday.
