The first annual TurboBullet.com Radial Rebellion was held June 27-28th at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas.  A twenty-two car field of X275 machines made the tow to North Texas to battle the eighth mile for the $5,000 to win purse.  Also on the bill, the 28’s Vs. 275 class which hosted a seven car field of outlaw radial cars with another $5,000 to win.  With a $10,000 purse on the line, the pressure was on the drivers and crew chiefs alike as teams battled the heat of mid-summer nights in Texas.  TurboBullet.com was in the house and after a night of testing on Thursday night, the first of three qualifying rounds got underway at 8 p.m. Friday night under the lights.

Chris Shortridge

Despite the heat and humidity, the X275 machines laid down some serious numbers in the Friday night qualifying action.  Kyle Huettel wheeled his nitrous powered Camaro the top of the pack with a stellar 4.63 at 155 MPH to claim the top spot.  Paul Brogdon, Joe Johnson and Taylor Lastor all clicked off 4.68 passes to secure their spots atop the standings while Tyler Stubbe, Chris Shortridge, Brad Medlock and Odie Sturgeon all posted solid runs in the 4.70 zone to put them in the top half of the field after Friday’s action concluded in X275.  In the 28’s Vs. 275 class, Bobby Kruck’s 4.61 at 168 MPH took the top spot with Josh Lindsey’s 4.70 and Craig Ondrick’s 4.72 rounding out the top three. 

Saturday evening brought the final qualifying session for both classes at 7 p.m. and despite the track absorbing a full day of sunshine and heat, the conditions on the starting line were superbly maintained by the staff at North Star Dragway and that was proven by the numbers posted in the final qualifier.  Justin Curry wheeled his Camaro to the number one qualifying position with a stout 4.63 at 158 MPH to bump Huettel from the top of the charts.  Shane Fisher and Bob Bales were able to hold their positions in the top half of the field as qualifying concluded for X275.  The top ten qualifiers were as follows:  1. Justin Curry 4.631, 2. Kyle Huettel 4.633, 3. Paul Brogdon 4.682, 4. Joe Johnson 4.687, 5. Taylor Lastor 4.688, 6. Chris Shortridge 4.70, 7. Tyler Stubbe 4.71, 8. Brad Medlock 4.71, 9. Odie Sturgeon 4.75, 10. Shane Fisher 4.80. 

In 28’s Vs. 275 action, Taylor Lastor couldn’t resist the chance to double-up, so he entered the field and clicked off a 4.68 at 158 MPH in the final qualifier to secure the number two spot.  Craig Ondrick stepped up to a 4.69 in his Missouri-based 1968 Firebird to head into eliminations in the number four qualifying position.  The top five qualifiers in 28’s Vs. 275 were as follows:  1. Bobby Kruck 4.61, 2. Taylor Lastor 4.68, 3. Craig Ondrick 4.69, 4. Josh Lindsey 4.70, 5. Clay Selig 4.78. 

A capacity crowd packed the grandstands and fence line in Denton, Texas to see the show as it was now time to play for keeps.  North Star Dragway also hosted a second chance race sponsored by Royal Glass so there was a lot of racing action to come including 5.80 and 6.60 index shootouts.  The first round of all classes got underway sharply at 8 pm with X275 up first.

Justin Curry set the pace in first round with a clean and quick 4.62 at 157 MPH.  Kyle Huettel laid down a nice 4.67 at 154 MPH and Chris Shortridge advanced with a 4.71 at 156.  Joe Johnson moved into the second round with a 4.74 at 157 MPH but the upset of the round came when John Mathus used a hole shot advantage off the starting line and a 5.03 at 142 MPH pass to take out C.J. Peddy’s quicker but loosing 4.95 at 147 MPH.  Rodney Whatley, campaigning the only blown car of the field, got past first round with a 4.84 at 151 MPH to take out Thomas Burns’ 4.96 at 138 MPH. 

Josh Lindsey

Josh Lindsey and Clay Selig kicked off the opening round of eliminations in 28’s Vs. 275 with a great side by side race.  Lindsey was off the line first and his 4.67 at 167 MPH was enough to hold off Selig’s 4.76 at 147 MPH.  Taylor Lastor and Mike Graham did battle in a header flaming showdown of Camaro bodied entries.  Lastor took a slight starting line advantage and his 4.68 at 157 MPH took the nod over Graham’s close 4.73 at 155 MPH.  Bobby Kruck and Craig Ondrick also advance to the next round as four cars remained, eager for a piece of the $5,000 winner’s purse.

Second round of X275 action was set to run as the sun had set and the track had really came to life.  Taylor Lastor’s 4.68 at 158 MPH put John Mathus on the trailer and Tyler Stubbe stepped up to a 4.65 at 158 MPH to take out Chip Pike.  Chris Shortridge made his best pass of the event with a 4.68 at 156 MPH to knock out Rodney Whatley’s blown Camaro and Justin Curry posted a 4.66 at 158 MPH to defeat Odie Sturgeon’s 4.73 at 154 MPH.  The biggest match-up of the round came when Shane Fisher and Kyle Huettel brought their heavy hitting machines to the line.  Anticipation mounted as the RPMs climbed and drivers bumped into the stage beam.  At the flash of amber, Huettel lit the red bulb with a -.278 reaction and his 4.66 at 154 MPH lost to Fisher’s 4.72 at 157 MPH.  T.J. Gatlin and Joe Johnson also advanced as the second round of eliminations concluded.

Kyle Huettel

In quarter-final X275 action, Taylor Lastor soloed to the semis after Joe Johnson was unable to make the call.  Chris Shortridge and Bob Bales were up next as Shortridge’s 4.71 at 158 MPH held off Bales’ 4.81 at 145 MPH.  Tyler Stubbe was raising plenty of eyebrows in his Ford Mustang consistently posting 4.60 passes and took out Shane Fisher here with a 4.65 at 158 to Fisher’s 4.75 at 156 MPH.  In the final pair, Justin Curry laid down low elapsed time of the round with a 4.64 at 158 MPH to send T.J. Gatlin packing.

As the semi-finals of all classes came to the staging lanes, some stellar pairings were set to do battle for the fans at North Star.  X275 was out first and this round brought some upsets.  Taylor Lastor was up against Justin Curry, as Curry had the performance advantage going into the round.  Curry’s streak of strong runs came to an end as he spun the tires and could only watch as Lastor made his best run of the event, a 4.65 at 158 MPH to move into the finals.  Chris Shortridge knew he had to step up his game if he wanted to take out Tyler Stubbe’s 4.60 bracket car.  Both drivers were on their game at the starting line but this one ended early, as Stubbe also had problems while Shortridge blasted to a 4.68 at 158 MPH to move into the X275 final round against Lastor.

A busy man, Taylor Lastor had to turn right back around and come to the lanes for his semi-final match-up with Craig Ondrick.  The cars left the line together but Ondrick blew the tires off, while Lastor posted a 4.68 at 158 MPH to advance to his second final round of the night.  Josh Lindsey had luck on his side in his pairing against Bobby Kruck as Kruck fell asleep at the starting line and his 4.55 lost to Lindsey’s 4.65 at 167 MPH.

In the semi-finals of the X275 second chance race, Leroy Nabors Jr. took advantage of a bye run to move into the final round, his first final in X275 racing.  Nabors Jr. would face the winner between Mark Moore and C.J. Peddy.  Peddy had it in the bag, but his -.008 reaction time allowed Mark Moore’s 9.47 at 72 MPH to move into the final in his brand new Mustang.

Mark Moore

With the final rounds set and in the lanes, it was time to put a cap on the TurboBullet.com Radial Rebellion and hand out some serious cash to the winners.  In the X275 second chance final, Mark Moore clicked off a 5.16 at 143 MPH to take out Leroy Nabors Jr’s 5.60 at 123 MPH.  X275 was out next with Taylor Lastor and Chris Shortridge ready to do battle.  Shortridge was off the starting line first with a .038 light to Lastor’s .055.  At the 330-foot mark the cars were side by side and charging hard.  The win light in Lastor’s lane told the story as his 4.67 at 157 MPH was enough to drive around Shortridge’s 4.69 at 156 MPH in the closest race of the event.  Lastor’s battle was only half over, as he and the crew had to literally come straight back to the line looking to double-up and take home $10,000 by winning their 28’s Vs. 275 final against Josh Lindsey.  The cars came to life and did their final burnouts of the night.  Lindsey was out of the gate first by a slim margin and shortly after his engine started going away, while Lastor held strong and drove around him to take the double-up win with a 4.66 at 158 MPH.

The Lastor camp was ecstatic to say the least as they truly dominated the fields in both X275 and 28’s Vs. 275 to take home the big money in Denton, Texas.  Lastor joined the other winners of the night in the winners circle which included Mark Keith who won the 5.80 index and Brandon Jones who was the last man standing in the 6.60 index.  A special thanks goes out to the staff at North Star Dragway who provided a stellar racing surface as always for the radial racers battling the heat in Texas.  Additional thanks to TurboBullet.com and Royal Glass for their sponsorship of the event.  The next X275 event in Denton is scheduled for October 9-11th so mark your calendars boys and girls; you won’t want to miss it!