Lights Out 11: "Magic Tires" Same Day Coverage From South Georgia!

Lights Out 11: “Magic Tires” Same Day Coverage From South Georgia!

Rob Cossack
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February 15, 2020
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The inclement weather is giving us a reprieve today as we roll into eliminations during the break in an effort to get the full event in before we run out of time before rain again rolls through Adel, Georgia. The weather this morning is at negative 743 feet, mine shaft conditions. If the racers can put the power down today it’s likely records may be reset once again.
X275 is led by Manny Buginga’s 2003 Cobra with a record setting run of 4.22 at 173 MPH using a Disomma Racing Engine fed by the newest turbo from Precsision Turbo and Engine. In fact the top five cars were in the 4.20’s, a feat considering the tricky track surface here this weekend.
Ev Bernardo was matched up with Melanie Salemi and lost traction, crossing in front of her and going pretty hard into the wall in the final session of Radial vs the World. She struck the tires before the 60' and was able to avoid contact and get stopped without making contact with Bernardo.
Also in last nights session Marcus Birt was on a pass and carrying the wheels early in the run. The car got airborne for a long time and landed hard but right side up and skidded to a stop near the quarter mile mark. Marcus was out of the car quickly and was not injured thanks to a well built car out of Jerry Bickel’s shop and proper safety gear. He was up early this morning and posted a video to his Facebook page doing his morning cardio routine and thanking every one who called and texted to see if he was Ok. They will be back as soon as possible after assessing the damage and looking for team mate Steve Jackson to bring home the win after earning top qualifying position with a 3.55 at 215 MPH.

Josh Klugger is behind the wheel of Chad Opaleski’s 66 Chevelle this weekend fulfilling a desire to drive a screw blown car before he got out of drag racing. Josh and Chad have been friends and competitors for years racing the Outlaw Radial circuit and since Josh sold his operation a year ago the two have talked it over on a more serious note. The move will allow Chad to get a new perspective on hos the car works and tuning under the tutelage of noted Top Alcohol racer and tuner Bob Newberry. Bob came on board while Chad was still running a Procharger combination on the Hemi to address some oiling issues he was having with the engine and it was not long before he sourced a PSI C rotor screw blower from Frank Manzo off his Outlaw Pro Mod car than saw limited use in Qatar.

The Chevelle started live in the family as his high school driver when Chad was 16 years old and once retired from street duty has been worked on exclusively by Dan Neumann Race Cars in Ocala and has undergone many updates over the years along with thirteen different engine combinations, from small block nitrous to running Outlaw Drag Radial with a nitrous huffing 632 around various Florida tracks and now a screw blown Hemi. Chad's mother was the inspiration for the blower after Chad became frustrated with the Procharger combo and was considering getting gout of racing, a call to Bob was made to source a blower and just two days later he called back and told Chad to “Go get it.”, they spin it 128% over making between 3,500 – 3,700 horsepower at 60 pounds of boost, a sold 500 horse more than a TAFC combo that uses a D rotor at 92% overdrive. From left to right Chad Opaleski, Bob Newberry, Natalie Opaleski and John Klugger. At left is Johnny Drama and Bob prepping the car before the next run.

Chad recently made the switch to Pro 275 at the US Street Nationals and has just five runs on the new tire. The car was also converter over the winter from stock suspension to a full 4 link by Neumann along with some weight reduction. Klugger piloted the car to a 4.11 at 180 in qualifying, landing tenth in the Pro 275 field and more left as it wasn’t a clean run due to the lean out system not working. He later attempt struck the tires near the 60′ but was on a pass prior to that. If the car sticks today he should be in the 3.90’s come first round.

“I got out to focus on my business as a custom home builder with Center State Construction and spend more time with my son after getting divorced, I’m by no means saying I am done for good and it sure feels great to be behind the wheel of this monster.” Josh told us. “It’s very different from the turbo combos I was driving before. I’m really enjoying this experience driving a screw car and working around Bob Newberry, he wants you to learn and is great at explaining things, he’s a great teacher. As a small tire racer I have a lot of experience and I can share those insights to Bob and help the Chads program advance. Bob is teaching Natalie how to tune as well, and with me driving it gives them a new perspective to watch the car and learn some different aspects you just can’t get behind the wheel cause you can’t see what the car is doing. It’s a whole lot easier to drive than a turbo combo with the staging procedure, building boost and bumping into the beams. It’s basically like an NA car, just super loud and tons more power.”

“I could tell on that last hit Josh was getting comfortable, the way he did the burnout, how he caught it when it spun, Josh got it. I would only trust two people to drive the car and Bob won’t drive it so Josh got the gig. It’s definitely a little weird being behind the car and watching it leave. It’s so loud outside the car, I was a little shocked at that cause the pipes point away so the sound don’t come in the car like you might think.” – Chad Opaleski.

The first pair out today in Radial vs the World was Brad Edwards and Marty Stinnett. Stinnett would push the tree a little too much going -.003 red ending his day early as Edwards score3d a 3.80 at 195 as the two went side by side with Stinnett scoring a 3.82 at 197 setting the pace for the day as the track has come around and the racers apply the power.
Melanie Salemi set low ET and took over the record in Radial vs the World with her 3.546 this morning coming from the number three qualifier position. The top teams in the class are throwing the kitchen sink at their cars this weekend as they search for ET by small increments in the race to the 3.40's. Her run tied Steve Jackson's ET from the US Street Nats in January but took the record based on speed of 213.57, just edging out Jackson. Odds are the record will fall again as Jackson scored a 214.01 MPH blast as part of the next pair.
Tommy Youmans is making progress now scoring a 4.00 and a 4.02 at 186 in his GTO after repairing the boost leak. His four flat makes him the quickest Pontiac powered door slammer in the world and he is not done yet.
Josh Klugger is doing just fine piloting Chad Opaleski’s screw blown Hemi powered Chevelle scoring a 4.10 at 172 to get by Jody Voyles. He will face Chris Alston Jr. in round two who has struggled making clean runs this weekend. His car is fast when it goes down so they should not take his 5.83 performance lightly.
The crew in Fletcher Cox pits had some work to do between rounds making repairs to the Liberty transmission to replace a broken shifter fork.

Round One Elimination Results

The last completed class eliminations at this time are Radial vs the World, DXP Street, Pro 275 and X275, the Small block nitrous N/T and the Carolina N/T Boost classes.
Ultra Street, Limited Drag Radial, , Limited 235.
DXP Street racer Shawn Pevlor qualified number two in class and set the record with a 4.99 and improved in round two to a 4.97 at 140 but went red against John Paterno’s 67 Nova by -.012 to end his weekend early.
Dallas, Georgia based Peter Rogowski brought home the $2,500 Door Slammers 2 wheelie competition within the DXP Street class in his 1992 Ranger. “I tightened up the front end near as tight as I could but the track is so phenomenal right now right, it happened so fast I just couldn't react to it.” Peter told us. He pulled off to the side in case it was leaking any. It bent one of the bars but he has plenty of cash to make any small repairs and some left over after that monster wheel stand.

Martin Connelley has not broke into the fours yet in DXP Street but he is going rounds and being consistent. He ran a 5.05 in round two to earn a win over Michael Walker to advance to round three. The tech department has been crawling over Martin’s entry this weekend and he was the first to have hit plate swapped out for a “house unit” to ensure rules compliance in this new class, receiving plate number 007, which he picked in honor of his father who is a big James Bond fan. The car is group effort between Martin and his cousin Jason Waterman, aka Cheeseburger who loaned his engine and transmission to the cause. They have been discussing the class since November with Eric Mitchel. Dalton Winfield and Tony Bischoff was recruited to be a part of the program and they did some dyno testing before putting the engine in the car and testing. They changed a few things to run the SS tire which is similar to the Pro Drag Radial and also has a different street compatible tread pattern.

They worked with Josh Lindsey to get set up with the suspension, shocks and springs. They are using a VMS Haltech box to control the nitrous power management instead of a stand alone progressive controller. The rules mandate a distributor so it limits what can be done with the new style coil on plug ignitions found in other classes. They were allowed to check the flow pattern in a bucket before installation and Martin was very appreciative of that. Martin uses Trick Flow cylinder heads and RPM Transmissions, Mencser Motorsports shocks and struts, BES Racing Engines and topped by a Bob Book carburetor and an MSD Ignition box to control the spark. The crew from left to right are Eddie McCarty, Brent Daniel, Cory Brooks, Dalton Winfield, Martin Connelley, and Jason Waterman who was in the lanes and not pictured.

David Farlow is entered in both X275 and the Carolina N/T class featuring boosted small blocks this week. It’s definitely a little strange to see a car run no time in one class and turn around at the same event and post times on the board but times they are a changing as they say and the no time grudge game is changing right along with it. In fact several cars over the past year or so have transitioned from clocks off racing to class racing and as the times have leaked to the general public it’s created quite a stir among the grudge racing community and arguably, upset the apple cart. Justin Swanstrom and Jack Green are two notable examples of this trend and after speaking with Carkey Mims here today the N/T game may be in store for major changes as more people exit the game and come class racing as the secretive grudge world isn’t quite a secret any longer and it’s become harder for bigger players to find action.

Farlow qualified 20th in X 275 with a 4.61 at 155 with the class legal turbo, he did not disclose any numbers or specs on his clocks off ET or turbo specs besides telling us he runs a 5.4 based modular Ford engine displacing 350 cubic inches topped with navigator heads built by TKM and backed by a Cameron Torque Converter Services transmission and converter. Modular Head Shop assists with some parts and knowledge. “ We have had good luck with the combo and are just trying to go some rounds and win some money here this weekend.” Farlow told us.

Radial vs the World is down to the finals now after an unfortunate round for Melanie Salemi. Her car shut off after the burnout and the team pushed it back, with David Reese waiting as the opponent broke signal was given and he rolled into the beams. He ripped off a 3.580 at 205.91, lowering the small block RVW record a little more.
Steve Jackson faced off with Shawn Ayers in the other pairing and the two were locked at the tree but again Ayers had trouble keeping the front end planted as Jackson motored on to another 3.56 to set up the final with Reese. That is surely to be one for the record books with the Killin Time Racing entry with having lane choice which could be a deciding factor later tonight as we roll into the small hours of Sunday morning.
X275 completed round three about 11 PM with Manny Buginga going low ET with a 4.22 1t 172.45 to drive around Brendan Mills 4.30 at 169 effort.
Rob Goss faced off with Charles Hull with Goss taking a small advantage on the tree. Both racers were off pace dropping back to the 4.60’s with Hull forced to pedal the car down from a wheel stand and Goss working the throttle early in the run and earning a well fought round win with his 4.62 beating Hulls 4.67.
Earl Stanley and Justin Palmer was a tight match with both racers scoring 4.30’s, Stanley was .038 on the tree and held the advantage to the stripe running 166.39 out the back to earn the win.

Final Results

It’s been an epic event that lasted until nearly well after 3AM, thanks to a lot of hard work by the staff and racer cooperation we made it through and set some records in the process. We will have the class round by round results coming later Sunday along with a recap of the later elimination rounds.

Radial vs the World was off the chain once we going going in good weather on Saturday and the track came around we had eleven runs in the 3.50’s and some very stiff competition. It would come down to the top two qualifiers in the finals with David Reese taking the starting line advantage in his Reher Morrison powered small block screw blown Camaro with an .025 reaction time. Jackson put the coals to it for the final scoring his best run of the weekend with a 3.548 at 213 to get by Reese who slowed a bit from his last round to a 3.594 at 205.88. An amazing showing for the second race for his new car and proving that small blocks can compete at the top level in Drag Radial racing. This makes the second win for the KTR team in as many races, a great way to kick off the 2020 season.
Limited Drag Radial saw a string of 4.0's this weekend with Paul Gargus scoring low ET of 4.057 during his semi final loss to Shane Stack who scored the whole shot win on his 4.073 at 189 to earn his way to the finals to run Andy Manson's Procharger equipped 96 Mustang. Eric Laferriere had ran a 4.14 in the Wasabi Supra to take out Eddie Harrison in round two but had trouble keeping the front end down on the short wheel base Hemi powered machine.

Despite that he made it past top qualifier Norman Chang’s Turbos Direct backed Mustang but was unable to make the call for the semi final with Manson, who struggled staying hooked in later rounds as the heat was gone from the track. The final round saw both racers off pace and Shane Stack earning the win coming from nineteenth qualifier position with a 4.80 at 147 after very close reaction times for the two veteran racers.

X275 round four had top qualifier Manny Buginga earning his way past Eric Moore with a 4.25 at 171 with Moore swinging hard to run with Buginga and coming up short with a 5.30 after an early wheelie forced him to lift. The other half of the ladder was Rob Goss and Early Stanley with Goss back in form after a difficult round three with Hull, scoring a 4.26 at 168 to Stanley's game 4.35, also carrying the wheels past the 60'.
The final saw Buginga take the holeshot over Goss, but again bother racers struggled and slowed into the 4.50’s and Goss edging out the Bridgewater Mass. Racer with his BES powered Hemi Mopar, his 4.53 at 166 was good enough to earn the “W” to Buginga’s 4.59 at 167 and score back to back wins after a fantastic showing at Bradenton’s US Street Nats last month.
Ultra Street once again saw Brian Keep as the top qualifier and going rounds and once again having issues on the starting line taking a round three loss to number nineteen qualifier Walter Drakeford after a .381 reaction time. Drakeford was prepared and was in the beams early scoring a 4.71, giving him lane choice over Nitro Dave Vasser in the semi final. US Street Nats winner Kirt Sanders came from the number four position to meet up with Louis Fillippdes’ Procharger equipped American Racing Headers backed entry but faltered to a 10.74 after striking the tires early as Fillippdes went on to a 4.61 at 152 to set the final.
It would be Fillippdes away first with a .008 reaction with Drakeford’s transmission letting go at the 60′ ending his effort with a runner up finish and Fillippdes earning the Ultra Street win. Fillippdes runs an LME LS based engine with help from Cam Motion, Frankenstein Engine Dynamics and, Jesel valvetrain, the Driveshaft Shop and RPM Transmissions and built by Farks Supercars. They got a late start on the 2019 season debuting the new engine after rewiring the car and switching to a FT 600 Fuel Tech engine management and converting to a solid rear axle from TRZ Motorsports prior to the Yellow Bullet Nats last year. Plans for 2020 including racing Ultra Street at Cecil County and hitting up some of the Ultra Street Series and perhaps one or two NMCA events.
Pro 275 has been the class to watch for 2020 with a hand full of new entrants into the class from the No Time and Outlaw 10.5 ranks. Russell McManious is one racer moving over from the N/T side telling us he tired of keeping so many secrets to their program and performance. It was his first time running the class and he landed number eleven on the ladder, making his way to the final to meet twentieth qualifier Brian Anderson in an all 1993 Mustang battle. The semi was eventful with Tommy Youmans losing traction early and Anderson scoring low ET with a 3.88 at 205, the other pairing was Frank Meshaw, who had run a personal best 3.89 at 194 the previous round but leaked some fuel during his burnout and was DQ'd. Neither racer made the trip on the now cold track in the final but it was McManious who would take the victory, capping off an outstanding week for the new to clocks on racing team.
“It’s really hard to not talk about what it runs..” He said. “The car has been extremely fast, especially for what it is and we just decided that we didn’t want to keep it under wraps any longer. Paul Curry owns the car and lets me drive and we have some great folks behind us, James Nutter, Kenny Power, Dave Hanlon tunes it for us and my father comes to every race with us. We run a small block Ford single turbo combination from Anthony Disomma with a 106 MM Precision turbo. Henry from HFR Fabrication is the car builder.”
DXP Street is off to a fantastic start with Martin Connelley leading the pack scoring number one qualifier and and low ET for the event and marching his way through the field to meet Jonathan Insley in the final. He had the tough side of the ladder running a string of 5.0’s in qualifying and through round two before dipping into the four second zone with a 4.98 in a round three win over Austin Pruitt. He put a 4.97 up against David Pearson to earn lane choice in the final against Insley, who was also carding 5.0’s and met with John Paterno’s 67 Nova in the semi finals, dispatching him with a 5.02 at 137. Insley was away first when he needed it but slowed to a 5.18 at 136, no match for Connelley’s record setting 4.92 at 140 MPH run.
Limited 235 also featured Mr. Connelley and crew as top qualifier and here he ran the table again scoring low ET and top MPH for the class with the Procharger fed, trusty orange Mustang. Austin Keen was his opponent in the final with the 1984 Buick Regal dubbed Da Fridge. Keen dipped into the 5.0’s in round two but it was Jason Terell with lane choice in the semi based on his 5.005 run over Ty Chaney. He would take the starting line advantage and never look back with another 5.08 to set the final round with Connelley, pitting the top two cars in the final round. Connelley laid the smack down on the tree with an .015 reaction and 4.93 at 143 to earn the Lights Out 11 win.
Flaco took the win in Carolina N/T small block boost class this week in his Chevy S-10 pickup. The team started off on Tuesday with issues and struggled through testing with fueling issues. They had to modify the fuel tank repeatedly and got it fixed on Friday and began making sold run. The pair were locked to about the 330 where Flaco started pulling away and was first to the strip earning the win. “I want to thanks to all my team and everyone back home cheering us on, we are going to do our best to keep on trying to do the same thing” – Flaco
Small block No Time featured DJ McCain and Bowser in the final round facing off with John Bonner’s Raiden. McCain was ahead early in a back and forth match with Bonner scoring the win in a tough close match.
Six Oh Index featured a wide mix of cars with Craig Miller putting his 48 Anglia in the winner circle after five rounds of racing. He met with Dustin Rowland’s 1988 Chevy Celebrity in the final scoring a .030 reaction and 6.03 at 102 to earn the win. The Open Comp winner was Joe Soucek who defeated Ken Herbert twice after a tree malfunction resulted in them re running the final round.
PTC/Fuel Tech Radial vs the World

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The rain lingered a little long last night delaying the morning track prep. Right now the scheduled go time is about 12 PM starting off with 6.0 Index, then DXP Street, Pro 275, Open Comp, SB Nitrous N/T, Ultra Street, Limited Drag Radial, Limited 235, Carolina N/T, Radial vs the World and X275. It takes about four hours to prepare the surface so the staff has been hard at it this morning.

Another car that caught our eye this week is this clean 1966 Chevelle post car owned by Jay Friedrich from Mackinaw, Illinois. Jay purchased the car while in college and has had it thirty five years with four different engine combinations. The most recent one is a 582 big block Chevy built by Mike Chenoweth with an F-2 Procharger providing boost and backed by a power glide transmission. The car rides on full TRZ Suspension and Menscer shocks. Jay has raced the car locally in an assortment of street car classes over the years and participated in Drag Week in 2017. He wasn’t able to finish due to a carburetor base plate screw falling into the engine and damaging the number five piston. There was no further damage and he was back at the local series the next week once back at home but he wants to try again this year.

The car is a low mileage 300 model with just 48,000 miles on the odometer and the 1970 era lacquer paint job has held up well and appears stock from fifty feet away. So far he has not run the car with full timing and boost as the local track isn’t prepped to the level needed to keep it hooked up on the trip. This year his vacation time coincided with Lights Out so he and a couple of friend loaded up and made the trip south and is entered in Open Comp to have a good time and see what the car can do on a good surface. Jay the the crew are looking for some five teens out of it if all goes right.

Tech is busy this morning with DXP Street entries, this Firebird “Da Bird” is driven by Shawn Mackelmore running out of 101 Dynamics out of Vernon Alabama and worked over the past two days here to finish up the build they started on December 26th with a frame and roll cage. The car has a Shaver Racing Engines small block Chevy topped with a Brodix intake, a Nitrous Outlet plate and Gary Williams carb. Shawn is one of several cars in the class that are last minute builds with zero test time before coming here this week.

James Rowlett is a long time participant here at Duck X events and is entered in DXP Street this weekend. He is running an LS based engine topped with Holley carb and plate system. They worked all night to finish up the car including some modification to the front bumper to comply with the strict rules package in DXP Street. Rowlett is is based out of Nashville and runs a Shannon Carnathan built 408 cubic inch mill running and Ice Ignition, which is based out of Australia. “ I just want to shout out to all the folks that have helped with the build and my crew, JT, Michah, Shannon Carnathan, Shane, Eric Malone and the 256 guys, so many people I can’t name them all right not but they know who they are.” – James Rowlett

Tech for DXP Street is stringent to keep a level playing field and every car has the plate spray bars checked along with the various fittings to ensure compliance. This S-10 is driven by Josh Addison and he was just rolling in this morning. Many of the races in the new class have no test time before getting here so it’s anyone guess what will happen when they let go of the button. Keep an eye on this class it’s sure to generate some excitement and already has plenty of controversy surround it.
Troy Pirez Sr will be driving the General Lee here this weekend in Ultra Street representing Innovative Racecraft. He won the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals in December and is using the trusty Fast Forward Race Engines big block Chevy engine from his infamous 3rd gem Camaro. They had planned a two car effort this weekend with Troy Jr. to run in the new DXP Street class but like many others were running up agaisnt the clock to be prepared and ran into an issue with the engine and no time to asses the problem or make repairs before coming up from Tampa.
Brian Keep is currently number one qualifier in Ultra Street with a 4.63 at 144 MPH. He works with RPM Transmissions and they have made some changes thet is showing improvement so far. He plans to run the Ultra Street series again this year which is currently led by Kirt Sanders after his win at the season opener US Street Nationals in Bradenton.
This makes the second event for Mr. Tommy Youmans after the repairs to the car and they were having issues with it not maintaining boost levels on a run. They went over everything with a fine tooth comb and traced it to a torn diaphragm in the waste gate. With that seemingly simple repair taken cars of they are ready to make the full boost asked of it and gathering some good data and start making real power today in round two qualifying. He is currently ninth in Pro 275 with a 4.10 at 180 MPH.
Nick Kokkas is based out of Canada and is entered in the small block nitrous N/T class this weekend. It was his first time on drag radials this weekend and he was surprised to find the tires moved near a quarter of the way round on the wheel after his run yesterday, which was a 1.12 60'. They were glued up but it's a change from slicks which are often screwed to the wheels. He sent his Bogart wheels over to Mac Fab for their on site services and is getting a single outside bead lock installed to make it through the weekend here. Nick runs a small block Ford from Dan Doyle Racing Engines and participates in the Ontario Grudge Wars and has plans to run in the Battle of the Titans series in Michigan this year. The car was purchased new by his father in 1982 and still has original paint besides the fiberglass doors and hatch where recently installed and not painted yet. He is sponsored by The Fire Within Muskoka, an extended family business that helps out with Nick's racing program.

Final Qualifying Results

Radial vs the World, Pro 275.
X275, Limited Drag Radial, Ultra Street.
DXP Street, Limited 235.

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We are rolling for day two of Lights Out 11 and trying to get some more qualifying in as inclement weather approaches. Good for us it is taking it’s time moving west  but keeping the sun at bay allowing the track to stay cool.

Mark Woodruff has a brand new car out of B&B Race Cars that will be driven here this weekend, and at select events, by Craig Sullivan. The build has taken about eight months with power coming from a Vizner Engine Development 4.6 bore space billet small block with twin 98 MM Precision turbos, 700 CC Billet Atomizer injectors and backed by an M&M 2 speed trans and lock up converter. The wiring was done at B&B by Savannah, Georgia based Michael Bunton from MJB Performance and engine management comes via an FT600 from Fuel Tech and tuned by Joe Oplawski from Hyperactive Performance Solutions.

“We got the car buttoned up Saturday and went straight to Fuel Tech for dyno tuning and get any bugs we could worked out before coming here…” Mark told us as they prepared the car for it’s maiden voyage. The Cynergy Composite body is bathed in gorgeous blue by Crossthreaded Customs.

Tom Blincoe is all fixed up by David Monday Race Cars after a crash at the US Street Nationals. They worked hard to repair the car including a new front end and sit twelfth in Radial vs the World with a 3.89 at 185 for the Procharger equipped entry.
There is always a few unique cars here at Donald’s events and this one belongs Craig Miller out of Savannah, Georgia. Craig raced was racing Pro Modified and was in an accident and took some time off before getting back behind the wheel and renewing his license last year. He plans to run four or five events this year and is entered in Open Comp and 6.0 Index. “I plan to race a few events this year and have some fun, drink a little beer, cook some steaks and have a party.” Craig said, and further quoting a local Savannah NASCAR racer “I’ve never won a race but never lost a party”. It takes all kinds of folks to make these event what they are and we can’t forget the racers that are not the star of the show or have the prettiest car or lots of money. Drag racing is the most grass roots form of motor sports going because you don’t have to have a professional built race car to come out and have a great time doing it.
Round 1 Qualifying Limited Drag Radial, Limited 235.

Chris Alston Jr. made the trip out to race here for the first time this week with his Camaro. He normally runs in the PSCA XDR class, and Radial vs the World and small tire no time events in California with Bodie. “The first hit was perfect, we had high hopes but the next one kinda evened us out. We had a decent baseline but got too aggressive on the next run but have something good we can work with now to go a little faster…” Alston said. They have run at 3,250 lbs. in XDR trim and left it alone so it didn’t upset the chassis set up after traveling 42 hours to get here. Plans for 2020 include four events with Team Bodie for the small tire events and probably come back here in the fall. A Minor Brothers Hemi sits between the frame rails fed by an F3R 136 Procharger and has been 4.30’s so far with a goal of running in the teens.

Brad Edwards is behind the wheel of a new car at his third event with it and working hard to get it ironed out. They have yet to make a full pass under power and tore up some bearings here this week after a cam dowel came loose. They had to get into the bottom end twice here and things are looking up now after finding some other issues. The car was topping out the shocks and the crew spent most of the night cutting and welding after some consultation with Mark Menscer to get things squared away, which included remounting the shocks and massaging the drive shaft tunnel to allow full travel with the different suspension set up.

A conventional Pro Mod chassis doesn’t really have anti squat percentages like a drag radial car and so isn’t built to allow the tremendous separation of the rear suspension. That is all fixed up now and the tune is good so Brad, the crew and car owner Neal Wantye are looking forward to putting the power down and making some real progress. Plan are in the works for two new cars, one on small tires and one on big tires later this year. Power for this one comes from a Hemi engine fed by a Procharger which is now under the care of Pete Harrell from HED. Brad was qualified after round one in 14th with a 3.96 at 167.

Limited Drag Radial racer Scott “ The People’s Champion” Husted has struggled recently with getting the car to make full runs but finally figured some things out this week testing in Bradenton before making the trip up, scoring several full pulls in the mid four teens. The car has wanted to either wheel stand or kick the tires after changing the rear end which featured different mount locations and a fresh engine making more steam from Fast Forward Race Engines in Elfers, Florida. Scott found some issues in the fuel and timing mapping here and is hoping some changes there will have him back on track and making clean runs. “ We were running mid teens just trying to go A to B and be consistent, hopefully we can get it all worked out and get in the 4 oh’s with everyone else. Scott runs AMS 2000 Hitmaker boost control, Fuel Tech FT 600 engine management, Weld Racing wheels, Motion Raceworks.

Radial vs the World and X275 before the call was made the sweep and cover the track with a tarp. A new thing the management started here this weekend which already showed it’s usefulness in keeping rain off the surface of the track last night, significantly reducing the time to prepare the surface for the day. As of now the schedule is for the track to go hot at 10AM Friday morning but the weather will have the last say on that.

Round Two Qualifying

Round 1 Qualifying Radial vs the World, X275.
Jim Howe drives the “Honky Kong” blown Camaro in Limited Drag Radial and is currently qualified fourth with a 4.16 at 180 MPH. The run was a solid tenth off pace from his off the trailer 4.05 on Tuesday but the air was bad and had over 90 percent humidity during the first qualifying session Wednesday night. He also switched to a new MSD CDI style ignition from a magneto and is still learning the tune up with the different characteristics of the ignition system. The engine is a BAE Hemi built by Jim and Brett Moore with a lot of help and advice from Jeremy at Brad Anderson Enterprises, it’s topped off with a Hammer Supercharger done by Troy Critchley.
Rob Hamby is a long time competitor here at Lights Out both in Outlaw Drag Radial and Pro 275 with his Corvette and debuting this Chevy II here at No Mercy last year. He runs a Billy Albert Racing Engine big Chevy with plenty of nitrous and backed by a Cameron Torque Converter and Transmissions unit backing it up with the Nova built out of Robert Hays Motorsports. He went to the semi finals last year before the rain and is definitely looking to better that here this weekend. He rolled in Thursday morning so has not qualified yet. He is sporting Pro Fab Performance Plus and Frankenstein Engine Dynamics colors here this weekend for Don Lamana who was unable to make it here after a fire at the US Steet Nationals last month in Bradenton that damaged the car.
This week the delayed by fire Horsepower Wars 10K Shootout will be contested here at Lights Out 11.
A freak trailer fire put a stop to the race at No Mercy X last year and the teams are here on the property to get it done this weekend. Two of the four teams made runs today with the folks from Midwest Mayhem making the best showing running a low six second pass by driver Joey Hiykel. Shown are Jordan, Brad Vasco and John Walton.
Lyle Barnett from Team Bigun is the driver of The Moonshine Missle and we spoke with him about what is happening in the pits as they prepare to make the maiden voyage on the wagon. They had a problem wit the supplied ignition box with the 2 step function not working. “ The guys over at Holley/MSD stepped up and said whatever you need lets get it going so you guys can get on the race track. Tehy got us hooked up and the guys are getting it wired in now but it’s a matter of time before they call us up and that time is running out. We hope we can get it set up and tested before we have to make a pass.” Lyle Barnett filled us in Thursday afternoon.
Keith Berry is the driver for the Comp Cams Dream Team and he got us up to speed on the current situation. Their Mustang basically burned to the ground on in the fire being on top of the trailer and their car bore the burnt of the damage of the four cars in the show. The Dream Team runs a 5.3 LS with an older 80 MM Ultra Street class legal cast wheel turbo. The car is owned by Keith and Jesse Adams and will go to Comp Cams for some R&D work after this event and Jesse will drive the car at Woostock later this year before heading back to California.

[nextpage title=”Wednesday”]

It’s time for Lights Out 11 presented by Dart and we are here to bring you our coverage from track side to deep in the pits this week. Wednesday kicks off qualifying with a night session that is sure showcase some amazing performances.

Ontario, Canada based racer Ian Hill has built a DXP Street legal combo for his 1968 Camaro that spent most of it’s life in NHRA Stock Eliminator and was converted to run small tire N/T races about five years ago. “We tried running a plate nitrous system with this car last year with good results so when the DXP rules came out we looked them over and it looked like we were very close so put a hood scoop on the car and let her rip.” Ian told us this Wednesday afternoon while getting teched in. He rolled in untested and will make the first runs on this combo this evening. Ian runs a Engine Racing Development small block Chevy with an Induction Solutions nitrous system. DXP Street is the newest class from Donald Long and featured a limited plate nitrous system based on the 4150 series carburetor size using factory bore space small block engines, cast intake manifolds and the spec Mickey Thompson SS Drag Radial. Cars have already run in the 4.9X range and it’s sure to feature some excitement and controversy here at the debut event this weekend at Lights Out 11 presented by Dart.

“Everything is going great so far this weekend. I have to give a big hats off to the racers, they have come in prepared with their safety equipment up to date and tech cards filled out, it’s saving us a lot of time getting everyone through tech…” John Sears told us. “We have Mike Wells here to to chassis certifications for any cars that need an update or new cars. Every year we continue to improve the safety of the event and encourage the racers to have the proper equipment and it’s better than it’s ever been this year.” Eric Lowe (pictured at right) is handling the DXP Street tech. Eric worked with NHRA for a while and has worked with Roger Conley who is also involved in the rule making with the class and currently at RC2 Motorsports. There are several specific tools used to check the carburetor base plate and venturi size as well as nitrous fitting ID and a “yard stick” for the front bumper height and overhang.

The tech line was long today as racers congregated from across the country as one of the baddest races f the year gets under way and the 2020 season heats up here at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
J.R. Gibson has been on a racing hiatus for just about six years now spending time with his family, takin care of business and racing Jr Dragsters with his two daughters up in Michigan at US 131 and Milan as well as some over in Muncie, Indiana. The car had been sitting for some time now and he thought it was time to get back in the driver’s seat. He pulled the engine and sent it to Pro Line to be freshened and threw some 88 MM turbos on it and is entered in Limited Drag Radial this weekend. J.R.’s crew this weekend as always is Jay Trisel.

The run order today was Radial vs the World, X275, DXP Street, Pro 275, SB NOS N/T, Ultra Street, Limited Drag Radial, Limited 35 and Carolina N/T. Weather ended the first qualifying session just after midnight while still in LDR so Ultra Street was the last completed round for the day.

Radial vs the World, X275.
DXP Street, Pro 275, Ultra Street.
Team KTR sits in first and third with marcus Birt leading hte Radial vs the World field after one round of qualifying is in the books with a 3.62. Steve Jackson landed third with a 3.65.
Mean Dean Marinis ripped off a 4.29 at 166 to lead X275 by a slim margin as Eric Moore was hot on his tail running a 4.30.

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