It’s the last day here for Lights Out 6 as well roll into eliminations which are still in round one for several classes. The weather has warmed up substantially though we are under overcast skies today. Stay tuned to Dragzine for the latest news from SGMP as we cover the racing action to the finish thanks to our same day coverage partner Comp Cams.
The day started with the JAMA Ministries prayer meeting under the west side concession area.William Young run this 1973 Camaro out of Charlotte, North Carolina. He is entered in two classes this weekend, Capslock Oil/Proformance Leaf Spring and Nitrous Express/Ultimate Converter/TRE Nitrous X. Power comes from a Robin Stackpole 440 small block Chevy backed by a NCRC converter and transmission in a 25.5 chassis by Todd Butner. He qualified in both classes with a 5.03We spoke with Nick Sills in the Deraney Racing pits this morning. The team has two cars in Outlaw 632 this weekend though Sills is out after losing an engine last night. Israel Deraney is still in after a holeshot win over Norman Byson in round one. Deraney Racing built “The Heat” S-10 from top to bottom and the engines in both cars. The Deraney crew are long time supporters of Duck X events here in South Georgia. From left to right Gavin Manley, Nick Sills, Gregory Manley and Andrew Maddox are partial crew as some were still sleeping or away from the pits.Matt Lawrence runs the Black Ops Motorsports Camaro in Ultimate Converter/Induction Solutions Ultimate Street and is the race debut for this car after swapping the combo from their Mustang last year and switching to methanol. He runs a Forced Inductions billet 76 mm turbo feeding a Kowalski Racing Engines LSX power plant in a Burkhart built chassis. Sponsors include Pick and Save Old Dominion Auto Salvage in Roanoke, Virginia. Black Ops is a performance parts shop doing installs, fabrication and dyno tuning all in house. From Left to right, Matt Lawrence, Matt Atkins and P.J. Hooper.
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Jeff Cooner is sporting a new Brad Anderson Hemi installed at the end of 2014 with only testing prior to this weekend. Also new under the car is a rear end normally found in Top Fuel cars making Cooner the first drag radial racer to utilize the reliability and safety of such a housing. Pressurized Solutions handles the fabrication for Cooner. Other sponsors on the car are PTC and Mickey Thompson tires. Red Alert Racing has two cars here this weekend, a No Time Grudge Fox body and Carmen Damiani’s X275 SN95. Carmen’s car is powered by a small Chevy displacing 434 cubic inches by Davis Race Engines and tuned by Jamie Miller. It’s backed by an M&M trans with a Pro Torque converter. The complete build was done in house at Red Alert Refinishing outside on Philadelphia, PA. The grudge Fox was purchased from Jamie Miller as an unfinished car and finished up at Red Alert and runs a small block nitrous combo.
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Red Alert Racing has two cars here this weekend, a No Time Grudge Fox body and Carmen Damiani's X275 SN95. Carmen's car is powered by a small Chevy displacing 434 cubic inches by Davis Race Engines and tuned by Jamie Miller. It's backed by an M&M trans with a Pro Torque converter. The complete build was done in house at Red Alert Refinishing outside on Philadelphia, PA. The grudge Fox was purchased from Jamie Miller as an unfinished car and finished up at Red Alert and runs a small block nitrous combo.
Round One/Two Elimination Results
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Joel Greathouse (near lane) has top speed and low ET in Ultimate Converter Concepts/Induction Solutions Ultimate Street, he advanced on to round two after a 4.95 this morning.Troy Pirez put his Induction Solutions, Fast Forward Race Engines, PKRE, PTC Mustang through to round two taking out Bruce Rentz with a 5.16. The Pirez team was up late freshening the engine for today’s eliminations.Ricky Pennington is a regular here at Lights Out and No Mercy events with his gorgeous Chevelle. He faced off with Scot Bitzer this morning taking the win with a 5.18.In Holley/NOS/KBX Outlaw Drag Radial Will Stevenson the number one qualifier fell victim to Scott Husted after kicking the tires early in the run.Jason Michalak put up a 4.10 this morning on an earned single. He is running very consistent so far this weekend.Steve Jackson put up another 4.11 to take the win over Dave DeMarco’s GN in a battle of blower cars.Lyle Barnett took the win in Capslock Oil/Proformance Leaf Spring but encountered some engine damage just before the strip ending their weekend early.
Round Three Results
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In round three of PTC Radial vs the World Steve Jackson and Nick Agostino were paired up in what would be an epic battle. Jackson took the tree first with a .013 for a distinct advantage and Agostino was hot on his heels. They were close all the way down with Jackson taking the stripe first on a holeshot win, his 4.055 at 190 beat Agostino’s quicker 4.054 at 192 MPH.Jason Michalak faced off with car owner Kyle Huttel in the next pairing with Huttel going red and his team mate putting up a .ooo reaction. Michalak would take the win with a 4.11 at 187 to Huttel’s quicker and best of weekend 4.066 at 180. I believe that is a personal best for him.In Outlaw 275 Eric Greene faced off with Dan Saitz taking the tree with an .064 The Knoxville, TN racer has an 864 big Chevy powerplant, the largest listed in the class. He pulled a 4.750 at 149 to Saitz 4.77 at 159 earning the win.Chris Tuten took out Chad Opaleski in round three of Outlaw Drag Radial. Opaleski had the starting line advantage but slowed to a 4.69 at 172 MPH.
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California based racer Artis Houston was matched with Florida's own David Boger. They had near identical reaction times but Boger kicked the tires early, getting sideways and doing a great job of keeping the car off the way and getting it stopped mid track. Houston will move on to the semi finals with his 4.84 at 147. Bobby Flippin has been running well this weekend with his S-10 shortbed based out of Glouchester, Virginia. He got into a wheelie on a single after Lyle Barnett could not continue in Capslock Oil/Proformance Leafspring lifting to a 6.53 at 83.Number one qualifier in Stainless Works/Small Tire Nation Outlaw 632 went to Troy Blake who is still going rounds. His 4.47 at 160 was plenty to take out Pierre Burley in round three action.
Final Results
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Steve Jackson met with Chris Daniel in the final round of PTC Radial vs the World with Daniel haveing consistency and performance on his side after running 4.0’s all day long with a best of 4.04 at 201 in the semi final over Keith Berry. Jackson took the tree first with a.038 as Daniel struck the tires as Jackson went on to low ET of the event running a 4.02 at 191.Chris Daniel was on a string today running 4.0’s all day till the final round. The White, Georgia based racer runs a Proline Racing twin turbo combo in his 2002 Firebird.Scott Husted faced off with Marty Stinnett in the Holley/NOS/KBX Outlaw Drag Radial final. Both racers left at virtually the same time with Husted going straight down as Stinnett struck the tires and pedaled the car to a 5.08 at 181. That small stumble was enough for Husted to stay in front with a 4.360 at 177 to earn the win.Outlaw Drag Radial runner up Marty Stinnett was also very consistent this weekend qualifying seventh in the field and running a best 4.30 at 185 in the semi final vs. Chris Tuten. The Burns Racing Engines Garrett Turbo sponsored entry is a top contender in the class.RacePak/MSD X275 is arguably one of the most competitive class in outlaw racing. Jared Johnston took his KBX/Bennett Racing powered machine and ran the table this weekend qualifying number one with a 4.49 at 166 and wading his way through the field to meet with Patrick Clenney driving for Ducky Johnson Racing. Johnston took the holeshot but both racers fell off pace. Johnston was the first to recover in what became a pedal fest, getting to the stripe first with a 5.35 at 143. Sponsors include M&M Transmissions, Pro Torque, Menscer Motorsports and Pressurized Solutions who built the chassis and did the fabrication on the car.
The Precision Turbo/MacFab Beadlocks/Metrolina Steel Outlaw 275 class had plenty of action this weekend with Barry Mitchel going numer one in qualifying with a 4.33 at 174 in his nitrous assisted Mustang. Chris Tedeschi took seventh spot on the ladder and eventually met up with Richard Reagan in a classic nitrous vs turbo final. Tedeschi runs a BES small block and twin turbos in the teams 2003 Mustang and took the starting line advantage in the final with a.021 reaction running it out to an off pace for him 4.74 at 167 earning the event win as Reagan faltered after the launch.Richard Reagan took runner up honors this weekend in the Lyons Custom Motorsports Fox body at Lights Out 6 in a tough field of cars running in the 4.50’s all day with a 4.51 best in the semi final over Eric Greene’s 1970 Nova.Ultimate Converter Concepts/Induction Solutions Ultimate Street had a quick field this year with Joel Greathouse going number one with a 4.84 at 147.54 MPH setting tongues a wagging. He went low ET every round in his KBX entry meeting up with number two qualifier Mark Rogers’ turbocharged mod motor entry. Rogers won the reaction time battle but fell off pace from his 5.0x performance allowing Greathouse to get by him with a 4.92 at 145.Mark Rogers has a new mod motor combo out this weekend and qualified second of 46 cars in Ultimate Street. His best today was a 4.93 in round one over Bart Tobener, after that he was in the 5.0’s until the final where he had a boost controller failure and fell off pace to a 6.25 at 103. Pete Harrell from HED, Customs by Bigun, MacFab Beadlocks and Work Turbochargers are all part of Rogers’ racing program.Bobby Flippen took the win in Capslock Oil/Proformance Ultimate Street today with a 4.80 at 149 on a single after number one qualifier Ron Rhodes was unable to make a pass after his car shut off and would not refire after the burnout. Inspection after the race found the crank bolt had loosened allowing the balancer to move forward. Certainly a tough break for Rhodes.Ron Rhodes was entered in two classes this weekend and found himself in the Leafspring final. The Rhodes Custom Auto/Ultra Carbon/Induction Solutions entry was number one qualifier in class and had low ET for the weekend.Another racer to run the table this weekend was Troy Blake in Stainless Works/Small Tire Nation Outlaw 632. Blake hails from Palm Beach, Florida and won the US Street Nationals in Bradenton in January, then a runner up finish in Orlando for the Southern Thunder SHRA race there a couple of weeks back. He was very consistent this weekend also setting high MPH with a 168.03 MPH blast in his round two in his match with Israel Deraney. He runs a Progressive Racing Engines big Chevy with Jack VanOver assisting with the nitrous tune up with Kenny Lafferty’s cold box. T&J Services is on board as the sole sponsor on the primarily self funded team. In the final he met with Kyle Megginson and took the starting advantage with an .027 reaction. Blake would take the stripe and the win in a game race with a 4.502 to Megginson’s 4.507.Darren Hilterbran qualified fourth in Nitrous Express/Ultimate Converter/TRE Nitrous X and ran in the 4.80 zone through three rounds of competition before meeting Eric Tobar and sending him home with a 4.75 at 149.58 in the semi finals. He would meet up with Tim Knieriem in the final putting up a 4.71 at 149 for low ET in class and the win as Knieriem struggled and fell off to a 13.02.Engine builder Tim Knieriem qualified ninth in class and he put up several 4.80’s to get to the final. He did his job on the tree but did not get a clean run against Hilterbran ending his weekend with the runner up spot.
After several days of very cold temperatures things are warming up today and we should have some great conditions in final qualifying with the sun out warming the track up. Always a special thanks to CompCams our same day coverage event sponsor. Stay tuned to Dragzine through the day for updates from trackside and the pits.
Robbie Massengale from RPM transmissions is here debuting his Corvette this weekend. He broke a rocker arm in testing and was unable to make qualifying yesterday and are waiting for UPS this morning with the replacement. From left to right, Wesley Cross, Robby Massengale and Kenny Johnson.David Adkins was here last year with his LSX powered Chevy Bel Air and is back with a new car running in PTC Radial vs the World for car owner Gary Lee from Boca Raton. The car was recently updated by AC Racecraft. Dave ran a 4.85 off the trailer and they will be working on the suspension today getting the car going straight. The engine is a 454 LS based on a BMP Warhawk block topped by C5R ET Performance cylinder heads fed by twin Garrett 88MM turbos backed with a Rossler 210 transmission.Cameron Johnson is based out of Florida running X275 this weekend in his third event. He ran a 4.83 in yesterday’s qualifying and uses an Induction Solutions fed TRE engine backed by a Pro Torque converter and M&M transmission. Johnson has Matt LaRue from Pro Fab Performance Plus and Paul Klyzek on hand tuning the car.Brad Bonnette hails out of Barwell, SC and is a regular Outlaw Drag Radial competitor. He is qualified sixth with an Abby’s Performance engine fed by twin Precision 88’s running a 4.51 at 148. The crew from left to right is Rick Bonnette, Brad and Jeffry Rhoden.Jamie Stanton is currently qualified tenth in X275 with a new engine combo out of BES Race Engines and a new trans from Rossler The team is based out of Syracuse, NY and are working on the new set up with a 4.61 at 155 so far.Steve jackson and crew were working hard at it this morning after suffering some engine damage yesterday.This 1972 Nova belongs to JoAnne Feliciano out of Long Island, NY and is here testing getting ready for the Outlaw Big Tire races up at Cecil County Maryland and Atco. The car was built by MI Performance with the engine done by Jack Boar topped with a Monte Smith nitrous set up.Dewayne Mills had a scary ride this afternoon in his PTC Radial vs the World Camaro riding out a wheelie that suddenly caught air under the car and went “flying”. He nearly blew over completely with no part of the car touching the ground. He was out quickly after getting into the opposite side wall and coming to a stop. We are just glad he is ok.
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In round two qualifying of Outlaw Drag Radial this morning Mustang Mike Modeste jumped right up to number two qualifier from twenty sixth running a 4.264 at 174 MPH.Don Lamana improved to a 4.78 at 155 to get into the X275 field in this mornings session. The Pro Fab built car runs a Proline Racing Engines small block Ford.Lyle Barnett sits in thirty first position with the Mac Fab Beadlock Conversions Camaro with a 4.85 at 150. The team broke a blower yesterday and sourced one from the folks at Automatic Transmission Factory to make this morning’s third session of qualifying.Jason Michalak moved into top qualifier in PTC Radial vs the World with a 4.035 at 195.79 MPH late in today’s third session.Frank Soldridge put up a 4.86 at 135 to land twenty third. The car was just finished up less than a week ago after the winter updates.The Kevin Mullins struggled with electric issue this weekend making repairs to the engine once ro make the next qualifying session. He qualified with a 4.21 but is unable to make the call for eliminations.Taylor Lastor is here with a new car this weekend and is qualified twenty seventh in Radial vs the World. Fuel injected 903 provides the power along with mass quantities of nitrous. The .21 was the first full A to B pass this weekend so look for them to run faster come eliminations.
Final Qualifying Results
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Round One Elimination Results
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Kyle Huttel had a single in round one of PTC Radial vs the World due to Chad Henderson not making the call. He had his best run of the weekend with a 4.371 at 176 showing they are not moving in the right direction with the tune up.Tony Ridenour was double entered this weekend and pulled off a big upset over Rob Valden after he got loose about 200 feet out. Photo Brian Wagner.Agostino has been running in the 4.0 range on nearly every pass this weekend. He put up a 4.07 at 184 earning the win over Mark Micke driving Mark Woodruff’s Corvette.Troy Blake earned number one qualifier in Outlaw 632 with a 4.43 at 159. He was paired with Heather Carter in the first round turning a 4.44 at 160 and will move on to round two.Rob Briscoe was matched with number 31 Lou Cordova but lost traction and put on a light show taking a hard loos to Cordova’s 5.13 at 140.Jason Richards has repeatedly traded the leaf spring record over the pastr several years and he took it back this weekend running 4.41 not once but twice in two separate classes in qualifying. Here he takes a single in ODR running a 4.44 at 167.The ODR number one qualifier Will Stevenson has been very consistant this weekend making several passes in the low 4.20’s. This was another 4.22 in an opponent broke bye.Chad Opaleski and crew had a long night and day making repairs to his engine after breaking a cam gear last night. The team pitched in with Joe Irwin from Fast Forward Race Engines on hand to reassemble the engine. He torched one head and used his spare set after Dan Neumann welded up the deck surface and Wildeside Machine just down the street surfaced it. He made the call for round one in ODR running a 330 hit to be safe on a single.
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Stuart Henry arrived here in the states sans car and would up behind the seat of Kevin Neal's ODR Mustang. he qualified fifth with a 4.31 at 166 and faced off withQuentin Bise in round one. he was out front early but got into a wheelstand which upset the car when he set it down and the car wouund up skidding into the right side wall. Stu is ok and cars can be repaired to race another day. Jared Johnston took top qualifier in X275 and was paired with Carmen Damiani in round one where he put up a 4.51 at 162 to earn a spot in round two.Brian Black from Racewire Solutions put his Formula Firebird in sixteenth spot and paired up with Shawn Ayres in round one. Ayers got out first but lost traction allowing Black to get by with his 4.60 at 156.
We are starting off well today with the temperature already 41 degrees this morning with a projected high of 57 this afternoon. We start the day with 7.0 index and several slick tire classes that should help to warm the track up. Stay tuned to Dragzine as we bring you the latest from Lights Out 6 with our Comp Cams same day coverage.
Once again the crew is at it early getting the track prepared with a fresh surface. It also helps to warm the surface while scraping off the cold rubber.Maryland based racer Steven Montgomery is here to run Outlaw 632 this weekend with his 1984 Trans Am. The small tire car is powered by a Roche Racing Engines big Chevy backed and by a PTC converter.The popularity of this class is growing beyond Florida where it began as it allows some big block nitrous cars a class to compete in without spending to keep up in X275. In fact up at Capital Dragway, MIR and VMP for 2015 they will be having an OL632 No Time class sponsored by Fancis Johnsons Fast by Francis and Monster Motorsports. The no time aspect for the area is an effort to draw some grudge racers into the class. The crew from left to right, Driver/Owner Steven Montgomery, Ronnie, Fred and Billy.We spotted this little Vega Drag’n Wag’n and stopped by for a look this morning. The father and son Sweat Racing team run 6.0 Index and are based out of Alma, Georgia. This is there first time attending one of the Duck X Productions events here at SGMP though they do attend regular events here. Derrick Rowland’s son Devin handles the driving duties in the car.Frank Meshaw has the Meshaw/Fratena Racing Trans Am on site for some Radial vs the World action. The car has a fresh look for this year sporting some fresh charcoal gray paint. The ATF, TRZ Motorsports ride is based out of Melbourne, FL and is powered by a Nelson Competition big Chevy.Joe DeDona had a wheel stand yesterday causing some damage under the car. Jimmy, Bobby and Anthony are helping out and Joe says they will be ready for qualifying today.
Round One Qualifying Results and Notes
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Due to the amount of cars we will bring you round one qualifying notes in two batches starting with Stainless Works Small Tire Nation Outlaw 632, RacePak MSD X275, PTC Radial vs the Worls and Capslock Oil Proformance Transmissions Leaf Spring.
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Anthony Masiello took number one qualifier in Outlaw 632 after one round hailing out of Coral Springs, Florida.Jody Voyles is double entered this weekend in X275 and OL 632. He was running Ultra Street the past couple of years but stepped up to a big block combo in 2014.Alabama’s Dustin Mewborn earned top qualifier in X275 in his turbocharged 89 Mustang running a 4.51 at 161 MPH.Jared Johnston earned top MPH with his third place qualifying pass running a 4.56 at 166.48 MPH. Here John Kolivas backs him up.Always a favorite Dean Marinas ran well with a 4.62 at 154 landing seventh in X275 for the Whitestone, NY racer.Robert Baptista has PTP in his corner tuning his F1X blown Camaro. He left hard running a 4.70 at 156 to land fourteenth on the ladder this round.
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Dean Vallese put the Zombi Wagon on the bumper this morning and would go on to a 5.41 at 138 for 30th position for the Florida based Malibu wagon.
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Ron Rhodes rode this one out a good way before getting it to come down easy. He coasted the rest of the way and is out of the 32 car field so far. Nick Agostino (left) was paired with Mark Woodruff in PTC Radial vs the World round one qualifying. Agostino would go straight down the track to number one with a 5.08 at 192. Woodruff ran a 5.18 at 166, good for seventeenth after one session.Jason Michalak went A to B in his first pass in the new blown Corvette out of the Bad9er camp. His 4.11 at 191 was good for second spot so far today in PTC RvW.Kevin Mullins took third position with a 4.21 at just 175 MPH.Newcomer to the class Rick Thornton and the FFI team have run well in just two outings. His 4.123 at 187 pits him fourth.All eyes were on The Shadow and Stevie Fast Jackson for his first qualifying pass with the new blower combo. The Killin Time crew landed fifth with a 4.216 at 193 earning top MPH on the run.Bubba Livingston has his Mustang back for some RvW action. His nitrous huffing combo left hard but had trouble down track running a 5.19 at 106. many racers in class had trouble going A to B in this round.Jamie Hancock has fresh color on the Corvette for 2015. he backfired early in the run and shut off.Michael Locklear recently purchased this Camaro that is now on it’s third owner after being built and campaigned by Bill Futch in OL 10.5. his first run today was a 5.36 at 163.
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We wrote about Gary Bunch yesterday sporting a new paint scheme but luck was not on his side after a wheel stand this afternoon. The sequence was captured by Brian Wagner who is proving us with extra photo coverage this weekend.
Round Two Qualifying Results
Due to a run order change Radial vs the World ran directly behind round one qualifying of Outlaw Drag Radial in an effort to get all the heads up cars two rounds today.
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Outlaw Drag Radial round two qualifying will be in the morning due to the cold track conditions tonight.Will Stevenson took top qualifier in Outlaw Drag Radial with a 4.22 at 180 MPH blast. He is out with some fresh updates for 2015 and ran similar ET’s at Bradenton Motorsports Parks US Street Nationals. Photo – Brian Wagner.Chad Opaleski is another racer out of Florida, he runs a Procharged Hemi in ODR and sits in second with a 4.27 at 181 after one session. Photo – Brian Wagner
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Early in round two qualifying of PTC Radial vs the World Steve Jackson and Rob Valden lined up for a 3,000 dollar grudge race. Jackson took the win improving his position to third with a 4.111 to Valden's also improved to a 4.14 at 200 MPH to land fifth on the sheet today and earning top MPH. Mark Micke took over driving for Mark Woodruff who had to leave and return home. he improved to a 4.72 but lifted after getting into a small wheel stand.Barry Lutz is double entered with Jason Rueckert driving in Holley, NOS, KBX Outlaw Drag Radial. Mitchell had a personal nest in Radial vs the World with a 4.310 at 175 MPH for thirteenth on the ladder.Jason Michalak improved his ET slightly holding on to second qualifier with a 4.088 at 195.Troy Pirez Sr. is running Outlaw 632 this weekend and pulled to the line in the second session off the trailer going a 4.49 at 157 MPH.Darren Hilterbran sits on top of Nitrous Express, Ultimate Converter Concepts, TRE NitrousX with a nice 4.74 at 149 MPH, also taking top MPH for the round on the same pass.Joel Greathouse shocked everyone with his 4.848 at 147,54 qualifying blast in Ultimate Street. Based out of Oakland, KY Greathouse took top MPH as well on the pass with KBX power.Troy Pirez Jr. has been running very well this year coming off an Ultra Street win in Orlando at the SHRA Southern Thunder recently. He is qualified third with a 5.003 at 147.Mike Fratena is currently sitting out of Ultimate Street with a 6.40 AT 84 mph. he has 5.0 power for sure and will likely be in the top few of the class before qualifying is over.Barry Mitchell put his 1992 Mustang on top of the Outlaw 275 class running a stellar 4.35 at 168 this evening.Ron Rhodes is doing what he set out to do so far qualifying at the top of Leafspring and X275 with a 4.66 at 151 and 4.504 at 155 respectively.
After all of the tireless winter nights of preparation and smack talk, it’s finally time for the baddest radial tire racers in the land to throw down at the sixth edition of “The Night The Lights went Out In Georgia” at the South Georgia Motorsports Park, and as always, along with our good friends at Comp Cams, we’ll be bringing you same day coverage all weekend long!
People are slow getting set up this morning with temperatures still below freezing just after 9 at just 31 degrees with a 28 degree real feel so says my Accu Weather app. This hardcore crew camped out all night in the back 40.Robert Babtista made the trek from Massachusetts to be here after taking a year off to regroup and get some weight out of the car with some carbon fiber parts from Ultra Carbon. He runs in X275 with an F1X Procharger feeding into a Mason’s Race Engines small block Chevy.Mike Fratena had to work on the car this morning after pulling several rocker stand bolts out. They were just getting things back together when we dropped by their pits. Fratena has run well so far this year in Ultra Street trim running several passes in the 5.0 range with his single turbo small block Chevy.This gorgeous 64 Fairlane is owned by Lester Combs and driven by Jason McGrane out of Greenwood, Indiana. The car features a 585 cubic inch big block Ford from BES and runs naturally aspirated in Ultra Street. They were switching to the MT Pro 275 this morning when I dropped by. Look for this car in a future feature here at Dragzine.com.It’s nice to see Ron Clark back with his crowd favorite Bugzilla.
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I stopped by the Nitrous Express set up in the vendor area and spoke with Mike Abney about their new pressurized water/meth injection system as well as their single entry crossbar Ultimate Street legal plate. The Injection System using pressure from your nitrous or C02 bottle to inject the liquid under high pressure and remove the electric pump from the system, reducing strain on the battery. Chris Isbell poses with the fully plumed big chief intake shown at left.
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The track staff has been working on the track for a few hours already this morning getting the track ready to race on. We should be ready for testing around noon today. Due to the cold weather it's looking like there will be no qualifying round today. Jacky McCarty is here with a brand new car out of his own McCarty Performance shop. He runs a single Precision turbo combo in X275 with a Cox Racing Engines small block. They were making some adjustments to the rear suspension this afternoon.Louisiana based racer Jeff Colletta runs X275 and was here last year for the No Mercy 5 event creating controversy with the cold nitrous “apparatus” installed on his car and several others. His last event was at Holly Springs Fall Brawl though he did do some testing at No Problem Raceway in December with good results.Jason Digby has Chad Branson driving while his P101 Dart is down and holds the record for stock suspension Mopar with a 4.66 @ 153 on leaf springs. In the off season the car was lowered and rewired completely along with adding a chin spoiler and a poly-carbonate grill shield for some aerodynamic help. Digby and crew are set to run Outlaw 632 and Leaf Spring this weekend. The engine is a 610 cubic inch big block Mopar topped with Predator heads done by Jeff Burns Racing Engines out of Tupelo, MS with Kevin Neal tuning the nitrous. Crew Chief and fabricator is Michael Gough with a special thanks to Lyle and Mark Barnett for assisting and helping get Digby’s program on to the next level.Ed Haddock is here with this gorgeous mid eighty’s Chevy step side. Haddock runs Pro Modified in PDRA and is here this weekend having some fun. His wife Jenna Haddock will be racing in 6.0 Index powered by a 434 small block by Buck Racing Engines.People may not recognize Gary Bunch this weekend as he has shed the pink paint scheme for brown, a Toyota Tundra color. Shown is Gary and his wife Wonda Bunch.
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Josh Schwier purchased this car from Adam Vetter last year and has Chris Fenn driving in Ultra Street. It's been several months getting everything squared away and they had their first event at Orlando for the SHRA's Southern Thunder inaugural race running a best 5.04 at 140 MPH. The combo is a 363 cubic in small block Ford with a single turbo. Sponsors include TRZ Motorsports, Lugo Motorsports and John Balinsky from On A Budget (OAB) Racing. Check the unique graffiti paint job, it's sure to have people talking this weekend. Chris Fenn pictured.
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Don Lamana and the Pro Fab Performance PLus crew are here and ready. Don has a Proline Racing small block Ford racing X275 and recently ran in the 4.60's at the US Street Nationals. Since then they have lowered the ride height and installed a new rear housing built in house.
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Shawn Pevlor has switched over to Nitrous Outlet for the 2015 season. He had a couple of passes yesterday with promising results. Last year at No Mercy Pevlor won Ultra Street and was in the final of Nitrous X when the race was called for running up against the curfew. Rob Corujo yanked the wheels for a second before losing traction on this run. The track is cold and has been tricky for most racers testing today so far.Lamar Swindoll is based out of Houston, Texas and is also running Outlaw 632 this weekend after switching from leaf springs to ladder bars. He has a new engine from Taylor Lastor Engines which is a 615 conventional head big block Chevy.Rich Bruder did not have trouble running straight down track to the tune of 4.68. Rob Valden (far lane) however did not.UPS has been here three times already delivering parts to the tower. They will be here multiple times making deliveries through Saturday.Mac Fab Beadlocks is already working on customer beadlock conversions today and will be hard at it through the weekend.The official shirts will likely sell out again so get yours early.Team Z Motorsports has their traditional corner spot set up. They offer a full line of suspension components as well as a full chassis shop and assorted other parts. Powder coating is available in a wide variety of colors for any metal parts.Well you will never guess who we ran into in tech this afternoon. None other than Ron Fisher and his son Jacob. You may remember Ron’s previous Chevelle that graced the Flowmaster Muffler poster dragging the bumper. Well he is back with another Chevelle, this one has a blown big Chevy built at Scotty’s Racing Technology in Spring Hill, Florida. The blower and fuel system are from Mike Janis and it’s backed by a Neal Chance Racing Converter and Proformance Racing Transmission sending the power back to a 9.5 inch Mark Williams full floater rear. The Chassis was built by Robert Coady at Category 5 Race Cars and this is the debut weekend for the car.Shawn Pevlor went right down A to B with a 5.08 at 139 late in the test session this afternoon.
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With the scheduled testing to stop at 5 PM we ended just a little early as Brendan Mills got into left side wall while paired with Kevin Mullins. Brendan is ok but the car is worse for wear and looks to be unrepairable here at the track. Tough break for the Mills team. The Bruder brothers have a new engine combo from Disomma Racing topped with Visner Engineering billet heads and intake manifold. The car also had a visit at Crazy Don’s for some chassis changes. Dave Klaput’s Proformance Transmissions supplied a new three speed unit and Marty Chance designed a converter to math the new set up. Also new is a Fuel Tech engine management and Davis Technologies Profiler box. Rich’s 4.68 at 158 was the third pass since the changes.Even though Stuart Henry’s Radial Tour is delayed some the Australian crew is here at Lights Out 6 supporting the sport.
After all of the tireless winter nights of preparation and smack talk, it’s finally time for the baddest radial tire racers in the land to throw down at the sixth edition of “The Night The Lights went Out In Georgia” at the South Georgia Motorsports Park, and as always, along with our good friends at Comp Cams, we’ll be bringing you same day coverage all weekend long!
