We got started at 9 Am this morning with Open Comp before resuming heads up eliminations with Outlaw Drag Radial. The weather was a bit warmer but with more cloud cover keeping the track temps down fro the 140 degrees we saw on Saturday. Thanks to the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house once again bringing you all the news, notes, results, and hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos to keep you up to date on the biggest drag race of the season!
Tipp City, Ohio based racer Darren Hilterbran took top honors in Nitrous X with his record setting 4.673 at 151 MPH. He is a consistent top runner in the class and took out David Braxton this morning in round one with both cars striking the tires early.
Image/s missing.
Dave Harmer is based out of Michigan with this 1971 Nova running Outlaw 632. Harmer runs assorted drag radial classes back home at their home track Milan, Columbus or down at Kilkare. This is their first time here and running Outlaw 632. Power comes from a BES 605 topped with two stages of nitrous from Induction Solutions backed by an Abruzzi Glide and NCRC Converter. The car was built by JR Racecraft. Harmer purchased the car when he was 15 and was his high school ride, graduating to bracket racing before mover to heads up outlaw events. The team from left to right; Ron, Raymond, Ed Textor, Jeff Rolfes and Dave Harmer.
Image/s missing.
Ken Quartuccio is a top runner in Outlaw 632 scoring number one qualifier this weekend with a 4.420 at 163. On his earned single this morning he let it rip to a 4.41 in the C&S Performance Camaro He runs Kenny Lafferty's Cold Nitrous with a Wilson fogger system with Proline Racing's Jamie Miller tuning. Ken and Denise brought several of their children this weekend as good luck charms, so far so good. From left to right. Kyle, Kaitlin, Kelsey, Maris, his wife Denise and Ken Quartuccio. Al Dito advanced to round two with a career best 2.96, 4.52 at 159.5 MPH running a 588 conventional head big Chevy with single stage progressive, Induction Solutions/Kenny Lafferty Cold Nitrous, ATF Transmissions combo and is also tuned by Trimaldi. Scott Rigg is the between round maintenance guy with Jim Thompson handling crew chief duties and cooking. Dito is running a new ATF converter this weekend with good results and low slip through the lights.
Image/s missing.
Jason Michalak set a new official record here this weekend running a 3.876 besting his own record by .001. They have torn up a fair share of parts this weekend including four transmissions, one engine and a set of heads. “We are tearing up some stuff but that's what you have to do to stay out front here. I have the best crew in the world, everybody is pouring their hearts and souls into it this thing weekend, all the glory to them cause I have the easiest job when they give me a good hot rod. Hopefully we can make it work this weekend but it's going to be an uphill battle with the adversity we faced with Kyle's wreck and all the parts we have torn up.” - Jason Michalak From left to right, Mick Snyder, Frankie Taylor, Jason Michalak, Billy Stocklin and Jeff Pierce.
The date for No Mercy 7 with be October 6-9 so go ahead and book your rooms now and get here early for good seating.Keith Haney took out Shawn Ayres in a good match in round two of Radial vs the World. Haney took a .040 reaction time advantage running a 4.03 at 190 to Ayres game 4.09 at 201.Chad Opaleski was paired with Rick Thornton in round two earning the win after Thornton timed out running a 4.41.
Image/s missing.
Nitrous Outlet has a couple of new nitrous plate products here on display, the Stinger 3 and an SVI plate designed by Paul Klyzek from PKRE which is being marketed through Nitrous Outlet. The Stinger 3 has a spacer under the plate to drop the cone lower in the plenum and is designed for intake manifolds that have an extended top so the nitrous/fuel mixture doesn't blow into the manifold sides and goes into the runner in a concept similar to their puck system. It also features directed orifices instead of the previous radial spray pattern. Mark Menscer Motorsports is here providing parts and racer support in conjunction with Afco. Seen here working on a spare struts for Robert Rogers is John Mellon who came on board about two weeks ago. “To good to be true to be with Menscer Motorsports now, it’s a dream come true, career and life changing opportunity and I am in for the long haul” John Mellon.Afco Racing Products has a marketing agreement with Menscer . We spoke with Eric Saffell the National Account Manager with Afco to get caught on the program. Saffell began the drag racing program at Afco back in 1996 after they had developed a good reputation in the circle track industry with their shocks, suspension and cooling products. Menscer Motrosports is a distributor for us and focuses on heads up outlaw style drag racing using their products to develop shock and struck packages being the go to guy for many top racers in the drag radial classes. For 2016 they have launched a 4 way adjustable shock which they put on Keith Haney’s number one qualifying Camaro in Radial vs the World this weekend clearly with excellent results. Eric Folger and Eric Saffell shown from left to right.Don Burton is here this weekend with his twin Procharged monster Mustang. He put up a personal best 4.259 at 175 in a Pro 275 round two match with Eric Gustafson earning a spot in round three vs Steve Drummond but was not able to make the call.We spoke with John Kolivas from KBX about Joel Greathouse who made the switch to Procharger for 2016. The car is running well so far with a best of 4.811 at 147 against Ronnie Rhodes in round three of Ultimate Street earning his was to the semi finals.Hannah Sanders is at her second race with the new car out of Innovative Racecraft built by Troy Pirez Jr and her father Kirt Sanders. She runs a BES small Ford with PKRE Nitrous and snagged a personal best 5.09 at 138 in a loss to Fast Lane in round two of Ultimate Street.
Image/s missing.
Kenny Hubbard had a personal best this weekend running a 4.54 in qualifying with his Jeff Naiser built big Chevy. He took out Taylor Lastor in round one of X275 on a holeshot before falling to to Rich Bruder in round two after striking the tires. He was also entered in Pro 275 where he met with number two qualifier Barry Mitchel who laid down a 4.30 at 178 ending Hubbard's weekend in round two.
Final Results
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Once we got to the semi finals of PTC Radial vs the World any Pro Mod chassis cars had been eliminated and Jason Michalak was paired with Steve Jackson and Keith Berry with Daniel Pharris. Berry adn Jackson would advance to the finals where Berry put a holeshot on The Shadow by .040 earning a the win with a 3.934 at 192.69 to Jackson's quicker 3.896 at 194.80. Once we got to the semi finals of PTC Radial vs the World any Pro Mod chassis cars had been eliminated and Jason Michalak was paired with Steve Jackson and Keith Berry with Daniel Pharris. Berry and Jackson would advance to the finals where Berry put a holeshot on The Shadow by .040 earning a the win with a 3.934 at 192.69 to Jackson's quicker 3.896 at 194.80. Keith is very happy with their performance after getting here a day late and with just nine passes on the car here at Lights Out 7. He uses a Proline Racing small Chevy with CFE heads with Fuel Tech engine management. My team is instrumental in the performance of the car this weekend, I have to thank Ryan Rakestraw, Joey Bell, Eric Dillard, Doug Patten, and all the guys at Pro Line, Corey Lee, Johnny Chrisifulli, Pro Torque, Mickey Thompson, Steve Petty, Mark Mickie, and Jack from Billet Atomizer and especially my wife Mindy for all the support and my son Tyler. - Keith Berry.
Image/s missing.
The semifinals of KBX/Precision Turbo X275 featured Rob Goss vs Jared Johnson and Ron Rhodes vs Tyree Smith. Goss lost an engine block in the lights slowing to a 4.52 to Johnson's 4.45 and Rhoded put up a clean 4.48 and .007 reaction to earn a spot in the final. Once there Rhodes went .026 on the tree going on to the win with a 4.44 at 158 after Johnson spun early in the run. We came from the number seven spot with a 4.45 and went round by round and make good calls all day. I want to thank my crew, Kimmie Weicker, Jeff Kinsler, and the companies I use Steve Johnson at Induction Solutions, BES, Santhuff, Hutch Transmissions, PTC, TRZ Motorsports, Mac Fab, Mickey Thompson, Devane Carburators, Ultra Carbon and Cal Tracs. Ron Hamby and Barry Mitchell (near lane) met in the final of TRZ Motorsports/Holley EFI/MacFab Outlaw Drag Radial with both cars winning similar times in the semis with Mitchell having lane choice. Mitchell did his job scoring a .033 reaction and a significant head start. Hamby was on point performance wise scoring a best of weekend 4.199 at 178.14 but not enough to get around Mitchell’s 4.23 at 181. ” We got lucky after having some issues we worked though before putting the car on lock down, my team did a great job this weekend. Special thanks to my wife Heather and crew Robbie Kexiah, Nick Renoylds, Jack Beals, David Peters, Ziff Hudson and Wesley Robinson who could not come this weekend.
Image/s missing.
In TRZ/ATF/RK Racecraft Pro 275 the action was heavy with close racing for the debut class. Barry Mitchell was also entered here and doing well taking out Shawn Ellington's Murder Nova in the semifinals with a.008 4.22 at 181 to Ellington's game .010 4.38 at 177 best of weekend run. Steve Drummond had a single due to a missing David Pearson with Little Evil. In the final Drummond left first with an .011 to Mitchell's .035 but his 4.27 at 178 wasn't enough to stay in front of Mitchell's 4.207 at 181. Number one qualifier Butch Kemp was very consistent with his Uratchko Racing Engines NA Mustang in Induction Solutions/Ultimate Converter Concepts/Hyperformance Motorsports Ultimate Street running a 4.84, 4.86, 4.83 and a 4.82 in the final against Joel Greathouse who was third on the ladder. Greathouse pulled off low ET and high MPH of the weekend in the final scoring a 4.761 at 149.10 taking the class win after a Kemp redlight.Strange Engineering/Commando Racing Outlaw 632 had a good showing this weekend but several racers missed first round to do breakage. Ken Qualtuccio was number one qualifier and running well this weekend when he met with Bruce Johnson (far lane) from Jacksonville, Alabama in in the semi final taking a loos on a holeshot with Johnson’s 4.433 earning him lane choice in the final with Troy Blake who had been fighting tire shake and made several 4 link adjustments looking for the right set up with the tight track conditions. And grabbed a holeshot win over Dominic Augustine’s gorgeous 56 Chevelle SS. In the final it would be Johnson who left first with an .031 to Blake’s .040. Johnson put up a 4.434 at 161 for his efforts and it was just enough to score a win over Blake’s quicker 4.431 at 165.
Image/s missing.
Dale Arbogast runs his 1969 Nova in Leaf Spring with a 588 cubic inch engine from Motortech fed by an F3 Procharger a backed by a turboglide 2 speed automatic. He met with Chad Branson in Jason Digby’s 69 Dart in the semifinals driving by for the win after getting beat on the tree, a .026 4.592 at 162 beats a .104, 4.65 at 153. Bryan Marrow from Cammando Apparel was his opponent in the final but he was pushed back after the burnout giving the win to Marrow’s Fig Performance powered Procharger 1979 Camaro. In Nitrous Express/Unlimited Products/ Ultimate Converter Concepts/Salvato Designs Nitrous X Darren Hilterbran scored top qualifier and was faster every round to the final where he met with number two qualifier and top MPH holder Tim Knieriem who took the holeshot at the starting line but fell off pace to a 5.07 at 123 allowing Hilterbran to drive around with low ET for the weekend 4.673 at 143.
Image/s missing.
Justin Shearer AKA Big Chief missed qualifying in Radial vs the World with the Crowmod but set up a match race with this two rotor Nissan after the finals. Shearer rolled the beams loosing the match but backed up and made a hit scoring a best of weekend 1.04, 2.77, 4.101 at 182.77 MPH for the Butler Performance powered Firebird impressing many skeptics with the performance of the Street Outlaws cars this weekend.
Saturday is the final day for qualifying before we head into round one eliminations tonight and we have an unprecedented amount of spectators here today resulting in a lock down on folks entering the track facility and folks parking in the field across the street. Thanks to the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house once again bringing you all the news, notes, results, and hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos to keep you up to date on the biggest drag race of the season!
Image/s missing.
This home built turbo LS powered Nova is owned by Floyd Cannon and driven by his son Travis in 6.0 Index here this weekend. The team is based out of Oklahoma, City where they bracket race weekly in the season at Thunder Valley Raceway Park and attend assorted street car events and plan to attend the Rocky Mountain Race Week this year. The 6.0 LS has a stock crank with LSA heads fed by an 80MM turbo from Borg Warner and a custom grind camshaft from Little John. The boost controller and other electronics is from Leash Electronics with engine management from Holley EFI. It's been a best of 8.57 at 161 in the quarter to date. From left to right Kati Laughter, Travis Cannon and Floyd Cannon. Crowd favorite Bugzilla is built, owned and driven by Ron Clark with a PTC transmission and converter. He has had this car since the early 90’s and I actually remember seeing this car back then at Brainerd Optimist Dragstrip at one of their street car event at the time while on vacation. Crew this weekend is Chad Chandler, Austin and Alan Clark.This jet black 67 Chevy is owned by Richard Dukes out of Augusta, Georgia and built by GPS Race Cars weighing in at 1,930 pounds without the driver. He is running Open Comp this weekend and normally bracket races. The engine is a Dart 434 with 13 degree heads powering the car to consistent 5.30’s.
Image/s missing.
We dropped by Andrew Aleppa's pit the morning to see how they are doing with the new car while he was prepping for start up. Rob Valden is back driving for 2016 and he is qualified with a 4.05 at 193 after just two full passes so far this weekend. The C7 was built by Rick Stevens Race Cars in Sante Fe, Texas and is powered by a Proline Racing Outlaw Hemi with twin Precision Pro Mod 102's and backed by a three speed from M&M Transmissions. Shoutouts to Rick Stevens, Eric and the folks at Proline, Ryan Rakestraw at RK Racecraft, John Homier, Crew Chief Brandon Stroud, and Chase Driscoll for being a part of the team. “Most importantly I couldn't do it without my wife Kim, she allows me to do this stuff so I very much appreciate her. We are looking forward to a good day today, there are a lot of hands were involved with this car and it's really came out nicely and we are looking forward to be a front runner once we get it sorted out and up to speed.” - Andrew Aleppa shown with Shannon Davis.
Image/s missing.
Chad Opaleski put down a 4.07 with the Grain Barge last night for a career best running at 3,000 pounds here this weekend, that's 300 pounds over his legal min weight for the F3-R 136 Pro Charged Hemi combo. He is sporting a new engine this year with a block from TFX topped with Noonan Heads out of Fast Forward Racing Engines in New Port Richey, Florida. Crew consists of tuner Rob Zark, Steve at CRT Transmissions, Dan Neumann Race Cars, Mom, Dad, Natalie and The Sarge Santi. “All I do it release a button, it's ain't me going fast it's these guys” Chad Opaleski. Scotty G is running well so far with his new engine combo sporting 943 cubic inches out of his own Scotty’s Racing Technology in Spring Hill, Florida qualifying with a career best 4.053 at 175 MPH. Scotty uses Induction Solutions Nitrous, EFI Technologies engine management, Proformance Transmissions and Pro Torque converters. Crew this weekend is Pete, Frankie, Bob and Uncle Kev and Van.Tommy Rainer is running a Sid Neal TH 400 trans and testing a new gear combination this weekend and installed a Davis Technologies box before the event as well a new 98 MM turbos from Precision. He is not qualified yet but ran 4.40 at 192 MPH getting data to clean up the fuel map with the new set up. He uses a Proline 622 on gasoline with Big Stuff3 tuned by Rainer.Mike Gibson and the Warner Robbins crew are down here at the self proclaimed Rick Flair Blvd. They have been coming here since the first event here at SGMP. We have a capacity crown this weekend and it was a hack of a time getting in the property until arrangement were made to open over flow parking in the cotton field across the street from the track.Just to give you an idea of the crowd here today I do not remember the hill being filled to this extent. Maxed out is certainly an understatement.
Image/s missing.
Justin Harris is here with his new Darth Vader Mustang running X275 parked in the far front corner. The car is a fresh build with no testing prior to the event. It's powered by a big Chevy from PAR Racing Engines topped with Fast Lane Nitrous tuned by Chris and Chase Johnson at JPC Performance Center. From left to right; Chase Johnson, Kevis Adams, Justin Harris owner/driver and Thaddus Simmons.
Image/s missing.
Jimmy Chavis is running Nitrous X this weekend with the “Chief Kikabitch” Mustang and is qualified third in class with a4.89 at 141 MPH. He runs a 438 cubic inch piece from Bullet Race Engines with a single system from Induction Solutions. Issac Gomez from Under Pressure Race Cars built the car and handles tuning. The trans is from Sid Neal with an ATI converter. “ I want to thank my dad Jimmy Chavis Sr. and Judd Harris for being here this weekend. Shay Loveday has struggled keeping their car on the ground in Radial vs the World and have made some adjustments and added some weight on the nose to help out. The 63 Vette is owned by Steve Dodgen and is one of several cars in the D&L Racing stable. The team has run this Mark Posley built car about 3 years in local Pro Mod events with a 632 engine but pulled this Eagle Racing Engine 780 ci off the shelf about three weeks ago to prepare for this event.
Image/s missing.
Dean Valeese in the Zombie Racing Wagon put up a personal best 4.80 at 148 and was on the bump after three rounds. Dean runs Induction Solutions nitrous with heads and intake from Curtis Boggs at RFD. Marion, North Carolina based Punisher Racing is here entered two classes with two drivers this weekend running Open Comp and 6.0 Index. We spoke with driver Casey Hollifield about the combo with the team running a stock block 383 Chevy with an NOS plate nitrous system built by Kevin Dalton at Dalton Racing Engines. “I want to thank everyone that has supported us and helped us on the way, Kevin and the team at Dalton Race Engines, Robert and Karen and my wife Kara Wheeler and the other driver Jamie Hannah. From left to right, Julia Boal, Kara Wheeler, Casey Hollifield and Karen and Robert Wylie.” – Casey Hollifield.Joe Albrecht has his Extreme Racing Engines/Thriftway Auto Body and Chassisworks Chevy II here in Ultimate Street and was qualified fifth with a 4.92 at 140 after one session. Apbrecht won the US Street Nats in Ultra Street at Bradneton last year and has been a best of 4.89.Marty Chance is back to racing after a near eight year hiatus with his old Extreme Street Mustang converted to X275 trim and showed up here with no testing. Chance is pleased with the performance so far running a 4.60 at 154 after three rounds. Disomma Racing Engines provides the power after being fed with an F1-R Procharger and tuned by Nick Bruder with chassis set up from Josh Lindsey. “Without my crew this would not have happened so I have to thank Curtis Price, Doug Botkin and Alan Belew.”We caught up with Ron Rhodes in the pits changing the set up in the trans pressure dump valve. Rhodes matched his personal best 4.45 this weekend and the data shows they have room for improvement. Rhodes runs engines from BES topped with an Induction Solutions nitrous system back with a Hutch built power glide and PTC converter.
Image/s missing.
Kyle Bruce is driving the brand new 2JMFAB Mustang this weekend for car owner Josh Manzenmayer. It's powered by a Precision turbocharged in house built small block Ford backed with a trans and converter from Freakshow Performance with the top end from Slick Rick and Fuel Tech engine management. Bruce ran a 4.69 at 162 testing here but was outside the field after three rounds with a 4.83.
Image/s missing.
True Street Motorsports Clint Davis is based out of Mckinney, Texas running Nitrous X this weekend with his 2JMFAB built car. He runs a 445 ci small block Ford built by Chris Fowler and topped with Victor Glidden2 heads and a single stage Nitrous Express system. Davis installed this engine last year and had Slick Rick go through the heads over the winter and found us some more power. 'Thanks to Michael Dixon, Josh and Justin Manzenmayer , all the guys at True Street and my wife Misty and my kids for all the support.” - Clint Davis John McDonough hails from Panama City, Florida and is double entered in X275 and Leaf Spring where he qualified fourth with a 4.77. The Nova is owned by Chris Bryant and was built by Under Pressure Race Cars with power coming from Big Mac Racing Engines topped with an Induction Solutions fogger and backed by a Proformance Transmission and PTC converter. He will be looking for 4.60’s in the next session.Dean Marinis scored a personal best 4.41 landing fourth in X275 after three rounds. They are looking for a warm weather A to B tuneup in this session. Shown left to right, Vinnie Diprima and Elvis Licul.Jason Carter and Mark Mickie brought the Malibu here sans motor meeting up with engine builder Kris Nelson who delivered the new piece which they installed earlier this week and also making a switch to Fuel Tech engine management. The team struggled until the final Radial vs the World session before scoring a 4.02 putting them solidly in the field.
Final Qualifying Results
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
Image/s missing.
We finished round one eliminations in Radial vs the World and X275 tonight and will resume after Open Comp and Index in the morning with Outlaw Drag Radial. Gates open at 8 AM. Josh Klugger faced off with David Demarco in round one of RVW scoring a win with a 3.92 at 205 MPH.Steve Jackson put down 3.95 at 191 taking our a game Ziff Hudson who slowed slightly to a 4.12 at 185.Rob Valden was perfect on the tree against Nick Agostino running a 4.05 at 199 to Agostino’s 4.50.Number 31 qualifier Marty Robinson faced off with Dewayne Mills putting up an .064 reaction and putting up a best of weekend 4.05 to Mills’ 4.06 and will move on to round two in the PTP tuned Hemi Powered 68 Cuda.Ryan Martin has han consistently this weekend with his new ride. Mark Woodruff was his opponent but late on the tree with a .115 reaction and struck the tires. Martin will advance with a 4.05 at 186.Keith Haney paired up with Steven Fereday earning the win with both cars running well. Haney’s 3.95 bettered Fereday’s 4.033 at 201 MPH in a good close match with near identical reaction times.Jason Michalak earned a win over David Wolfe with a 3.94 at195 to Wolfe’s 4.18 at and off pace 159 MPH.Mean Dean Marinis got caught late on the tree but had enough to drive around Dustin Mewbourn running a 4.46 at 158 to Mewbourn’s 4.58 at 158 in a classic nitrous vs turbo match in X275.Jared Johnson met with Kevin Cram scoring a win after an .047 reaction and 4.53 ET to Cram’s .109/4.58.Rich Bruder ran a 4.44 on a single as John McDonough could not make the call for the round.
Today we started off with Open Comp to warm things up before resuming heads up qualifying with TRZ Motorsports/Holley EFI/MacFab Performance Beadlocks Outlaw Drag Radial. Thanks to the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house once again bringing you all the news, notes, results, and hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos to keep you up to date on the biggest drag race of the season!
David Pearson made the switch to alcohol in the off season taking the time to freshen everything up after The Orlando World Street nationals last year. They arrived with no testing and are making changed to the fuel cell this morning looking to avoid some potential cavitation which may have caused them some fueling problems yesterday.We are sad to report Brad Edwards is done for the weekend after a connector came loose for the water injection during qualifying last night. It burnt the chamber and cracked the head though the spark plug hole but stayed contained internally.We dropped by the DeMarco pits and found tuner Lonnie Houde just finishing up putting oil back in David’s Buick. He had an oil filter fail on the burnout last night resulting in a bit of down time in RVW qualifying.
Image/s missing.
We dropped by Jason Digby's pit this morning to have a chat. He has Chad Branson driving again this year and he ran a 4.67 in testing here this week. The team made some small changed in the off season re-positioning the injectors and making a cam change to help getting the exhaust out. Kevin Neal handles the power management on the Burns Racing Engines big block Mopar. Special thanks to Mag Gough, Grizzard Brothers, Jeff Burns and Dave Klaput from Proformance Transmissions.
Image/s missing.
LSX Real Street Racer Ted Timmerman is running Induction Solutions/Ultimate Converter Concepts/Salvato Designs Ultimate Street this WS6 Trans Am in Ultimate Street out of Paul Falcon's LS1 Excitement shop with a turbocharged LS engine. They use an ERL prepped bottom end topped with All Pro heads fed by a class legal cast wheel turbo from Forced Inductions backed with a powerglide from RPM Transmissions. Ted Has been running 5.0's with the car and looking for more though he feels disadvantaged a bit by the rules package here. Thanks to Jason Griffis for assisting with the wiring and David Farlow at Boost Fab for the plumbing.”We wish you were here Thad” Ted Timmerman. From left to right;Andrew Kolacinski, Paul Falcon and Ted Timmerman.
Image/s missing.
Erika Hughes is running this 1967 Chevy II in Outlaw 632 this weekend powered by a naturally aspirated 453 cubic inch Small block Chevy by Phantom Race Engines in Clinton Tennessee topped with 13 degree Dart heads topped with a single four barrel meeting he class rules which allow for no minimum weight for NA small blocks under 480 cubic inch. The car was built by Greg Daugherty GPS Race Cars with a trans from Dave Soloman and Erika and her husband taking delivery last March. This is their first event with this combo after running 6.0 index last year. Mustang Mike Modeste is double entered this weekend running ODR and Outlaw 275. We caught up with his after his ODR qualifying session this morning where he ran a 4.28. In testing he was 4.17 at 186 and this run was three numbers quicker to half track with a 1.07, 2.79 but it layed over though the top end.Shane Stack put up a 4.29 at 180 MPH in ODR this morning, a good run for the first qualifying session today.Bobby Flippen scored a 4.61 at 162 for his first qualifying effort this weekend.Andrew DeMarco left hard but moved left forcing him to abort the run.Phil Hines ran well this morning with a 4.47 at 173 on a nice straight run. All Hustle Motorsports is new on the car for 2016.is new car out of Tim Lyons shop belongs to Richard Regan and sports 738 cubic inch bullet from Fulton Racing Engines. His 4.34 at 167 has the team happy after just the fifth pass on the car.
Image/s missing.
Radial vs the World Q4, X275Q3
Image/s missing.
Outlaw Drag RadialQ2, Nitrous XQ1, Pro 275Q1, Leaf SpringQ1
Image/s missing.
Outlaw 632Q1, Ultimate StreetQ1 After four rounds of Radial vs the World qualifying Jason Michalak improved to number one spot with a 3.876 at 196.07. Dewayne Mills also moved up with a 3.884 at 209.33, a new best for him.Enzo Pecchini ripped off a 3.96 at 188 in the third session landing seventh on the ladder. The car launched hard and moved left a bit but Enzo did his job and kept the hammer down, correcting the car and saving the pass.Jamie Hancock had yet to make a good pass in qualifying before the round and managed a 4.07 at 184 putting him nineteenth in class and the last car in the 4.0’s after three sessions. He improved to a 3.994 at 186.26 landing eleventh behind Chris Daniel who qualified tenth by virtue of his 197 MPH out the back.Eddie Harrison carried the wheels out and did a great job driving scoring a 4.05 at 201 for his efforts which had the crowd on it’s feet.The Kevin Mullins landed eighth with a 3.96 at 186 on his attempt today.Ron Rhodes qualified seventh after three rounds in X275 running a 4.450 at 159 MPH.Barry Mitchell (far lane) is running well in his new car debut sporting an 800 cubic inch beast from Fulton. His best was in Q2 of Outlaw Drag Radial with a 4.17 at 181 putting him second in class.In Ultimate Street Butch Kemp (far lane) set people talking after running a 4.79 at 144 with his Uratchko Racing Engines NA small block powered Mustang. Near side is Kirk Hatley who paid down a career best 4.95 at 142 MPH.Joel Greathouse sits third after his 4.89 at 144. They are working on the new F1A Procharger combination so look for them to improve on their times this weekend.Ronnie Rhodes put up a 4.91 at 143 in his Induction Solutions/BES/Rhodes Custom Auto Camaro, good for fourth in class. Pictured far lane.Rob Goss was unable to improve on his earlier 4.39 but he still sits number one in X275,Jamie Stanton told us last night he was looking for .30’s and nearly found it scoring a 4.403 at 161.30 new best. He sits second just ahead of Rich Bruder.Jeff Colletta is sporting a new look and some light weight parts after updating his trusty white car to the 2016 X275 rules which include allowances for two bottles and the Kenny Lafferty cold box. His 4.51 put him tenth in class.Dean Marinis sits fourth in X275 with the usual suspects filling out the top ten so far.Bill Futch leads Outlaw Drag Radial with a 4.15 at 186. The crew includes Carlos Zaldivar and Pedro Appolito.Tony Ridenour landed ninth in ODR with a 4.366 at 180. Tony has been pretty consistent recently and has the Camaro for sale.Brandon Fulger matched Ridenour’s ET but sits tenth with a 174 MPH showing on the clocks.Jared Johnson put the White Riot in fifth in Pro 275 with a 4.48 at 161 for team KBX.
We are live for day two here at Lights Out 7 bringing you the latest news from Georgia. We have testing all day with qualifying set to start at 6 PM with round two of Radial vs the World up first. Thanks to the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house once again bringing you all the news, notes, results, and hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos to keep you up to date on the biggest drag race of the season!
Keith Berry and crew have been hard at work prepping and fitting a new engine for the 2016 season. He purchased a dragster last year with the CFE SBX headed small block Chevy in it, sold the car and had Proline Racing update the engine. It’s being fed by a pair of GenII Precision 88 MM turbos with Fuel Tech software with an M&M trans and Pro Torque EV1 converter.Mark Woodruff picked up sponsorship from Precision Turbo and is running a pair of 102 MM units on the Sonny’s/Nelson Competition Hemi backed by an M&M two speed 400/ lockup for 2016. He is on the new MT 315 Radial Pro with good luck so far running a 4.11 and two 4 flats sitting number 7 in class.After one round of PTC Radial vs the World qualifying Keith Haney stands number one with a 3.89. The Enigma is fresh out of Larry Jeffers shop built specifically for the class with Brandon Pesz and Brandon Switzer heading up the crew. The car was a 6 month build and kept top secret until just a couple of weeks ago. Haney is partnered in Tulsa Motorsports Park which hosts several Drag Radial events and after meeting racers such as Mark Woodruff, Keith Berry and Dewayne Mills there he decided to come out and race with them with this purpose built car.“We were so wrapped up in the moment with the car after struggling all weekend in Bradenton we didn’t even realize about the first side by side three second pass down at Bradenton, that was like the cake topper.” – Scott King. The KTR crew rolled out with a 3.97 off the trailer on Tuesday.Taylor Lastor is still awaiting his new car so Reggie Richard was kind enough to loan this one out which was formerly campaigned by Shannon Jenkins. The team is still finishing up the car with Lastor making a short shakedown pass Wednesday night. The engine is the newest design from TRE sporting 925 cubic inches.Bubba Stanton and Jason Hutcheson are in the house for Radial Vs the World action sporting a TRE 903 Chevy in this 63 Vette. The large purse for this event is bringing racers out of the woodwork for a shot at the prize. Stanton had yet to make a pass when I spoke with him this morning.
Image/s missing.
Dave Wolfe is sporting his new car this weekend. Actually the car was built a couple years back starting out as a piece from Rick Jones with Wolfe Racecraft doing the front half it just never made it out. It's sporting a Hans Fuestel engine with Precision 102 mm turbos feeding the boost with Pro EFI engine management and an M&M Transmission.
Image/s missing.
Justin Shearer aka Big Chief from Discovery Channel's Street Outlaws is here this weekend competing in Radial vs the World with Shawn Ellington and the Murder Nova. Crew member Justin McDaniel got us caught up on the Midwest Streetcars team with Justin Shearer stopping off at engine builders Butler Performance for some repairs on the way down and went through the engine with fresh bearing again last night. Both crews are running on minimal sleep so far this week. Ellington made a pass this afternoon and lifted after the car started to power wheelie near the 330' so it looks like they are getting a handle on the small radial tire today.
Image/s missing.
Jason Michalak ran a 4.08 today on a test run just to get down the track. The team is going to change the rods and go through their normal maintenance today and should be good for the rest of the weekend pending unforeseen circumstances. Team Mate Kyle Huttel is debuting his new Carl Stevens built Vette with the team still finishing up the car when we spoke with Jason. It's a near clone of Michalak's car with both engines built and maintained by Frankie Taylor.
Image/s missing.
Troy Fredrickson is debuting his new car out of Pro Fab Performance in New Port Richey, Florida. He has an LS engine from George Pills Machine in St Pete. The team have only a couple of runs on the car before this weekend and will be running Ultimate Street. Ryan Martin purchased this Camaro last year from Joe Copson and has made some small changes to it including a fresh new paint job new heads and turbos with word done by B&R Performance and will represent Fireball Racing as their flagship car. Fireball racing is Russ Harrison Billy Hayes and Ryan Martin. From left to right, Billy Hayes Wes, Timmerman, Javier Canales and Ryan Martin.Team Z Motorsports is providing the leader board for the round sheets. This will be under close monitoring so please don’t even think about taking the sheets for your own pits. There will be public shaming for transgressions. From left to right; Joe Digiovanni, Frank Yennie, Kevin Singer, and Sheri and Dave Zimmerman.Wade Rich is putting the final touches on the track before we get back into testing.Kyle “Bad9er” Huttel is making laps, that’s two for the day for Kyle on his new car.Outlaw 632 racer Dillon Voss (near lane) made an attempt this afternoon but looked like it stuck hard and rolled over the tires which broke loose just after this shot was taken.We have a good crowd for a Thursday and the stands are filling up as we go into qualifying here shortly.Rick Thornton managed a 4.02 at 187 late in the testing session. The tean has struggled gettign the car to accelerate through the traps to their satisfaction as evidenced by the lower MPH he has run so far.Jason Brock put up a 4.01 at 175 on this good looking run.David Wolfe put up a 4.11 earlier today putting them on the right track fro qualifying. His later pass kicked the tires but they have data to go back to.Joe Albrecht is the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals Ultra Street winner with his beautiful Chevy II. He spun after the launch on this pass.Jeff Sitton went straight down track in Hyde running a 4.02 at 187 MPH.Taylor Lastor made a good hit to half track before clicking it off to a 4.62.Ultimate Street racer Bill Gregan put up a 4.99 at 140 MPH in his Competitive Edge powered Mustang. He made his first in the fours just recently at the US Street Nationals in Bradenton.
Image/s missing.
Well we just witnessed an unfortunate incident with Kyle Huttel and Dave Bowman getting together after Huttel got loose and crossed over to Bowman's lane. Sad to see these two cars crashed up but both drivers are out and ok. Chad Opaleski ran early in PTC Radial vs the World qualifying. He is sporting a new Hemi from Fast Forward Race Engines and some updates from Dan Neumann Race Cars for this event.Dewayne Mills put up a 3.909 earlier landing second in class. We will see if that will stand as there are a lot of cars left to run.
Image/s missing.
We have had an eventful and protracted round two of RVW qualifying. Here Keith Haney was the next car down after Mills but shook the tires after a .98 60'. The car moved left and scraped the wall. Word is the damage is mostly all cosmetic and the team is working hard to make repairs.
Image/s missing.
Ryan Martin was paired up with David Wolfe with Martin scoring a 4.06 at 196 with Wolfe going a 4.14 at 190.
Image/s missing.
Jeff Sitton and Taylor Lastor both were spitting fire out the pipes and not the good kind. Both of these teams will be working late tonight.
Thursday Qualifying
Image/s missing.
A long and exciting round of PTC Radial vs the World ran late leaving only time to finish round one of KBX/Precision Turbo X275 before running up against the 11 PM curfew tonight. The revised qualifying order for Friday will be starting at 9 AM with Open Comp up first followed by 6.0 Index, Outlaw Drag Radial, Nitrous X, Outlaw 632, Pro 275, Leaf Spring, Ultimate Street, Radial vs. the World and X275 round two.
Rob Goss (pictured right next to Charlie Johnson) leads Precision Turbo/KBX X275 after running a 4.396 at 164.53 MPH with his F1X Procharged 2009 Challenger. Johnson sits ninth with a 4,53 at 156 MPH.Jamie Stanton put his Camaro in third behind Dean Marinis with a 4.421 at 159.99 career best run. Over the winter he and pentagon Racecraft’s Jake Holdrige swapped to dry sump oiling and made some other changes over the winter freeing up some more horsepower for this season. They are pleased so far after just two hits. They will looking for a .39 tomorrow night.Rob Valden looked good to the shift but the trans refused to cooperate . He sits thirty-fourth with a 4.50.Killin Time Racing was trying some new things out with Hyde that didn’t work out so they will be swapping back to their “trusted and can’t be busted hot rod motor.” according to Stevie Fast. Smart money says Sitton will improve.Team Holder put up a 1.05 60′ today, a best for the car, before Roger Holder shut it down as the car moved left on the pass. Over the winter they updated the car, removing 250 pounds and redoing from the firewall forward, relocating the turbos and making things more accessible for ease of maintenance. Roger and the crew are happy even for that after having to repair much of the wiring after a fire here on Tuesday.Shawn Ayres is qualified thirtieth with a 4.42 in RVW today driving for Fletcher Cox. This mustang was purchased last year from Andrew Apella and now sporting a fresh blue color. They tested at Bradenton running a 4.07 then took the car home to rework a few things and prep for Lights Out 7. He ran a 3.98 testing yesterday but wheel stood a bit in qualifying. Tim Turner handles crew chief duties with the Bruder Brothers tuning with Ben and Channing rounding out the crew. From left to right; Car owner Fletcher Cox, Shawn Ayres and Tim Turner freshening up the BOV.Dewayne Mills goes 1.09 2.70 3.90 at 195 shutting it down a little early on his attempt tonight. Normally the car backhalfs 1.18 on the split at 210 MPH out the back. He sits number three.
Image/s missing.
Josh Klugger was unable to improve on his 3.93 after chunking a crank in today's qualifying session. Team FKR was finishing up the engine swap from their Pro Mod by the time we dropped by their pits.
Radial tire racing’s biggest stars have been preparing all winter long for the biggest payday in drag radial history at the seventh running of ‘The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia’ at South Georgia Motorsports Park, and the time has finally arrived. Racers in the Radial vs the World class will be vying for an unprecedented $50,000 to the winner, and those dollar signs have brought out all of the baddest weapons on radial tires in the sport. Thanks to the folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology, we’ll be in the house once again bringing you all the news, notes, results, and hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos to keep you up to date on the biggest drag race of the season!
Wednesday Evening Radial vs the World Q1
Keith Haney debuted his new “Enigma” and put the entire Radial vs The World field on notice with his qualifying lap of 3.89 at 191 mph, the quickest pass in class history.Steve Jackson punched The Shadow into the number two spot with a 3.91 at 192 mph pass during the first qualifying round. It appears Jackson’s ride is sporting a new blower and is really making some steam on each pass, including a massive power wheelstand during testing today.
Image/s missing.
Josh Klugger and Daniel Pharris had a blistering side-by-side race with nearly identical elapsed times. Klugger went a 3.934, while Pharris went a 3.936, but had a booming 210 mph on the pass. Justin Shearer and his Crowmod are in the show after round one, running a 4.26 at 172 mph.Several racers including Shawn Ayers swung for the fences but went into some gnarly power wheelies at different points on the track. The SGMP crew put some serious teeth in the track for this first round of qualifying.Radial vs the World round one qualifying order.
