It’s Saturday, and it’s CHILLY, but track prep is underway and racing will begin shortly. Today will begin with our Index racers taking the track first to put down some fresh rubber and build a little heat in the track, then we will wrap the final qualifying for X275 and Radial vs the World. Following that, eliminations will begin with 7.0 Index, followed by Limited Drag Radial. Check back for updates throughout the day, brought to you by the fine folks at Fuel Air Spark Technology!
Tyler Crossnoe and crew are working hard to get the track ready following the rain last night. Copious amounts of gold dust, VP Lane Choice traction compound and a lot of know-how should have the track ready to hook when action resumes.Radial vs the World newcomer Tim Kincaid has the front end of his blown ‘Vette patched up following yesterday’s top end mishap. Kincaid said the supercharger’s burst panel popped, which broke the small fasteners on the leading edge of the hood, which blew up around the injector hat. Look for this machine to be shooting for some deep 4’s today.X275 veteran Shane Fisher is back in action with his gorgeous fox body coupe. Fisher had the front end of the car completely rebuilt over the winter after having problems getting the car to even out the weight properly. With everything in the chassis from the firewall forward being brand new, Fisher is hoping to return to his front-runner status soon!Shane Stack swapped to LDR-legal 88mm turbos to run the new class for 2016. The team is currently chasing a fuel distribution issue, but look for Stack and his team to track down the gremlin quickly.The pit area of Street Outlaw stars Shawn Ellington and Justin Shearer are packed with fans anxious to meet their favorite street racers. Despite fielding a pair of competitive cars, Ellington and Shearer spend as much time as possible meeting and greeting fans.Longtime Radial vs the World racer Mike Jones had hoped to make the swap to LDR, but didn’t get his new turbochargers in time, so he’s got the 94’s on and is pushing his Cobalt in RvsW this weekend. Jones made some significant changes over the winter, swapping to a solid block setup to help combat issues with the heads lifting from the block.Michael Roemer is running both X275 and Ultra Street this weekend in his beautiful S10. Roemer is running a new Bennett-built powerplant and spent the winter looking for weight to pull from his “Flying Pickle” pickup. The Illinois-based team is looking to find the right converter to work with their changes, which should put the truck right in the mix in Ultra Street.
The fans here in Memphis braved some chilly temps in the 40’s this morning, but came out in strong numbers to watch the action. Temps are rising now in the early afternoon and the stands are packed!Louisiana native Blake Catalonotto made the trip with his show-quality Camaro to compete in X275. Catalonotto qualified #16 in the 32 car field.Earl Stanley made a great pass in his beautiful X275 Mustang to qualify in the #5 spot with a 4.52 and will face Kyle Bruce in round 1 of eliminations.Georgia native Charles Hull has been running well off his usual pace, but did make the field in the #31 spot. He will face off with #2 qualifier Jared Johnston in the first round coming up shortly.Tyree Smith overhauled the front end of his ghost-flamed Chevy II and it seems to have paid off. Smith is qualified at #3 with a solid 4.51 that will give him lane choice over the Camaro of Henry Schneider in the opening frame of eliminations.
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Nick Bruder pulls his brother Rich into the beams in their X275 Mustang. The Bruders qualified #1 and will face Danny Tellman in the first round.
Greg Henschell made the long haul from Vancouver, British Columbia to compete with the best of the best in X275. Henschell is qualified #6 with a stout 4.54 that has him facing off with DJ Loiacano first round.Shannon Renfro qualified in the #9 slot in X275 and will line up against Johnny Inman in round 1.Rob Valden ended qualifying with a 7th-best 4.06 in Andrew Alepa’s C7. He will face Kyle Megginson’s Camaro in round #1 later today.Mark Woodruff made his quickest pass in competition today with a great 3.96 at 200 MPH to land him in the #4 spot in Radial vs the World. Woody will face Shannon Beeler’s swoopy Trans Am in the opening frame of eliminations.Texan Kyle Huettel anchors the RvsW field with a 3.90 ET at the wheel of Jason Michalak’s C6 Corvette. The Billy Stocklin-tuned hotrod will line up with Bobby Flippin’s 4th Gen Camaro in round 1.“THE” Kevin Mullins qualified solidly with a 4.08, but had a tie rod break, likely ending his weekend. However, the team is searching for parts and may make the round 1 call, where he would face the Malibu of Mark Micke.Sikeston Missouri’s own Daniel Pharris will face off with Shawn Ayers in round 1. Pharris laid down a 3.94 to qualify in the #2 position, while Ayers qualified #31 with an off-pace 5.41. Expect a much closer race than your typical 2-vs-31 matchup if Ayers’ crew gets that hotrod ironed out.Justin “Big Chief” Shearer made a big step toward his goal of dipping into the 3-second zone when he ripped off a killer 4.03 at 185 MPH to land himself in the #5 spot. The Mustang, OK native has his swoopy Firebird primed to take on Shay Loveday’s Corvette in round #1.Keith “WOOOOO!” Berry hasn’t been able to put together a full 1/8th mile pass in qualifying, but is solidly in the field at #21 and will face Tim Slavens’ twin turbo Camaro in the first round.Tom Bailey qualified at #15 with a solid 4.24 at 177 MPH in his Drag Week Camaro. Bailey will face Steven Fereday’s 4th Gen Camaro in round #1.
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Shay Loveday has battled nitrous gremlins in his '63 Stingray all weekend, including this spectacular backfire in the final qualifier. Loveday had to be pushed off the track, so it's not known if he will make his first round race with Justin Shearer's CrowMod Firebird.
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First Round Ladders!
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First Round Ladders! Justin Shearer took his first round win in radial competition when he laid down another 4.03 in the first round, matching his ET from qualifying.Keith Berry’s day ended early at the hands of Tim Slavens. Slavens pulled out his quickest ET of the weekend, a solid 4.04 to take out Berry’s 4.12.Kyle Huettel put the world on record watch alert with a wicked 3.88 at 198 MPH in round one. That is insane speed for a blown car and just a tick off the world record, held by the same car with Jason Michalak behind the wheel.Dewayne Mills uncorked a 3.95 at and other-worldly 210 MPH to win round #1 against Billy Kruck. Look for the Oklahoman to face Mike Jones’ Cobalt in round 2!Jimmy Dahl took the win in a wild first-round matchup with Cecil Whitaker’s nitrous Camaro. Dahl redlighted and drove into a monster wheelstand, while Whitaker also powered into a wheelie which led to him crossing the centerline. By virtue of the “first-or-worst” rule, Whitaker’s crossing the center stripe reinstated the Mustang of Dahl, sending him to round 2, assuming he doesn’t have too much damage from his wheelstand!Danny Tellman tried to get in #1 qualifier Rich Bruder’s head with a first round burndown that had VP Racing Fuels’ Jason Rueckert EXCITED! Burder kept his cool, staged up and took the win with a round-quickest 4.44 ET to move to round two.X275 powerhouse Jared Johnston took the round 1 win over Charles Hull in a battle of fox body coupes from the KBX camp. Johnston will face Lloyd Moreland in round 2.Kyle Bruce was the benefactor of Earl Stanley not making the call for 1st round. Bruce will take on Dennis Johnson in round #2.Eric Gustafson took the beams after blowing a head gasket, then returned to the pits to thrash with hopes of making round 2 in Limited Drag Radial.Longtime ProCharger campaigner Phil Hines won his first round matchup and will race Rick Wetherbee’s big Impala SS in round #2.Jesse Abele has his 4G63-powered fox body headed to round #3 in MX235. The little 4-cylinder hotrod is doing work here in Memphis!
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Round 2 Ladders! Darren Hilterbran was one of the remaining entries in MX235 that will split the purse due to rain.Joel Greathouse had his John Kolivas-tuned Ultra Street Mustang on a mission to win the class, but the weather had other plans.Alan Felts debuted his new X275 car this weekend and ended with a strong semi-final showing. Felts is running a Jeff Burns-built turbo small block Ford that is tuned by Jessie Coulter of Jessie’s Garage. The team also gets help and tuning advice from Southern Speed Racing, which helped them get up to speed quickly in the ultra-competitive class.Barry Mitchell continued his hot streak in Memphis by taking the win in round 3 to earn a berth in the semifinals before the rains and temps halted the racing.While there were certainly several world-class RvsW car remaining when the call was made to stop the race, the buzz in the pits was all about Kyle Huettel in the BAD9ER ‘Vette. Whether or not Huettel would have taken the winner’s purse back to Texas will remain unknown, but he was definitely the odds-on favorite.Well racefans, the weather has won out for the second year in a row. While the radar showed almost no perceptible rain, we battled light sprinkles throughout the evening and finally had to give to the dropping temps and bothersome showers. Word from Tyler Crossnoe and Mark Samples is that the purses will be split among the remaining entries, including the Battle of the States bonuses.
It’s a beautiful spring Friday here at Memphis International Dragway in Millington, TN. We have light overcast skies and perfect temperatures for our first day of competition. Today will be all qualifying, with each class scheduled to run three times. The run order is as follows: 7.0 Index, Limited Drag Radial, Leaf Spring, MX235, 6.0 Index, X275 and Radial vs the World. Check back throughout the day as we will be updating as the action happens, brought to you by Fuel Air Spark Technology!
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Limited Drag Radial competitor Bobby Kruck made some major changes to his Trans Am for the new class. Gone is the 598 CID gas burning bullet, swapped for a smaller 540 CID powerplant burning methanol. Kruck also swapped his twin turbo setup for a single 118mm turbine and pulled almost 400 lbs from the car, putting him much closer to the minimum legal weight for his combo. Kruck launched into a big wheelstand in the first qualifier, but look for this veteran racer to get his new combo ironed out quickly. Street Outlaws star David “Daddy Dave” Comstock is behind the wheel of this ProCharged Malibu, owned by Brendan Russell. Comstock ran a 4.80 yesterday in testing, but had issues getting the car cranked for the first round of qualifying. Hopefully they can track down the gremlins and get it running for Q2.Barry Mitchell was forced to abort his first qualifying run after striking the tires at the hit. Mitchell and crew will be back in Q2 to take another shot at the LDR ladder.Rick Wetherbee made a nice pass in his gorgeous Impala SS. Wetherbee laid down a 4.56 at 172 MPH and is qualified #8 after one round.Isaac Preston has his twin turbo Camaro sitting at #2 in qualifying after laying down a solid 4.26 at 184 MPH.
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Eric Gustafson is currently atop the LDR ladder after laying down a 4.200 at 176 MPH. Gustafson is coming off a strong showing at Lights Out 7 and is looking to improve upon his finish at SGMP. Huntsville, AL racer Shane Stack is sitting at #4 in LDR after the first session. Stack ran a clean 4.37 at 175 MPH.Longtime G-Body racer Dusty Bradford made the trip to Memphis from Trinity, AL. Bradford has his ’87 Buick sitting at #9 with a 4.68 at 163 MPH. Dusty has been 4.20’s so look for more from this clean hotrod!Shawn Ellington has his famed Murder Nova sitting at #5 in LDR. Ellington laid down a solid 4.37 at 178 MPH despite having to pedal midtrack to bring the nose back to earth. Look for the Mustang Oklahoma-based Nova to be knocking on the 4.20’s before the weekend is over.Randy Westmoreland brought his ultra-clean S10 from Austin Arkansas to compete in LDR. He had to abort the pass after losing traction, but look for more from Randy as the weekend progresses.
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Scott Lowery is making his return after exploding his engine and suffering heavy damage at Holly Springs last fall. Lowery's wicked Cadillac XLR is one of a kind, and with a twin-turbo Hemi powerplant, should be able to lay down some solid numbers. Charlie Booze Jr is competing in Ultra Street in his 1992 Mustang. Booze’s all-motor hotrod is qualified #9 at 5.02 after this gorgeous wheels-up launch!With nearly 30 cars in competition, MX235 is strongly represented here at OSCR III! Justin Cyrnek’s 2013 Mustang sits at #6 after one session at 5.00!Michael Main was forced to abort after losing traction in his clean WS6 Trans Am. Look for a huge improvement on his 12.26 Q1 time in the next qualifier.Oklahoma racer Odie Sturgeon is the quickest nitrous car in X275 after round 1. He is qualified #3 with a 4.57 ET from his gorgeous red Nova.Clint Downs rode out a wild wheelstand in his Nova to a 4.73 at 152 MPH. Downs sits at #11 but his ProCharged entry has much quicker ET’s in it if he can keep the front end down.Jimmy White wheeled his Mustang to a 5.39 as he fought for traction in the warmer part of the day. He sits at #19 and hopes to improve in the 2nd session coming up later.Perennial Radial vs the World favorite Dewayne Mills laid down a stellar 3.95 in the first round of qualifying at 209 MPH! He sits at #3 and look to improve later this afternoon.Kyle Huettel is behind the wheel of current Radial vs the World record holder Jason Michalak’s C6 Corvette. Huettel powered to a 3.94 to take the early #1 spot. With easy 3.80’s in the blown Hemi combo, look for the BAD9ER team to lower the boom when the temps fall this evening.Big Chief has the CrowMod sitting at #4 after a solid 4.13 at 183 MPH in Q1. The Street Outlaws star made a clean run in the warmer part of the day and looks to inch closer to the 3-second zone this evening.Drag Weeker Tom Bailey finally made a full pass in his insane twin-turbo Camaro during the first qualifying session. Bailey laid down a 4.33 at 171 MPH to land in the #9 spot. With nearly 4,000 HP on tap, expect Bailey to lower that number as he fine-tunes his power management for small tires.Daniel Pharris showed some great consistency in the heat, following his 3.90 from last night with a killer 3.95 at 203 MPH today.Tennessee native Tim Kincaid made a solid run at 4.27 and actually had to lift early when the new nose collapsed and blew up in front of the windshield. We’ll check and see if Tim is able to make necessary repairs and return to competition.Eddie Harrison (near) and Shannon Beeler paired up in a battle of 4th Gen F-Bodies. Harrison powered into a wheelstand while Beeler fought traction issues. Harrison sits at #17 with a 5.34 while Beeler is #20 with a 6.47. Both teams will definitely be looking for better numbers in the sessions to follow this evening.Steven Fereday hauled his Camaro from Houston to compete in Radial vs the World. Fereday’s tuner, Josh Ledford (standing at the rear of the car) will have to look at the data and see why the swoopy F-Body lost traction. This team has been low 4.0’s so don’t expect their 7.53 to hold up.Shawn Ayers will have to come back in round 2 of qualifying to take another shot at the field. Ayers lifted after spinning early and coasted to a 5.41, but expect much better numbers from the Fletcher Cox-owned Mustang later today.
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Run Sheet for Qualifying Round 1
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Run Sheets for Round 1 of Qualifying Unfortunately these clouds brought rain, and although the first round moved through fairly quickly, the staff had a hard time getting the track dry. When they finally did get it dry, another round of showers blew in shortly afterwards, ending the Friday festivities. Tomorrow’s schedule will open at 10am with X275 finishing their final qualifying session, Radial vs the World’s final qualifying, and then we will go directly into eliminations. Hopefully the race will be completed tomorrow as scheduled. Check back with us as we will be updating again throughout the day! Good night from Memphis.
Radial tire racing’s biggest names are back in action this weekend as the Memphis International Raceway hosts the third running of the Outlaw Street Car Reunion, featuring Pro Drag Radial, X275, Limited Drag Radial, Ultra Street, and several other heads-up and index classes. Keep it tuned here all weekend for news, notes, results, and photos from Memphis, all presented by our friends at Fuel Air Spark Technology!
Overcast skies cover the growing crowd here at Memphis International Raceway. With almost zero chance of rain in the forecast, along with nice early spring temps, look for some killer numbers this weekend!Longtime radial runner Shane Stack is looking to make his mark on the new Limited Drag Radial class. The fan favorite Monte Carlo is sporting a fresh coat of paint and some minor upgrades for the 2016 campaign.Brad Edwards is looking to bounce back from a disappointing trip to Lights Out. He and engine builder Peter Harrell have the big block powerplant, which was destroyed when a $3 connector failed and caused a catastrophic timing malfunction at SGMP, back together and looking to return to the 3-second zone.Mark “Woody” Woodruff laid down his first 3-second pass in pre-event testing. The likeable Missouri racer has been knocking on the 3-second door for almost a year now and finally put it all together with a 3.98 at 200 MPH! He would later better his ET to 3.95 in the final session of the evening.Just a glimpse at the staging lanes for pre-race testing. Promoter and traction wizard Tyler Crossnoe’s legendary prep kept the staging lanes full all day!DragZine’s own James Lawrence has Project BlownZ back in action after hurting the engine at Lights Out 7. Lawrence made a planned-shut off 4.50 pass to check things out and will be turning the blown Camaro loose later tonight.Rob Valden, who recently made a guest appearance on Street Outlaws: New Orleans, also put car owner Andrew Alepa’s gorgeous C7 Corvette into the 3-second range in testing with a 3.98 of his own. With less than a dozen passes on the car, this team has really found some power.
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Menscer Motorsports and Mickey Thompson are just two of the many vendors on the Manufacturer's Midway. If you plan to come to the race this weekend, be sure to stop by the Midway and check out the sponsors and vendors! Fletcher Cox checks over his car, driven by Shawn Ayers in Radial vs the World, after a test hit. Cox’s car is sporting a killer new stance and some other upgrades this weekend as the team searches for consistency.
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Drag Week legend Tom Bailey bolted some 315's onto his wicked Camaro to take a shot at Radial vs the World. With a massive Steve Morris-built engine and two huge turbochargers force-feeding air into the powerplant, power is not a problem. In fact, in his last test run, Bailey spun the tires just off the line, but this veteran racer will have the laptop out and fine-tune the power curve to keep the tires planted. Daniel Pharris has blasted onto the radial scene in the past year, jumping directly into the Radial vs the World fray by qualifying in the top 8 at Lights Out 7 and racing to a semifinal finish, then taking the NMCA Radial Wars win last weekend at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Pharris picked up right where he left off at BMP, running a stout 3.90 in his Josh Ledford-tuned Mustang tonight.Street Outlaws star Justin “Big Chief” Shearer is competing again in Radial vs the World. He’s hoping to better his 4.10 personal best on radials and hopes to go a couple of rounds in competition in his sleek CrowMod Firebird.Shay Loveday made a late-session hit in his gorgeous flamed ’63 Splitwindow ‘Vette, but suffered a nasty nitrous backfire around the 80 foot mark.Former Outlaw 275 record holder Marty Stinnett made his return to the track today after suffering a devastating crash at Holly Springs’ Fall Brawl last year. Marty and the Souther Speed Racing team thrashed to get the fox body to Memphis and made a soft test hit to get a feel for the car, but don’t expect this car to be anything but fast, and soon!
