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Four years after a devastating accident at the very same site, small-tire competitor Frank Soldridge returned to the driver’s seat at the South Georgia Motorsports Park for this week’s 13th edition of DuckX Productions’ Lights Out. And he’s brought his wife, Amanda May, along for the ride in one of the more eye-catching two-car teams in the sport.
It was during DuckX’s Sweet 16 in March of 2018 when Soldridge’s Mustang went out of control and impacted the guardrail at over 200 mph, spinning around and crashing onto its roof. The Kentucky resident and owner of PFI Speed emerged from the destroyed car with an arm injury and significant bumps and bruises. He and Amanda have been a regular sight at these and other events in the ensuing years as he carefully charted his return.
Over the last year, Soldridge and May acquired a pair of familiar small-tire class and grudge cars that appear nearly identical until you walk up and look over the details. Frank’s car, entered in Pro 275, is Texan Andrew Alepa’s former Radial versus The World C7 Corvette that was a major player in the class for years. Amanda’s car is the “Ghost,” an LS-Procharger combo that gained a lot of notoriety in no-time and grudge circles with its small-block nitrous setup in years past.
“I just took a four-year hiatus and sat back and decided what we wanted to do,” Frank says. “I wanted to get my wife out there in a car first, and then I would follow soon after. We picked up ‘Ghost’ about two and half years ago and got the car running and she came out toward the end of last year. The middle of last year we purchased [Andrew] Alepa’s old car and this is our first time out with both cars, and we’re just happy to be back out here.
“I’ve been going hard at this for 20 years, and I just needed to take a break for a little bit, step back, and reevaluate the whole situation,” he continues. “I really enjoyed the last four years that we’ve been helping our friends with their race program while we assemble ours.”
Frank says he liked that Alepa’s 3.6-second car was “ a proven car that has a lot of history. I’ve liked that car since it came out. That car, in my eyes, was born when Amanda and I met, so there was some sentimental value to it. When I saw it for sale, it was a good shoe that fit and we purchased it.”
A lot, of course, has changed in the top levels of radial-tire racing in four years.
“When I stepped out of Radial versus The World, is where Pro 275 is at now. The times and everything are relevant, as far as how fast the cars are going. I don’t feel like I ever stepped out of Radial versus The World, we just have a smaller tire on there.”
For Amanda, the experience is two-fold: the nerves of driving a very capable and powerful car of her own, but also putting Frank’s accident out of mind as he returns to competition.
“It was definitely nerve-racking with that first pass,” she says. “But I’m very confident, and that’s another reason I really wanted Frank to come back. Switching over from Ford to Chevy was the hardest part; I wanted him to have a Corvette, and that was a safe, proven car; and we’re friends with Alepa and knew the car worked. He’[Frank] just got to figure things out. This is just the first weekend out…we’re both coming out fresh.”
“It’s been four years since he’s been in the seat, but seven years for me,” she adds. “But this is the first time, actual real drag racing for me. This is as real as it gets. I did go to Australia and raced a twin-turbo car there, though.”
“We’re here to have fun. The first pass in the car I went a 4.04 shutting it off early, and could hav gone home that night happy. Amanda made two full passes in a car tat’s new to her, and she’s going faster every time. We’re both real closets what we came here to do…I’m trying to go 3.99 and she’s where she wants to go. It’s a no-time car, obviously, but we’re really close to our goal with that car, too. We’re very happy, very excited, and happy to be back.”
