Small tire heads up racing has become one of the most exciting things to watch in drag racing.  There is a wide range of cars and power adder combinations that compete in these classes.  One of the most popular classes now is X275.  On any given weekend you can find some type of X275 racing going on all over the country.  The class is featured at the larger drag radial events, including the Ultimate Outlaws races.  At the 2012 Ultimate Outlaws race at Milan Dragway X275 racer Rick Palmore went for a very wild ride.

John Sears founded the X275 class a few years ago at Virginia Motorsports Park.  The class is based on the idea of the cars looking as street appearing as possible.  Tire size is one of the biggest limits in this class, all cars using a power adder must use a 275/60/15 tire.  Competitors use all forms of power adders including nitrous, super chargers, and turbo chargers.  Top level teams have been able to push these small tire monsters all the way down to the 4.60’s in the 1/8^th mile.

The Pritchett brothers have been involved with small tire racing for several years.  Their Ultimate Outlaws series brought out the big guns of drag radial racing all over the east coast.  In 2012 the Ultimate Outlaws series was trimmed to one race, and held at Milan Dragway.  Anybody who attended was treated to an amazing race put on by the Pritchett brothers, and saw the Ultra Street record reset several times.

During the course of qualifying Rick Palmore put on an impromptu drifting exhibition in his X275 mustang.  After a mechanical issue the car stepped out on Rick at the top end of the track.  Rick crossed the track in front of the car in the right lane, touched the wall, crossed back to the left lane and barely scraped the driver side.  Very little damage was done to the mustang, but without Rick’s amazing driving, and the heads up move of the car in the right lane this could have been much worse.