After running very late last night we faced rain this morning and it’s non stop so there will be no racing today and the second day of the event will be run on Sunday pending weather. We will be on site proving our same day coverage if the weather holds out for us to get the third annual Outlaw Armageddon in the books.
The Punisher 2.0 is an old school Ford pick up owned and driven by Matt Fetty based out of Pueblo, Colorado and powered by a 6.0L Power Stroke diesel engine with an F3R 131 Procharger and a three stage Nitrous Outlet fogger system. Yes you read that right, a Procharged, nitrous huffing diesel with extensive head work and porting done by Craig Armon from DICheads. It's backed by a Lenco Transmission and Bruno drive and a Neal Chance two piece lock up converter. The engine uses the stock PCM and injector control module using a custom stand alone wiring harness from Diesel Conversion Specialists in Montana and tuned by Jesse Warren using SCT software. Matt has had the truck for about ten years after purchasing it as working ranch truck with the original 292 Y block engine and promptly swapped in a 428 Super Cobra Jet with a top loader 4 speed. The chassis was built by Greg's Speed Shop with the rest of the fabrication done in house at his shop Fetty's Automotive which specializes in Power Stroke repair. This is the event debut for the combo which was finished just this week with no time to test before hand. A low charging issue forced him to back off in first round of the truck class Friday. From right to left, Matt Fetty, Steven Fetty and Allan AKA Rock , other crew includes his father Carl, Craig Armon, David Winegardener and Jeff Hetrick.
Southern Sportz Racing runs this 1974 Chevy “No Luv” pick up powered by a Garrett 88MM single turbo small block sporting 377 cubic inches and managed by Holley EFI and backed by a power glide transmission. The truck was built with plans to run Texas 2K and play with the GTR's and Lambos but an engine failure put that on hold and he swapped the engine combo from his other truck, Blazonic, with the switch taking right about two years to complete. He is entered in the True Street class this weekend which is tortured on a 60 mile cruise.
Friday's Big Tire winner Shawn Wilhoit has the Mistress 2.0 based out of Weatherford, Texas and has campaigned this Montana Brothers built chassis in 2017 after several years with the OG Mistress Chevy II. Shawn did not want to cut up the Nova for the needed upgrades to compete as the racers keep getting faster so he pulled the trigger on a purpose built car. Power comes from a 540 from Morgan and Sons fed by twin 98 MM Garrett turbos with Ryan Mickie ComSync engine management with a Speedwire harness connecting all the electronics. The engine is tuned by Manny Alvarez from HPP Racing. The Big Tire class had fifty four cars in class with seven rounds of competition including the toughest no prep cars in the country. This makes back to back wins for Shawn after his No Preo win at Ozark Raceway last weekend. “We didn't finish racing till about 330 and I got to race my idol Larry Larson in the final who was the inspiration for the original Mistress Nova build. We had severe tire shake in round two which required between round repairs and thankfully we had the parts on hand to fix it. Sponsors for out team include Phil's Trailer Sales, Morgan and Sons, Texas Meat Packing, HPP, ComSync, Wolfe Aircraft for the hot and cold side fabrication, M&M Transmissions, Custom Ect. Royal Purple and Nitrous Outlet and Monkey Shine Speed Shop.” - Shawn Wilhoit
James Love aka Doc was running well in the Big Tire race on Friday and is preparing his car for the Herc All Star race this afternoon. He runs Morgan and Sons big Chevy topped with a Vizner Engine Development intake and throttle bodies managed by a Haltech EFI. A Rossler trans handles gear changes with a new converter undergoing testing from a well known, but currently undisclosed builder and a new billet third member from Nitro Gear. His match Friday night with Big Chief went to the tape for the call with the track officials putting The Crow on to the next round. The update from Rob's Pro Fab Race Cars is now two years old and still features the the original steel body with carbon doors, front clip and deck lid. He is running a new Mickey Thompson 34.5 17 x 16 tire this weekend with very good results so far.
Mike Qualtney was the runner up in the truck class Friday and unveiled the new engine combo today so we stopped by for another chat and some photos. The engine is a t win turbo small Chevy with a stroke crank backed by a power glide transmission. Mike is still working out the tuning on the set up but was running about 1,100 horsepower tune with quite a bit more left so Mike is happy with the results so far. He runs a Mega Squirt MS3 Pro engine management system. “The Mutt” has quite a few interesting features including a computer touch screen dash with full internet capabilities and an on board air compressor for easy tire pressure adjustments.
Ron Gibony brought his White Rhino GMP Sierra here with zero tuning time to support the event, his sponsors and the fans. Over the last three months he has switched from his nitrous combo to an F2R Procharger driven by a Midwest Performance and Turbo gear drive on E85 fuel. Henson Race Engines reconfigured the nitrous engine to a 565 cubic inch big block Chevy topped with Dart Pro 1 heads and an Edelbrock intake. Ron plans to run Drag Week next year and updated the cage to help in putting the new power to the ground. He also switched over to a ladder bar rear suspension which tends to work better with longer wheel base cars and to fit in more street oriented classes which ban 4 link suspension. We took some weight out going to Optic Armour lexan windows and Wilwood brakes“We do everything we can to be street legal casue I love driving it.” Ron Gibony Chuck Parker own this 55 Chevy he has campaigned for two years winning about eleven racers in 2016 with a 632 cubic inch Chevy just swapping in a Sonny’s Chevy Hemi sporting 880 cubic inches and three systems of Nitrous Outlet foggers a month ago. The car is a Teddy Houser chassis with paint and body work by Mike Baker at Baker Bodyworks in Elgin Oklahoma. Engine management is done with an EFI Technologies system with torque transferred by a Pro Torque Converter and Rossler transmission. Mickey Tessner did the headers and has done some other chassis mods on the car to fit the 5.3 bore space engine. Chuck also own Rigid Oil Fielf Services and is on eof the sponsors of this event. “This year we started out the season winning Edinburgh Raceway No Prep in December, then The Dirty South in San Antonio for twenty five thousand dollars and one other race for three win so far this year.” – Chuck Parker. Chuck is pictured on the left with crew chief Kirk Peters.
In round one of the Herc All Star race Bobby Ducote left early against Lucifer taking a loss.Jonathan Cornelson and crew made some adjustments to the Vette which is being driven by Mike Henson today in the Herc All Star race after breaking his car “Plan B” on Friday. He lost traction at the hit ending his day early against Birdman (near lane)
We stopped by “The Outcast” pit and talked with Kenna Novacek to get updated on the combo which is driven by her husband Tony Rizzi a “37 Chevy pick up powered by a 360 cubic inch Duramax diesel engine with twin turbos and nitrous used to cool the cylinder temps. “We do a lot of work with Wagler Competition Products sled pulling and decided to throw the engine in a drag race application to see how it does. We have been as fast as 4.60 at 158 MPH which is better than we expected and are close to our chassis certification. We had the engine and bought the truck for the build and have run it for about a year with a Rossler transmission and NCRC converter.” - Kenna Novacek The team is based out of Edmond, Oklahoma from their shop Full Pull Diesel Performance and took a loss to Monza by three cars. Big Chief faced off with Taggart’s Swamp Thing who earned an upset win as both cars struggled with traction and heavy steering input from both drivers.Friday’s Big Tire winner The Mistress 2.0 was paired with David “Bird” Jones who shook the tires hard at mid track and Wilhoit’s Mistress moving to round two.
Megalodon faced off with Reaper in a close match taking the stripe by about a car length. (shown at right) Dominator also goes to round two as Hellinore fell behind early. The Zombie faced a tough opponent in The Godfather but managed a win getting around the Camaro who looked to push a head gasket out just past mid track.In another upset loss Shawn Ellington in the Murder Nova went left hard at the hit in his match with Kye Kelly’s Shocker. He fought the car to gain control but wound up in Kelly’s lane and following him to the stripe.Disco Dean faced off with last years winner Steve Wiley. Dean’s Mopar struggled early getting out of shape as Wiley went right down earning the round win.
Final Results
The True Street Shootout had a good field and some very tight racing with Blake Hughes taking the win in the “ Lucky Bear” Mustang owned by Javier Fernandez and based out of the 417 Motorsports shop in Springfield, Missouri.
Sixteen thousand dollars was on the line in the High Roller Bit Tire Shootout with an 8 car field and a 2K buy in had Ryan Martin and Larry Larson in the final with Larson jumping past the starting line while staging, disqualifying himself allowing Martin to take the win in the Fireball Camaro. Larson did back up and made a hit anyway showing he had more than plenty for Martin but it was not to be his day today. Birdman James Finney took the win at the third annual Outlaw Armageddon over Kye Kelly in a hard fought battle dealing with a difficult track until the sun went down and things tightened up. Finney has been running 572 Hemi from Nelson Competition for about five weeks now with very good results, scoring 33 round wins, four runner up finishes and the win here at Thunder Valley tonight. He was here for the Thursday night TNT session where he broke a converter, after going through the trans and cleaning it out he forgot to install the filter which resulted in a damaged transmission and a round one loss to Doc’s Street Beast on Friday. Sponsors include Neal Chance Racing Converters, Proformance Transmissions, VP Fuels, Billet Atomizers, Wolfe Aircraft and AMS 2000.
“It was real slick during the day so the lower horsepower guys had a chance against us but Megalodon nearly beat me, I think we beat by half a car, maybe. Kye is always fast but the track had tightened up about twice as tight and it was game over then. Howie Crabtree is my crew chief, car chief, he keeps this car together, man he is a work horse, has been my best friend for twenty seven years. Nick Guettler works side by side with Howie. Chad Rogers is our super tuner and fabricator, man he can get us down a dirt road. Dave at Proformance gives us great service and helps out looking over the data and is so much help with our program” - Birdman
The Thunder Valley Raceway Park near Oklahoma City hosts the baddest street and No Prep racers in the country for the third edition of Outlaw Armageddon, with the most prestigious titles in the game on the line!
Shawn Ellington AKA “Murder Nova” is debuting his new car here this weekend that was debuted last year at the PRI show. It’s sporting a PLR 482 cubic inch small block with twin 88 MM Turbos backed by a Rossler TH 400 trans with five passes to date under it’s belt and is looking good so far. Travis Quillen did the finishing work and wiring on the Don Dial Chassis Works built car.James Love, AKA Doc is here with the Street Beast and made an impressive pass in last night’s test session. He put a new rear end from Nitro Gear and Axles in the car recently and is still running his same Morgan and Son’s engine managed by Hal Tech backed by a Rossler Transmission. “I want to thank my sponsors including Alan from Nitro Gear my crew and friends that help out and Monte Smith who is always riding in my heart too, love you buddy, you are sorely missed.”
2016 Big Tire winner Steve Wiley (shown center taking photos with fans) is back running a similar engine combo to last year in a fully legal steel bodied Chevy pickup after he and some others racers created some controversy bringing their Pro Mods out to compete. This is the debut event for the truck so the team is still in testing mode but with a similar combo the learning curve should be short. Wiley and crew will be ones to watch this weekend for sure.
Brent Austin has switched to an alcohol burning Hemi combo in his Megalodon Camaro over the winter and did some chassis updates at his Bad Boy Metal Shop including front halving the car and going from a digital 7 series ignition to a Pro Mag. Since the changes he has been to four events. A custom Wilson manifold is currently set up with single injectors and has provisions for two per cylinder once Brent and crew get the car dialed in and are ready to let it eat. He looked very good in testing last night. Mike Qualley runs “The Mutt”, a crowd favorite ride based out of Minnesota and was here last year but broke a crankshaft ending his weekend. His new engine combo is a twin turbo small block Chevy which is under wraps from the public until Saturday morning. This is the debut event for the new combo which Qualley dealt with multiple gremlins back home testing but is mostly worked out testing here this week. He is running in Big Tire and the Truck class this weekend after a rule change limited the Small Tire class to 28’s. Pictured from left to right; Denver, Austin, Mike Qualley, Cris, Perry “The Master Tuner, Keyboard Wizard” and Chris.A big surprise for us this weekend was seeing Weatherford, Oklahoma racer Jonathan Cornelson here with his new Corvette purchased from Keith Berry here for it’s debut in No Prep Racing, on 28’s no less. He has a handful of runs on this set up so far so this event is basically a test session for the team. He debuted his Rusty Hook Cutlass here last year which is undergoing an engine swap to a turbo LS based combo. Folks involved with his program are Henson Racing Engines, Miller Performance Automatics, PTC and M&M Transmissions. “I’m really lucky to have a supportive family and that is the biggest help that anyone can ever do” – Jonathan CornelsonThe Crow was running hard last night in testing with the tires squealing their approval we are used to hearing on the Street Outlaws TV show.
Blaine Brothers run their home built car out of Michigan with Jake Blaine behind the wheel. He was in the finals of a No Prep event at US 131 in Martin, MI last week scuffing the wall and taking the runner up finish. The engine machine work is done by Holbrook Racing and assembled in house by Blaine Brothers. The engine is a twin turbo big block Ford topped with Profiler heads and has been in the car about two years and backed by a JCR Racing Transmissions two speed 400. Patrick Barnhill set up the tune with the Blaine Brothers adjusting the power management as needed. Companies involved with the program include Northern Racing Unlimited, Race the North. " I want to thank all the people who help out with our program including Johnny Quick, my father and family and a shout out back home to Joey and Milo." - Jake Blaine It wouldn’t be no prep without the glue with Ryan Martin pulling up to make a hit on Thursday. The team has worked very hard testing and getting this former OL 10.5 car to work on no prep and drag radials.
Chuck, Jeremy Rogers and Daddy Dave are in the house this weekend representing Street Outlaws with Rogers fresh off some repairs after an engine failure about three months ago. We will have more on the Bank Note coming later. From left to right, Chuck, Jeremy and Dave. Daddy Dave led off round one of Small Tire earning his way to round two in the Malibu.
Larry Larson is here this weekend fresh off his Rocky Mountain Race Week and win in Fayetteville at a no prep event over Birdman. He is running well today and is going rounds in the Big Tire class. Sponsors include Pro Line Racing Engines, Precision Turbo, Rossler Transmissions, Pro Torque, Fuel Tech, Billet Atomizer Injectors and Weld Racing Wheels among many others. He faced the Shake N Bake turbocharged Camaro in round two earning a decisive win with an excellent pass.
This 2000 WS6 Trans Am is owned and driven by Chris Grafton based out of Stillwell, Kansas and is here at it's No Prep debut this weekend. The new combo in the car is an LS based engine from Mercer Machine with a single billet 88 MM Borg Warner turbo backed by an M&M power glide trans and tuned by Animal Tune with the build done in house at Grafton Fabrication. He is running small tire this weekend and advanced to round two in class so far.
Louisiana based Brent Self recently switched to a Procharger combo in his small tire Camaro with this being his second event for the build. He had some tough luck tonight on the top end likely hurting the engine, getting out of shape but avoiding contact with the wall or the car in the other lane after earnign the round win. The car caught fire but was put out quickly with Brent getting out of the car quickly and uninjured. Shawn Ellington took a loss in the Murder Nova after hooking left and nearing the center line before lifting. That’s OK the the Big Tire Invitational is tomorrow so he will have Tehran shot at a pay day this weekend.
In a Street Outlaws match with Doc and Big Chief it was Doc away first and holing on out front until he moved left and had to pedal the car allowing Chief's Crow to pass earning the win by in a tight match that went to the tape for confirmation. Chuck Parker drives this gorgeous 55 Chevy and is going rounds tonight and looking very fast doing it.This event sure brings out some unique and interesting builds. This diesel powered pick up is a great example as he advanced to round three in a win over the Lucifer Mustang.Farm Truck and Asian had a little grudge match in between Small Tire and Big Tire round three taking a decisive win with both racers making clean hits.
We have had plenty of excitement and sketchy runs today but no major incidents or serious crashes and just one major oil down and the track tightened up after the sun went down giving assistance to the Small Tire cars in getting in clean hits.
These old Chevy Luv pick ups are getting hard to find but proving popular with No Prep racers seeking a weight advantage and come with an assortment of engine combos. “The Bank Note” Nova owner Jeremy Rogers has made two runs here last Friday after repairs to his car a few months ago after a broken connecting rod and a brush with the wall in North Carolina while racing his friend Shane in the finals. The new engine is a purpose built 540 big Chevy with a Brodix block and Profiler heads built by Gerald Brand from Brand Racing Engines in Oklahoma City and force fed by a Procharger into an APD blow through carburetor making 1,877 HP at a soft 22 pounds of boost. Shannon’s Custom Paint and Body does the paint and body work for Rogers and they stretched the quarter panels for bigger tire fitment when repairing the car. Also new on the car is a set of longer wheelie bars with mounting brackets by DC Auto.Dustin Mewborn posted he was bringing his car to Outlaw Armageddon “Under wraps” with no one seeing the new design till he was on site and opened the trailer. It’s an eye catching design with many elements incorporated into the art work. He is out for the day but more racing is on the schedule tomorrow. This is his long time green car with a single turbo SC1 headed X 275 engine combo with weight reduction for some No Prep racing where there are no minimum weights.Mike Qualley in The Mutt faced off with Tina Pierce in the Truck class final after getting some help from David Pierce with his ignition system. Pierce said it need a ground directly from the engine to the battery so they had to make due by cutting up a pair of jumper cables to run from the engine back to the battery. Mike had a good showing with the new combo debut making it to the final buy he was out ran by Tina’s turbocharged Chevy Colorado in a good side by side race.
Joey Rabiola in the Boost12 Mustang took an upset loss by a half a car in a close race with Cody Jones in the semi finals. The other pair was Dustin Mewbourn and Adam Plunkett with Plunkett earning the win in his nitrous sniffing Camaro to set up the final round match with Jones. Plunket moved around a bit after the hit with Jones in the final round making a clean pass and putting the gap on the Camaro earning the Small Tire class win.In the semi finals of big tire it was Brent Austin in Megalodon vs Larry Larson and Shawn Wilhoit in the Mistress 2.0 against Chuck Parker in the Sonny’s powered 55 Chevy. Brent had been running well with clean hits all day but rode the bars out farther and the car moved to the right towards the center line forcing him to lift to avoid crossing over and contact with Larson as both racers struggled with traction. Willhoit had the better reaction putting a gap on Parker before 200 feet and holding on for the win. Wilhoit has been at this a long time and was looking for a win and getting one in an upset win over Larry Larson who again struggled with traction in a tight race losing by just half a car length.
