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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 Cornelson
The 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.
