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The first three members of the Radial vs The World 3.60 club — DeWayne Mills, Steve Jackson, and Mark Micke — all sat down with promoter Donald Long last evening for a unique interview session on the live pay-per-view feed to discuss their pursuit of the magical “sixty” and this weekend’s $101,000 prize.
Marty Stinnett and crew are continuing to thrash to piece their world-beating Mustang back together after a brush with the all yesterday afternoon. Last evening and overnight, the team repaired the missing/damaged fiberglass on the door and nose, while acquiring parts to repair the turbocharger system, which was pushed inward on itself when the bullhorn exhaust pipe impacted the wall, bending the tubing and flanges. The crew noted, "we're going down the track today one way or the other."
Scotty Cannon and racing partner Alan Pittman currently sit 14th in the qualifying order with a 3.83 best from their supercharged Pontiac Firebird.The general consensus in the pit area is that it will take a high 3.70 to make the 16-car field, meaning the “Husband-In-Law” crew will be one of many teams needing to improve on what should be a very fast day of qualifying.
Joe Newsham is well outside the field at 29th with his traditional Outlaw 10.5 Camaro with a 5.48 recorded early in qualifying yesterday. Newsham has the transmission and converter out of the car this morning in preparation for today’s qualifying.
Alex Laughlin and tuner Frankie Taylor hold down the provisional bump spot with a 3.86. Laughlin said priority number one is getting away from that spot, commenting, “and not in the wrong direction, to 17th.” Taylor, who says the radial allows him to get far more aggressive than his PDRA Pro Extreme car, believed it will take around a 3.78 to make the show at today’s conclusion.
Jeff Naiser uncorked the quickest nitrous Radial vs The World pass in history last evening with a 3.726, to slide into fourth in the order. Naiser, Kenny Hubbard, and the NRC team were busy this morning checking over the giant slugs in the engine for any damage before pressing the car back into action in round four qualifying this morning. Naiser is confident the car has the power to go into the 60s today. To the routine maintenance, Naiser added, "we've got to make sure eveything is good...we're here to win 100-grand, man."
Toronto, Ontario's Frank Pompilio is trying his hand at radial tire racing for the first time this weekend with his gorgeous Outlaw 10.5 car, which has been as quick as 3.99 on slicks previously. Pompilio noted, "we're having trouble keeping the front end on the ground," adding, "the car had never been on radials until four days ago. We went to Bradenton and make a couple of sixty-foot hits and then came here." Pompilio added he may run some additional radial events this season, depending on how their experiment goes.
Think these two are having fun with the Sweet Sixteen? Yesterday, Lee Sebring and Brian Lohnes came as Harry and Lloyd from the comedy "Dumb and Dumber", and today are throwing it back to the olden days of ABC Sports broadcasters in their yellow suitcoats and tie. What will tomorrow bring for the purveyors of the microphone?
Daniel Pharris and team owner Andrew Alepa are still moored in the bottom half of the field with their 3.794 from yesterday, good for 12th in the order.
The Mad Man, Frankie Taylor sent Alex Laughlin comfortably into the show in the fourth session with a 3.766, good for eighth in the provisional field.
Alan Pittman now resides on the bump spot at an incredible 3.839-seconds. Six other cars, including Frank Soldridge who is out of competition, have run in the three-second range thus far who are outside the show. Such hitters as Mark Woodruff, Bill Lutz, and Enzo Pecchini are among those currently on the outside.
The Mystery Men
Driver Ty Tutterow and new car owner Grant Tuttle debuted the former Barry Mitchell-owned and driven, Tim McAmis Race Cars-built Camaro at this, the richest radial-tire racer in history…and they did so in secret, keeping things low-key while having a little fun with their mysterious status. Tuttle, a West coast A/Gas nostalgia racer, jumped at the opportunity to purchase the highly-competitive car from Mitchell last season, and in the process was able to retain the services of renowned tuner Todd Tutterow and son, Ty, already an accomplished driver in the PDRA Pro Boost ranks. While currently in the field, the team sits dangerously close to the bump spot with their 14th-best 3.81. Tuttle shared the team is fighting gremlins that have yet to allow the car to repeat the record-breaking performance it showed under Mitchells’ guidance.
Tuttle has a Chevrolet Nova Radial vs The World car currently under construction at Mickey’s Chassisworks, but due to the extended timeframe, opted to purchase the Camaro in the interim. He’ll jump behind the wheel of the car in the coming weeks, and will then press the Nova into duty once complete.
“It was taking too long to build the car, so I chose to go ahead and buy a race-winning car. I live in California, so Ty and Todd will operate this car out of their shop in North Carolina and we’ll run some races out in their area this season. Eventually I’ll be driving … I’ve never been in anything this fast, so once I get comfortable in it, then I’ll be in the seat. I don’t want to make an ass out of myself out here and do anything stupid.”
Tim Slavens stepped up to a career-best 3.732 this morning to jump into the top half of the show in seventh. To that his crew said they were “happier than a pig in mud.”
Mark Micke put together a stout 3.70 in this morning’s qualifying, backing up his 3.67 from last night with a little additional heat in the track. His run was second only to DeWayne Mills, who clocked a nearly-identical lap to his barrier-breaking 3.69 from last night.
Marty Stinnett is all smiles after returning from yesterday's shot to the guardrail, caused by a broken steering linkage, to punch his way into the quickest Radial vs The World field in history with a 3.758, good for 12th with one session remaining.
Every collective jaw on the property hit the pavement this evening when Mark Micke uncorked a stunning 3.641 at 220 mph to re-take the provisional pole with authority. With one session remaining, potentially the best session yet, others will be gunning for Micke under the lights.
Jeff Sitton joined teammate Steve Jackson and three others in the 3.60s this evening with a stellar 3.687 at 201 mph to slide in fourth in the order.
Jamie Hancock and Jeff Naiser have been trading jabs all throughout qualifying for the nitrous oxide radial tire record; Hancock stole it back in the eighth of nine sessions this evening with a stout 3.722 at 198.96, good for sixth on the sheet. Hancock is one of five nitrous cars presently in the show, which is anchored with an incredible 3.772 from Norman Bryson.
Team owner Andrew Alepa was the happiest man on the property after Daniel Pharris powered his C7 Corvette to a stunning 3.642 in the final round of qualifying to jump up to second in the raceday field.
In what may have been one of the single most anticipated runs in years, if not decades, given the prime conditions for historic performance, it was Mark Micke who silenced Stevie Jackson with a mind-numbing 3.623 to rest his own world record and stamp his name atop the Sweet Sixteen ladder for raceday. Jackson, his usual animated and charismatic self in the staging lanes prior to their matchup -- even making a friendly wager on the run, in grudge fashion -- didn't shake Micke, who noted before buckling he was simply "going to give it a try" when asked if he could shock the world one more time. While the event is long from over, the world record now stands nearly one full tenth of a second head of where it was just two days ago.
We’ve certainly seen a lifetime worth of cool things at this inaugural Sweet Sixteen, but Georgia’s own Ed Haddock had provided one of the stars of the show in his Chevrolet C10 pickup that carried the left front wheel the entire length of the eighth-mile on every run on its way to laps in the 4.3-second range.
Final Qualifying Order
