Lights Out 10 Radial Tire Racing Coverage From South Georgia

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Winnipeg, Canada’s Dr. Dan Boyko drives the Lanap 2000 Firebird in Pro 275 where he qualified third. Boyko and Zack Park in the White Rice 240SX were the first pair out in round two with Boyko advancing with a 4.12 at 192, the number would hold for low ET in the round. The build was started back in 2010 and updated at RK Racecraft in 2018 with power now coming from a PLR 481X. Dan plans on following the LDR series this year, he told us, “We were just out in Orlando and did a 3.92, we just wanted to see what we could do on these 275’s this weekend. I think at Bowling Green we are gonna launch, we have all the weight bars to add in, I think there is two races in April we are planning to go to those and do the series this year.”

Dan’s father bought a new 68 GTO when they lived in California and when he was sixteen he fixed that up so he has been around racing for a long time, the family still has the car which has been restored back to original. He had a 68 Firebird later then a Super Stock 4^th Gen Firebird he got from Mike McCinney. Mike actually bought the car back from Dan and now his son is racing in it. This car still has the stock type suspension with the torque arm and has been a 1.05 60 on the 315 tire and 1.09 in the 275 and will make a run for the threes at some point although today’s weather conditions may not be favorable to achieve that here. Proline Racing’s Craig Pettis services the car and acts as crew chief for the team with Josh Ledford doing the tuning to the Fuel Tech engine management.

“Hot Rod Cool Cat” Adam Hodson is the owner and driver of the “Corporate” 1973 Camaro entered in DXP 235 again this year. Many will recall the car’s catastrophic flamefest engine failures here last year from the SBE LS turbo combo. The team is back at it for 2019 with a new engine and we got the updates from Nick Taylor, the head fabricator/tuner/crew chief of the team based out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. They have a new engine this year from Northwest Automotive with Wagler Rods and Weisco pistons swinging on a stock crank and topped by a pair of Mike Duke Racing prepared 317 heads and a Holly Hi Ram intake pressuring by a Bullseye 75MM turbo. Taylor told us “The car weighs 3700 pounds and we are allowed 3250 but we are just out here trying to have a good time. We do have a PA Racing tube front end coming when we get home to get some weight out of it but Adam won’t cut his car up so we will get a little here and there where we can. We are planning to do Rocky Mountain Race Week this year and Drag Week again. This class is awesome because is gives us a class we can be somewhat competitive in and not have a huge budget to go racing.”

“I think the biggest thing we can take away from this weekend is that radial racing is alive an well…” X275 Motorsports’ John Sears told us this morning when we spoke. “The first few events really set the tone, and the standard and it’s just escalated from there, then with Lights Out VII being just a phenomenal event and it’s just continued on in grown and become what is the pinnacle of radial racing and set the standard for other promoters in this arena.” John got started racing in South Florida and raced with the National Street Car Association in the BFG Street Eliminator class with his 1969 Chevelle. With no small tire racing locally he eventually traded the Chevelle off for a big tire car but soon found that type of racing “Wasn’t what we were about, and we got back into small tire racing in 2003 after I came home from a two year deployment.” John said. Sunshine Dragstrip in St. Pete had an established Heads Up Madness series featuring a Stock Suspension Shootout class, Pro Mods and OL 10.5 along with some index racing and Ralph Hestor opened a dragstrip, Immokalee Raceway, on an dormant airport runway giving a chance to some new ideas.

At that time Donald Long was a local racer recently graduated from the street and grudge scene and was heavily involved with Sunshine’s series and that is how Donald and John met. They both were looking at some things from the same direction and John had worked with Troy Pirez and Big Daddy and Carl Weisinger trying to drum up interest for radial tire racing which has been a long time passion. Sometime in 2007 Donald jumped in and promoted a $5,000 to win Radial Tire Class at Sunshine Dragstrip that brought out a lot of out of town cars including Shane Stack and David Reese who were racing with the ORSCA series at the time. I shot video and photos at that event with borrowed equipment and soon after founded Devastation Motorsports and began covering the local events at Sunshine, Bradenton Motorsports Park and Immokalee. With the growing popularity of radial racing more racers wanted in and was apparent some type of tiered class structure was necessary to even out the competition and a discussion of a new class, Real Street, began with rules developed around small block nitrous combo and it is that class that evolved into X275 as part of the Radial Tire Revolution that evolved into the grand spectacle it is today.

All the rules that are currently in place in X275, Ultra Street and DXP 235 come out of X275 Motorsports. John and the team involved have tried to create diversity and parity in the classes but it’s been tough for the small block nitrous cars in X275 and Ultra and that is something that they will be evaluating after the event. “We have the data from two years of the Ultra Street series and one year with X275 and we can work with the Pro Media brands NMCA and NMRA and are trying to work Xtreme Street and Street Outlaw rules to sorta parallel with what we have to make sure these guys have a place to race.”

New for 2019 is a DXP 235 Championship Series sponsored by Haltech in development that will feature five races for it’s inaugural year and will run along with the established Ultra and X275 series events. Nitrous Express has stepped up to be a sponsor at each of those and some more companies like Ultimate Converter Concepts, Forced Induction, Vortech Superchargers, Team RC Components Wheels, Team Z and Jeff Salvato Designs. “We want to see that entry level class with limits to keep somebody that may not be able to continue racing with Ultra Street and give them a place to fall back into.”

There are many people and companies who have been a part of this event and radial racing, since the early days and there is one that stands above all others and that is Mickey Thompson Performance Tires. Truly, none of this amazing spectacle would be possible without the innovations they have brought to the sport, developing the tire that started this Radial Revolution. At first it was banned from competition at the established series but the outlaw racing community took the ball and ran with it forcing the hand of the promoters to allow it in. We dropped into chat with Mickey Thompson’s Tom Kundrick. “I think we started with eighty cars and eighty people in the stands at the first event in Bradenton, the Outlaw Radial Tire Championship. There were three of four sponsors back then, actually Donald got money from the racers to put in with $500 and a free entry is how this all got started and look what it’s become today., that’s how it got rolling. Friday and Saturday this place was packed, Lights Out VI there was no place to park in the county, they closed the highway so many people were trying to get in.” Kundrick told us.

The event has balanced out somewhat and the racing it tighter than ever across the classes, and as it’s grown it’s also spread out as the performance progressed and various racers were priced out or performed out and Ultra Street, then DXP 235 were born. There have been an assortment of classes here thought the years with some being phased out and/or developed into something new like Pro 275 evolving from Outlaw Drag Radial and Leaf Spring. “They had probably fifty true RVW cars here this week, I was lucky, I think I was one of the very first sponsor in and to be here ten years later is huge. Mickey Thompson R&D man Jason Moulton was the driving force behind the development of the first ET Street Radial.” Tom said. When asked about the performance achievement and records we talked about how there was Boost and No Boost and Team North vs Team South. Folks like Alex Vrettos, Dave Hinzman and Richie Stine traded it back and forth with Tony Ridenour, Troy Pirez, Shane Stack and others. Hinzman set the quarter mile record at The Shakedown at E Town with a 7.18 though I forget which year. The winners faced off in special quarter mile finals until it was apparent the boosted cars would dominate and the rules were adjusted accordingly.

The technology surrounding power management for the various engine combos took a while to catch up since the early days of digi set timers to control nitrous delivery and boost curves to companies like MSD developed products and new concepts. “Riding the dots” was a term widely used as acceleration curves were plotted to keep the tires hooked up. The best racers stayed just off the dots because really it was a bit of a crutch and was not the fastest way to go A to B. Before Tom’s time at MT the original ET Street was designed on a nine second street car, and that same design wound up going a 3.89 on DeWayne Mills car before the Pro 275 was developed.

“We want to be the baddasses in radial and we will push and fight to do it, you look out there and it’s a sea of Micky Thompson, you wanna go fast you have to have our stuff, we thrive on that and we love it. It’s been near and dear to my heart, Jason who is head of R&D, my motorsports guys work closely with him. We lost the 275 market for a year or so to Hoosier and Jason had the idea for some new concepts and once that Pro tire came out we had the market back in a week. The development of the Pro 315 was delayed for a bit as the cars kept getting faster and there came a time when it needed to be put out with the crazy fast runs the guys were making and now the guys are running sixties and knocking hard on the next barrier. I said a couple of years ago I think 40’s are possible but I think it’s gonna take something pretty substantial to get the cars through the middle faster cause the splits guys are getting now are just sick, .919 60′ now on a 30 in DOT tire you can drive on the street is pretty sickening,” Tom Kundrick.

Chad Henderson Rebounds At Lights Out 10

Radial tire veteran Chad Henderson has experienced some consistency issues the past few seasons but those troubles seem to be in the past now. Bringing on Steve Jackson and the Killing Time Racing crew to help with tuning Henderson has seen a resurgence in his performance at Lights Out 10. Henderson is now a player in the Limited Drag Radial class with a string of low four-second passes in his nitrous-fed Buick.

To run at the front in radial tire racing it requires a very detailed approach to make sure everything is working correctly across the racing operation. Henderson has augmented his already great team by enlisting the help of one of the best nitrous tuners in the game.

“We got a really good crew and we can’t do anything without the people around us. My wife and my son, along with all of Stevie Jackson’s team help make this happen for us. A good team effort is what it takes to make these cars work and Stevie is a huge asset,” Henderson says.

Figuring out how to go fast may seem like it’s all about cubic dollars, but it also requires the ability to know what works. Henderson saw an opportunity to improve his program with an engine change and the new bullet between the fenders of his Buick is working out well.

“We changed engine combinations from a five-inch bore space to a 5.3-inch engine because we needed something different and the horsepower to keep up with the class. That has worked out well because we went a 4.102 this weekend, our best pass ever. The class record is a 4.09, so we are right there with the fastest in Limited Drag Radial,” Henderson explains.

Lights Out 10 hasn’t been a complete drama free picnic for the Henderson racing team. Making a ton more power is great for elapsed times, however, it also finds a way to break parts. Henderson and his team had to pull an all-nighter after the Buick ate a transmission and gear set during eliminations on Saturday.

“We broke an intermediate shaft in the transmission and were up all night working on getting that fixed. The transmission was in and buttoned up around five in the morning. Then we figured out the ring gear was broken as well. We got a lot of help from some nice people to give us parts and assistance to stay in the hunt,” Henderson says.

The outlook for things in 2019 is positive in Henderson’s eyes when it comes to racing. Things are starting to come together and he feels their team could be a significant threat to win the Limited Drag Radial championship this season

“With all the changes we think we can compete with everyone. When the heat and sun comes out it will tighten the times up. With the rules that are in place, we think this combination will do well during this year.”

Final Results Sheets

Alex Laughlin met with Daniel Pharris in the PTC Radial vs the World final round with Pharris having lane choice by virtue of his 3.69 at 209 in a close win over Tim Slavens’ hard charging 3.70 at 213 in the semis. Laughlin dodged a bullet from Kevin Rivenbark who went red by .006 and ran out the back to a 3.66 at 201. In the final it would be Laughlin away first with a stellar .004 tree to Pharris’ .015, both racers scored their best top end charge of eliminations with Pharris .004 quicker to the stripe and Laughlin earning the holeshot win. Laughlin is tuned by Jeremy Parsley and Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor who have who have tuned cars together off and on since 1994. It’s a big win for the team and we spoke with Parsley back in the pits after the event. “It’s a huge win for us this weekend..” he said, “You don’t go anywhere else in radial and race the top guys, this has all the top guys right here to win one of these is just phenomenal, beyond belief for us to win this weekend.

Charles would make up half the X275 final round against Manny Buginga and was very consistent this weekend. Running a string of low 4.40’s with a best in qualifying of 4.37. Buginga would earn lane choice by taking out Ron Rhodes with a 4.39 at 161. Hull ran a 4.41 in a tight match to get by his racing partner John Keesey, an improvement over the previous round to set the stage for the final. Buginga was .021 on the tree and Hull was forced to catch up. He had a game effort, scoring his best run of eliminations with a 4.409, quicker than Manny’s 4.416 but not enough to run him down. “It’s like Pro Stock racing, everybody is on top of each other, you gotta be on top of your game, get a pulse on the track and do the best you can.” said Buginga, “Jamie Miller is very instrumental, Eric from Proline, Anderson from Fuel Tech, Marty Chance brought us a converter, we broke a converter earlier this weekend, Dave Klaput from Proformance, it’s a big team, Bobby, my wife, Petty, I just let go of the button on time this time and we won the race.”

Joel Greathouse and team KBX reset the Ultra Street record this weekend with a 4.62 meeting with Brian Keep in the finals. We spoke with John Kolivas about the teams weekend: “Today was tough getting the car to run the air was just horrible and when you run these small power adders on these cars you can’t make it up, it’s all in by the sixty foot and there is nothing left, it is what it is after that, we had good luck with this car but no so much with some of the others but that’s racing unfortunately. Rodney Ragen’s car locked up the the oil pump after the burnout and that locked up the fuel pump and it shut off right before he went to stage it. The last race was Rodney and Joel in the finals here and we wanted to see that again but it didn’t happen.”

Kolivas is a long time radial racer and a their whole program thought KBX is a top tier team with Bennett Racing Engines and Pressurized Solutions it’s a full service business. “It’s spectacular, we were just talking in the staging lanes earlier about the performance of these cars and I won, I don’t know if it was the first race or second one here when we had Boost vs No Boost in Outlaw Radial you remember. Myself, Ridenour, Stevie Jackson… I won the overall run off with my white car with a 4.72, that was the fastest cars that were here. Ultra Street is faster than that now. That is crazy. I think it was in 2010 or 11, Stevie set the record with a sixty seven or eight, maybe in qualifying but he spun in the final and I won. It was high 4.60’s and .70’s back then, the top cars that was it. Big blocks, big blowers, twin turbos, lots of nitrous and Ultra is a tenth faster now. It’s hard to win here cause every single class has the best of the best in every class. I mean you got top NHRA tuners out here tuning cars, we have Billy Stocklin out here tuning Mike Terry’s Ultra Street car. There is nobody better than that, you see guys like that you look around and then think, man, what has this come to when you got guys that are that high up on the totem pole tuning in Ultra, it’s super competitive and very difficult to win here in any class.”

I will just add that John is not even wrong but it’s Joel Greathouse and team KBX in the winner circle again here today. Greathouse faced off with Brian Keep’s Procharged Camaro in the final with the weather change effecting Brian’s performance a little more than the turbo combo of Greathouse. Keep’s car rocked at the starting line and bumped the red light, ending his chance at a win at the starting line but the team is happy overall with the weekend and looks forward to competing again in the Ultra Street series this year and making another run at a championship.

Limited Drag Radial had several cars in the four teens and lots of attrition during eliminations this weekend with Shane Stack running a 4.113 in round one and a 4.118 in the finals for low ET and a picture of consistency with only one falter on a round two single and his slowest pass being a 4.127 in his semi final match with top qualifier Justin Martin with Stack nailing a .008 reaction and earning lane choice against Chad Henderson who also had a stellar outing this weekend. R&R Speed and Machine does his engines with Chris Terry Race Cars proving the platform to put the power down. Billett Atomizer Injectors, F.A.S.T., Diamond Pistons, Total Seal and VP Race Fuels are a part of his program and Eagle Collision back in Hunstville keeps the paint looking fresh.

Danny Niceley scored the DXP 235 win this weekend after qualifying in third with his 2000 Corvette after facing off in the finals with Jason Andeerson’s 69 Nova. Anderson fouled away his chance  by .056 after earning lance choice with a 5.14 in the semi. He repeated the number in the final but it would be Niceley taking home the win.

Greg Powrie said he was very, very lucky to make the finals as the team faced an untraceable issue after running a 4.06 in testing. “The car just didn’t respond to what we asked of it and we fought it most of the weekend after running a 4.06 shutting off early and qualifying with a 4.19. We did about everything we could here to track down the problem.” ET Cheffer told us. Powerie wants to go to Bowling Green for the OSCR but as of now plans call for stripping the car down to figure out what the problems were this weekend. The Pro 275 semi final had the crowd on it’s feet with McGee and Powrie engaged in a pedal fest with the nod going to Greg with a 6.10 at 158 to McGee’s 6.26 at 164.

Number three qualifier Dr Dan Boyko waded his way through the field setting low ET repeatedly and scoring a 4.08 at 197 in the final against Powrie. This is Dan’s first win ever and what a place to score such an accomplishment. “The car is going dead straight, RK Racecraft did such an amazing job and Josh Ledford tuning and keeping the engine alive and getting me from A to B like a bracket car.” Dan said. “ We went our best ever on 275’s in the final a 1.13, 2.82, 4.08 at 197.86. I’m really, really happy with the Proline power plant, it’s like a bracket motor.” Dan’s father Jerry made the trip down for the weekend and let me tell you the big smiles on their faces tells it all after such a great weekend. Dan’s good friend Sheldon Chapko also came down from Winnipeg. “I have won some trophies before but this is my first time winning a big event or a cash prize, being up against the best of the best, there’s no words to describe it. I still feel like I’m in a dream in some surreal experience right now. To be at Duck’s race to do this is just incredible.” – Dr Dan Boyko.

Jim Aldous has been racing just four years and three of those in Outlaw 632 so his win this weekend has him and the whole crew in a state of shock and excitement all blended together scoring their first win. He has qualified number one here previously but was bit by gremlins and engine issues but worked through it all with the help of engine builder/tuner Scotty Gudagno and a determined crew as well as working with Nitro Dave at Nitrous Outlet. Crew chief Stacy Covey and Jim built the car in house at Performance Welding and did some updates over the winter. “We use a Proformance transmission and a Pro Torque converter and Menscer shocks…I’m a little shook up right now, I’m so excited this is the first win ever, I’ve never won a race, ever. Our car ran flawless through the weekend we never ran slower than a four thirty flat and we went a four nineteen best. I have to thank Mark for the wonderful track support that he gives us on the shocks. We do all of our work in house except Scotty building the engines, we are rookies at this. I also can’t forget to thank my girlfriend Ana Taylor for all her love and support.” Jim told us. Jim did race go carts for fourteen years before getting his drag racing feet wet with a six oh car for a year before jumping into OL 632.

Jim’s opponent in the final was Dillon Voss out of Live Oak, Florida, he runs a big tire clutch combo in a Suncoast Race Cars built Corvette with a Voss Racing Engines power plant. The Voss team has struggled here in the past with that combo but found the missing piece over the winter to get down the glued up track here at SGMP. He qualified second in class and was a 4.28 to a 4.30 in the earlier rounds but fell off a touch to a .31 in the final as bad air conditions moved into the area Sunday afternoon. The MOV was just twenty-five ten thousandths of a second. Voss made six solid laps this weekend. “ We can’t complain at all” Voss said, “we found something over the winter with the sticky prep and came here, made one qualifying hit and went right to number two so it worked, and we’ve been there all weekend long, we had a really good race car all weekend.” Voss uses Ram clutches, Frankenstein heads Nitrous Outlet and Voss wheelie bars. They do their own engines in house as the family business with his brother Cory as crew chief on the car.

Greg Henschell was double entered in X275 and the second chance RVW class to get a few more passes, he was put out early in X275 and wound up as runner up in the second chance part of the program. He put up a tripple zero light in the semis and ended up in the final vs Brian Chin who is here for the first time and his first time on drag radials. Henschell was looking for extra runs to test a new turbo combo and is entered in the Sweet 16 in X275 and hails from Vancouver, BC. Chin is based out of New York and races Outlaw 10.5. “We never thought we’d make it this far but I have great people behind me helping me out and we made progress every step of the way and it’s surreal that I am here right now.” Chin told us while waiting for winner circle photos. “ There were some mis matched cars in the class but we just concentrated on our own car and the progressions that we made, leaps and bounds with the tuneups and the car and everything. We are really happy the way things turned out.” Chin plans to stay on the 315 tire and go back to OL 10.5 and see where that takes them this year. Brian made his first three second pass here this weekend and improved on that to a 3.96 Saturday night using a Fulton 903 with Switzer Dynamics systems with fuel injection. The car is a Montana Brothers piece tuned by Greg Maialetti with his father Glen Chin and Nova Joe Albrecht on the crew as well.

The No Clocks Small Block shootout came down to “Bowser”, the McCain family’s 1971 Datsun 1200 driven by D.J. McCain and tuned by brother Ryan campaigned out of North Augusta, South Carolina and Troy Pirez Jr.’s “Stonewall Jackson” S-10 from Tampa. Pirez built the truck in house at Innovative Racecraft and uses a Fast Forward Race Engines built power plant with with PKRE Nitrous. “Bowser” started out in Puerto Rico with rotary power before being transformed at NRC Motorsports with an Abby’s Performance Racing Engines LSX topped with Area 51 Heads and a CID intake plumbed with a Nitrous Express fogger. Brian Tooley Racing is a major sponsor and the engine is filled with goodies from Cam Motion, MGP rods, Diamond Pistons with a Callies crankshaft. The fuel and engine management is all Holley using a Dominator ECU, fuel pump, injectors, the EFI 7 dash.

At Lights Out 9 McCain put on a show with a giant wheel stand and a shower of sparks but that didn’t knock out the hard working team then, and despite facing adversity once again this year rose to the top in faced off in a epic side by side match with Pirez Jr. The pair were basically locked from start to finish with the edge going to the little LS powered Datsun.

“I have to take a minute to thank those who are involved with our program and get the car to Lights Out 10, I’m sure I’ll skip a few people there are so many. Brian Tooley Racing, Diamond Pistons, MGP Rods for getting us rods in two weeks, Bob and Jay at NRC for the winter updates. 2 Keys Paint and Body, Nitrous Express, I gotta thank Mo’s Speed Shop, my crew for all the help and hard work, Nick, Mark, Travis, Phil, Eric and Rodney. Jimmy Bradshaw for giving us a place to test, Steve at RJS for the radios, a SFI 15 suit and everything else.” D.J. said.

The team faced a hard road to the final from having to final assemble the engine here, breaking a push rod, hurting a cylinder and narrowly avoiding a serious mishap after getting tangled with Justin Martin’s chute during eliminations. “Not even sure where to begin..”D.J. Said, “..We overcame a lot to even get to South Georgia, thanks to many people including my bro & my pops. Their willingness to work all day and night is something I’m grateful for. From the engine not getting done & shipped to us in pieces, to breaking a push rod in Q1, to a mishap with a cylinder, then getting caught up with Justin Martin’s Limited  Drag Radial Nova’s parachute & dragging “Bowser” off the return road into the field. There were many obstacles and I’m not sure if it’s really hit me yet what was accomplished but thanks to all involved.” Others sponsors involved with the family operation include Carolina N/T Small Tire Racing Productions, Cameron’s Torque Converter Service, Menscer Motorsports and The Driveshaft Shop. We initially did not include comments or photos from the McCain team,  we humbly apologize for that mistake.

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It’s been ten years for us here at SGMP with the Radial Revolution and Duck X Productions and we have built up a family of racers and fans like no other, at least from my perspective. There is so much to cover here it’s impossible to get it all in. From the fastest cars and well known names like Stevie Fast and Dewayne Mills and Brian McGhee to the new comers, here for the first time, the future stars of the sport. The companies that help to make it all happen like PTC, Mickey Thompson and Mac Fab Performance Beadlocks. We talked with Mac Fab owner Tommy Kirk this morning to get a little back ground on the company who has been a pioneer in the sport and a supporter of our kind of racing from the beginning and was founded about fifteen years ago. Kirk actually owns several different businesses unrelated to drag racing many are not aware of, including me before this interview. One of those is Alotech Inc. which manufactures on site water purification systems used in disaster relief and in the third world where clean water is not widely available and does contract manufacturing. Another venture is CTI Systems which builds robotics for for assembling printed circuit boards working with Ford, GM, Tesla and Apple, Samsung and others. It’s pretty interesting that the guy I met at the race track has a business that worked on parts of the phone I am using for this interview. Interesting times indeed.

Kirk filled a niche in the market with his lightweight design beadlock starting out making a few pieces for locals. About two years into it I got hooked up with Tom Kundrik at Mickey Thompson and meeting Donald Long about a year later and becoming as essential part of this racing community, racing family, doing on site beadlocks here at Lights Out III.

“We were the first company to do beadlock conversions on site, and this, for me, the beadlock stuff, it keeps me around my racing family, Tommy, Buddy Legath, Mark Menscer, we’re very close we talk every week. You know Lyle Barnett, when he was really young and wanted to drag race I put him in one of my cars the first time he ever went down the race track,a nd you know when he was int hat fire, if it wasn’t for that racing family it would have been so much worse. You would not believe the outpouring of help and support that people gave to Lyle and and his family. We had a guy come up talk to us last night telling Lyle how he admires him for fighting and coming back to race and being a good ambassador to the sport and for safety. It means a lot and that’s why we keep doing it. I mean it’s not a not for profit company, but we take the funds from Mac Fab and put it right back into the sport and into development and sponsorship.” – Tommy Kirk. From left to right: Brad Marsh, Tommy Kirk and Aaron Brown.

Another pioneering company that is heavily involved with the sport is Menscer Motorsports, founded by Mark Menscer. His work in the industry has been instrumental to radial racing and allowed racers to put down incredible amounts of power that folks ten years ago never thought would be possible. Menscer came up in dirt late model and modified racing through his family with his grandfather being one of the first few members of NASCAR. Menscer as an AFCO distributor and wanted to start re-valving and tuning their his own shocks in the early 2000’s and went to AFCO to be trained and certified as a service center. The vast majority of the products Menscer sells are manufactured by AFCO as a private label parts kit and the shocks are assembled in house and dyno tuned for specific needs of the customer.

“It was a total accident getting involved with drag racing.” Mark told us. “I went to a race to hang out about ten years ago and there were some racers there that needed help so we did a set of shocks for them and helping tune the car with them. It was Steve George and Eddie Briggs was helping him, and this is funny casue it goes full circle, those shocks are still on the same car and it’s here in the pits driven by Alex Laughlin today, which was an Outlaw 10.5 car owned by Danny Humphries before Steve bought it. It’s been around the block with Woody owning it, then with the Bad9er team.” When we asked Mark about his thoughts on the ten year anniversary he said he’d been contemplating about the performance level. “Folks come here twice a year and with the exception of once or twice throughout the history of this thing, every time we show up here we break records and these guys go faster. There is practically no other segment of motorsports where the evolution of class performance has grown like this. I think it was Lights Out IV that Kevin Fiscus was the first to run 4.30’s, or set the record, I think Scotty G had gone a .34 up north and just a few later these guys are running 3.60s. At every threshold we said ‘ Aww man, that’s it this is gotta be tapped out there is no way we can go any faster, there’s gotta be a limit.”

Mark has owned dirt cars but said he is not a driver and the team won several championships with Jeff Smith driving. It takes a lot of money to campaign competitive cars and he decided to get out of racing and focus on the business. Menscer Motorsports was founded officially in 2006. “ It’s been crazy, I came here years ago thinking it would be really cool to work with one or two Radial vs the World cars, I love these radials, the guys that do this…to have gone from coming here wishing and hoping to get a few customers to being, very well represented, it’s a dream come true man, it’s an honor, it’s very humbling.” Mark Menscer

Dustin Jackson Jumps From Diesel Racing To Radial vs The World

Dustin Jackson cut his drag racing teeth behind the wheel of his 1994 Ford Lighting truck that has a triple-turbo diesel combination under the hood. The truck is pretty quick, but Jackson wanted to step into something a bit faster. To hit his speed goals Jackson purchased David DeMarco’s 1984 Buick Regal that features one angry screw-blown Hemi.

Jackson jumped right into the radial tire deep end and made the trip to Lights Out 10 with the Regal. The car had to be rebuilt after a testing incident and he wanted to be sure the car would still be able to run at the front.

“We had an issue testing the car and it sustained some significant damage. The car has been rebuilt from the ground up, we stripped it to the frame rails and redid everything. We went with Darren Mayer for the blower and engine again so it makes plenty of power. We tried to keep the car the same as it was before since it was working so well,” Jackson explains.

Going from a turbo diesel truck to a screw-blown Hemi is a pretty dramatic change. While Jackson’s truck is no slouch, the Hemi-powered radial car is a totally different animal.

“Driving this car is pretty fun for sure. With the diesel truck you have turbo lag and with this car its instant power at the touch of a foot on the throttle. It’s like night and day between the two and this car is just a blast to drive. I know they say once you drive a screw-blown Hemi you won’t want to drive anything else, and they might be right because so far I’m digging this,” Jackson says.

Having fun driving the Buick is a big bonus for Jackson, but it has taken some adjustment to get used to the new combination. Jackson had to learn the nuances of controlling a blower motor and how to deal with getting the car staged.

“The staging is a bit different because with the truck I have to bump in to build boost. With this car, I stage like a nitrous car and put my foot to the floor. Driving wise this is different because it makes more power and there’s a lot more G-forces felt. It’s been an interesting learning curve feeling out how it reacts. I got my license in a Funny Car and that acts differently than this in some ways, but it still is instant power. Compared to the truck it requires a lot more finesse because it just makes power instantly,” Jackson says.

Bringing a car out to a big event like Lights Out for its maiden voyage has been a good experience for Jackson so far. He is enjoying the atmosphere the race provides while getting to mash the loud pedal in a 3,000 horsepower machine.

“We want to keep everything together and not have any big issues. We want to run in the 3.70s at some point this weekend. We’ve been able to run a 3.82 and based on the data if we can get a clean run it should run in the 70s no problem. It’s just a balancing act right now because as we try to add more power it wants to wheelie.”

Rickey Brantley Goes From The Dirt To The Drag Strip

Rickey Brantley grew up at the dirt tracks around Georgia racing with his family. The time spent in the dirt was something that Brantley enjoyed, but ultimately when his family stepped away from the sport he was left with a void that needed to be filled with fun and horsepower. Brantley’s friends applied some peer pressure and that helped influence him to pick up the sport of drag racing.

When Brantley decided to start drag racing he ended up purchasing a 1964 Ford Futura with a 408 cubic-inch small block Ford engine. He found the car in Athens, Georgia and purchased it from a gentleman who was getting out of racing. Selecting a 1964 Futura wasn’t a random act for Brantley, the car had some sentimental meaning to him.

“My mom and dad race a car just like this on the dirt track for 15 years. Drag racing seemed like a lot of fun so we decided to give it a try. I had never drag raced ever and this is my first actual race, before this we just had the car out for testing one time,” Brantley says.

So far Brantley isn’t regretting his decision to pick up drag racing at all. He went all in and purchased an RV so his whole family could come to the track and enjoy the racing with him. Brantley has learned his friends weren’t lying when they told him how much fun drag racing is.

“When you’re up on the line with the car on the chip waiting for the tree to drop its the greatest feeling ever. We were going to actually go to a round track race last week and my buddies suggested we should just come here and race so here we are. It was a great decision because I’m having the time of my life. My goal for the weekend is to just to win a round. If I won a round of racing I would be so happy I would fall off the trailer,” Brantley explains.

Final Qualifying Sheets

The Thrillbilly Shane Stack is a longtime radial tire racer from the ORSCA days and still a top contender his Monte Carlo. He set a new personal best this weekend running a 4.12 at 182 to land fourth in Limited Drag Radial. Stack is an Alabama native running a twin turbocharged 572 cubic inch big-block Chevy with precision 88’s out front and a two speed TH400 behind the engine. The chassis was upgraded over the winter from the main hoop forward with double framerails and a strut front end by Chris Terry Racing. Shane has been to every DuckX event but two through the years and caused a bit of controversy in 2009 with the innovative rear suspension and frame work done at the time during the stock suspension days of Outlaw Drag Radial. His car and the Scranton Brothers build really pushed the limits of the intent of the rules at the time but was allowed into competition and as they say, the rest is history. Shane will run the events here and follow the Limited Drag Radial points series again this year looking for another championship to match the one he earned in 2017.

“LDR is a really good class, Chad is running good he went a 4.13 yesterday, there is four or five that are all pretty tight.” Shane said. “I remember back then it was a 4.80 class, I think Ridenour or Kolivas won the first one and Wolfe won the first one here running 4.40’s and now that won’t even get you into the top class.” Stack set the radial record in 2007 or 08 down in Immokalee, Florida at the Tomato Nationals with a 4.85. In fact Shane won the very first Drag Radial event Donald Long put on down at Sunshine Dragstrip meeting David Reese in the final. A highlight for Shane in 2018 was Winning Huntsville. “I guess winning at Huntsville at the end of the year last year, It’s my home track and I always seem to struggle racing there, I get down there and it’s just parts breakage and struggle and we won the fall race there and that was a really good deal for us.”

Brian McGee has spent some time away from radial racing concentrating on his family and doing a little grudge racing, taking a win last year at the Orlando World Street Nationals in the N/T class. He mentioned to us that we may see him back here and he did make the show, right on top of Pro 275 with a 4.05 at 184. His Mustang is the Worlds Fastest Nitrous Stock Suspension Car and he has picked up right where he left off as a a top contender in the radial tire game. Big Country was in the pit giving a hand and another set of eyes on the data. “We’re looking at a different angle to see if we were missing anything; they have a similar set up and use the same EFI Technologies ECU as we do. Jeff helps us regularly but we got here and I just asked Corey a few questions about it and next thing you know he is over here and helping pretty good.” Brian said. His crew this weekend is Marshal Daniels shown at left with Connor and Brian McGee.

Round One Results

Round one of Radial vs the World featured a whole bunch runs in the 3.70s with Daniel Pharris, Kevin Rivenbark and Alex Laughlin dipping into the .60’s and Pharris with low ET of 3.681. Keith Haney put Quartuccio’s Serial Killer Corvette out in a close match — Haney’s 3.81 and .007 reaction time to Ken’s 3.85. The all-Texas battle between eighteen and fifteen qualifiers Taylor Lastor and Jamie Hancock went to Lastor with a .006 tree and 3.76 to Hancock’s .033, 3.78 with both racers clocking 198 MPH through the lights. Mike Decker II made it through to represent the Decker/Mobley team driving around Norman Bryson with a 3.79 at 199 to Bryson’s 3.82 despite his .013 holeshot.

X275 had eighteen cars run 4.50 or better in round one with Chipley’s Florida’s Patrick Clenney at low ET with a 4.35 at 165 in his win over Taylor Lastor. Power Automedia’s James Lawrence advanced over Jamie Hancock running a 4.44 to Hancock’s 4.70. With the slowest winning car in class Manny Buginga’s 4.63 at 157 over first time Lights Out Participant John Pryor round two is set up to be a full field of tight competitive matches with the likes if Shane Fisher, Kenny Hubbard, John Keesey and crowd favorite Ryan Milliken’s turbo diesel Chevy II.

Round Two/Three Results

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Eric Kvilhaug is the new pilot of the Dragzine Corvette and is in the process of purchasing the car from James Lawrence. Eric and James are longtime friends so the deal was a good match for both of them. Eric got started on the west coast on not the most radial-friendly of tracks so it was a little rough getting started to figure the power management, first taking power out and now putting it back in here at Lights Out 10. James and the crew have been right there with anything needed to ensure a smooth transition to the new owner.

The car will be campaigned in current trim and look through the year. The team did an engine swap here after hurting number one cylinder and will make repairs to the engine as soon as time allows as it was much quicker to swap in the backup, which is an identical engine. Eric plans to step it up today with an eye on 3.70s after qualifying Thursday with a 3.87 at 196, good for the 22nd spot.

“I left the laptop in the trailer yesterday knowing I would want to make changes after watching everyone running .60’s and 70’s, and as fast as they want to go, nobody was spinning but I just need to get down and get on the board. I have a fresh motor in the car so now that we have that out of the way we’re going to turn it up and keep plucking away at it.” Eric said.

This will be the only east coast race planned and the team will travel back home and compete in Boddie’s No Time Big Tire series, some West Coast Hot Rod and at the end of the year do the SCSN in Vegas. Kvilhaug’s Drilling and Pump Inc. is the family business and installs residential and commercial wells and pumps in northern California.

We dropped by the Quartuccio pits this morning to check on the team and spoke with engine builder Chris Laquerre from C&S Racing. Ken stepped it up for the 2019 season in his Outlaw 632 Camaro with a new design engine combo based around Edelbrock’s new BB3 heads from BES. The head was developed by Edelbrock and Tony Bischoff at BES and sits on top of a Chuck Newton billet block. The cam is a custom designed 65mm core from Cam Motion with a Jesel steel rocker valvetrain. The intake and nitrous is from Wilson as well as the throttle bodies with a FuelTech engine management system. The engine made 1450 horsepower on the dyno and 1200 RWHP on FuelTech’s hub dyno. They are starting out with a .036 jet at 2600 pounds but are still a little heavy right now. Ken made one pass on Thursday running a 4.35 at 165.

Chris has been in business for 13 years officially and did after-hours work at home for three or four years before pulling the trigger on a full service engine shop. He works closely with BES and Kip from Cam Motion and is based in Gonzales, Louisiana. Chris worked with the former owner of the Camaro, Jim Jarrett, who campaigned the car in NMCA Nostalgia Pro Street and was recommended by Jim to continue the engine program with Ken after the purchase, which worked out very well through the years. Ken is qualified eighth right now in Radial vs the World with his “Serial Killer” Corvette. Pictured at left are Ken and Denise Quartuccio.

We’re always on the lookout for new cars and ran across this 1978 Fairmont “Lead Sled” wagon this morning driven by Lea Ochs. This is Lea’s first time racing here at SGMP and first time in Ultra Street. The team is based in Dallas, Texas with Northstar Dragway their home track. They ran Drag Week with the car last year and are part of the All Out Live Call Out TV show starting in November last year. The engine combo is new for Ultra Street and somewhat of a last minute combination with out-of-the-box Trick Flow heads from Summit Racing and the new engine installed just before coming here in what Lea described as a “mad thrash.” The combo uses a Dart block and a class legal 76 MM cast wheel turbo and a Brian Tooley Racing cast intake manifold and camshaft. Ochs Performance in an LS based engine shop run by Gary Ochs who has over twenty years of experience in the European car market as a repair shop. In 2013 Ochs built the first Lead Sled and that led to opening the new LS based engine shop in Plano, Texas.

“I grew up in a racing family at the race track watching my step dad race and as we got older and he moved over to the crew chief side and two of my brothers started racing bikes and progressed into cars and we were following my brother around with the No Prep circuit and I told my husband I think I would like to get in, so that’s what we did and we built the first Lead Sled and did that for a while and then I wrecked it in Ennis in 2017.” Lea told us. The crash was pretty bad, totaling the car and sending Lea to the hospital with a concussion and bruised bone in her arm. It was not long after her recovery that a new car was sourced and a new build was under way, scrapping the nitrous combo and going turbocharged. Hazzard Fab did the roll cage on the car with most of the build done in house at Ochs. Sonnax is a major sponsor and provides the transmission internals with Mr. Wendell’s Motorsports doing the transmission builds with Pro Torque converters transferring the power back. 2JMFAB does a lot of the chassis work with John Minzenmayer doing the tuning on the car. Temple, Texas based J&M painted the car. Pictured from left to right: John Minzenmayer, Lea and Gary Ochs.

2018 X275 Champion John Keesey had to make a few small changes to the car to comply with the 2019 X275 rules package regarding throttle body placement due to an individual campaigning against an inconsequential issue on Keesey’s car. There are some hard feelings bouncing around over the issue but it’s likely to make zero difference on the performance of the car at the end of the day. “We made the change requested and a lot of the racers know the issue so, when he read this…this one’s if for you buddy.” an unapologetic Keesey told us. The car passed tech with flying colors and is powered by a 380 cubic inch Bennett Racing SBF tuned by KBX’s Justin McChesney using a Haltech 2500T ECU, a Forced Inductions turbo provides the boost backed by an ATF Speed transmission and converter. The cars wiring was done by Troy Baum at Race Wires in PA. Justin and the KBX crew will be going over the car today to ensure everything is as it needs to be. He lost two runs this week after a water leak and fuel pump sheared the drive mandrel so only has one 330′ run so far but it was on par with expectations.

The Outlaw 632 has grown slowly and organically the past few years and is proving some exciting racing for lower budget teams with some older Top Sportsman and fast index cars coming in the group. We spotted Ryan Hallmark’s clean 55 Chevy in the lanes and had a quick chat. The car is powered by Howton Automotive built 632 ci Chevy on one kit using a Speedtech system. The car was purchased out of Birmingham, Alabama and came with a 748 inch engine which was pulled and swapped out with the 632 to compete in the class with the big engine finding it’s way in the teams grudge car. Ryan has competed here before in the Joker’s Wild winning 6.0 index here in September last year. Ryan and partners founded Rock N Roll Sushi in Mobile, Alabama which is now a growing franchise from Texas to north Florida with thirty-one locations.

Ryan was a commercial pilot who was working patient transport for University of Alabama Hospital when they started the franchise and quickly was running up hours in the restaurant business and and moved away from from being a pilot. “Outlaw 632 seemed like a real even keel class to get into with different weight and nitrous systems, with one or multiple kits, like a cast intake single system car car run at 2,450 pounds where we are. Gardendale Performance helps me out on a lot of the parts and suspension tuning and coaching from them, we get our nitrous from Angus Racing and met a lot of really good people who are supportive of our program. I have to thank my girlfriend Elizabeth for really being instrumental in my racing program through think and thin along with Scott Garner.” Ryan was racing 6.0 index before purchasing this car and will be running the 68 Camaro on 28’s at some No Time/Grudge events. The crew thrashed this month to install the engine and totally rewire the car to make this event. Ryan is pictured with his girlfriend Elizabeth Wesson.

Kevin Rivenbark is on fire this weekend representing for team Galot and Pro Line Racing leading the field in Radial vs the World with a 3.613, a new RVW record. He has improved his performance repeatedly this weekend and looking for a win here at Lights Out 10. We had a chat with Eric Dillard from Pro Line Racing and discussed an assortment of things. Rivenbark’s last pass in qualifying was a .919, 2.41, 3.613 at 205 MPH, matching his Pro Mod ET from the US Street Nationals in Bradenton at the end of January. The team has worked very hard on the car and engine combo to achieve what they have in a short time, installing this new combo late last year.

“We always have said the tires are equal on a well prepped track for the tire, and a well prepped car. We did a .61 in Bradenton and now a .61 here after swapping tires to the radial, it’s like deja vu., it’s just crazy man. If you have the best of both conditions both tires can put up the number. The air is not as good as it was in Bradenton… that was a lot of what it had, they threw everything at it and it took it all. The Procharger deal is so new for us, it was kind of a dream and to see it all come together like this and be consistent and be able to team up with a great group like Galot Motorsports and watch all these guys do their job, is surreal man, it’s awesome.” said Dillard.

PLR has been in the game for a while now and made a great reputation for top performance and hard work. Proline was an early sponsor coming on board for the first event so many years ago and continued to support the series and racers. “I am proud for Donald and he does such a good job promoting and he has worked so hard for our sport and allows vendors like us to come out and make a living at what we’re doing, I appreciate Donald for what he does, and everybody here should. He works his but off for these events, he creates a desire for people to want to be at this race. I say no body is the best, but he is one of the best at what he does and I am proud that we are able to be out here and to compete on this level. This has been kind of a pet project for me, I took a risk to do this without anybody’s blessing and I knew, at the end of the day it’s a team. It’s something so different we weren’t sure what was going to happen, we were pushed by a few people, James Lawrence being one and I will always say that because he helped us open the door. It’s just cool, it’s something I never thought we’d do with the Procharger and here we are two years later with a top contending car. I feel like I am just a small part of it cause there is a lot of really good people that work inside our group and do what we do and everybody has their hands in it, from every aspect, along with everybody at Procharger, it’s just awesome.” – Eric Dillard, PLR. Pictured from left to right: Bud Hodge, Bently Dillard. Eric Dillard, Brandon Stroud, Kevin Rivenbark, Chris Foster and Steve Petty.

Final Qualifying

As of 11:30 PM Friday night Radial vs the World and X275 are the only two completed classes. Due to approaching potential poor weather conditions Sunday we will move into eliminations Saturday morning in an effort to complete the event. We will have final qualifying sheets for the rest of the classes posted in the morning.

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Josh Klugger has his new car here and made a qualifying run yesterday, scoring a 3.83 at 210, after spending Monday and Tuesday this weekend testing at Orlando Speed World Dragway with very good results. The team is working on getting the chassis set up where they want as there is plenty of power available, verified as “fast” over at Fuel Tech’s hub dyno. The actual HP numbers are a closely guarded secret, kept much more secure than Hillary’s emails. The Skinny Kid built chassis is powered by a 548 cubic inch Pro Line Racing Hemi topped with Allen Johnson heads in what is a collaborative engine program and is fed by Garrett 98 MM turbos and backed by a Proformance transmission. John Homier wired the car with Ryan Rakestraw’s RK Performance doing the turn key work to finish it all up and then it was off to Fuel Tech for tuning. The core crew consists of Johnny Drama, Steve Cooks and Josh with Steve Petty and Jamie Miller and Steve Petty punching keys and offering their expertise along with Chase Driscoll and Mark Menscer also assisting with chassis tuning. Pictured from left to right, Josh Klugger, Johnny Drama and Steve Cooks.

We got to chat with crew chief extraordinaire Billy Stocklin, finding him over in Randy David’s pit,who is now the owner of this 69 Camaro with a long history starting with Darren Hoyle in the ORSCA Limited Street days. The rig is actually Billy’s racing set up and he has known Randy for near 30 years since the two met through a mutual friend Ed Morrell who does cylinder head work involved in mud racing back in the day. The car has changed hands and classes thought the years competing in X275 and Limited Street by the likes of Kyle Huttell, Taylor Lastor, Fletcher Cox and Randy David who campaigned the car in Limited 275 in Texas, winning a bunch of races until the class was phased out. Now being campaigned in Ultra Street under the new rules allowing big blocks in with jet limits and Rherer Morrison power. The transmission is a Proformance unit with a Chance converter. Stocklin’s plans for 2019 will be continuing as crew chief on Steve Jackson’s NHRA car and campaigning this Camaro with Randy David.

“We picked up a pretty complete race car and with the help of Matt Mungal at MC Fab, he’s helped up get this thing lined out and the chassis squared up fro us. Of course Billy on the key board helping out on the Holly EFI system just been phenomenal. We get help from Dave Vasser at Nitrous Outlet, Dave over at Proformance Transmissions keeps everything in gear and Neal Chance with outstanding torque converters. It’s been a hard road but we have definitely been testing this thing to come out here and hopefully make a good showing.” Randy David told us. He got started in racing when he was four or five years old with his father. “This probably is one of the coolest car I have owned with all the history behind it, it makes me proud to own this thing and carry on the tradition with it.” From left to right, Billy Stocklin, Randy David and driver Mike Terry.

Justin Swanstrom Takes On Radial vs The World

Justin Swanstrom carved his name into the tree of grudge racing by having a reputation of never backing down from a race. With the help of his father and team, Swanstrom terrorized the no time world racing for some huge pots of money at tracks all over the east coast. Having an attitude where you are willing to take on anyone has led Swanstrom back to class racing and the bare-knuckle brawl that is Radial vs The World.

Swanstrom made his RVW debut at the U.S. Street Nationals where he quickly proved his 3.73 pass on a 275-sized radial tire wasn’t a fluke. The biggest lesson Swanstrom learned at the U.S. Street Nationals is that RVW racing isn’t for the faint of heart.

“The competition is a lot tougher in Radial vs the World compared to what we’re used to. Everybody in this class runs well all the time, I knew we could run well too, but the competition is stiff. We were able to go out and run a 3.72 on our first hit at Bradenton and qualified number two. That felt really good and gave us a nice boost of confidence being our first event. We ended up kicking the tires in eliminations but that’s how racing goes,” Swanstrom says.

The transition from grudge and no time racing to class racing hasn’t been difficult for Swanstrom. In the past, he’s done some class racing and knew what to expect coming into RVW. Even with that past experience, it can be difficult to jump into such a highly competitive class like RVW. Swanstrom has kept his mind clear and that has helped prepare for the challenges that RVW can present to a team.

“To be able to race in this environment with all of these big name racers is an honor for me. The biggest difference going from grudge to class racing is money. You can gamble for a whole lot more in grudge racing. Another big difference is the sheer amount of passes you make in class racing. I’ll make double the amount of passes this year compared to last year just with the qualifying hits alone. We don’t test as much just so we can save wear and tear on the engine at these big events.”

Picking up the learning curve for this level of racing has been made easier with all of the extra hits at the track Swanstrom and his team gets to make. To have the ability to make all the passes needed to get a handle on the car Swanstrom has secured a core group of sponsors that support him.

“I couldn’t do this without all the sponsors that we picked up to go Radial vs The World racing. I made the transition to get my name out there more and be able to get sponsors. I’ve got companies like Speed and Truck World, Team Z Motorsports, Fast Forward Racing Engines, Pat Musi Racing Engines, Santhuff Shocks, Carolina No Time, Signature Metal Fab, R&R and Fab, and Payso Productions helping out. I’ve been able to form a great team around me and I think we’re going to have a successful year,” Swanstrom says.

Looking into his crystal ball for Lights Out 10 Swanstrom can see the need to have a fast racecar to win this weekend, but one that can also be a bracket car with its performance. The ever-changing conditions at SGMP will be what separates the fast from the champions.

“I think it’s going to take the ability to run a 3.70 to 3.74 to win this race. You have to game plan for different conditions, so Friday we are going to work on our race tune-up to run in that consistent 3.70 range. Having that data is going to make it easier for us to run in that ET range consistently this weekend.”  

Kevin Rivenbark Lets It Rip On Radials

The 2019 racing season has been one of big changes for Kevin Rivenbark and the GALOT team. They have transitioned from roots blowers as their power-adder of choice, to a Proline engine and ProCharger to bring the boost. Lights Out 10 also marks the first time Rivenbark has entered an event on radials and he made a splash by going number one in the first round of qualifying with a 3.66 pass.

To get a feel for what the Camaro would do on small tires Rivenbark and the GALOT team tested at Orlando to get some laps in. That pre-Lights Out testing allowed the team to collect valuable data and see what direction they needed to go on radials.

“When we went to Orlando we made five hits total with radials on the car. We started out with a 4.08 pass and ended up running a 3.71 during the test session there. The car has been down the track every pass on radials and it feels like it’s on rails. To me it just seems like the car is just working well since we made the switch,” Rivenbark says.

To go from Pro Mod to radial trim Rivenbark had to make changes to the shocks, wheels, and the four-link set up. When you put a car on radials it will separate the body from the suspension when things are working well. This is totally different from how a slick tire setup will try to crush the suspension and body into the track. Being able to account for this in the adjustments made the switch to radials easier for Rivenbark and it has made the car easier to handle.

“When we made the switch it was my first time I’ve ever been on radials and last night was the sixth pass ever with this car on them. It’s different than big tires, it feels a lot more solid since it doesn’t squat at all. The feeling is different but I’ve been enjoying it so far and really want to see what we can do with the car,” Rivenbark explains.

Power management on a radial tire is probably the most critical component in getting a high horsepower car down the track. This type of management required is vastly different than what a set of big slicks likes, so Rivenbark put an emphasis on making sure they had it right from the start.

“You can’t leave as hard on a radial as you can with a slick. You have to leave softer and then get after it a lot more in the middle and at the top end. With the blower and engine combo we’re running the ProCharger still makes good boost when we’re on the chip at the line, but not as much as a roots blower. The ProCharger doesn’t like a lot of rpm like a roost blower does so that changes power management big time. It’s a lot easier to manager this blower with the Proline engine on radials,” Rivenbark says.

So far the switch to radials for Rivenbark has been fairly seamless.

“As a driver, I like running on radials and I love that it’s something different. I’ve run on slicks for years and this is a fun change of pace. After getting feel for it I think there’s a lot of ET left in the car.  We went 3.61 on big tires at Bradenton and I think we will be able to match that here. They say you’re faster on radials but we don’t have enough passes on radials yet to see what it’s capable of.”

Tim Slavens Sets The Radial vs The World Record

It was starting to look like the Pro Mods would finally show their full potential on radial tires at Lights Out 10 and take the Radial vs The World record from Mark Micke and Jason Carter’s Malibu. That narrative was shattered in just 3.621 seconds by Tim Slavens and his 1969 Camaro. With that pass and big 217 mph, Slavens announced he is truly a force to be reckoned with in the small tire world.

At the U.S. Street Nationals Slavens turned a lot of heads when he lit the boards with a 3.64 pass, a new personal best for him in RVW trim. Being able to taste the rare air of the 3.60s on a radial tire was a big accomplishment for Slavens and his team, but that was just the preamble for what they could do on radial racing’s biggest stage.

“A couple weeks ago when we were in Bradenton and went 3.64 that was a big deal for us. Last night we were able to get down the track with a 3.75 so we knew we could swing for it a bit tonight. We just loaded the 3.64 tune into the car and tickled it in a few places where we saw an opportunity for improvement. It worked out and everything came together to lay down that 3.62. The 60-foot was a little bit slower than the Bradenton pass, but the car made up for it in the middle,” Slavens says.

For the past few seasons, Slavens has been seeing a marked improvement in his performances. The better numbers on time slips and how consistent the car has become was born from improvements in his program with parts and people. For 2019 Slavens made some big changes to key components and those played a pivotal role in picking up the record.

“The biggest change we made for this year was going to the Neal Chance converter, that has helped us a lot. We also went to a bigger set of injectors so we could take advantage of more boost the engine was making. The new set of Menscer Motorsports struts we just put on the front of the car made a big difference on how it handles, and that let us put more power in,” Slavens says.

Getting to this point has been a very tactical affair for Slavens and his team. They treat every pass as an opportunity to learn something about what the car likes or doesn’t like. By avoiding the scenario of having a pile of junk time slips Slavens has been able to build a solid database of information that allows him to build tunes that work.

“We’ve always been conservative from the standpoint of you don’t learn anything if the car isn’t going down the track. We have some really good baseline data to see what the car will do and that works wonders for us. It has given us a set of tune-ups that will get the car to run anywhere from a 3.70 to a 3.76, so now we’ve been just chipping away at those tune-ups to get it in the 3.60s,” Slavens explains.

The million dollar question is, does Slavens’ Camaro have more left in it?

“Looking at the data quickly after that 3.62 pass there’s still some areas in the graph where we can make some improvements. We haven’t really maxed the car out on boost yet because we haven’t asked it to make more. I don’t know how much room there is, but we can try and make some small tweaks to optimize what’s left on the table. The car is also 60 pounds overweight so we might try to pull some weight out and see if that helps,” Slavens says.

Even with the new record in hand Slavens plans on staying the course with only making reasonable adjustments to the car. The ultimate goal is to win the event, the records would be the extra icing on the cake.

“We’re going to be working on consistency so it can run fast and not be on the ragged edge. Since we have some good data we might see if we can push it a bit faster, but we could be at the threshold for what it could do. The big thing is we don’t want to beat ourselves this weekend.”

Thursday Night Qualifying Results

Tonight we have qualifying results from five classes, PTC/XS Power Batteries Radial vs the World, Procharger/Precision Turbo X275, Strange/UPR/Mac Fab Limited Drag Radial, NX Nitrous, Fire Core 50/Ultimate Converter Concepts/Salvato Designs DXP 235 and Vortech/KBX/Induction Solutions Ultra Street. These were the completed rounds as of 11:30 PM.

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