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We have sunny skies today for the final day of Lights Out 8 and you could not ask for better weather to race in, or enjoy watching the action. Stay tuned to Dragzine for the behind the scenes news and track side action with our same day event coverage here from Lights Out 8.
Ken Quartuccio’s performance this weekend has set tongues wagging , especially after his 4.28 last night in round one eliminations. We spoke to Ken about his performance and the talk this morning where discounted the criticism. “What people don’t understand is I’ve have raced down in Florida three or fours years, I been racing twenty-five years with nitrous 632 stuff and the last two weeks we raced we have raced in better air than we ever have raced in in Florida….we are racing on the best track prep for a radial tire and people need to take that in consideration, it’s the trap prep and the air, that’s it.” Ken Quartuccio. The crew was replacing a broken valve spring this morning and checking the valve train over thoroughly.
Eddie Harrison lost two lifters in round one eliminations last night and the team was wrapping up the valve adjustments when we stopped by. He will face Marty Stinnett in round two.
Phil Hines has a few changes to his combo from BES for 2017 including more cubic inch and more compression along with a new billet intake from Vizner Performance. He has also went to Neal Chance Racing Converters and is pretty happy with it so far. He is qualified seventh with a 4.47 at 162 MPH.
Earl Stanley runs X275 based out of Richmond, Kentucky with his Fox body Mustang powered by a Vortech Supercharged 8.2 deck 347 topped with some old school TFS Street Heads. He is the quickest 8.2 deck engine in class with a 4.49 best in qualifying Saturday putting him tenth in the field. The engine and chassis was done by Mike Adams Race Cars in London, Kentucky with some assistance from PLR on the set up. Further assistance with the racing program includes Vortech, Prock Performance, Greg Slack Converter Design Specialties, VP Fuels and Eddie Harrison. The team from left to right Mike Adams, Earl Stanley, Earl Stanley Jr and Tyler Stanley.
Marty Chance landed twenty-first in X275 with a 4.56 after struggling with the car not grabbing the track. He runs a Disomma built small block Ford fed by a F-1R Procharger and backed by a two speed TH 400 transmission with and NCRC converter. “I definitely want to thank the Holley EFI guys, they helped us a bunch this weekend and Micky Thompson Tires, none of us could do any of this without Mickey Thompson..and our crew, Dennis, Doug, Allen and Curtis.
We dropped by the Hancock Racing pits on talked with Jamie’s father James about their week. “ We struggled a little bit when we got here the first of the week, but we got a handle on it, she is coming around the right direction, we are just waiting for the right time to really stand on it to make it run the right number” James Hancock. This is the second race with this car and they made a couple of changes since running the US Street Nationals. Some other companies involved with their program include Nitrous Outlet, ASA Performance, ARP, Fuel Tech and Mark Menscer.
Ron Hamby is double entered again for Lights Out 8 for ODR and Pro 275 but struggled some getting the car worked out with the new combination. He upgraded in the off season to a fuel injected Pat Musi 960 managed by an EFI Technologies system tuned by Robert Hays. They finally got the car to apply the power in round one eliminations of ODR this morning earnign a win over Mike Barron. Hamby pictured at right.
We kicked things off this morning with an invocation and a beautiful instrumental version of the national anthem before Outlaw Drag Radial round one eliminations.
An early pairing in ODR was Justin Swanstrom and Rick Prospero with Swanstrom getting away clean and going on for the round win in Apocalypse.
Daddy Dave has been very consistent this week running a string of low 4.20’s. He had the earned single this morning as top qualifier running a 4.23 at 173.
mark Dykeman had a hard time even getting here much less working nearly all night repairing the damage to the car from a bad injector. He was all fixed up this morning and ran a strong 4.51 at 159 MPH though taking a loss to Chris Bretz out of Spring Hill, Florida who put up a 4.45 at 173 in his turbocharged 2002 Camaro.
Steve Jackson had lane choice meeting up with Jamie Hancock in round three of RVW. Both cars ran hard to the stripe with Hancock stepping it like they said, scoring a 3.85 at 193 MPH for the best pass yet with this car though it was not enough to earn the round. Jackson got loose in the shutdown and made contact with the wall. He is ok and the team is already hard at it making repairs.
A large crowd gathered to watch the Killin Time Racin crew thrash on the Shadow 2.0 requiring security crowd control to keep the crowd out of the way. All four tires were ruined in the incident and they were taken to the MT rig for new skins. At right Nitrous Mike gets to work tearing down the wheels.
Tim Slavens was paired with Marty Stinnett with bother racers making solid runs. At the stripe it would be Slavens earnign the win with a 3.923 at 205.44 MPH. Stinnett repeated his round one effort 3.938 in a great match.
Round One Elimination Results
RVW E1, RVW E2, OL632 E1.
OL632 E2, ODR E1, ODR E2.
Alan Pittman and Joe Albrecht were side by side off the line with Pittman having a holeshot advantage. Albrecht scored a 3.99 at 198 earnign the win over the 4.07 at just 160 MPH through the lights.
Charlie Johnson has his very clean Nova in Ultimate Street where he faced off with Corey Stephens earnign the win with a 5.12 at 136 MPH. He confirmed the rumors about his renown white Firebird is getting a twin turbo combo. He has tagged John Kolivas and the KBX team to update the car and is looking to go No Time race as well as compete in 28/29 shootouts. We know the fans will love to see the car back at it.
Mark Woodruff faced off with Keith Haney earning a berth in the next round over the off pace Enigma with a 3.84 at 211.
Walt Drakeford earned his way to the next round over the high flying John Snyder who had to pedal the car and slowed to a 5.03 to Drakeford's 4.91.
Final Results
Radial vs the World, Outlaw Drag Radial, X275, Pro 275.
Ultimate Street, Leaf Spring, Outlaw 632, Nitrous X.
A bit of controversy ensued after Steve Jackson’s crash in the quarter finals at the scales with some voicing complaints he was even allowed to cross them at all after bumping the wall. The end results is he was and faced off with Mark Woodruff in the semi finals where Woodruff took a hole shot start and running a 4.05 at just 167 MPH and Jackson having trouble and skipping the tires and moving left out of the groove and was quick pulling the chutes to get the car straightened though his crazy day was over. The other pair left in was Tim Slavens and Joe Albrecht with the two having very close reaction times. Slavens put some power in it scoring a 3.90 at 206 for his efforts, it just wasn’t enough to keep Albrecht at bay with the New York based racer running a 3.845 at 201 MPH to set up the final.
A bit of controversy ensued after Steve Jackson’s crash in the quarter finals at the scales with some voicing complaints he was even allowed to cross them at all after bumping the wall. The end results is he was and faced off with Mark Woodruff in the semi finals where Woodruff took a hole shot start and running a 4.05 at just 167 MPH and Jackson having trouble and skipping the tires and moving left out of the groove and was quick pulling the chutes to get the car straightened though his crazy day was over. The other pair left in was Tim Slavens and Joe Albrecht with the two having very close reaction times. Slavens put some power in it scoring a 3.90 at 206 for his efforts, it just wasn’t enough to keep Albrecht at bay with the New York based racer running a 3.845 at 201 MPH to set up the final. Mark Woodruff and Joe Albrecht in the final round.
Outlaw Drag Radial had some very stiff competition this week with a number of cars running consistent 4.20’s and low 30’s. Daddy Dave Comstock was top qualifier but went red by .004 in round one ending his weekend a little early. Mel Nelson, Justin Swanstrom Tony Ridenour and VP Fuels’ Jason Rueckert Nelson and Swanstron met up in the semi finals where Mel must have blanked as he went -.293 red giving the race to Swanstrom who laid down a 4.16 at 179 on the pass. Ridenour was away first against Rueckert by a small margin with Ridenour earning the round with a hole shot. His 4.212 at 185 was enough to stay in front of the quicker Rueckert who scored a personal best with his 4.208 at 184 MPH riding out a short wheelie nearly to the stripe before lifting setting up the final with two Tampa Bay based racers.
Swanstrom scored an .027 reaction when he needed it as the engine was not quite happy, just making it to the stripe with a 4.20 for letting go and earning the hard fought win.
X275 had the most cars here this weekend and also featured some stellar racing. Once into the semi finals it was basically up for grabs with Dean Marinis the favored racer on paper. He faced Sean Lyon and earned the round driving right by with a 4.437 at 162.02 MPH and a weekend best of 165 using a new NCRC lock up converter. Montgomery, Texas based Kenny Hubbard turned some heads bumping down the nitrous record to a 4.377 earlier against Eric Moore in round three before meeting with Dennis Bickford who slowed to a 9.95 in the semi final. In the final round Marinis took the holeshot against Hubbard and never looked back, running a 4.40 at 162 to Hubbard's strong 4.42 at 159 MPH. Dean had a hole down on Saturday and actually welcomed the rain as an opportunity to tear into the engine to investigate and make repairs, putting the car inside the trailer and going to work, quite a task on the car which is a “ real car” without a removable front clip taking the crew around three hours to get the job done. Dean has also been helping Hubbard some with his program and it showed with bother racers making the final and Kenny also finding his way to the Outlaw 632 Final. Marinis uses BES horsepower with Speedtech nitrous, Proformance Transmissions, AMS 2000 and BRE carburetors.
Scotty Guadagno has supported this series from the beginning earning his fifth final round appearance this weekend and finally coming home with the win for team Jet Blue. “These races are by far, one of a kind. Whether you love Donald, or hate him, this is the Superbowl of small tire racing, say what you want. Even if you don't like small tires it's a killer race, we got cars going three seventies, guys like Scotty Cannon, Frankie Taylor, who'd have thought that before these events?” - Scotty G. Guadagno qualified number one with a 4.06, just one hundredth off from his best on any tire for the long time OL 10.5 and Drag Radial racer. On the other side of the ladder it was Don Lamana out Hudson, Florida with a new combo prepared at his and Mark Michlovitz' Pro Fab Performance Plus for Limited Drag Radial by Pro Line Racing, fed by twin Garrett turbos prepped by Forced Induction and tuned by Wade Hopkins at Southern Speed with Pro Fab's Matt LaRue as crew chief. His car ran flawless this week scoring number two qualifier and running quicker every pass, running a 4.12 on a single in the semis but the finals where he deep staged looking for the better reaction. He got that with an .029 to Scotty's .056 reaction, though it may have cost him as he slowed to a 4.16 to Scotty's event winning 4.11.
Ultimate Street has become a solid 4.70 class with Shawn Pevlor earning top qualifier ahead of Tony Alm who earned a berth in the finals against Rodney Ragen who took out the wheel standing and double entered Pevlor in the semi finals with his 4.712 for class record ET. Tyler Crossnoe had a great debut weekend with his new car making it to the semis to meet Alm, running his best of weekend 4.79 at 147 in the match. Ragen was here last year with an NA combo. He now has a KBX combo in a Bill Pettis set up chassis put together by KBX. He picked the car up Wednesday scoring a 4.92 off the trailer and never looked back. In the final Alm was away first with a big holeshot, earning the event win with a 4.78 at 146 to Ragen's quicker 4.74 at 154.
Leaf Spring was all about Jason Digby's 1969 Dodge Dart driven by Lyle Barnett from Robbins, North Carolina here at Lights Out 8. Barnett suffered major injuries in a fire here last year racing in Radial vs the World and if there ever was a team deserving of a win and driven to get it this is it. Barnett scored the Leaf Spring record at Bradenton just a few weeks ago at the US Street Nationals and lowered it repeatedly here this week settling at a 4.24. The Jeff Burns built HED tuned machine was consistent in eliminations running easy 4.30's when needed and meeting up with the Ducky Johnson driver John McDonough in the final. The determination and work ethic of the Barnett's team is without question the story of the year after coming back from such a tragedy and earning a win here at Lights Out 8.
Outlaw 632 is a fast growing class with a wide variety of cars competing on big and small tires, stock suspension to former mountain motor Pro Stock cars running side by side. Here the radial is favored due to the tight track conditions with several big tire racers now making the switch including top qualifier and new record holder Ken Quartuccio, with his 4.284 Saturday night. He took himself out in round two with a red light easing the minds of some other racers in the hunt. Number two qualifier Dominic Augustine was running consistent 4.40’s weeding his way through the field and making opponents nervous as both Mike Oldham and Cory Cox out of the Voss racing camp went red looking for an advantage. Kenny Hubbard was on the other side of the ladder qualifying fourth, running a best in this class of 4.400 at 160 over Jim Aldous in round three overcoming Aldous’ .017 reaction, 4.51 performance. The final would be two small tire cars with Augustine taking the starting line with a .041 to Hubbard’s .077, though he slowed to a 7.59 after spinning the tires while Augustine put up a 4.403 at 156 to earn the win.
Nitrous X had thirteen cars in class with Jeff Carpenter going number one, runnign a 4.661 with his Induction Solutions equipped. 88 Mustang based out of Sweetwater, Tennessee. Troy Pirez Jr landed second with a new combination from Fast Forward Race Engines. Shawn Pevlor, Casey Smith and Matt Schlein rounded out the top five. Number eleven qualifier Zane Owen would earn the first round win over Smith and take out Schlein in round two leaving himself and the top three qualifiers left for the semi finals. Pirez and Pevlor met there with both racers on point leaving together and running side by side to the stripe where Pevlor nudged out the Seffner, Florida racer with a .041, 4.710 at 149 to Pirez’ 4.727 at 146. Carpenter would put up a 4.709 at 149 to best Owens setting up the final with Pevlor who has struggled keeping his front end on the ground. In the final it would be Pevlor away by a large margin hurting his chance at a win. Pevlor would put up a 4.709 at 155 in his BES/Nitrous Outlet powered ride to earn the win over Carpenter’s 4.779 at 148 MPH.
Zane Owen had two cars here this weekend also running in 6.0 Index where he met with Ricky Pennington in his 1971 Nova. Owen was .002 on the tree against the always tough Pennington. Both competitors were racing the stripe hard with Pennington coming away with the win with a 6.01 at 107 to Owen’s 6.07 at 117 MPH.
Open Comp went five rounds with Georgia based Ken Grant meeting Andre Nunez from San Juan Peurto Rico in his turbo charged S-10. Grant earned the win running a 6.604 on his 6.60 Index at 111 to Nunez’ 5.996 on his 5.97.
