“We threw an air-to-water intercooler together, changed the turbo, and changed the tires,” says Dwayne James, of daughter Haley’s NMRA Coyote Modified championship car. Haley’s running in the Outlaw 8.5 class this weekend; on their first hit, Dwayne had a tuneup in the car designed to get it down the track, so they could gather some data on the new combination.

Krusty Ramsey says that everyone in the class is looking to be in the 4.80s this weekend in Outlaw 8.5. He told us he went 5.000 in Denver just two weeks ago, in 7,400 feet of air. We don’t think this is the way to 4.80s, but it sure does make for a cool photo.

Rick Thornton and the Texas boys went through four different snowstorms on the way here, but that’s not the biggest challenge of the weekend. Thornton regularly tests at North Star Dragway in Denton, and he says that everywhere else they go to race is a challenge as the racing surface isn’t always the same quality. He was able to go about 100 feet in Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial (1/8 mile) before going up in smoke in the first round today.

Brant Campbell of Turbobullet.com (far lane) has had a tough couple of weeks; a windstorm came through his hometown a few weeks ago and flipped his trailer over. Luckily the car wasn’t inside, but a few of the body panels were, so he’s rolling with a few boo-boos. Campbell runs in the Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial (1/8 mile) on the smaller 275-wide tire, as he says it’s more consistent for his particular 118mm-turbocharged combination.

Another part of the Texas Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial (1/8 mile) contingent, Jason Michalak, turned in a sweet 4.179 at 187.50 mph in the first round. As Michalak has been deep into the 3s already, we have to wonder whether he can make that happen on this track surface.

The purchase of this car could have been the steal of the year for Ryan Martin. Also competing in 10.5 vs. Radial (1/8 mile), Martin stopped the clocks with a 4.155 at 188.73 mph. If you don’t recognize the car, this is the former Joe Copson-owned, Bill Gilsbach-built Camaro that was a terror in the East Coast Outlaw 10.5 wars. The car’s only been raced on radials a few times, and is already leading the pack so far this weekend.

Just moments after this burnout, Steven Fereday went for a wild ride into the sand in Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial (1/8). Despite the dirt visit, Fereday stopped the clocks with a 4.170 to slot between Martin and Michalak.

It’s a long haul from Ocala, Florida, but so far it’s worth Josh Klugger’s time — he ran a stout 6.571 at only 190 mph on this pass to takethe second spot in Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial (1/4 mile). The low MPH leads us to believe Klugger pulled the chutes early; we wouldn’t be surprised to see this car dip into the 6.30s as the weekend progresses.

Tony Aneian’s ’67 Camaro is one of the prettiest cars on the property, and it runs as well as it looks. He sits in the second spot in Hot Street with an 8.108, just a tick behind Dwight Ausmus’ 8.095.

It looks like Krusty’s prediction was correct, as Ryan ‘Toaster’ Jones laid down a whopper of a pass in Outlaw 8.5 this afternoon. 4.869 at 154.71 mph — more than 10 mph faster than the rest of the field.

Andrew Berry turned in a stout 5.86 in the top half of the Pro Mod Shootout. He and his crew anxiously await the rest of the passes to see if he’d become the king of the hill this evening.

It was not to be, as in the next-to-last pairing, none other than event sponsor Troy Coughlin knocked down an insane 5.68 in his NHRA-legal Pro Mod to take home the evening’s prize.

The ever-humble and gracious Coughlin accepting the thousand bucks for his efforts in the Pro Mod Shootout.

It came at a price, however, as crew chief (and fellow Jegs driver) Mikey Rees was hard at work at the end of the night to remove the passenger-side exhaust due to a crack in a header tube.

Steve Petty and the Moits team, including driver Paul Mouhayet, were trying to diagnose an issue with the car not performing when Mouhayet dropped the hammer during the Pro Mod Shootout. We didn’t want to intrude, but since they appeared to be testing the injectors, we have to assume there’s some sort of electrical gremlin that’s appeared.

Eric ‘The Wildman’ Peterson made a hit during the test session and discovered a bad piston — and worse, damage to the cylinder head. With the help of crewmember Billy ‘The Kid’ Knannlein (seen here retorquing the head) they repaired the damage and say they’ll be ready for the morning. Peterson runs in the Pro Mod class on 10.5-wide tires and has been a best of 6.80s at 209 mph.