Lyle Barnett is driving Jason Digby’s car again for 2018 and it’s fresh from some off season updates at Mag’s Fabworks including rear suspension upgrades and additional bars, new exhaust system and a fresh engine from HED along with a fresh converter from Greg Slack. Lyle is running RVW this weekend to get some testing in in good weather. He scored a 4.49 at 165 this afternoon.

Don Walsh Jr has the teams new car here this weekend which was purchased as a roller from Jose Gonzalez and fitted with the teams own Hemi fed with a pair of Precision turbos backed by an M&M transmission and converter. Plans for the season include some NMCA and PDRA events with the intent of having a good time with dates that don’t conflict with his daughters traveling volleyball series. Crew chief is Justin Haddon with Michael Begley and Chris Church along for assistance, sponsor assistance come from HPL oil, Brisk spark plugs and VP Racing Fuels.

Robert Abbott scored a 3.85 on his first full pass with the chassis upgrades from Coast Chassis Design after a crash last year. It’s stretched a few inches now from it’s days as a stock wheelbase car and running straight down the track.

Dewayne Mills has some changes in the off season centered around getting the weight down to class minimum standards in Pro Drag Radial which entailed moving the turbos out front and dropping the hundred pounds of “wheelie reduction” weight added to the car. He scored a 3.73 testing this week and is ready for qualifying.

Outlaw 632 racer Ryan Thorp has a new engine combo and has been struggling a bit with converter/transmission issues since swapping over. He managed a 4.48 today which showed an improved response. The team also had a promising recent dyno session at Scranton Engine and Dyno with engine builder Joe Irwin from Fast Forward Race Engines.

Steve Jackson laid down a nice 3.74 at 200 this afternoon. Look for him to perform well given his consistency here at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals last year.

Mark Wells was here testing with decent results this week but couldn’t quite get where they wanted with the front struts so are awaiting fresh replacement units from Strange Engineering tomorrow.

Paulo Giust’s Black Betty ran a 3.78 personal best on Thursday and came out for Friday’s shakedown session where he put up a 3.79. This is the first event out with the Pro Drag Radial car since standing it up at No Mercy last year, some minor damage was repaired in the off season and she is clearly good to go for 2018. “We are running with the best now, in the 3.70’s where you need to be. We are scheduled for this event, Lights Out and the Sweet 16 at SGMP and then looking to run some NMCA events with the Pro Mod, I’ve heard nothing but good things about it and looking forward to racing that series.” – Paulo Giust. Black Betty is MSR powered with a Quick Lock Quick Drive and a Liberty 5 speed transferring the power to the rear. Mark Menscer shocks help keep things planted with Jim Salemi of G Force Race Cars as the team crew chief.

Chad Opaleski made the switch from Procharger to C Rotor screw with Bob Newberry a welcome addition to the team in the search for more power and lower ET’s. The Fast Forward Race Engines built Hemi is still residing between the rails but now sports mechanical injection and a magneto. So far Chad has made a few short hits getting it dialed in and it’s looking good so far.

Frank Beal from 5 Day Plantation Shutters has his Mustang fitted for Outlaw 632 now with Daryl Hameetman driving and proving the horsepower via his HRE engine shop.Daryl is in eighth position so far with a 4.51 at 156 MPH running at 2775 pounds this weekend.

Robert Abbott improved his ET to a 3.80 at 198 in the final session landing ninth for the “ WYO” Tutterow powered Camaro in Pro Mod Boost.”Thanks to Tim at Coast Chassis, the car is smooth, smooth, he’s done a wonderful job with that car, start to finish was about five and a half months. We are going to stay with our local racing schedule this year and may hit the Atlanta NMCA race. My crew does an awesome job, my son in law Guy Carlton runs the computer with Scotty Halstead as crew chief, my main man Javier does the tires and whatever else needs help getting done and my brother Craig does the cooking and drives the rig.”

Randy Adler had a very nice run in the final session, making it through the “Shake Zone” for the first time this weekend. “It had the front end hiked and she was hauling, it was over too fast, the fastest run the car has ever made.” – Randy Adler. His previous best was a 3.75 in Orlando, tonight’s 3.71 at 206 is a big step and puts him in fourth so far.

Jim Bersani also scored a new best 3.88 at 200 and has been testing here this week with PTP’s Patrick Barnhill and gained some consistency running several 3.90 runs. “ Thanks to Jim Francia, who’s been helping me now for some time, Patrick Barnhill and Jason Lee and Jerry and Gary who came to help this weekend and Patty the pit Bull for pit security.” – Jim Bersani

Bryan Markewicz is debuting his new Pro Drag Radial car this weekend, which he purchased from Mike Stravinos and now powered by a PLR stage 3 570 cubic inch engine with 102 Precision turbos feeding the boost and backed by a Bruno Lenco. Its been near seven years since Bryan raced in Outlaw 10.5 and the team is excited to be back in the game. “We have a Fuel Tech engine management with Josh Ledford as our main tuner with just three runs on the car so far. We plan to race here and through the sweet 16 Donald is putting on and taking the summer off boating, but we are back and it feels good. – Bryan Markewicz

Brian Keep had an easy 4.79 in the first session and improved to a 4.74 in Ultra Street landing second behind Bart Tobener’s 4.71 at 149. He is still looking for 60′ to improve but the car is coming around nicely in just four outings with the new Procharged combination.

Les Feist is number one Open Outlaw qualifier after two sessions with a 3.76 at 195 in his Procharged 2013 Miller chassis dragster.

Team Ensslin Racing struggled a bit with clutch settings with the two car father and son team with Jordan (son) and Jeff qualified two and three with a 4.37 and 4.41 respectively. Look for four or five hundredths quicker from these cars if the clutch set up is right tomorrow. “ We gotta thank Edmunds Metal Works and Team Edmunds and Santuff Suspension and all the folks that are just too many to thank by name, there are always so many that help in small yet appreciated ways that contribute to a team success. – Jeff Ensslin Jordan Ensslin shown.

Lizzi Musi leads the Pro Mod Nitrous class with a clean 3.69 at 205