It’s hot, it’s humid, and that means it’s time for the Super Bowl of no prep racing Outlaw Armageddon. The fifth edition of this massive event kicks off today at Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Nobile, Oklahoma. There re well over 350 cars here on the property ready to throw down for their chance to win Outlaw Armageddon.
Radial racing star DeWayne Mills turned heads this year when he unveiled his no prep Camaro project Golden Kong. Along with his partner Danial Pharris, Mills has been able to make some waves in the no prep world in a hurry. Coming to Outlaw Armageddon is a whole new level of no prep racing for Mills but he has shown up ready for war.
“I look at it this like racing on the tracks they were 20 years ago. All of these fancy spray rigs and drags didn’t exist so we’ve done this before, it’s just been a while,” Mills says.
Making the switch to no prep racing has been a slight adjustment for Mills. Driving a 5,000 horsepower car on a radial prepared track is wild, doing it on a track with very little glue on slicks is a crazy ride. So far Mills has been able to transition into the no prep world very well.
“In the no prep stuff you want to get the nose up on the car and the steering wheel feels really light when you do that. I went for a short flight a few years ago in the radial car so I’m always trying to keep the front end down with that car, so it’s hard to get used to that feeling with this car. I’m not used to having wheelie bars back there as well, so it’s been a little bit of a mental adjustment trying to remember those are there to keep the car planted,” Mills explains.
The no prep experience has been very positive for Mills so far. He enjoys the different style of racing and what it brings to the table.
“Coming to these no prep races has been great, the fans are awesome and it’s obvious Street Outlaws has helped the sport of drag racing more than people realize. All you have to do is look at the stands during eliminations at these events and they’re packed. It’s a different bunch of people that come to these races and they’re down to earth. These fans are just like me, I go to work each day and so do they. When you get to race in front of a lot of people it’s always fun,” Mills says.
Brent Austin Is Here For A Good Time
When you talk with Brent Austin you learn quickly that he’s very down to Earth and loves to spend time at the track racing his Camaro. Last year at Outlaw Armageddon Austin was able to pick up the win during the Friday night big tire race. So far in 2019 Austin has been relatively quiet, but he’s back and ready to give the no prep world a new set of headaches.
“We went to the first No Prep Kings (NPK) event and I just didn’t agree with a lot of what was going on so I decided to take some time off and finish a bunch of projects. We’ve come to this event for the past four years and always had a good time, so we had to come back again this year. If we have a good time at this one we’ll go to the Route 66 NPK event,” Austin explains.
After a successful 2018 season, Austin wasn’t going to sit back and not try to improve his program. He spent the winter months putting a new intake manifold on his Camaro to help his ProCharger breathe even more air into the HEMI powerplant. The new intake provided a new set of challenges for Austin to figure out when he debuted it this year.
“The only change I made was to the intake of the car. Doing that made a lot of changes with how the car acts and what the tune needs. We’ve only had five hits on the car at MDIR and what we made here so far at Armageddon. It has kind of put us back to square one with everything. It changed where the engine made power in certain areas and hurt it in others. The other thing it did was change how the air is distributed to the cylinders so I’ve had to adjust for that,” Austin says.
So far Austin has been able to get a handle on the new intake as he navigates the new format for Outlaw Armageddon this year. This event always provides an interesting set of challenges and Austin is ready to smash his way into the big show on Saturday anyway he can.
“I’m having fun racing my car and that’s what it’s all about. Things are going to be interesting with the hot conditions and what it will do to the track. It’s also rained and that will change things as well so what you did in testing means nothing. I think this is really going to be not just a driver’s race but a tuner’s race as well. To win it all you’re going to have to get lucky plain and simple. If it’s your lucky day there’s no way I can’t beat you or anybody else can,” Austin explains.
Eric Bain’s Wild Journey To Outlaw Armageddon
Eric Bain is one of the most hardcore racers you’ll ever find at the drag strip. As he’s made a name for himself in the no prep world he’s also shown there’s nothing he won’t do to make a race. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mad thrash to get a car repaired after a crash or installing new parts he’s game. This year has been one of big changes for Bain between a new car and larger powerplant. Coming into Outlaw Armageddon Bain decided to throw a new engine into his Boosted Ego Camaro.
“We started NPK season three with this new Camaro and had an old 481x in the car that was freshened up but knew we would need more. To get something better with more power we contacted Steve Morris Racing Engines. He got us something ready that was made with our old spare parts and it worked well. For this race, he sent us the brand new 481x and we had a lot of work to do. We’ve thrashed to have the car prepared for this race and really didn’t fire it up until we got here,” Bain explains.
Just getting the engine into the car and running was a monumental task, however, that wasn’t the end of the work for Bain. His team ran into some issues after they got the car fired up, but they rolled up their sleeves and got to work to solve the problems.
“After we got the car running it started having some oil pressure issues that needed to be addressed. Usually, the problem is not enough oil pressure, well, in this case, we had way too much at over 200 pounds. We tamed the pump down a little bit and made some new lines then had to deal with a few leaks. There were also some injector issues we had to figure out that were related to the o-rings. We got that fixed and the car was ready to go,” Bain says.
Bain’s hard work paid off and Boosted Ego made the call for the first round of racing today. On his first pass, he was able to get down the track and get some good data while picking up the win. During his second-round matchup with Ryan Martin, things got really crazy as his Camaro crossed the finish line sideways, but he was able to pick up the win.
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