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For the second year in a row, Danny Topol and his team at the West Coast Hot Rod Association put on the biggest grudge race the West Coast has ever seen. Dubbed, “The Battle” presented by Ultra Carbon, the event is now in its second year and brought more bragging rights to the table. Participants from three countries assembled on the grounds of Las Vegas Motor Speedway to claim the titles in their respective classes.
The West Coast Hot Rod Association crew!
Since this was a grudge race, the format was quite different from your average race at the drag strip. Pairing were drawn each round, meaning the competitors would never know who they were running until the finals. The competition on the track resembled much like it does on the street: instant green light (think arm drop) and no clocks. The time slips were cut off (except for brackets) so you would never see what your opponent ran. The classes included: Big Tire, Small Tire, Pro Mod, Outlaw 8.5, Ultra Street, and electronics and non-electronics bracket. And of course, there were designated lanes for “grudge” matchups, both 1/8- and 1/4- mile. The rules were kept simple but mirrored other organizations to alleviate people needing to change set ups — a huge problem in the past. From mild to wild, they were all there to win.
Photographer Jim McCarthy captured some of the best highlights of the event! Lifting and losing was not an option for many of these competitors.
This event brought some pretty big names into Las Vegas, such as big time West Coast grudge racers ”Team Boddie” from Street Outlaws, Pro Mod racers Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor, and former NHRA and SCSN event winner Rick Snavely were just a few of the who’s-who that came to play.
Photographer Shane Bako caught one of the most unique entries of the weekend: Bill Norman's home-made dragster, complete with a 1,000 cc motorcycle engine. The dragster is certified to 7.50 in the 1/4-mile and competes in the non-electronics class.
Check out the big winners!
In the highly competitive Outlaw 8.5, multi-time West Coast Champion George Raygoza of Orland, California and his memorable orange Nova defeated teammate Casey Van Tol.
Madera, California’s Mike Silva wheeled his shoebox Nova to a victory over David Holtgrew in Ultra Street.
In the events' fastest class, Frankie “Mad Man” Taylor of Dickinson, Texas, drove Jay Diedrich’s blown Camaro to a defeat of the Turbos Direct car of Rick Snavely in one of the closest's margins of victory all weekend.
In Small Tire, local Las Vegas racer Frank Yee in his Modular powered 03 Cobra defeated heavy hitter Ryan “Toaster Jones.
Big Tire saw Mike Dowling and his big bodied Chevelle all the way from Helena, Montana take out Street Outlaws competitor Cole Dow.
In the bracket categories, Scott Fivella of Las Vegas and Shane Thompson of Henderson, Nevada won Pro and Super Pro respectively.
We asked Danny what his inspiration for creating this type of event was, and he shared, “I’m a racer first and foremost. The West Coast has a ton of cars that deserve recognition and I wanted to do my part in affording the opportunity for everyone to have a fun but safe place to race.” Danny also said, “Its about racing; nothing more and nothing less. I would do this even if I didn’t make a dime. To keep this sport alive, we need to put our differences aside and focus on the very thing we all love doing, drag racing.”
