The Limited Drag Radial record has fallen to a 4.05 and it came at the hands of a team that nobody saw coming. Neal Hawkins wheeled Xavier McBride’s nitrous-fed Musang to the record and number one spot in the class at Beech Bend Raceway Park. This team didn’t plan on coming over from the no time world, however, that choice now looks like one of the best they could have made.
“Jason Ruckert had been talking with us for a while trying to come do some LDR racing. The no time world has treated us well but it has run its course for us. We love the no time crowd, honestly, if it wasn’t for the no time racing community I don’t know if we would have come back to racing. We class raced for many years, then did the no time deal, now we’re back to class racing so everything has gone full circle,” McBride explains.
When Hawkins lit the boards up on Thursday with a record-setting 4.08 pass people were shocked. This was the first time a nitrous car had really flexed its muscles in the Limited Drag Radial class. In Friday’s final qualifying session the record fell again at the hands of Hawkins with an effortless 4.05 pass. For McBride, this is just business as usual for his team, they want to keep their head low and just race without any fanfare.
“We’re a humble group of guys here at Broke Ass Racing and we just like to race. The whole point to us coming to LDR was we wanted to try to come back and do well here. There is a lot left in this car and that’s going to be interesting. It’s going to take consistency to win this weekend based on how tough the cars are here. It will take low four-second passes to get the job done,” McBride says.
Are we in the era of sub-.900 60-foot times in radial-tire racing? That’s the question that will be debated until the next big nitrous run, but for now, it resulted in the mark to beat and a number that has everyone talking.
Hancock delivered a hit and a knock-out punch last night as he powered his Pat Musi-motivated, nitrous-assisted Camaro to the top of the Radial versus The World leaderboard with a 3.603 in the third session and a stunning, internet-breaking 3.599 in the early Saturday morning hours. The run was not only the third-quickest radial-tire run in history, but the first by a nitrous car on any tire.
Hancock had recorded a fuel-car-like .890 60-foot in the third session, drawing some attention from officials and fellow competitors of what would be the quickest short-time in radial racing history. Earlier in the day, fellow nitrous runner Jack Greene had his 3.65 thrown out after a likewise suspect .869 short-time.
“I was ecstatic when I saw the .59 on the scoreboard from in the car, especially after all the controversy of the 3.60 in the other lane and thinking it wasn’t right, and then doing it again in the other lane made it even better,” Hancock shares.
For the Alabama native, the monumental lap was the culmination of months of effort by he and his low-budget team.
I was ecstatic when I saw the .59 on the scoreboard from in the car, especially after all the controversy of the 3.60 in the other lane and thinking it wasn’t right, and then doing it again in the other lane made it even better.
“We struggled at the Sweet 16 t0 keep the front end on the ground — it was doing big wheelies every run and we couldn’t make any good runs…we didn’t get into the field until the final attempt. We finally figured out how to keep the front down to apply the power the way we want to, and that’s been the biggest difference,” he explains.
The sudden uptick in performance by the nitrous cars of Hancock, Greene, and former record-holder Marcus Birt, has breathed new life into the power-adder previously thought akin to bringing a knife to a gunfight. Now, nitrous cars hold three of the five quickest runs in radial racing history.
“The weight is what allows us to keep up with the other power adders. We have to work on keeping the front end down … we have to 60-foot hard because we can’t run 210 or 215 mph like the turbo cars. We have tp run hard to the 60-foot. We have a lot of people helping us, between Menscer Motorsports, Nitrous Outlet, M&M Transmission, they’ve done a lot of stuff for us over the winter and we’ve been struggling but all of those changes are coming together and it’s really working. We added some titanium stuff to the car to get it lighter and it’s all paying off.”
“We’re a low-budget team so we don’t try to run it hard out the back and hurt parts. Obviously, if we start to push it out the back harder it’s going to run even quicker,” he adds.
It's not a decision any promoter likes to make, and certainly not one who pours their heart and soul into an event like Tyler Crossnoe does, but he and his team determined the best course of action following steady rains throughout the morning and a less-than-favorable was to pull the plug on the sixth annual Outlaw Street Car Reunion. The decision was made not only in response to a soaked racetrack and additional rain on the way, but as an effort to get everyone on the road before severe weather moves int just south of Bowling Green tomorrow morning.
Among the heads-up categories here at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion, Pete Johnson’s show-quality 1963 Corvette is likely the only one that could be fired up and driven right out of the gate without hesitation. The Greenwood, Indiana native’s gorgeous self-built machine is powered by a 380 cubic-inch LSX paired with a set of BorgWarner S480 turbos and backed by a Powerglide transmission with a Gear Vendors overdrive.
“The car is really built for Drag Week-style stuff — it has to complete fuel systems, gas and alcohol, and we’ll run it on methanol here. This is our first time out this year — we broke it on the testing day before Drag Week kicked off last year. This is a brand new motor and we went 5.14 on the first hit here … it was just a soft hit to make sure everything is good. But it’s a real street car — we could drive it to the Shell station right now — we’d just change the tune and plug in the gas injectors and it’s ready to go.”
Johnson built the car himself over a span of three years, suing body his father had — the worst of the two, he admits. “I had Mustangs before this and I always got harassed about running an LS motor, and now I hear it from the Corvette people who can’t believe I’d cut up a Corvette to do this. It’a a step up — it used to be on stock suspension and now we have 4-link with factory A-arm setup. I’ve built a few cars, but it’s just for fun on the side.”
Mike Duke built the engine, which propelled it to a 4.93 in the opening round of Limited Drag Radial qualifying last night. Johnson’s goal is to put it in the 4.60s, which would put him on target to go 6.90s at over 200 mph at Drag Week or Rocky Mountain Race Week.
“I can’t run with these guys [in Limited Drag Radial] but we don’t really fit in anything else and it’s a good place to test on a great track.
The car sports a front and rear mounted fuel cell — the rear with an electric pump and the front off a crank-driven belt drive. A complete set of fuel rails and injectors for each system is neatly-plumbed under the intake plenum.
A year ago, Pro Modified newcomer Tim Blincoe’s weekend at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion came to an early and undesirable end in a terrifying accident when his ’63 Corvette spun around in the shutdown area, caught wind, and took flight, smashing down on its roof. Blincoe, a Kentucky bourbon warehouse magnate who may be the elder statesmen of the Midwest Pro Mod field this weekend, has long since forgotten the wild ride that initiated him to fast doorslammer racing, commenting only, “David [Monday, chassis builder] had it fixed in three weeks, you believe that?”
Blincoe has since achieved considerable success, earning his first major victory at the NMCA season opener in Bradenton, Florida in March. He and Monday, with the assistance of tuner Patrick Barnhill, burst onto the radial tire scene at Lights Out in February, running in the 3.70s in their debut. Blincoe then returned for the Sweet 16 and made the historic field on the bump spot with a 3.69, solidifying himself as a player in both the big- and small-tire game.
Monday has plans to assemble a pair of brand new C7 Corvette’s for he and Blincoe; Tom notes the two cars will be switching to lock-up torque converters in the near term, as well.
The team has nicknamed Blincoe’s Corvette “Spot,” as a series of major tire-shake episodes have knocked patches of paint loose all over the carbon fiber body, leaving patch spots along its flanks and the decklid area.
Blincoe struck the tires last night in qualifying round one and slowed to a 10.41.
Paolo Guist’s Radial versus The World Camaro has the most distinct and mesmerizing tone of any car in the category — with a Liberty 5-speed and a lock-up torque converter mated through a Quick Drive unit, the car audibly shifts six times in 660-feet. Paolo commented with a laugh: “it’s basically screaming ‘no, no, no, no, no, as it tries to blow itself up six times.”
It was a history-making affair in Friday’s marathon day of qualifying at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion. Following morning showers that pre-empted the day’s activities more than two hours, the action got hot and heavy early as the Midwest Pro Mod Series competitors began jockeying for position in the 16-car field in the day’s first session, plunging the bump spot into the 3.70s with each subsequent lap. Bahrain’s Ali Aryan stopped the clocks in 3.610-seconds to pace the field, while Jason Hamstra anchored the record field at 3.737. Tommy Franklin’s nitrous entry, third at 3.644, is sandwiched between four blower cars in the top five: Aryan, Justin Jones, Jeff Jones, and Aaron Wells.
Jamie Hancock
In Radial versus The World, Jamie Hancock stormed to the third-quickest pass in class history and the first in the 3.50’s by a nitrous car, blasting into the early Saturday morning darkness to a 3.599 at 198.17 mph. Hancock distanced himself by more than half a tenth over number-two Tim Slavens at 3.660. Mark Micke (3.662), Jack Greene (3.672), and Paolo Giust (3.684) rounded out the top five.
Nick Bruder
New Jersey’s Rich and Nick Bruder nearly added another mark in X275, as their small-block supercharged Mustang trumped the 4.290 it recorded on Thursday — a remarkable run in its own right — with a 4.236, just .001-second off their 4.235 world record clocked last month at the Sweet 16. Texan Kenny Hubbard joined Bruder in the 20s with a 4.256. Charles Hull (4.312), Ryan Millken (4.353), and Randy Matlock (4.359) round out the top five.
Martin Connelly
Bowling Green local Joel Greathouse will lead the Ultra Street field into eliminations thanks to a stout 4.635 at 147.55 mph, ahead of Brian Keep’s 4.649, Jesse Coulter’s 4.723, Paul Smith at 4.758, and Ron Belcher at 4.761. Martin Connelly paced the DXP 235 field with a 5.030 at 140.96 mph, just ahead of Austin Keen’s 5.096.
LDR No. 2 qualifier Paul Gargus’ beautiful twin-turbo ’68 Camaro.
Limited Drag Radial put on a show worthy of the price of admission in its own right, as the national record was traded back and forth in each of the two sessions of qualifying. Neil Hawkins entered the day on top at 4.13, but was leapfrogged this morning by Paul Gargus with the quickest run in class history at 4.080-seconds. Not to be denied, however, Hawkins powered back to the top in the sunset session with a record 4.066-seconds at 177.84 mph. An impressive 34 cars attempted to qualify for the 32-car field, which was anchored by Tracy Shores’ 5.11.
Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri area racer Ernie Dampier purchased the former Radial vs The World C6 Corvette over the winter that had previously been campaigned by Rodney Massengale, and with the help of Adam and Isaac Preston, converted the car over to Limited Drag radial trim. In addition to adding nearly 800-pounds of ballast to get it class legal, the 670-inch Pro Line combination had to be converted to 88mm turbos. The fuel injection was also switched over to Holley EFI. Dampier and the Prestons tested last week in Holly Spring, Mississippi, where Dampier pedaled his way to a mid-4.20 best.
“Last year I bought one of Rodney’s other cars, a white Camaro, and raced that in Ultra Street. I decided after the year was over I wanted to do something different so I bought this from Rodney and we’ve been giving it a makeover and changed some stuff on it,” Dampier explains. “The test at Holly Springs went really good, but ever since we showed up here it’s been fighting us. But I’m pretty excited about getting it al lined out and racing with it this summer.”
Yesterday, Dampier spun the carbon fiber driveshaft on the bonded yoke, and then in his second testing attempt this afternoon, fired the engine and, not liking what he heard, shut it down and was pushed away. After removing the valve covers, he and the Prestons found a lifter on the right bank missing — its whereabouts, of course, will determine his fate this weekend. For Dampier, who’s in the boat transportation business in one of the boating capitals of the United States, it may have been a weekend better served on the water.
Ohio’s Firepunk Diesel is chasing the outright diesel record with Edgar Artecona’s former Pro Stock Truck Chevrolet S-10, which they’re campaigning with the Midwest Pro Mod Series this weekend. The truck was shortened a full 10-inches in the offseason and updated to 25.2 specs in an effort to improve the front-rear weight balance. Noted ***Miller: “With the weight of the engine (estimated at 1,200-1,300-pounds), it was pretty front-heavy and we thought it would be pretty advantageous to shorten it up to get that weight balance. We got pretty close to our goal — we’re down to about 52-percent front weight bias, which is a l0t better than the 57-percent that we started out with.”
The truck is powered by a cast-iron 6.7-liter Cummins with a Wagler billet aluminum cylinder head, with boost provided by a 91mm Garrett turbocharger paired with two stages of nitrous decided to the spooling process and three larger kits plumbed into each intake runner in a maze of metal lines and jets. All told, it’s estimated to produce around 2,500 horsepower and enough torque to tug a locomotive through its Rossler Turbo 400.
Firepunk brought the new build out mid-summer last year with an 88mm on it, recording to a best of 4.48 at 169 mph to date. With a new set of Menscer shocks under the truck, the team is hoping to challenge the 4.28-second radial tire diesel record set by Ryan Milliken last month. At 3,140-pounds — certainly the heaviest Pro Mod entry on the grounds — being competitive may prove challenging, but surpassing a 4.28 is very much mathematically possible.
Unfortunately, a trail of death smoke on a late afternoon test hit may have spelled an untimely end to the weekend for this group.
A special guest was on hand for testing today: former NHRA Pro Stock competitor Mark Pawuk, putting laps on his Factory Stock Showdown Dodge Challenger Drag Pak. Fellow Don Schumacher Racing stablemate Phil Shuler joined Pawuk to assist in preparing the car before he departs for Houston to work with the various DSR nitro teams.
PDRA Pro Nitrous star Tommy Franklin wasted little time in leaving his mark in his Midwest Pro Mod Series debut, storming to a 3.67 to pace the nearly 30 cars on the property. Twenty four cars took a time in the opening session, and despite the warm conditions, the bump spot already sits at a strong 3.823, held down by Kentucky local Stephan Stringer. Texas Justin Jones checked in second at 3.686 in his blown C7 Corvette. Ali Aryan sits third at 3.695 and Missourians Randy Merick and Daniel Pharris round out the top five, at 3.705 and 3.709, respectively.
Joel Greathouse
Limited Drag Radial has an impressive presence for its second points series stop, as 30 cars took to the Beech Bend Raceway this evening. Madison, Alabama’s Neil Hawkins parked his big-block Mustang led the way at 4.135, just ahead of the 4.156 by radial tire vet Andy Manson.
Oakland, Kentucky’s Joel Greathouse made the hometown crowd proud as he led the 15 entries in Ultra Street at 4.669 and 152.14 mph. Rodney Ragan checked in second a 4.690, as Daniel Large, Paul Smith, and Jesse Coulter rounded out the top five at 4.776, 4.801, and 4.806, respectively.
Rich Bruder unloaded on the X275 field in the qualifying opener, proving to the 21 other cars in the category what the muggy Beech Bend track has in it, storming to a 4.290, compliments of a 1.03 short time to put a tenth and a half on the rest of the class. You have to go all the way back to a 4.475 to find number two qualifier Randy Matlock. Just four cars clocked runs in the forties.
In a tough session of Radial vs The World that saw just five cars run in the 3-second zone, the nitrous-assisted machine of Jack Greene topped the sheets with a stellar 3.738. Behind him sit three twin turbo cars and one supercharger: DeWayne Mills second at 3.777, Paolo Guist at 3.780, Mark Woodruff with a 3.806, and Ken Quartuccio’s 3.815.
Jack Greene (right).
Testing was in full swing today at Beech Bend Raceway Park for the Outlaw Street Car Reunion VI. There were plenty of Pro Mods and radial tire machines taking shots at the track to get ready for three days of hardcore racing. Teams were gathering as much data as possible to prepare for battle.
Esselman Returns To Action
Small tire veteran Travis Esselman is kicking off his 2019 season at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion with a new bullet in his 1989 Corvette. Essleman is also stepping up a weight class to Radial vs The World and he’s ready to show everyone he can be a player in the craziest class on radial tires.
“We put a 481X with parts from Alan Johnson Performance Engineering in the car in the offseason. The transmission and converter have been changed up for this year too. The switch to a 481X was made because I was running a big cubic-inch Chevy engine forever, but I wanted to step things to the next level. I wanted to put a Hemi in the car, but since it’s still a stock front clip car that wasn’t going to happen. The car has worked so well and I didn’t want to cut it up to make that Hemi fit,” Esselman explains.
Making such big changes can be accompanied by some growing pains and new car blues but Esselman is ready. He has faith in the car he’s built and with assistance tuning the car from Patrick Barnhill Esselman is coming out swinging this season.
“We think that this car will have something for the Radial vs The World class. Right now we just need some time with the old girl to get things sorted out. After we get some data it will be time to start getting after it in the tune-up,” Esselman says.
Marty Robinson’s Badfish Barracuda has been a work in progress as he tried to perfect the Mopar’s capabilities. Robinson has brought the car back out this year with a new power-adder combination and assistance from the Bruder brothers.
“We took the car to a twin turbo combination after the ProCharger and roots blower that was previously in the car. In my opinion, the turbo cars were starting to get an edge on the field and they were also getting a lot of support from companies. I hired the Bruder brothers to come on board as teammates. They are more than teammates, they are friends and that makes this a great partnership,” Robinson explains.
Bringing Nick and Rich Bruder into the fold has allowed Robinson’s team to expand its capabilities in a major way. The Bruder brothers have already made an impact in the program’s progress and that’s exactly what Robinson wants.
“We have created a super team and found the right combination of people and parts so we can run at the front of the pack in Radial vs The World. They’ve brought the team to a new level after working on the car for three months with the suspension and engine combination. Jeremy Evans has also played a big role with the team and he has been here since day one. He basically built this car front to back and knows it better than anybody. The Bruder brothers have found a way for this car to make more power than any other tuner and be consistent too,” Robinson says.
