(Words and photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip—some say it is the birthplace of outlaw street car racing in the Southeast. In the ‘90s and 2000’s, it was a hotbed for some of the wildest eighth mile racing in the country, and it helped grow 10.5 racing into the super competitive sport that it is today.

Despite the track’s great history, the past 10 years or so had not been kind to the racing surface. Small tire, stock suspension racing is very dependent on a good track surface, so when the cars started having trouble getting down the track, the crowds fell off. Last fall, the Brainerd Optimist Club invested LOTS of money into upgrading the track, and gave it a fresh concrete racing surface.

The Radial Resurrection outlaw race was the first big race on the new surface, and it proved to be the answer to the traction issues that plagued this track for many years. The previous record pass on a 275 drag radial was blown away by more than 4 tenths—so yeah, the track was working! The Drag Radial racing is split into five classes: Cheap 235, Extreme 255, 275 Street, 275 Outlaw and Radial vs. the World. Each class had great participation and the track worked great, no matter what size tires were used. We sawsmall blocks, big blocks, turbos, nitrous, blowers, and lots of wild combinations. For instance, Bugzilla—we’re pretty sure you’ll figure out which car that is when you check out the gallery.

This outlaw heads up event occurs on the third Saturday of the month, so mark those calendars and attend one of the biggest up-and-coming drag radial events at the birthplace of Southern outlaw racing. The monthly race also features four eighth mile index classes, and we’ll post up photos of the index cars tomorrow—more wild stuff to come!

Hit the link for Tommy Lee Byrd’s gallery of Drag Radial cars from the Radial Resurrection at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip!