(Words and Photos by Tommy Lee Byrd) – Yesterday we posted a gallery of photos from the Radial Resurrection event at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip, showcasing the incredible turnout of Drag Radial racers. Along with the outlaw drag radial cars, the event also featured four index classes, which were chock full of cool cars. 7.0, 6.0, 5.70 and 4.70 class designations offered a variety of platforms, from stock suspension, all-motor cars in the 7.0 class, to tube frame, fiberglass-bodied racers in the 4.70 class.
The only class that allows dragsters or throttle stops is the 5.70 class—the other index classes are designed for door slammers that put it all on the line. While the 7.0 and 6.0 classes provide plenty of entertainment with wheels-up launches and super competitive action, the 4.70 cars seem to get the most attention.Most of the 4.70 cars are retired Pro Modified cars, and some of them also run in the NHRA Top Sportsman classification. The 4.70 cars run big-inch big blocks, and most of them feature a truck load of nitrous.
As always there are a few cars that REALLY stand out, so we kept our camera locked in whenever they hit the track. The Soff Seal ’57 Chevy, which looks exactly like it did in the ‘90s, and terrorized the 4.70 circuit with deadly consistent times.
The “Super Toy” Monte Carlo is also a retired Pro Mod that was built by local racing legend, Wayne Barker. It was the first supercharged Pro Mod to qualify for a national IHRA race, and Wayne hand-built the car from the confines of a wheelchair in a small garage in Dunlap, TN. Wayne sold the car many years ago, and passed away in 2008, but his nephew, Garrett found the car and restored it to its “Super Toy” look. Another of our favorites is Eric Gullett’s wildly painted ’69 Camaro. This thing is a fairly simple back-half car, running on a small tire, with a small big block and a small budget—it’s an underdog, among a field of lighter, and more powerful cars, but it’s a crowd favorite and we love it too!
Hit the link below for Tommy Lee Byrd’s gallery of Index cars from the Radial Resurrection at Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip!
I went to Brainerd once before I knew it wasn’t a real dragstrip. I’ve never gone back to that sissy strip.
Brainerd is like every other 1/8 mile strip and golf courses. A total waste of real estate. And index racing is a total waste of time.
When are drivers going to start rowing a pair again and run real 1/4 mile races heads up and balls out?
It might be a waste of real estate to you, but eighth mile drag strips are all we have around here. That doesn’t make the racers any less capable than guys who have easy access to 1/4 mile tracks. All of the important stuff in drag racing happens in the first 660 feet anyway.
You haven’t been to very many 1/4 mile strips have ya?
The “eighth mile drag racing sucks” chorus is lame.
I’ve been to a few…Bristol, Indy, Atlanta, zMax, SGMP, etc. I would MUCH rather go to my home town tracks to support them and the people who race there. It’s the quarter mile snobs who stop supporting eighth mile tracks, and those snobs get their wish–the eighth mile tracks go out of business and become a shopping mall. Maybe you should buy my book, Lost Drag Strips, to find out more about that whole process.