Larry Larson Wins Top Sportsman At NHRA Kansas Nationals In Drag Week S-10 Truck – #1 Qualifier And A Wally!


Larry Larson Wins Top Sportsman At NHRA Kansas Nationals In Drag Week S-10 Truck – #1 Qualifier And A Wally!

(Photos by DRD Photos – not from Kansas event) – If we hadn’t seen most of it with our own eyes, we may not have believed it but just minutes ago, Larry Larson drove his now iconic S-10 truck to an NHRA national event victory at the Kansas Nationals. Larson was competing in the Top Sportsman category which is designed for very fast full bodied cars and trucks. Grabbing the number one qualifier spot in the field with a 6.297/228mph run, Larson then romped through eliminations, dialing the truck down into the 6-teens and running a best speed of 240mph in the final round. To tell you how “on” Larry was during the weekend, he even managed to record a perfect reaction time in the semi-final round!

The weekend was not without drama, though. In the quarter-finals, Larson was facing Greg Porter when Porter suffered a horrible crash that nearly gathered Larson up in the carnage. Coming down the course at nearly 200mph, Porter’s car got loose and turned left crossing the strip on two wheels and nearly spearing the truck in the process. Larry’s monster 239mph terminal speed on that run saved his bacon as he was powering by Porter as the car was coming at him. Porter was awake and talking to safety safari officials after the crash but his car sustained significant damage.

Through the rounds, Larson was deadly consistent. The truck went 6.19/6.18/6.14 before a coasting 6.28 second victory in the semi-finals. After collecting that win light, more drama befell Larson as the dipstick pushed out of the transmission, depositing fluid onto the course. The temps were falling the the dew point was nearly reached so race officials decided to finish sportsman eliminations on Monday and that’s where Larry took the win in the final round at the virtually empty Heartland Park Topeka track.

While certainly not the first Drag Week driver to record an NHRA national event win, it is for sure the first Unlimited class Drag Week vehicle to turn the trick. The legend of Larry Larson grows ever larger with this win and while we’re not 100% sure we are looking into the fact that this is almost certainly the first street legal and driven vehicle to win Top Sportsman at an NHRA national event. With an eye toward being consistent Larson took on all comers and earned the most coveted piece of iron in drag racing, a Wally.

We have some video to get together but we wanted to share this news because it has literally just happened!

Congrats to Larry, Sherri, Jeff, and everyone else that lent a hand in the effort this weekend. Truly a milestone for street legal drag racing and yet another one for the humble chassis builder that hails from Oak Grove, Missouri.

(Photo credit: Larson Race Cars) 

larry

larson1


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0

20 thoughts on “Larry Larson Wins Top Sportsman At NHRA Kansas Nationals In Drag Week S-10 Truck – #1 Qualifier And A Wally!

  1. Michael

    Awesome to hear this news . Can’t wait to see the video .
    This is cool because at our car club’s show Jeff Lutz was there with the evil twin on display. Those guys are the s@#$t.

  2. C Royer

    Incredible achievement, great to see hard work, solid plan for a vehicle get rewarded. WHERES THE BS STICKER ON THAT TRUCK?

    1. SST 5244

      He hauled it in a 24′ tag trailer behind a pickup. The trailer had almost no spare parts loaded in it and a small tool box sat on the back door of the trailer. He had less tools and equipment with him than almost everybody else on the grounds.

  3. Danny

    Yes, Larry did win Top Sportsman at an NHRA National event and has the Wally to prove it, but in all fairness, Larry did not have even one really competitive run all the way to the finish in 4 of the 5 rounds.
    His opponent went red the first and third rounds, he had a bye the second round, the fourth round (when he had his .000 reaction time) his opponent had problems and had to back off the throttle down track (likely due to traction because of the high dew point, which caused the final round to be held over on Monday) and the final round Larry’s reaction time was a .103 versus his opponent’s .002, but luckily for him his opponent took too much stripe giving Larry the win. For the 4 rounds of eliminations that Larry left the tree green , his reaction time average was .065, very lackluster as bracket racing goes.
    Yes, it takes more than having a good car and good driving to win almost any drag racing event, but luck (good or bad) plays a very large part of every round and Larry did get a lot of breaks at Topeka.
    Even so, the fact that he showed up and ran so well in such a highly competitive class makes Larry’s accomplishment with a street car mind boggling and Larry deserves his Wally.

    1. Jason

      In all fairness, he won. Period. End of story. I’ll bet you’re just mister consistent .00x on the tree and run your number every time. Right? C’mon, tell me I’m right. And you’ve never had somebody go red against you, or take too much stripe or rattle/spin the tires and abort… Right? smh

      1. Grippo

        Sorry, meant to say Danny’s facts tell the whole story. And his last line sums it up perfectly.

    2. Donnie

      Larry Larson fan Huh? He did what HE had to do to win. Never pay attention to your opponents! Run your race not theirs! A win is where luck and preparation meet! Hey Jason! What did you take home from the Kansas Nationals besides wet clothes? I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t a WALLY!
      ;0

      1. Donnie

        Larry Larson fan Huh? He did what HE had to do to win. Never pay attention to your opponents! Run your race not theirs! A win is where luck and preparation meet! Hey Jason! What did you take home from the Kansas Nationals besides wet clothes? I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t a WALLY!
        ;0

        DANNY! sorry Jason!

  4. doug gregory

    Much Kudos to the Larson race cars team. It takes everyone to get it done.
    How cool is it for a road-driving pickup to go into the big show and could have cleaned house in Pro Stock with something far more cool, much more interesting, and likely less-expensive to reproduce than a modern-day pro-stocker. He could have absolutely slept at the line and still freight-trained the whole Pro Stock field. To me….that’s more of a story than anything else. ‘Drag Week 2014 winner bests the Pro Stock field by tenths and looked cool doing it’ I’ll tell you which one I’d rather watch.

  5. Brian Lohnes

    Lots of stuff in Top Sportsman and Top Dragster is quicker than pro stock. It is like comparing apes to oranges.

  6. Vinnie

    First, Congratulations are well deserved here, to Larry, Sherri, and the crew. Excellent job ! Now, lets see what kind of B S we hear from across the pond. And don’t forget Checkbook Charlie and his Camaro. Also, don’t count out Jeff Lutz, he may be back . Wait till D W 2015, very interesting for sure.

  7. henry

    first off doug gregory your out to lunch, larsons truck is so far from prostock it might as well be a JR dragster, to compare the two together shows a huge miss-understanding of the rules. Second, yes lasron won its great for him. more then i can claim as i have never won a top sportsman event but for god sake, can you all please stop referencing it as a street legal vehicle that won. It did not race in street legal form. It raced in race form, there for it is a race vehicle, Just like any other in the class. Did he win a few rounds by default, sure he did but who cares, a win is a win.

  8. Chaun Benfield

    I was listening and looking at results the weekend Larry and the crew won Top Sportsman with this truck, (truth be told one of the few reasons too) and the guys at work would have sen me throwing my arms up saying yes if they came around the corner at the break area. I was so happy for Larry and everyone involved with this one of a kind rad ride. Thanks guys for posting.

Comments are closed.