We often hear the lament that showmanship is dead in drag racing and that the whole thing has gotten stale. Those cries come from people who keep a very narrow view of the sport and don’t manage to look around to see all the insane stuff that is going on these days. Case in point, this video made by Jake Simmons at the recent Match Race Madness event held at North Star Dragway in Texas. The major battle of the night was a three run shootout between Frankie Taylor and his absolutely all hanging out pro mod from Hell that is capable of running 5.40s in the quarter mile and the blown, nitro burning, War Wagon AA/FA of Howard Farris. The matchup was awesome because both cars run very, very deep into the threes in the eighth mile and within a tenth or so of each other on clean runs.

The differences between the two machines make this match race the best one on the planet. Frankie’s Corvette is slick and slippery, using a block alky burning hemi and some of the most advanced management software outside of a NASA building where Farris has the short wheelbase, unsprung center steer AA/FA with the motor in his lap, header flames to the wing, and the liquid supercharger in the tank. Literally opposite ends of the visual and tune up spectrums but their tight performances makes this a fun deal. We’re pretty sure that this is not the first time Taylor has thrown down against a fuel altered. Hell, that guy would match race a rocket powered dump truck if someone challenged him.

Showmanship in drag racing is not dead. You may have to look for it a little bit but there are an unprecedented number of very fast cars in the sport these days that put on shows like this one (maybe not match racing nitro cars but you get where we’re going here) all over the country. We do our best to show you every side of the sport that we can. From the NHRA show to IHRA coverage, to guys drag racing loaded trucks up Canadian streets to match race insanity like this. We love every twisted aspect of straight line racing and we’ll continue to for decades. Videos like this one further reinforce our love for this ragged edged, envelop pushing sport.

What a show!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THE COOLEST MATCH RACE IN THE WORLD – OUTLAW PRO MOD VERSUS AA/FA AT NORTH STAR DRAGWAY –