Banrstormin’: A Weekend With The Outlaws


Banrstormin’: A Weekend With The Outlaws

(Lead image credit: SpeedVideo.com) – I’m not going to lie, rolling into Bradenton Motorsports Park last weekend felt pretty damned good. It isn’t like it has been a great while since I have been to the drags but anytime you get to be in the thick of doing stuff that you love, it is special. The first race of my 2017 season was the US Street Nationals at the aforementioned Bradenton Motorsports Park.

This was my first of what will be three visits to Bradenton in 2017. I’ll be back for the NMRA and NMCA season openers in the coming weeks. It is a cool place. The racing surface there is truly incredible. I mean that with all the sincerity that I can muster because it is true. The little track absolutely dominates the early and off-season headlines with all of the testing that gets done. Sometimes that testing is done very quietly and other times people are screaming from the treetops when all goes well.

When I was thinking about the 2017 season, I really wanted to do some outlaw/radial style races. My experiences with NMRA and NMCA over the last couple seasons piqued my interest in this side of the sport. Being able to open up my season with some of the greatest radial cars on the planet, some of the greatest legal pro mods on the planet, and a host of other awesome stuff was just what the doctor ordered. I’ll be working as Lee Sebring’s wing man  at Lights Out 8, and serving in the same roll with Al Tucci at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion in Memphis come March. Oh, and between there I’ll keep the mojo working with the NHRA schedule. I’ve been studying like mad!

But back to Bradenton. It was my first experience with Limited Drag Radial other than watching it on a live stream and I came away extremely impressed with the category. What the Radial vs The World guys are doing is incredible because it basically defies physics and logic. I’m not taking anything away from them when I say that they represent a level that very few will ever get to. Limited Drag Radial with its lack of wheelie bars, lack of rules regarding how big motors can be and mandates about factory body panels, stock style suspension, and lots of steel body panels is magical stuff to watch. These cars were regularly pulling down track wheelies like nobody’s business and the drivers are setting them down like they were all expecting it…probably because they were.

Listen, you have not lived in drag racing until you have seen a car on a radial tire and freaking leaf springs run in the 4.20s at more than 170mph. That is INSANE. Literally insane and it happened with a regularly identifiable body, an “off brand” power plant, and lots of brain power. That’s a magic combination in my eyes. Those elements are what set the foundation for this sport and the truths still remain self-evident.

Jason Scruggs made the most impressive door slammer run I have ever witnessed with my own two eyes at the event when he ran 3.51@222mph. I forget what the incremental were on that one but I can tell you that virtually I have never witnessed a full bodied car accelerate harder than that thing off of the starting line.

I have to believe that where radial racing is right now is where the top fuel category was in the middle 1960s. A “form” is coming to shape about what’s fast and what is not so some of the off-the-wall stuff may be being squeezed out by progress but it still has this amazing wide-open feel few things in the sport have. For me personally these cars are second only to nitro powered machines in the “what happens next?” category. You need to be on your toes every second to be ready for the next wheelie, calamity, near miss, and wall contact.

Kye Kelley was there racing “The Shocker” for what may have been one of the first times with the scoreboards on. A 988ci nitrous monster now lurks under the hood and while the weekend did not go according to plan, we’re sure Kye will get the car lined out and be racing at events like Lights Out 8, the Reunion, and others. I think that it is pretty bad ass he decided to take the Shocker out and run it in a clocks on and the fans loved it. He pulled some of the most violently awesome wheelies of the entire weekend.

So the bottom line is this. The race was awesome. Awesome enough that if you are a hardcore fan of this style racing, you need to be at it next year. In many ways it is like a pre-season all star event comprised of every cool category the sport has to offer. From PDRA Pro Extreme style cars right down to the index stuff, everyone is represented. Easily one of the best “bang for the buck” self-produced track shows in the country.

Well, I knocked the edge off and the 2017 season has officially started. One of my secret vows this year is to do a far better job with this column in terms of timeliness and taking you on adventures bod good and bad. Consider this the first. Also consider me hooked harder than a radial on this part of drag racing.

Can’t wait to get to Pomona and then onto SGMP….talk about culture shock!

 

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7 thoughts on “Banrstormin’: A Weekend With The Outlaws

  1. Race Car Alex

    Much to the chagrin of my family, I watched every single pass on the live feed on Saturday. Sunday morning, we went up to Green Cove to test the car. After 5 passes, personal bests at every time clock, and a minor electrical fire that toasted a few wires and ended our day, I was very happy to turn on the live feed Just as Mike Janis Jr was “about to have a religious experience” when Thorne was taking forever. Watched all the way to the end from that point on. Being a friend personally of Janis, It hurt to see him put it in the wall…I pretty much jumped up and down when they pulled up for round 3. Being a Mopar guy. Being a leaf spring guy. I couldn’t help but celebrate with each and every pass that Dart made. The finals were incredible in all classes. Quartuccio going 4.33 his first race on radials, the wheelie in Ultra street, Jose shaking and watching Ty drive right by him for the win, Woody having the coals poured to it….we all know how that worked out….Then of course you’ve got Little country and Fiscus in the finals…There was a lot of awesomeness right there.

  2. Shawn Fox Firth

    Watched Every minute of the stream , really enjoyed your play by play Brian and the color man Bob was cool too , look forward to the upcoming events …

  3. Shawn Fox Firth

    Hey Brian is there no way You can show Re-plays ? some of those passes were well worth a second and third look . ..

  4. Don

    The HD feed was great, I watched all weekend, sometimes on phone in car and then larger screen when home. To the fellow wishing for replay.. the feed is like a DVR, just “pull” the bar back as far as you want and watch it over and over if you like. I watched every race by backing up when necessary.
    Brian, you did a great job, but Bob is a classic. I love him and really feel like I am at the races when I hear his voice.

    1. Brian Lohnes Post author

      Don, Bob is a classic and a class act. I was a visitor in his house. We were both cutting up pretty hard off microphone by the end of the weekend.

      It was really an honor to work with him. He is one of the most tenured in the entire sport and has a history that many people do not know about.

      Brian

      1. Race Car Alex

        It was great to watch you guys throughout the feed. With you guys in the tower, there’s two completely different sides of the game going on. By Sunday, you guys had meshed together into a quite amazing pair. It was really awesome.

  5. Big Sky Dreamer

    I too, watched the live feed, rain delay and all! Brian, you’re a great representative of this sport and are a joy to watch and listen to.

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