Gear Vendor’s Drag Week 2011 is over and, as usual, racers around the world are scheming up their newest dream racecar to take down Larry Larson, Todd Maschmeier, or Tim Reed at Drag Week 2012. The biggest Drag Week in history was not only full of cars, but also full of follys, drama, rivalries, and unfortunately rain. That didn’t keep our favorite BangShifters from having a great time and tearing it up on a couple of cool dragstrips.

We have to put out a special thanks to Joe Barry and Todd Berry who gave us their golf cart, and pit bike, respectively for us to use throughout the week in pursuit of great content. They were a big help and we appreciate their willingness to let us carry them around the country. They rule.

For the 4th time Larry Larson took home the Unlimited and Overall Title at Drag Week and although he didn’t have nearly the competition we expected from an unprecedented 10 Unlimited Class cars, he still had to earn the title thanks to “challenging” drag strips at Amarillo and Topeka. Great Bend Raceway and Tulsa were top notch facilities, and places that we want to run again for sure. 

Michael Roy, Dr. James McEntire, Todd Maschmeier, Gary Satterlee, Scott Smith, Collin Williams, and Tim Reed all worked their asses off throughout the week to go into Friday with a lead that was theirs to lose. Roy ran his first 7 second run ever in the newly turbocharged Monte Carlo while we were in Great Bend, and continued to run 7s throughout the week. Todd Maschmeier took his (Take this Freiburger) Camaro and grabbed the Modified PA win for the second year in a row and did it in grand fashion. The car ain’t pretty, but i sure is a bad ass. We dig it. 

To see all of our coverage from Drag Week 2011, click the links below.

Day 1 Gallery          Day 2 Gallery             Day 3 Gallery                Day 4 Gallery

Tim Reed won the Small Block PA class with a killer little Pinto that had twin turbo LS power under the hood. It was the talk of Drag Week and despite the win and best efforts couldn’t break into the 7 second zone. 8.02 was their best, but I’m sure 7s are in the cards sooner rather than later. 

Rolling into Topeka on Friday we were encouraged as initial runs started because the track, which had been sorta like a dragstrip only slicker on Monday, actually had some bite. Not world class, but better for sure. Then the mist came in. And after running for 45 minutes with a heavy mist, the top end was just too wet to keep running on and the event was put on hold. Soon after it was called as it became obvious the conditions weren’t going to change anytime soon. 

Our own BangShifters deserve congratulations for great Drag Week performances. They are Randal Burns, Jim Forbes, Tom Hogshead, Danny Morrison, Vince Rasch, Radar Watkins, Nino Porpiglia, Rob Keller, Steve Hoch, Frank Romano, Dan Shipley, Jon Huber, Joey Grier, Jeff Lutz, Joe Barry, Todd Berry, Rich Pedraza, Michael Roy, Doc Fox, Dr. James McEntire, Neal Sabo, Dan “Bamfster” and Rick Prospero, along with Larry Larson. They all did us proud, and we appreciate them flying the BangShift colors throughout the week. It means a lot to the BangShift crew for sure. 

Special congratulations are in order for Rick Prospero and his crew who won the Spirit of Dragweek award thanks to their willingness to help anyone else on Drag Week even when they were broken down themselves. Rick is a great guy and his Nova Wagon is cool as hell. We are glad he got the award, it was well deserved. 

Last but certainly not least big thanks to Rick and Nancy Johnson and the entire GearVendors family. They have supported this event like no other sponsor on the planet, and they are at least as responsible for it’s success as anyone else on the planet. We love the GearVendors crew and want to thank them for once again supporting a great event and for taking the reigns as entertainment directors on this year’s Drag Week as well.