Last weekend, I announced an event called the Import Face Off at New England Dragway in Epping, NH. The IFO is a traveling series that hits more than 30 strips from coast to coast. There are lots of heads up classes and good prize money to class winners. The top of the heap, with respect to power and elapsed time is the Outlaw category. I am not sure of the specific rules, but I can tell you that if you do not have a seven second car, don’t bother. The Toyota Starlet in this video, with a turbcharged rotary engine ran 7.90 @ 171mph earlier in the day and seemed like a hammer lock to win the class…until this happened!
In the final round, while lined up next to a minto looking Dodge Colt, the little Starlet, with a wheelbase of about 90″ took off like a shot, drifted to the center line and then seemed to be headed for certain disaster. It was closing toward the wall at an ugly angle. The driver zapped the gas at the right moment and then the car shot in the other direction, straight across the track an into the other lane, in front of the now hard braking Colt. The Starlet cross the finish line in the wrong lane and was obviously disqualified, but the driving job was unreal. I had been joking with the crowd that driving this car at 170mph must be like steering a shopping cart. About a minute later…the car started acting like a shopping cart!
Oh, and if the crowd applause sounds sizable, that’s because it was. More than 5,000 people showed up to watch this event, along with 300+ race cars. For anyone who says that the import scene is dead, you need to get your head checked.
Watch this wild display of driving!
Too bad he crossed the centre line, he was still ahead!