We’ve mentioned that the WCHRA race that we’ll be broadcasting live this weekend will feature an Outlaw 8.5 class. The great equalizer in this category is the fact that all competitors are limited to teeny-tiny, 8.5-inch-wide slicks. Considering that Stock Eliminator cars get to run a 9-incher, these tires are seriously small. Do not confuse a small tire with a slow car, though. These guys haul the mail.

The class is contested in the eighth-mile, mainly because the cars wearing the small tires are capable of smoking them at 1000 feet and the black track their way down the strip. It’s just too risky to run them all the way out the back door. The strongest cars in the class (nationally) are running in the very low 5-second range in the eighth.

Big wheelies are a staple of the class which seems kind of backward. You’d expect lots of tire smoke, and there is some when racers miss the setup, but when they hit it, the cars carry the front ends like they’re filled with helium.

Don’t believe us? Watch the video below.