VOLUME XX,  NUMBER 4 - APRIL,  2018

race reports

Outlaw Street Car Reunion V in Bowling Green, Kentucky

A Couple of Good Moves

Words and photos by Tom McCarthy

Under the lights at Beech Bend Raceway Daniel Pharris (L) and Jody Voyles complete their run as the photographers pop their flashes in hopes of the perfect photo.

 

Event promoter Tyler Crossnoe’s famous Outlaw Street Car Reunion annual event was in its fifth rendition in 2018 and it was again successful due to good planning, proper execution and a LOT of hard work. This year’s race, held April 19-21 at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY, was a success, in spite of its move to a new venue from its former home at Memphis International Raceway. Any fears by Crossnoe or anyone else had about whether the racers and fans would follow the event were quelled by the size of the full fields in all classes and half-packed stands on race day. No doubt about it, the race was a success with racers and fans alike.

 

This is impressive considering the weather was less than kind with temps dipping down to near freezing each night and a high of about 60 in the day time. Now add to this a forecast of a likely rain-out for Sunday and you get the complete picture. Most people will agree, winter was holding on for dear life, with spring but a dream, as OSCR-V in 2018 unfolded.

 

Track owner Dallas Jones and his team had an “All hands on deck” attitude all weekend and they made sure Crossnoe and his team had everything they needed to put on a big event like OSCR-V. Kurt Johnson of Total Venue Concepts was on hand with Tyler to assure a “House of Hook” which was indeed the case. Their track prep was spot-on.

 

​Event announcer Evan Bader came in from Norwalk, Ohio, and did a stellar job on the microphone, keeping the fans entertained and the racers informed. His excitement level when calling the action on the Pro Street motorcycles was memorable.Arguably the best move of the weekend was event promoter Tyler’s ballsy announcement on Wednesday, April 18, that the whole race would be concluded by Saturday night, due to a foul weather forecast for Sunday and Monday. So, at near noontime on Wednesday Tyler announces the whole race will be run Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to get in the full event. Had he not chosen to do this, the rains that did indeed show up by noon Sunday would have cancelled the remainder of the race. It was a gutsy move and it worked.

 

This not to say there were not significant delays to the racing program due to drag racing being drag racing. There were the usual number of oil-downs and race cars trying to move concrete retaining barriers. Any drag race with several hundred racing machines in attendance will have delays including a certain amount of leakage and clean up. There was close to seven hours of delays due to oil-spills to which Tyler and Kurt had to employ over 35 bags of oil-dry and use over 170 gallons of soap for the little Zamboni-like scrubber, to clean up the spills. In addition to this, proper track prep required seven drums of VP-7 applied to the track surface, over the course of the entire event. Thankfully, the racing mishaps did not result in loss of life and the professionalism of the staff handled all delays in as timely a manner as possible.

 

The racers picked up the pace, showed up in force and answered lane calls very promptly in impressive fashion. Radial Vs World had 18 entries, Keith Haney’s Mid-Western Pro Mod Series was 32 cars strong, Limited Drag Radial had 34 entries on the property, and Pro Street motorcycle was strong with 27 drag bikes ready to race.

 

The fans were really fantastic at this event. Despite Thursday and Friday being prime viewing days that fell during the work-week, fans still braved the falling temps at night (blankets and all), they hit the stands to see the wheel standing and sideways action that comes with high-horsepower wild cars and motorcycles such as these. On Saturday, by 10 a.m., the crowd started building and by noon the place was mighty busy with the amount of spectators one would expect to see at any major event. It was really quite busy with a stout crowd throughout the daylight hours.

 

With eleven classes of competition and a ton of cars, it was plain to see the race day would run till midnight, and it did, with the last runs of this event actually happening just after midnight, Saturday night, into Sunday morning.

 

The Mid-Western Pro Mod series started off the big show after a fine invocation by Chaplain Scottie Wilson and great words spoken by Evan Bader, as he saluted both American pride and spirit. Not one knee was taken while all in attendance who could, stood for the American flag, with Old Glory waving in the wind.

 

The Mid-Western Pro Mod Series is a Pro/Mod fest put on by Keith Haney and his associates to augment any existing big show, like a “Night of Fire” for example. Any competent racing facility can book in the MWPMS cars and Viola’; instant wild Pro Mods that perform on time, running 3.80’s in the eight mile is a given and a high degree of professionalism is assured. The bottom line is any track can book in a rock solid show, and put fans in the stands by having the MWPMS as part of their racing program.

 

The 32 Pro Mods entered for this event equated to a pair of 16-car fields of competition. The low 16 qualifiers ran the actual Pro Mod race and the DNQ’s plus any first-round losers were included into an ad-hoc “Super Slammer” class. This gave the fans more Pro Mod cars and more thrills.

Jerry Hunt

 

Jerry Hunt, of St. Louis, MO, and Jonas Alshire made their way through the ladder to meet up in the final round of P/M. Jerry’s .044 RT to Alshire’s .340 was all she wrote when the tree went green. Jerry’s 3.801 was more than enough to cover his opposition’s 4.31, as Jerry and his team made their way to the winner’s circle.

In the Super Slammer Shootout, Tommy Cunningham of Murray, KY, defeated Jim Sackuvich, 3.875 to 7.726. That’s one very fine Ford GT 500 with some serious ponies rampaging under the hood.

Daniel Pharris drove two cars in two classes. The Andrew Alepa C-7 Corvette won the Radial Vs World class at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion V event for the second consecutive year. This monster normally runs in the 3.70’s elapsed time zone.

 

The much-vaunted Radial Vs World cars did not disappoint with their show and performance. Low qualifier Daniel Pharris (3.715) and top speed demon Mark Micke (221.20mph), assured fans their money’s worth when they came out for eliminations with their fangs bared.

 

Pharris battled his way to the final round to meet up with Jeff Naiser for a classic twin-turbochargers vs monster nitrous to decide the winner for the event. Pharris, for Andrew Alepa Racing, cut a .058 RT to Naiser’s .073 effort and down track, some 660 feet later it was Pharris crossing the finish line first with a 3.730 elapsed time to Naiser’s 3.745, for the win.

 

In the Limited Drag Radial class of racing, Justin Martin of Pocola, OK, was the #1 qualifier with a 4.11 elapsed time out of his ‘72 Nova that had everyone buzzing.

But there was a bigger buzz at the track over the Lexus-bodied, Proline-powered machine driven by Daniel Pharris. The machine, recently purchased from Ekanoo Racing (Ebrahim Kanoo) in Bahrain, was known to be headed for LDR and it was the terror racers envisioned it might be. This was the first event in the USA for the sanitary beautiful race car and it performed as good as it looks.

Shane Stack

 

Pharris qualified the car in the number-two spot with a 4.12 and then just sliced through the opposition like a scythe through a wheat field to match up with Shane Stack in the final round. Stack got out first with a .057 RT to Daniel’s .076 light, then 660 feet later it was Pharris first to the stripe, with a 4.11 at 189.02 whomping run to the 4.37/159 troubled run of Stack.

 

Limited Drag Radial racers have both eyes on this car. The team is just getting started with it and already it has run the second quickest elapsed time in LDR history.

 

For the second year in a row the Pro Street motorcycles showed up to race at the OSCR event. 27 drag bikes arrived to do battle and wow the fans in the process. Both the racers and the fans appreciate these wild and powerful drag bikes that generate over 600HP and routinely cover 1320 feet of race track in six seconds at over 200 MPH.

 

The #1 qualifier, Frankie Stotz of Schaumburg, IL, stopped the clocks at Beech Bend Raceway with an excellent 6.75 at 201.52 MPH to give him lane choice going into round one of eliminations.

Stotz (near lane) got the E-2 win over Sydney Marshall. Stotz proved beyond all doubt, a racer does not have to race a Suzuki Hayabusa to win in Pro Street motorcycle.

 

Stotz had a single in E-1 as his opponent, Michael Daddio, broke during qualifying. Stotz then took his potent Honda on to beat Sydney Marshall, veteran Doug Gall and the colorful Devin Ragland to advance to the final round. There he met up with ManCup Pro Street champion Jeremy Teasley and the fearful team DME.

 

Late Saturday night at close to midnight, when the starting line tree flickered green, Frankie was out first with .083 RT to Jeremy’s .099 light – then the charge was on to the big end. At the finish line, Frankie’s 6.72 was more than enough for Jeremey’s off-pace 7.44. During the elimination rounds the Stotz Racing Honda produced, 6.69, 672, 6.71 and 6.70 elapsed times, while mowing down opponents in the other lane. That’s a bad, bad motorcycle!

 

In X-275 action, Ron Rhodes of Townsend, DE, in his ‘68 Camaro was the #1 qualifier with a 4.38 elapsed time and Rich Bruder of Edison, NJ, had the high MPH for the class with a 171 MPH clocking. But it was Jimmy White and Shane Fisher who matched up in the finals. Most every heavy hitter one could hope to see in X-275 was in the house for the event with 38 cars entered. When the smoke cleared late Saturday night, it was White taking the win over a broken Fisher, and White took the tree for the win.

 

Ultra Street class action saw Brian Keep, of Ft. Myers, FL, run the table and own the place lock, stock and barrel. He qualified #1 with a record setting 4.67 elapsed time, then marched through the field to meet Ron Belcher in the final round. There he put Belcher away with a 4.72 elapsed time to Belcher’s 4.94 effort. Joel Greathouse of Oakland, KY, gets an A for effort in U/St. for having top speed of the meet with a solid 155.60 MPH run.

George Raygoza (far lane) took the MX-235 win over Brad Medlock.

 

The always interesting MX-235 class at this year’s OSCR-V event was stellar with low qualifier going to Brad Medlock of Arkansas with a 4.60 flat number. Interestingly enough, Brad waded through the entire field of competition to meet up with George Raygoza in the last round of MX-235. Raygoza, who came all the way from California to mix it up with the big dogs, came down off the porch and outran Medlock for the win, 4.65 to 5.11 respectively.

 

No Time (N/T) racing is gaining in popularity like a supercharger on a nitro car. Sure, the class has is detractors, every class does, but the growing popularity of No Time racing is undeniable. It has its own flavor to be sure, but it is a palatable one and you will not see fans heading to the concession stands when the No Time cars come to the starting line.

 

Just because N/T cars have no numbers on the score boards does not mean they are not exciting. The mystery of what they can really run is part of the mystique that is No Time racing. That and the fact that N/T racing is pure drag racing: first to the finish line wins; if you snooze, you lose!

The final round of the Xtreme 28 No Time Shoot out came down to veteran Bill Lutz Vs Jay Trisel for all the cash. Lutz, of Ohio, was first to the stripe for the win, and received the $10,000 payout.

 

The Index cars racing at this year’s OSCR-V event raced in two classes, 7.0 and 6.0 as a fixed number. The winners included Vince Damsow over Johnny O’Daniel, Robert Rogers over Tyler Huckaby, Spencer Smith over Lance Pharr, and Terry Tarranof defeating Wendell Cline.

PHOTO EXTRA

Wendell Cline

It was a Cadillac for Paul Ancherson

The fearsome Bruder brothers are always a threat at drag radial events. Rich Bruder in the 1988 Ford Mustang X-275 car had high MPH in the class and did awesome burnouts for the fans.

Kyle Hash and his 2-year-old son, Liam, had a ball at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion event held at Beech Bend Raceway Park.  

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