Ronnie Davis debuts a hot Outlaw 10.5 class that also races Top Sportsman

Words and photos by Dale Wilson
4/7/03

Meet Ronnie Davis

It's not that Ronnie Davis wanted to race his "new" '69 Nova Outlaw 10.5 car in Top Sportsman. After what happened to his split window '63 Corvette on the Immokolee, Florida, quarter-mile, it became more of a necessity.

Funny how things work out. We're sure that Davis, who is known by many around the metropolitan Atlanta area as "the King" because of his many wins years ago in "King of the Hill" heads up races at the old Atlanta Speed Shop Drag Strip, would rather have his tried, trusty and true '63 Corvette racing in the Top class. It's just that when a 177-mph Vette like Ronnie's rolls over and over eight times on the drag strip, the paint doesn't look too shiny when it comes to rest.

The Vette was repairable, and it will race again, and soon. Enter Davis's Outlaw 10.5 Nova in NHRA and IHRA Top Sportsman competition.

Davis, 46, who now lives on a 12-acre farm in Commerce, Georgia, is a star on the fledging NHRA Division 2 Top Sportsman circuit and an old hand at racing in the IHRA Top Sportsman class. He has won five championships in T/S, three world crowns and two divisionals, the latest in 2000 and 2002, with a runner-up title in 2001. He is now a professional Top Sportsman racer, much like his shop neighbor, Warren Johnson, is a pro Pro Stock guy. "I'm retiring from the auto repair business -- 27 years in the same

Long-time bracket racer Clint Berry (on the right with Davis) is Ronnie's right-hand man.

location -- and eventually I'll be working out of there (his farm in Commerce, just down the street from Atlanta Dragway)," he says. Davis now owns Davis Golf Cart Sales, Davis In-Motion Satellites and Ronnie Davis Racing, the professional racing deal.

The Outlaw 10.5 '69 Nova, so-called because it races a loose circuit of other 10.5-inch-tired cars at tracks from Brainerd, Tennessee, to Shady Side, North Carolina, to Montgomery and Phenix City, Alabama, and Albany and Macon, Georgia, was begun as strictly a 10.5 car on January 27, 2002,and finished about six months later. He had Dan Parker of Parker Chassis in Columbus, Georgia, whip up a double-frame-railed car with a Funny Car cage and all the necessities strictly as a money-maker. "You can run for $5,000 to $10,000 to win at eight to 10 tracks within 200 miles of here," Davis said. The Nova's chassis alone cost him $45,000. The engine is a dual-carbed 632 big-block built by Gene Fulton and assembled by "the King" himself.

"I liked the Outlaw 10.5 idea because it was heads up and it is close, and it would keep me on my game. The more you race, the better you are. Michael Jordan is the best basketball player, but I guarantee you he practices every week. So do I. My idea was, when I wasn't running NHRA and IHRA Top Sportsman, I could run this in a heads-up, no breakout class, which is good, and it takes a lot of skill to get down these tracks and go fast on a 10-and-a-half-inch tire," he said.

An Outlaw car, Davis says, is more difficult to build than a Pro Modified car because you have to work around the firewall, the door jambs and the steel body. "You cannot move them because of the class rules," he said. The Outlaw 10.5 rules are basically simple -- from the firewall back, you can do anything you want to do; from the firewall forward, it has to be essentially stock. "My Nova, from the firewall back, is as good a Pro Mod car as there is in the United States. It's the best parts you can buy. From the firewall forward, the frame was cut out per the Outlaw rules, then we bolted in all the TRZ double adjustable front shocks, rack, pinion, and Lamb brakes," Davis said.

On an Outlaw 10.5 car, you have to race with mufflers, working headlights, taillights, brake lights, a horn and a stock-appearing dash. Davis had his Nova dash custom-built. On-car decals are forbidden, and the body must be stock-appearing, with a stock-appearing grille. Davis races with a Mickey Thompson Racing Tires Super Stock-type slick that is 10.5 inches wide (but it's accepted that most 10.5 cars carry a bit wider tire).

Oh, yes, and one more thing -- you have to weigh 3,000 pounds. That factor is very important in this story.

NEXT PAGE >>