OUT OF
LEFT
E
verything had been going
along smoothly for Jay Cox and
his Bryant Industrial backed
Pro Nitrous ‘69 Camaro. In four
races he’d gone to three finals,
winning twice. The former Minor League Baseball player has
found a new groove among the
world’s best professional eighthmile drag racers. But things took
a quick turn south at the PDRA North-South
Shootout at Maryland International Raceway.
First, in what’s becoming an ongoing battle between a pair of orange ‘69 Camaros, he was beaten
by Stevie Jackson in the opening round of the
Nitrous Wars Shootout. He ousted John Camp
first round of the regularly scheduled race and
for the fifth time this year would face “Stevie
Fast” in PDRA competition.
Just before half-track, Cox
got loose and the car darted
right, nose first into the right
guardwall. The car turned
back downtrack, riding the
guardwall before settling violently back down.
“The only reason Stevie
Jackson won those races
against me in Maryland
was it was his birthday
weekend. His wife and his
little girl begged me to give
him a nice birthday present. I couldn’t afford to buy
him anything so I gave him
a couple rounds of racing,”
Cox banters. He had beaten
Jackson every other time they met in PDRA competition this year. As two quick-talking mouths
of the South, Cox and Jackson have traded words
all s eason long, even taking to social media to
continue their season-long war of words through
videos, photos and posts. Though the smack talk
has been good-natured, there’s also much at stake.
Despite Cox’s wild ride, he hung onto the points
lead after that event, and is still planning on having the final say at season’s end.
JAY COX ON BASEBALL,
SMACK TALK & WILD RIDES
BY LISA COLLIER
88 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
PHOTO: MIKE CARPENTER
FIELD