“ I want to race against the best people in the world, and I think [ the NHRA J & A Pro Mod Series is where they’ re at. A real racer wants to race against somebody who’ s as good or better than you because it makes you better. I’ ve looked up to a lot of those guys since I was a kid. I’ m fired up to race with them.”- STEVE“ FAST” JACKSON

FANBOYS A couple of young fans have their t-shirts signed by Street Outlaws stars Shawn“ Murder Nova” Ellington and Justin“ Big Chief” Shearer after waiting patiently to meet the street racers-turned-drag racing celebrities.

GETTING THE SHOT DI Senior Staff Photographer John Fore III sprawls out across the racing surface at South Carolina’ s Darlington Dragway to capture the right angle during a photoshoot with a few stars of Discovery’ s Street Outlaws.

“ Bullet Bob” Reed, age 77, stands with his friend, Robbie McDonald, at a recent race in Wilkesboro, NC. Reed, a veteran of the sport, won his first race more than three decades before Robbie was even born! The two met a few years ago when Reed stopped by McDonald’ s Mooresville, North Carolina-based Outlaw Headers shop, looking for some custom pipes for his Harley. The two made fast friends and now hang out nearly seven days a week.“ We build stuff together,” says Robbie.“ Yeah, anything off the wall!” laughs Bob. They dig prototype“ one-off” projects.“ We can’ t compare notes with other people on this stuff,‘ cause there’ s no notes to compare!” chuckles Bob. So, together they dream it, build it and no doubt have fun doing it!

TALKING SHOP CompetitionPlus. com Editor Bobby Bennett and Funny

Car crew chief and team owner Paul Smith listen intently as 16-time NHRA Funny Car world champion John Force shares one of his infamous, hard-to-believe stories in the staging lanes at the 2016 NHRA Gatornationals.

SHOCKING! Shock guru Mark Menscer poses for a photo with one of his original customers, Radial vs. The World driver“ Stevie Fast” Jackson, who took flight in Phil Shuler’ s“ Shadow” entry at No Mercy 7.

46 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 117