LIGHTS OUT VIII
PRESENTED BY
Coming on Strong
JOE ALBRECHT
underestimated it. When we saw
Barry Mitchell spin ahead of us,
we knew something was wrong.
Jon [Salemi] came running up
with a laptop, plugging in, and
took power out, but I still spun.”
Albrecht still smoked the tires—
but so did Stack—and fortunately
for him, Albrecht was able to
recover first and made it to the
finish a fraction of a second ahead
of his opponent.
Albrecht kept his GTO’s setup
fairly soft for round three when
he lined up against Alan Pitt-
man, hoping not to lose traction
again. After taking a .05 holeshot
advantage, Albrecht wound up not
needing it as his 3.99 at 198.88
easily bested Pittman’s effort of
4.07 at 160.10 mph.
The semifinals were good to Al-
brecht, too, with a stress-free 3.84
at 201.40-mph pass leaving Tim
Slavens a tenth of a second behind
at the finish line. “I saw that win
light come on and it was like
‘you’re going to the finals, man,
62 | D r a g
don’t screw it up!’” Albrecht jokes
about reminding himself not to
put too much pressure on himself.
With just one round standing
between him and redemption,
validation, and ever-important In-
ternet fame, Albrecht lined up in
his second-straight Radial vs. The
World final against tough-as-nails
Mark “Woody” Woodruff. “Woody
of sportsmanship and maturity
to rival that of even the most
seasoned drivers.
Eventually, Woodruff ’s camp
was ready and the two got started
on their way to making history.
They bumped in, triggered the
stage lights, and waited for the
green to signal the time to go
all out. Albrecht got the jump
“After being so close in
October with that (No Mercy
7 runner-up), to come back
and win was truly incredible.”
was flying all weekend,” remem-
bers Albrecht, who felt rightfully
apprehensive about facing such
a challenging competitor. But
unbeknownst to him, Woodruff
had mechanical issues earlier in
eliminations and was rushing to
get things fixed. “I told them, ‘hey,
if we’ve got unti l 10:00 pm to race,
I’ll wait to run ya’ at 9:59 p.m.,’”
says Albrecht, revealing a sense
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
at the tree with a .061 reaction
time over Woodruff ’s .074 light,
and Albrecht ran straight out the
back door as he held the lead all
the way to the wire. His 3.83 at
202.00-mph pass was the final in
a string of 3.8-second runs he’d
made all weekend, and obvious-
ly was the most important one
since it officially earned him
the win over Woodruff ’s 4.00 at
196.42-mph hit.
The celebration began imme-
diately and was “like a fantasy”
for Albrecht. “Before I could even
get out of the car at the end of
the track, Dean Marinis put his
head in the car and was scream-
ing,” Albrecht says, savoring the
memory of an incredible moment.
“After being so close in October
with that, to come back and win
was truly unbelievable,” Albrecht
says in a surprisingly understated
manner. Prior to the race, he had
commented that “whoever wins
this race is the guy whose stuff
holds together for an entire week;
this race is a marathon!” and it
wound up being him who took
that monumental honor after all.
In the winner’s circle, Albrecht
was joined by scores of enthusi-
astic supporters, including his
girlfriend, Aimee Ehrlich, his
father, brother, John Albrecht
Jr., car-owner Whelan, crew guys
Rico Mariani, Joe Alagna, and Mi-
chael Lang, Jim and Jon Salemi,
and most importantly, Albrecht’s
grand prize check for $50,000.
Issue 119
As one of the fresh, new faces in Radial vs.
the World, Albrecht has risen to stardom with
his runner-up and win at two of the most
prestigious races in drag radial racing. With a
dedicated team owner and consistent tuner,
Albrecht’s star power will continue to rise.