Dirt
Dennis Radford
By Brian Losness
F
or 50 years, Firebird
Raceway has played host
to all types of drag racing
events, and for the past 46
years, the crown jewel of their season
has been the Pepsi Nightfire Nationals.
This event is akin to a national event,
only from an independent promoter.
From the end of the ‘90s through
the mid-2000s, Pro Mods were a fea-
tured part of the Nightfires. However,
internal riffs within the different Pro
Mod groups over the past 10 years
prevented an organized group from
Ed Thornton Jr.
running at the Nightfires.
Then the Xtreme Pro Mods West
group was formed, and for the first time in nearly
desert facility for the sixteen-car show.
10 years, a sanctioned group of Pro Mods was a
The two drivers who may have had a slight
featured attraction at the 2017 Pepsi Nightfire
advantage over the others were Dennis Radford
Nationals. Eighteen cars made the trek to the high
and Billy Harper. Radford is a local driver who
30 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
hails from Meridian, Idaho, and is the
crew chief for Harper, who made the
journey from Paducah, Kentucky, to
this event. Both had run at and won
at the Idaho facility in the early 2000s.
With a new surface at Firebird, the
racers would not have that to worry
about that part of the equation. How-
ever, the corrected elevation read
above 6,000 feet at times. This meant
a lack of ambient oxygen and a de-
crease in horsepower.
Therefore, after three qualifying at-
tempts it was Bret Williamson (who
was doing double duty driving a nos-
talgia Top Fuel car for the weekend as
well) who had the pole with a 5.98-sec-
ond pass at 239.65 mph in a ‘63 split-
window Corvette. Jeremy Hanger, driving Kirk
Kuhns’ blown ‘59 Corvette, was second at 6.01 at
245.99. In third was San Dimas, California’s Mike
Maggio with a 6.06 at 229.55. Holding down the
Issue 124
Pro Mods Return for Firebird’s
46 th Pepsi Nightfire Nationals