THE OUTLAW ISSUE

SHANE STACK

LIMITED DRAG RADIAL’ S FIRST CHAMPION

‘ STEVIE FAST’ VS. KEITH HANEY THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN

MIKE TERRY

HAS ARRIVED

ANDERSON DICK

IS CHANGING EVERYTHING

BRUDER BROTHERS

MARTY CHANCE

JOHN KEESEY

ALEX HAYS

As the Radial Turns

It’ s been said – on the pages of this magazine and in many other locations – that all this Donald“ Duck” Long created-and-maintained drag racing drama is merely part of his act. It’ s well established at this point that this act has turned Long into one of drag racing’ s best-known promoters, as well as its most polarizing and likely most profitable, but I feel like I’ m noticing the online back-and-forth banter reaching a new level of intensity. It feels genuinely hateful. Is that the case? I have to admit that I’ m surprised to see that at least a handful of racers and promoters are actually engaging in this deal, fighting fire with fire. My question is … will this schtick work for everyone? Is it that simple? Say outrageous things and curse? And what happens to those promoters and racers that are trying to play along? Do they ultimately impact their own brand? Bryan Hammond, via the Internet

Is there some sort of inside joke or alliance between all these radial tire promoters? I can’ t figure out if guys like Keith Haney, Donald Long, Keith Berry and Tyler Crossnoe are all on the same team and vacation together regularly, or if they absolutely freaking hate each other.

Jim Perkins, via the Internet

[ FOUNDER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR WES BUCK REPLIES: To respond to you both, Bryan and Jim, I’ ll say that I think all these guys are

fairly friendly, but I do think there is some genuine animosity at times. I don’ t want to talk( write) out of turn, but I think it’ s probably equal parts“ good fun” and“ pointed ribbing”. It’ s no surprise, either – they’ re all competing, rightfully or wrongfully, for the radial tire world record, the biggest crowd, the tightest, fastest fields and everything else under the sun. I do know these cats all communicate regularly offline and that a whole lot of it is fun-and-games, and I think it’ s worked well in a lot of ways and been well-received by their fanbase. I’ ll admit that it gets a little over the top for me, and I’ m not sure how I feel about all the very public back-and-forth, but I’ m comfortable enough with myself and the world around me to know that I don’ t have to love it all. Different strokes for different folks, right?]

Official Car of Pro Mod?

How long until we’ ve got entire NHRA Pro Mod fields filled with late-model Camaros? It seems everyone is moving to these 2016- 2017 Chevy Camaros and I’ m afraid the class will soon look like a muchfaster version of Pro Stock. Is this something that’ s on your radar? I’ ve seen it talked about quite a bit online, but the online scuttlebutt doesn’ t seem to be impacting how many fifth-generation Camaros I see on the qualifying sheet. Thoughts?

Gary Sandoval, via the Internet

[ WES BUCK REPLIES: Hey, Gary! I totally know where you’ re coming from on this one, but I wouldn’ t worry just yet. Historically, these body style trends are exactly that – trends – and they come and go. The problem, unfortunately, is that very few racers – if any – are willing to sacrifice performance potential to stay true to their make or model of choice. We’ ve seen guys stay the course for a long time, but even racers whose careers have been defined by a

certain make and model of car( think Charles Carpenter and the world’ s fastest’ 55 Chevy) eventually had to move on to greener pastures. Looking at the recently completed NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas, there were 10 late model Camaros in a field of 28 cars, so just shy of 35-percent. If you remember, we’ ve been down this road before – perhaps most memorably with the much-loved and much-hated 1963 Chevy Corvette split-window body that basically became a status symbol in drag racing for a pretty good stretch of time. If I had a dollar for every time I had someone tell me“ these splitwindow Corvettes are going to ruin Pro Mod”, well, I’ d probably have like 1,500 bucks. I know there was talk over the course of the last few years amongst NHRA Pro Mod types to lobby for a substantial weight break for nostalgia body styles, but it wasn’ t something that everyone in the pits agreed on, and the fact of the matter is that at something like $ 150,000 a whack – it’ d have to be a pretty significant advantage to roll the dice on building a’ 41 Willys or’ 53 Studebaker or whatever else comes to mind. For what it’ s worth, I think the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series is as good as it’ s ever been right now, in this moment. We’ ve got turbocharged, supercharged and nitrous oxide-injected doorslammers all demonstrating high 5.6-second, low 5.7-second capabilities, and the car counts remain staggering. My biggest concern, to be totally honest, is the rapidly-increasing time and financial commitment required to be competitive. We’ re witnessing the end of racing NHRA Pro Mod as a hobby. The guys and gals who are going to be successful this season and forever more will be the guys who test constantly – throughout the offseason and in between events – employ professionals and are part of a team or manufacturerbased research and development program. Times are changing, I heard Bob Dylan say. Thanks for writing!]

Round 2?

Can we expect any changes from the team at Drag Illustrated for the second-annual running of the World Series of Pro Mod? We can’ t wait for this event to return to Thunder Mountain!

Matt Peters, via the Internet

[ WES BUCK REPLIES: Matt! Yes, sir! While I’ m thrilled to say that I think we really put together a hell of a show in 2017, I’ d be lying if I said there weren’ t a few things that I want to do different moving forward. First off, we’ ll be turning the scoreboards on. While I’ m sticking to my guns on keeping the scoreboards off during testing and for our four scheduled“ shakedown” runs, we’ ll be lighting the scoreboards at the very start of eliminations. Prior to WSOPM 2017 there had never been a five-second pass recorded at Bandimere Speedway by a doorslammer and we had over 20 of‘ em, but none while the scoreboards were turned on. I want the fans to know just how insane these cars are. It’ s fun going into the first round with no one knowing what anyone else ran, though, and I don’ t want that to change. The air of mystery leading up to Saturday night’ s elimination rounds was like nothing I’ ve ever experienced. I don’ t want to get away from that. We’ re also expanding our invitational field for 2018, and we’ ll have more information on that very soon. For now, stay tuned to www. worldseriesofpromod. com for breaking news and details.]

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