Dirt
RANDI LYN SHIPP & BO BUTNER
to her .073-second reaction time and 10.598 on a
10.56. Her margin of victory was just .0004-second.
“That’s when I knew this was meant to be.”
Shipp sealed her own fate when she survived a
double-breakout in the final for victory over Ed-
die Longhany Jr. It was her sixth national event
win in 10 final rounds.
While the Stock trophy was awarded late on
Saturday, Pro eliminations went off as scheduled
on Sunday. Butner qualified in the No. 8 position
and knocked out fellow KB Racing-powered Pro
Stock drivers Fernando Cuadra Sr. and Deric
Kramer before coming
up against No. 1 quali-
fier Rodger Brogdon in
the semifinals. When
Brogdon broke and
rolled through the
beams, Butner got a free-
bie into the final despite
wicked tire shake that
slowed his roll to a meager 8.103-second pass.
Alex Laughlin had lane choice and was fired up
for a trophy, but the outcome seemed to be set in
the stars as he experienced an ignition malfunc-
tion and could only watch in stunned silence as
Butner took the single for the win.
“After we beat Brogdon, I had a feeling it was
going to be our day,” says Shipp. “Our luck kept
continuing, and it ended up to be a really good
day. It was for sure one we won’t ever forget.”
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The Race that Never Happened
Tyler Crossnoe reflects on his
decision to negate all runs at the
2019 Outlaw Street Car Reunion
By Craig Cook
it wasn’t a legitimate pass. “We believe it’s pos-
sible that it’s correct,” Hancock says. “Nobody
can be certain of anything. But we have some
very intelligent people behind us that have a lot
of data of very fast cars, and it was right in line
where it should be.”
Crossnoe says in the days following the event,
he received calls and messages wishing bankrupt-
cy on him, threatening lawsuits, and even death
threats. However, that wasn’t the key motivating
factor in wiping the slate clean.
“As a promoter, you just have to be confident
that the decision made was the best one and trust
your gut,” Crossnoe says. “Everyone always has
an opinion on how things are supposed to go.
The thing that a promoter has to keep in mind
is that as long as you take care of the racers and
fans, you’ve done the right thing.”
In addition to the controversial runs, Mother
Nature also threw a wrench into everyone’s plans.
After gorgeous weather for Thursday and Fri-
day’s qualifying, persistent rain Saturday morning
halted action prior to round one of eliminations.
Sunday was a scheduled rain date, but with a 100
percent chance of severe storms in the forecast,
Crossnoe called a driver’s meeting and cancelled
the event, allowing teams time to get home safely.
However, in an effort to do right by the racers,
Crossnoe split up the purse in every class between
all qualified drivers, equaling over $120,000
in payouts.
“In my opinion, the race was an event when the
first round of qualifying completed,” Crossnoe says.
“I definitely hated to see eliminations get rained
out, but once the field was set, it was not the racers’
fault that Mother Nature took over. The fairest
thing to do was to split the purses up, not issue a
rain out card or hold their entry to another event.”
In a weekend defined by online controversy, it
was a gesture unanimously appreciated by the driv-
ers in attendance. “That was, by far, the most stand
up thing any promoter has ever done at an event
that we have been in attendance for,” Hancock says.
So what does the future hold for OSCR? Af-
ter sounding unsure immediately following this
year’s event, Crossnoe has since resolved to come
back stronger than ever.
“OSCR will always hold a huge place in my
life, as it was the last drag racing event that my
late father attended before his passing in 2014,”
Crossnoe says. “I will always want to keep that
event going, just for that reason. We definitely
plan to continue the event in 2020. After all, we
have unfinished business.”
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38 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 145
T
yler Crossnoe is one of the busi-
est people in drag racing today. He
works full-time as both the series di-
rector of the PDRA, and vice president
of racing operations at Virginia Motorsports Park.
He is also the owner and promoter of Speed Pro-
motions, LLC, which hosts the Holley EFI Outlaw
Street Car Reunion at Beech Bend Raceway Park
in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Unfortunately, the sixth annual running of
the event on April 11-13 became a firestorm of
controversy, with a number of elapsed times being
called into question. Crossnoe bore the brunt of
the criticism, finally making the difficult decision
to wipe out the entire event.
“I’m going on the record as of right now…and
negating ALL runs from the 2019 edition of the
Outlaw Street Car Reunion,” Crossnoe said in
a statement posted to social media. “There are
plenty of runs that were legitimate, but there
were also a number of question marks that we
all wondered about, even in house.”
The “question marks” were likely the result of
a guard beam not being activated. Guard beams
are used as a fail safe to prevent faulty roll-out
numbers off the starting line by cars sitting low to
the ground, which would also result in incorrect
times at the finish line. Crossnoe said that the
guard beams were supposed to be on during the
event, but the settings got messed up.
The most controversial run was Jamie Han-
cock’s 3.599-second pass in Radial vs. the World,
which would have been a new world record for a
nitrous door car, regardless of tire size. “Jamie’s
run appeared correct when looking at live feed re-
play and comparing numbers,” Crossnoe says. “Af-
ter seeing the issues with the guard beam, it was
the best decision possible (to negate the runs).”
While Hancock understands the decision to
negate the run, he is not quite ready to say that