Drag Illustrated Issue 154, March 2020 | Page 8

LETTER from the EDITOR Wes Buck Founder & Editorial Director 660.988.2313 wes@dragillustrated.com Scott Dorman Publisher 615.478.5275 scott@dragillustrated.com Mike Carpenter Design & Production Director 704.737.2299 mike@dragillustrated.com Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 440.986.1480 nate@dragillustrated.com Nancy Koeppen Chief Operating Officer 573.552.5551 nancy@dragillustrated.com Will Mandell Senior Sales Executive 615.426.0465 will@dragillustrated.com out, aerodynamically perfect cars to the show. They’re chipping away at the RvW record in big chunks, as it’s now nearly a full tenth quicker than Slavens’ 3.62 at 3.546 seconds. Slavens and his tuners, Joe Oplawski and Mark “Tydo” Werde- hausen, accept that the record is now largely out of reach for their heavy, square-bodied Camaro. As Oplawski told DI Senior Editor Josh Hachat, who wrote the cover story, the “No Mod” might be able to rip off a 3.599 in perfect conditions. That’s not go- ing to cut it, and the trio knows it. But they remain dedicated to their mission. Quite simply, they want to join the ranks of the drivers and tuners who’ve won on radial racing’s biggest stages. Sure, they could join other steel-bodied RvW hitters like Mark Micke in the newly popular Pro 275 class (which Hachat also writes about in this issue), and that’s an option Slavens has considered. But he’s not ready to throw in the towel just yet. With this mindset, Slavens embodies the outlaw attitude. It’s one of the reasons why we chose him to appear on the cover of this issue. We could’ve cho- sen one of the several drivers who’ve passed Slavens on the all-time quickest list, but their stories don’t match up with those of the typical outlaw racer. Slavens’ story does. He’s a working-class drag racer – he’s a Wal-Mart manager – who makes the most of what he’s got in the trailer. He goes racing on the weekend with guys he considers family as much as he considers them team members. Togeth- er, they make a ’69 Camaro do things a ’69 Camaro was never meant to do. Now that’s outlaw. DI DI DI Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van@dragillustrated.com Josh Hachat Editor-at-Large 660.988.2313 josh@dragillustrated.com Caroline Fox Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline@dragillustrated.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher, Ainsley Jacobs, Kelly Wade, Bobby Bennett, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy D’Aprile, Allyson Johnson, Pete Epple PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III, Van Abernethy, Rick Belden, Tara Bowker, Shawn Crose, Jason Dunn, Paul Grant, Chris Graves, Ron Lewis, Will McDougle, Joe McHugh, Gary Nastase, Mark J. Rebilas, Roger Richards, Cole Rokosky, Chris Sears, Jason Sharp, James Sisk, Ian Tocher ADVERTISING SALES: 615.478.5275 SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: 660.988.2313 customerservice@dragillustrated.com DRAG ILLUSTRATED MEDIA, LLC 902 Kings Road, Kirksville, MO 63501 P: 660.988.2313 F: 660.665.1636 www.dragillustrated.com Copyright © 2020 by Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Drag Illustrated is a registered trademark of Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. Printed and mailed by Royle Printing in Sun Prairie, WI. DI DI DI DI DI DI DI Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 8 | Drag I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Feel free to email me at nate@dragillustrated.com and follow me at facebook.com/nitronate1320 and nitronate1320 on Instagram and Twitter. All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own, and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher. Issue 154 W hen Ti m Slavens lit up the right-lane scoreboard at South Georgia Motorsports Park with a 3.621 at 217.74 mph in the second qualify- ing session at Lights Out 10 last year, he made it known that the “little guys” still had a chance at greatness in drag radial racing’s quickest and fastest class. No doubt, Slavens was already a favorite of many Radial vs. the World fans, but many would con- sider him an underdog. His record- setting pass – though the record only stood for a day – was seen as a victory for not just Slavens and company, but also for every guy or girl who had a stock-wheelbase, steel-bodied race car sitting in the garage. Slavens’ record performance was impressive enough for its record status. But what really stood out was the fact that Slavens did it with equipment that didn’t exactly match the equipment that carried the other top qualifiers to the low 3.60s, and eventu- ally, the high 3.50s. Sure, some of the components are the same. The Neal Chance converter, Menscer Motorsports shocks, M&M Transmission TH400 and Emtron EFI system are not unlike those you’ll find in the purpose-built Pro Mod-style cars in RvW. But at the end of the day, it’s still a steel-bodied ’69 Camaro that actually looks like a ’69 Camaro. The Slavens-driven “No Mod” is part of a dy- ing breed in Radial vs. the World competition. Power players ranging from class veterans like Stevie “Fast” Jackson to newcomers like Melanie Salemi are bringing ultra-lightweight, stretched- JT Hudson Sales Executive 660.341.0063 jt@dragillustrated.com