After several years of chasing a win at Duck X Productions ’ “ Super Bowl of small-tire racing ,” Ken Quartuccio finally has a Lights Out hammer to add to his trophy case . The Connecticut doorslammer racing veteran scored the win in Radial vs . the World at Holley EFI Lights Out 13 in his ProCharger-boosted “ Serial Killer ” ’ 69 Camaro . It was a side-by-side race with Bryan Markiewicz in the final round , with Quartuccio using a holeshot advantage and a 3.764 at 200.35 to finish ahead of Markiwicz and his 3.773 at 198.76 . The win means so much to Quartuccio not only
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because he ’ s been chasing it for so long , but also because of the challenging nature of the event . Lights Out brings out the biggest hitters in radial racing , and the conditions can test even the most experienced drivers and tuners .
“ It ’ s an incredible feeling to win this race ,” Quartuccio says . “ I tell this to people and they don ’ t ever understand it . They have to figure it out themselves to get it . There ’ s two things about Duck ’ s race that just makes it hard . The five rounds of racing mean you have to be really good five times , which is hard . The other thing is you qualify and you do everything at night , but then on race day the conditions deteriorate really fast .”
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Quartuccio ended up qualifying No . 4 with a 3.637 at 201.88 before getting a pair of singles in the first two rounds of eliminations . He stepped up to a 3.604 at 204.88 to beat Paolo Giust ’ s 3.643 in the third round , setting up a semifinal pairing with No . 1 qualifier Jason Lee , who recorded the second-quickest pass in RvW history with his 3.499 on a second-round single . Quartuccio used a 3.684 at 203.46 to defeat a tire-spinning 5.155 from Lee .
Knowing he would probably be at a performance disadvantage in the final round , Quartuccio planned to make up for it with a superior reaction time . He succeeded , cutting a . 055 light
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PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SEARS |