Dirt
Hunt for Radial vs . The World Championship Heats Up After Ken Quartuccio ’ s Battle of the Thrones Victory
By Craig Cook
With just two events remaining in the 2024 FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series ( RORS ), Ken Quartuccio made a strong push in the Radial vs . the World points race , winning the Battle of the Thrones April 25-28 at Rockingham Dragway .
Quartuccio defeated Luis de Leon in a great side-by-side final round , with Quartuccio ’ s 3.545-second pass at 209.11 mph narrowly edging de Leon ’ s 3.565 at 208.43 . Although it was Quartuccio ’ s third final round in four events this season , it was his first victory .
“ I knew we had a good car [ at the previous event ] in Alabama , but I red-lit in the finals and cost us the race ,” said Quartuccio . “ Going into this race , I just tried to work on me as a driver . Jamie and Johnny Miller , along with Dennis Godbout , made sure the car was good . We got a couple good breaks in eliminations and were able to come home with the win . It felt good to close the deal on this one .”
Quartuccio now sits just 63 points behind Chris Daniel , winner of both the Lights Out 15 Friday Shootout and the Bama Outlaws event . Daniel currently leads in points with 304 ; Quartuccio is second with 241 , followed by de Leon ( 215 ) and Lights Out 15 winner “ Stevie Fast ” Jackson ( 203 ).
“ I ’ d rather be in Chris Daniel ’ s place ,” Quartuccio joked concerning the points situation . “ But I ’ m very happy with where we ’ re at . I believe there ’ s a path for us to win the championship . This group knows how to win . We ’ re definitely going to have to win one more race , and at No Mercy , we have to go to the final round . If you don ’ t make it to the finals at No Mercy , I don ’ t see you winning a championship , no matter who it is . You can ’ t give up those double points .”
Radial vs . the World has seen a resurgence of elite competitors this season , with promoter
Donald Long offering up $ 50,000-to-win at every event in 2024 . After a brief hiatus from the class , Quartuccio is excited about where RvW is headed moving forward .
“ We decided this year that we wanted to mix things up and run more outlaw stuff ,” said Quartuccio . “ I won Lights Out a couple years ago and then I stopped doing radial racing for a while . It was getting where RvW was dying down , so I just did Pro Mod stuff with this car . At my age , I don ’ t know how much longer I ’ m going to do this stuff , so I want to race the best of the best all the time , no matter where I go . I had a feeling
PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHRIS SEARS
24 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 188