SMALL TIRE PRO STOCK

Pontiac by BES Racing Engines, after taking out a timing block when his car made a move. He then won the first round of eliminations with a 7.68 over Robbie Blankenship, who is dialing in a new Mustang and had to get out of the throttle, and he won the second round with a 7.56 over Leonard Long, who clocked a 7.93 in his Mustang. It was from there that Langer took the runner-up finish against Ausmus. 10K Technology sponsored the payouts for the debut race at Rockingham Dragway, including $ 2,500 for the winner, $ 800 for the runner-up, $ 400 for semifinalists and $ 200 for quarterfinalists.

“ In the final round, we were both loaded for bear and it was going to be a good one,” said Langer.

Joe Clemente

“ They signaled for us to hit the water. We both fired them up and rolled around the corner. We were signaled to shut them down as they had some track maintenance to perform. When the starter signaled for us to refire, my car wouldn’ t start. My crew guys, Lupi and Cameron Bowles, checked all the obvious things. Dwight Ausmus and his team were pure gentlemen and waited on me for longer than they needed to. My car just wouldn’ t fire. When we brought it back to the pits, we got into a deep dive to find the issue. The isolator on the coil to the coil wire broke and was arcing. I put a back-up coil in and it fired right up.”

Adding to the excitement surrounding Ausmus and Langer being the first-ever Small Tire Pro Stock winner and runner-up, class racer Carlos Sobrino clocked an 8.43 and 159 mph to capture a naturally aspirated Coyote engine record, and Weldon High Performance came on board on-site as the first Small Tire Pro Stock contingency sponsor.

BELTED IN FOR BEECH BEND RACEWAY PARK There was an enormous amount of enthusiasm going into the second Small Tire Pro Stock race, which was part of Sick on the Green, May 30-31, at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Kentucky.

As the cars rolled out of trailers and thundered down track, the skills of the racers as well as their engine builders, transmission builders, chassis builders, tuners, and teams, were celebrated. That

David Theisen

Joe Clemente, left and John Langer

included the winner and runner-up of the first race, Ausmus and Langer.

Ausmus qualified in the second spot with a 7.71 in his Firebird, and won the first round of eliminations with a 7.75 over Wayne Roberts, who had issues in his GSX, and the second round with a full-pull of 7.74 after David Theisen had some trouble at take-off and was forced to lift. From there, Ausmus went to the Small Tire Pro Stock Winner’ s Circle with a 7.73 against Langer, who turned in a 7.80 in his Trans Am.

“ This is the first time I have ever won backto-back races, but I know I can’ t get comfortable because this class is full of tough racers who are all capable of winning,” said Ausmus, who had his car tuned for consistency.“ The weekend was not easy on my crew, and I want to thank them, along with the track crew and everyone else associated with the event. I also want to congratulate John Langer.”

Langer, who led qualifying with a 7.67 trip in his Trans Am, earned the coveted bull-themed trophy and a $ 250 top-qualifier bonus sponsored by Dolce and Clemente’ s Market and V & J Inc. On race day, he won the first round of eliminations with a 7.74 over Jeff Ikard, who trapped an 8.12 in his Mustang, and had a bye-run in the second round. That set the stage for his final round appearance and runner-up against Ausmus.

“ I had too much clutch for the final round of eliminations,” said Langer.“ Dwight Ausmus made the right call and outran me.”

10K Technology sponsored payouts for the race at Beech Bend Raceway Park, including $ 2,500 for the winner, $ 800 for the runner-up, $ 400 for semifinalists, and $ 200 for quarterfinalists, and Sick’ s Tom Bailey enhanced the purse by $ 1,250 to bring it to a nice $ 6,000. That would have been divided between Ausmus and Langer, but the class together decided to put the money into the Small Tire Pro Stock fund for future class use.

“ I want to thank all of our Small Tire Pro Stock racers for attending, and Tom Bailey and his team at Sick for welcoming us,” said Joe Clemente, one of the five racers who created Small Tire Pro Stock.“ I also want to recognize Thomas Bemis and Total Venue Concepts for giving all of us an unbelievably prepared race surface, especially considering the rain and heat we had. Also, Mike Washington is a great friend and race director.”

FUTURE FORWARD At the time of this story deadline, Small Tire Pro Stock racers were looking forward to the rest of the races on the 2025 schedule, including July 4-5 and August 1-2 at Milan Dragway in Michigan, September 26-27 at Cecil County Dragway in Maryland, and August 29-30 at Jackson Dragway in Tennessee.

Small Tire Pro Stock steering committee members Joe Clemente, John Langer, Dwight Ausmus, David Theisen and Robbie Blankenship become more inspired every day to grow this class and to welcome sponsors who believe in them and want the class carry on through the decades. They are traveling from all over the country, and they are forming a new family, with a level of commitment that is refreshing and rewarding. DI

30 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 195