‘ BARNEY’ RIDES AGAIN

for what they’ ve done over the years.”

While the car is mainly intended for Pro Nitrous competition, the class is not currently contested in IHRA. Instead, the team competed in the Outlaw Pro Mod class as a way to break in a brand-new car in a slightly smaller field. Mauney qualified in the No. 8 position with a 3.730-second pass at 203.16 mph and earned a first-round win when his opponent, Rickie Smith, couldn’ t make the call.

The victory set up a quarterfinal-round matchup with No. 1 qualifier Jason Scruggs. Although Mauney ran a respectable 3.742 at 201.61 mph, it was no match for Scruggs’ 3.523 at 222.66 mph. Nevertheless, it was an impressive debut for the team, whose stated goal was to simply have a good time and make memories.

“ The car is brand-new. It had never been down the racetrack,” says Wilson.“ I think this worked out to be the best-case scenario. Tommy is super excited about this opportunity, and I have plenty of parts. Tommy built this car up to date – it is as state of the art as anything out there, and we have all the stuff to do it. I just want Tommy and Shannon to go enjoy themselves and have fun with it.”

Wilson isn’ t just watching from the sidelines, however. He’ s driving Ed Burnley’ s Harts Charger-equipped“ Iron Man”’ 69 Camaro in the regular Pro Mod class in 2026 and already picked up an IHRA event win in Virginia.

“ This all played hand-in-hand with Ed Burnley giving me the opportunity to drive the Iron Man car,” Wilson says.“ It’ s not feasible for me to drive two cars. I just don’ t have time to do it. With Ed giving me the opportunity to run his car in Pro Mod, it allowed time for Tommy to be able to do this.”

Whether this arrangement is simply a one-off deal, or turns into something bigger in 2026, remains to be seen. For his part, Wilson is leaving the ball in Jenkins and Mauney’ s court and letting them run with it. No matter what happens moving forward, he’ s excited to see what they do in those classic purple and white colors.

“ As long as we don’ t tear anything up, I’ ve left it to them – I’ ll let them race it as much as they want to race,” says Wilson, who also drove the car in NHRA Pro Mod at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway in late April.“ If they want to run PDRA, if they want to run IHRA, they can run anywhere they want to run with this car. I’ ll service it, I’ ll maintenance the car and take care of it. I’ ll play the car owner role for the year, if they want to continue to race it. This is an open invitation to Shannon and Tommy to have a year of racing together, and it’ s up to them how much they want to race this year.” DI

24 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 200