KEITH HANEY INVADES PDRA

ued to worsen for his own event, Haney made the tough decision to call XRP owner Clyde Scott and tell him the race needed to be postponed. As both a businessman and a family man, Haney didn’ t want to force teams to spend their time and money for traveling just to sit in the rain. Yet there was an opportunity gained from the unfortunate situation.

“ I called Brandon and the guys and said,‘ I want to make some hits. I want to go race PDRA Pro Nitrous and see how I stand up with those guys.’ And immediately the guys said,‘ Yeah, whatever you want to do, boss.’ They want to race too. They enjoy success.”

Almost immediately, the team – Haney, Steve Cooks, 2025 DI 30 Under 30 honoree Bobby Savedra III, Jordan Savedra, and Adam Engnes – made plans to head out to Benson, North Carolina. Severe thunderstorms were rolling through the Midwest as Haney was leaving with the rig – he admits if they’ d left just 20 minutes later, they likely would’ ve been caught up in a tornado that tore through Muskogee, Oklahoma.

By Thursday morning, it was time to see if all the hard work had paid off. Three test passes, three clean hits. The“ Black Widow” was more consistent than it had ever been heading into Friday’ s qualifying. Three qualifying sessions, and three more clean hits – including a 3.665 at 206.64 mph that landed Haney in the No. 6 spot out of 21 drivers. For the first time since debuting it at the Winter Series, Haney knew he had a hot rod.

“ It took us a bit to figure it out, but I love driving this car,” says Haney.“ I can see every single bit of the racetrack. Every single light that’ s on the tree. I can see out of this Corvette body better than anything I’ ve ever seen out of in my life. The car drives better than anything I’ ve ever driven.

“ And let’ s talk about 21 nitrous cars,” Haney adds.“ The most they’ ve had in a long time. Go pull up any sheet. I couldn’ t tell you when they

last had 21 nitrous cars. They outdid the Pro Boost category.”

On race day, Haney lined up against Billy Albert in round one and won with a 3.714 at 206.35 to Albert’ s 3.747. He then lined up against another Brandon Switzer-tuned driver, PDRA Darlington winner Mike Achenbach, in the second round. Achenbach went-. 011 on the tree, while Haney rolled to a 3.755 at 195.19.

“ Once I let go of the button against Albert in that first round, I said,‘ This car can’ t be beat,’” recalls Haney.“ When I let go of the button and the front end come up and it did what it did, I said,‘ It can’ t be beat. I think I can win this race.’”

A timing system malfunction with the Christmas tree plagued the semifinal pairing between Haney and Buddy Perkinson, causing Perkinson to leave the line late. PDRA officials determined the race needed to be ran again; however, after losing with

a 3.691 at 204.79 to Haney’ s 3.664 at 206.48, Perkinson declined the opportunity to rerun the race.

“ I’ ll admit it – I was mad that after I had won, basically crying on the top end like, I wasn’ t supposed to do this,” Haney says.“ And then all of a sudden, someone comes over and said something malfunctioned in the tree, we’ re going to probably have to rerun. I said,‘ I am not re-running. I’ ll go home.’ I was emotional.

“ Buddy, being the sportsman he is, and his team are, they’ re good people,” adds Haney.“ We’ re parked next to each other. We’ ve talked all weekend. They played with my dog. We’ ve had a great time. Let me tell you, that’ s real sportsmanship right there.”

While the final didn’ t go Haney’ s way – an especially tough loss considering it appeared to be all but won – it was a monumental step in his program with the new car. Nine consecutive passes with zero aborted runs throughout the weekend prior to the finals, reaction times that were on point in eliminations(. 031,. 033,. 053,. 007), and a car that will be a contender throughout the rest of 2026.

“ We went from the outhouse to the penthouse in just three days,” Haney says with a smile.“ The PDRA really showed good camaraderie for the sport with me coming here. We made more noise in drag racing … if you look on the internet, it’ s everywhere. It’ s been really good for the sport because you’ ve seen them talking good about Mid-West, and we always talk good about PDRA. I came to support this race because I believe in it and I care about the sport, and I feel like the Franklins care about the sport. I think we proved this weekend we’ re something.” DI

48 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 200