Orlando World Street Nationals...Dominated by Legends

It has been a week since the Granddaddy of all doorslammer races was held at Orlando Speed World Dragway. To say it was a hell of a weekend would be an understatement. 

This was the 24th annual running of the World Street Nationals. This race is considered the Granddaddy of all doorslammer races. With everything from Pro Mod, Radial, Open Comp, and so much more. There was nothing that was going to stop Wade Rich and Ozzy Moya from getting this event completed. 

The amount of rain that we kept getting all weekend was something that was bound to annoy fans and track personal. It wasn't that hard rain that last an hour and moves out. All weekend we were exposed to that short 10-15 minute rain fall. Just enough rain that Wade and crew would have to get on the sweepers and clean off the water from the track. This happened more times than I can remember on Saturday alone. Made me wonder if we were going to be able to complete the event. 

Without fail, Wade is never one to walk away from a challenge and he took the weather head on. Limiting downtime as much as he and the crew could, while Lee TEC Sebring entertained the crowd on the mic. When the track was dry, they racing was amazing though. 

In Pro Mod, there were cars from all over the country competing for that $20k payday. We got to see plenty of the PDRA heavy hitters bring their pro mods to the warmth of Orlando as well. Names like Melanie Salemi, Jay Cox, Todd Tutterow, Todd Moyer, and more. Jerico Balduf was there in his new Chevelle, and of course the Legend Billy Glidden was competing in his Ray Skillman backed Camaro. 

2017 was the first year that Pro Mod was contested as 1/8th mile instead of quarter mile. Made no difference to these drivers though.  The George Williams camp brought their Camaro and Vette, as they are WSN staples as well. As we started to get through the rounds of eliminations, it was obvious that the PDRA contingency had the upper hand, as three of the four finalist in Pro Mod were PDRA regulars. The first semi final match-up featured Melanie going head to head with pro mod legend Todd Tutterow and Jay Cox taking on George Williams. Todd and Jay took the wins to move on and face each other for $20k. Todd and Jay are both PDRA regulars, racing in Pro Boost and Pro Nitrous respectively. It was Todd that took home the big payday though as Jay had some difficulties. 

Though it wasn't advertised, and was a last minute call, it was decided that they would also have a B class for the Pro Mods as well. This was for those that didn't make the top 16. It was a great way to continue to put a show on for the fans, as well as giving the drivers more track time. This was no B League class though. Some of the heaviest hitting, who's who of pro mod were involved in this. It all came down to Ruben T. and Chuck Hicks. Both had seen issues all weekend, but it was Ruben, with his crew man Alex taking the win in the B class. This is a huge momentum turn for Ruben, who had been struggling all season. 

Heavy Street is a World Street Nationals original. And we saw yet another legend of WSN take home the money, along with running a personal best. A lot of you know Scott Husted as a staple in the drag radial world. Before Scott made a name for himself in the radial world, he was an Orlando World Street Nationals Heavy Street Champion in his 1969 Camaro. 2017 though was Scott's year to take yet another victory, this time in his twin turbo Mustang. Scott also broke a personal barrier when he entered the 200 mph club (1000'). 

Some don't consider this kid a legend, but mark my words, in 20 years we will still be talking about how relevant he is. Troy Pirez Jr. has been making a name for himself year after year, and this year was no different. Troy is the owner of Innovative Racecraft, located in Plant City, Fl. Troy was entered in No Time, along with 10.0. In 10.0 he took the win with his Camaro, and in N/T he took the win in his notorious General Lee Mustang. If you don't know TPJ, you had better start paying attention, because you will see his name on many more winner checks in the future. Also look for E3xtreme to have a full feature on Troy. 

Ultra Street seems to be the one radial class that continues to thrive in Florida. With drivers like Tony Alm, Mike Freeman, and so many others, this class has become a regular at WSN. This year Ultra Street had a full 16 car field that was headed up by Rodney Ragen with a 4.700 down to number sixteen Todd Donnal at 5.452. Rodney would not make it to the finals though after he went -.004 in the second round. Tony Alm, who resides in Florida was on a tear. He defeated Tyler Ronx in E1, in E2 Ken Pellicciotti was Tony's next victim. The semi finals saw Tony beat heavy hitter Brian Keep and his nitrous powered Camaro. This left Tony to face off against Nick Bernardo in the finals. Tony ran a 4.743 to Nick's 4.925. 

Outlaw 632 hosted the best of the best in the country at WSN XXiV. Jim Aldous, Troy Blake, Ken Quartuccio, Dillion Voss, and Jordan Ensslin. Ken was absolutely dominate for most of the weekend with a string of high 4.20's. It was the "kids" that squared off late Sunday night for the payday and trophy. Dillion Voss faced off against another young gun and birthday boy Jordan Ensslin. Dillion continued his Outlaw 632 winning ways though. He hammered down to a 4.338 over Jordan's 4.401. The Voss crew, including Dillion, Cory, and the rest proved that their Suncoast built, Voss Racing Engines powered Vette just keeps winning races. 

Comeback class is Outlaw 10.5 vs. Radial. The radial contingency apparently forgot how to actually make it to Orlando, with the exception of Jeff & Patrick Miller. Jeff was one of the only true out of town radial heavy hitter to make the drive to Orlando. It was quite apparent that the Cecil County Outlaw 10.5 crowd came to play and take home the cash. The east coast had one goal in mind and that was to take the south's milk money. "Cash Money" Mo Hall ended up facing off against Canadian Superstar John Carinci in the finals for $10k. Mo cruised to a 4.005 and a win over John's 4.806.

Bruce Thrift is a front runner whenever he is on the property and WSN was no different. First off, congrats to Bruce on running his first 3 second T/S run. A huge accomplishment for the entire team. Bruce crushed the rest of the T/S field and in the finals he faced off against Scott Kervern and Scott's '67 Cuda. Bruce with a 4.002 easily snatched the win to a slower 5.382 of Scott. The win capped off a great weekend for Bruce. 

That's a wrap for this years World Street Nationals. Stay up to date only on E3xtreme for the 2018 World Street Nationals plans. It will make the 25th anniversary, with some amazing things in the works. 
Save the date...November 8th-11th 2018