Quickest Side by Side in Radial History, New "Unofficial" Leaf Record, 3's on 275, Grudge, We call it WoooooStock!!

So, Keith Berry, Lance Stanford, and Travis Harvey decided to put on a race at the famous Draglington Dragway, and guess what happens, records fall, crowds go nuts, and everyone has a great time. It's WoooooStock folks, and it's in the books for 2017. 

Some of you may not have known that there was going to be a race at Darlington last weekend that included radial cars, along with N/T racing and grudge racing. If you are one of those people, you have got to try harder to get out from under that rock! Lance, Travis, and Keith did a good job at promoting this event so that everyone knew what to expect. 

So what about the action? Well, for those living under that same rock, we have a new radial tire world record, when Stevie Fast and Barry Mitchell faced off in the final, only to run the quickest side by side pass in radial history. Stevie cracked off a 3.71 to Barry's 3.74, both at 198 mph.  Again, Stevie keeps lowering the bar. Not sure if we will see a .6x before the fall, but I guess nothing would surprise me. 

Jeff Miller, in the BumbleBee had a really strong showing last weekend when he ran a career best of a 3.86 with the screw blown Camaro. So technical issues in the N/T shootout prevented him from making it to the line for his semi final pairing with Stevie though. We have talked to Patrick Miller, Jeff's son and car crew chief yesterday, and the car is already being repaired and should be ready to go again. 

Everyone knows by now that the one and only Ziff Hudson became the first man to ever wheel a 275 radial into the 3 second zone as well. This, as I stated before, might be one of the last ground breaking accomplishments in all of radial tire racing. He wasn't the only one that did it though. Larry Roach was hot on Ziff's heals and shortly after Ziff cracked off his 3 second pass, Larry did as well. Congrats to both of them for their performances last weekend. 

Lyle Barnett was also on the Darlington property with Jason Digby's record holding '69 turbo powered Dodge Dart. Lyle was running a N/T shootout for the weekend. And while for some reason, some don't consider it a record, I do because it was in competition. Lyle cracked off a 4.17 and further lowered the World Record in a Leaf Spring car. He, much like Jeff Miller, had a mechanical issue that ended his night earlier than expected as well. 

NFL Pro Bowler Fletcher Cox, along with his team of Chase Driskell, Tim Turner, Shawn Ayers, and others had Goldust there and ready for action. Seemed like when the car was happy it was really happy and went A to B no problem, but when it wasn't happy you could certainly tell. Just some early season growing pains that they will figure out, and when they do, you'd better watch those boards and your wallets. 

The grudge game was on point at Darlington as well though. We got to hear the legend, the man himself, Willie Dog on the mic. He might be the best hype man I have heard in my 25 years in drag racing. This man can get asses to the line and to the wall for a race. Some may laugh, including me, but he is the real deal and so is the grudge world at Darlington. I was disappointed that there weren't some more match up's, but apparently for what I was told, some people were too damn scared to lock it in. Either way, if you get a chance to watch some grudge, especially if Willie is on the mic, you better do so. 

Even for someone who isn't in the grudge and N/T world on a 24/7 basis, I did see some cars/trucks that I knew. BiPolAr was looking strong, and there were others that I said to myself "So that's where that car went to". My complaint is that we need more grudge racing. We need a reason for people to be vested in the outcome as well. 

Listen, it's not all roses and rainbows at the first ever WoooooStock. There were growing pains. There are some things that I'd like to see addressed. I am sure those that ran the event will ask me after reading this, but the fact is, for the first ever WooooStock, it was a solid showing. I would also like to say that Jimmy Bradshaw, and some of the other staff at Darlington Dragway did an amazing job with the track!! Kuddos to Jimmy for staking claim to the quickest radial track in the country....for now. 

To Lance, Travis, and Keith. You guys did a great job pulling this off! It was great entertainment and that is exactly what drag racing is suppose to be. For that I thank you! We will see all of you in 2018 for the next installment of WoooooStock.