Lee, Hall, Rhodes, and others capture victory at Lights Out 12
/That’s a wrap folks. The 12th annual Lights Out even held at South Georgia Motorsports Park over the weekend is in the books. As usual, it certainly lived up to the hype.
Now, before I get into recapping the event, as I was there from early Tuesday morning until late Sunday afternoon, there have been a lot of people asking if I was going to address another topic from the event, and the answer is yes. That issue will be addressed as a stand-alone article.
First and foremost, I want to congratulate Donald, Stephanie, Ozzy, Lenco, Jeff Howell, Steve Sapp, Jeff Miles, Jason Rueckert, and everyone else on holding such a great event. The track was killer most of the week, things seem to run relatively smooth, and I didn’t hear much if any complaints with the exception of the heat, which I don’t think any of us were ready for.
By now you are well aware of what Lights Out is, and I don’t think that there is any valid argument against saying that it is the biggest radial race of the year. The fans use this race as an opportunity to usually get out of the cold and frigid winter they are suffering through, while the racers use this as either an opportunity to knock the cobwebs off from last season, or build on their performance from U.S. Street Nationals in January. I can say with great confidence based on how long it took me to get into the track on Saturday, the fans were certainly out in full force this time.
For those that have followed this style of racing for a while, or followed the Duck X races for any amount of time, you certainly know that someone strange is going to happen at least once. Well this time around, it was another car taking flight at the top end after the grandstands. Tim Slavens and the beautiful Camaro he has piloting for years decided to take flight early in the week. While the “crash” was much milder than we have seen in the past with cars from Stevie Jackson and Dewayne Mills, it still created enough damage to make all of us wonder if it was still going to be able to compete. A mad thrash ensued over the next couple of days to get the Camaro straightened out and safe to compete. Once Tim pulled into the box and made his first burnout after the crash, the ovation from the crowd was amazing to hear.
The on-track action was hot and heavy from the get-go. Rolling into round one of qualifying Wednesday night, every Radial vs. The World car was chomping at the bit to be the first out there. The reason for that is because drag racing Icon David Hance had announced a bounty for the first radial car in the 3.40’s. David was offering $3499.00 to the driver that put their car in the 3.40’s first during competition. This meant that not only were the drivers shooting for the bragging rights, but they were also shooting for some extra cash in their pocket. While we didn’t see the elusive 3.40’s broken into this weekend, it was might close, and if the conditions are right, there is still an opportunity for it to happen during the 2021 season.
Radial vs. The World has been, and always will be, the top class at Lights Out. This year was no different, and it was packed with upsets, consistent performances, and some damn great racing. When we talk about upsets, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Stevie Jackson getting pushed back during E1 on Saturday night versus Mark Micke. Stevie apparently had fluid leaking and had to shut it off, handing the round win to Mark Micke. Two of the most consistent cars on the property all week were the Procharged Camaro driven by PTP’s Jason Lee and the newly painted nitrous powered Vette of Marcus Birt. Both of these drivers were making solid A to B passes will little issue. By the time we arrived at the semi-finals, it was Jason Lee vs. Jamie Hancock in one pair, and the other pair featured Marcus Birt vs. the U.S. Street Nationals Winner Bryan Markiewicz. The two cars the made it to the finals were Marcus and Jason. In the finals though, it was Jason who would get the best of Marcus and take home the victory, going wire to wire from the #1 qualified position, new world record holder, and now event winner.
Pro 275 is what I like to call the baby RvW class because let’s face it, half the cars in the class are former RvW cars that put 275’s on. This class has exploded with popularity though. Between the former RvW cars in the class, along with a huge amount of Outlaw 10.5 cars coming on board, the field was jam-packed with heavy hitters. Names like Holder, Mo Hall, Woody, Dillard, Miller, and more. The question was also asked, “who was going to be the first in the ’60s?” We had the same outcome regarding that as we did 40s in RvW, it just didn’t happen. What we did get in Pro 275 was some great racing that was capped off by Jeff Miller in BumbleBee squaring off against Outlaw 10.5 legend Mo Hall. This was a blower vs. nitrous final and Mo was the victor on this day. His nitrous assisted Vette outlasted all competitors, including wins over Woodruff and Dustin Jackson in the process.
Limited Drag Radial, my personal favorite radial class on the planet right now showed up and showed out this weekend at Lights Out 12. Coming into the race there were two cars that went in the 3’s during competition in the class. That all changed when Justin Martin in his Garrett Turbo-powered hotrod blasted into the 3s to sit right behind another Garrett-powered car in Justin Crynek. We now had three cars in the 3’s, with another handful of them knocking on the door. Unfortunately, neither of them would be a factor in the finals. The final round of LDR featured the first-ever LDR car in the 3’s, which is driven by Paul Gargus, and the first ever radial car in the 5’s & first to break 250 mph, Josh Klugger’s old Foxbody Mustang driven by Tim Dutton. At the end of the day though, it was Paul Gargus taking the victory and showing the field why he is still a top dog in LDR.
It seems like I see an X275 advertised damn near every weekend now at some track around the country, but Lights Out is one of the places where endurance and skills are certainly put to the limit. Drivers like Rob Goss, Charles Hull, Rebecca Stuart, Eric LaFerriere, Blake Copson, Kenny Hubbard, Ron Rhodes, Manny Buginga, and countless others all push to show who can outlast and outperform on a 275 tire. Over the weekend though all the talk was about Rob Goss and Eric LaFerriere. Could the Hemi run with the import and vice versa. Only time would tell, and it didn't take long for them to have to face off against each other. This time it was White Rice taking the win over Rob, but the celebration didn’t last long, as Eric still had another round to go before reaching the finals. On the other side, it was Ron Rhodes, who took out Charles Hull early and then found his way to the finals at the end of the day to square off against Eric and White Rice. For the second consecutive final, Eric and White Rice found themselves a bridesmaid, as Ron snatched victory over the 2JZ entry.
Ultra Street bringing the heat over the weekend in South Georgia. With #1 and #2 in the world both on the property. Brian Keep and Kirt Sanders were looking to take out all the competition this weekend in Georgia. Neither Keep nor Sanders would be a factor later in the day on Sunday though. Instead, it was a Florida vs. Texas final in Ultra. Bill Gregan in his lime green foxbody squaring off against the 1967 nitrous powered, Kenny Hubbard tuned, Camaro of Ryan McClaskey. Ryan was able to take the event victory in the heat while claiming victory for Texas.
It should really come as no surprise that Shawn Pevlar took home the DXP Street win at Lights Out. It is by far the most purpose-built hotrod in the class and he has shown that every time he shows up to compete in DXP Street.
Rounding out the heads-up class victors was Jason Riley taking home the win in Limited 235. Congratulation to Jason on a Lights Out Championship.
In 6.0 the last man standing was Jackson Henderson from Alabama.