By Nate Van Wagnen | Photo: Chris Sears
The duo of “Turbo” Todd Moyer and tuner Carl Stevens Jr. continue to rack up No. 1 qualifier accolades, as the Texas-based driver topped an ultra-competitive Outlaw Pro Mod field Saturday night at the 52nd Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Moyer’s 3.581-second, 229.43 MPH pass in the fifth and final qualifying session in $52,000-to-win M&M Transmission Outlaw Pro Mod presented by FuelTech and PJS Racing gave him the No. 1 spot for the fourth consecutive event.
The handful of additional heads-up classes in competition at the Snowbirds completed two of their scheduled three Saturday qualifying sessions. The No. 1 qualifiers in those classes are Marcus Birt in Precision Shaft Technologies Pro 275 presented by Pro Line Racing, Eric LaFerriere in Mickey Thompson Tires X275 presented by Precision Turbo & Engine, Paul Gargus in Energy Manufacturing Limited Drag Radial presented by Callies, Daryl Stewart in TBM Brakes Outlaw 632 presented by Rife Sensors, and Shawn Pevlor in TRZ Motorsports Ultra Street presented by Summit Racing.
OUTLAW PRO MOD
Since returning to his turbocharged roots in October, “Turbo” Todd Moyer has qualified No. 1 at all four races he’s attended. His Carl Stevens Jr.-led team has adjusted their combination in recent weeks in response to rule changes. Even with those changes, Moyer continued to run at the front of the pack Saturday when he ran a weekend-best 3.581 at 229.43 at the beginning of the fifth and final qualifying session.
“I’m 62 years old and never done it in a lifetime,” Moyer said of his most recent accomplishment. “I don’t know what to compare it to. We’ve been here since Tuesday working on it, and to really just get everything working today, to figure out what it wanted and what it didn’t want, it’s phenomenal. We smoked the tires the one run. I cannot actually believe we got it. We were a little frustrated the last day or two, yes, but we didn’t give up. Everybody kept working and throwing out ideas. It’s incredible.”
Behind Moyer, all 31 other drivers that qualified for the Sunday show ran in the 3.60-second range. Spencer Hyde, who won the $100,000 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod at Bradenton in March, threw down a 3.600 at 206.83 in his screw-blown “Jack & The Green Stock” ’69 Camaro as the last car down the track on Saturday night to qualify second. Mark Micke also made a monster run in the final session, recording a 3.608 at 216.06 in his twin-turbocharged M&M Transmission ’69 Camaro to end up third based on speed. Scott Wildgust drove the screw-blown Smokies Garage ’20 Camaro to a 3.608 at 207.94 for the fourth spot. Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier, Jay Santos, slipped to No. 5 with a 3.616 at 205.57 in his screw-blown Santos Motorsports ’69 Camaro. Andrew Handras in his nitrous-fed ’69 Camaro ended up on the 32-car bump spot with a 3.686 at 201.70.
While Moyer has excelled in qualifying, he’s struggled to carry over that success in eliminations. He’ll start eliminations against Handras with a tenth of a second separating the two. The Texan driver is determined to turn his race day luck around on Sunday.
“The driver has to do his job and just go rounds. That’s all it’s going to be,” Moyer said. “Not worry about everybody else mad at me because we’re dominating. I feel like I’m on the bullseye right now. You get up there on the tree and everybody wants to play the little games, but they’ve been winning them. I’ll be honest, yes, they’ve been getting me. I feel like now I’m at the understanding that I need to just drive. That’s all I need to do. Just do my tree and I’ll be fine.”
Moyer shared his appreciation for Stevens Jr., Carl Stevens Sr., and the rest of the Xtreme Racing Engines team.
“The group is phenomenal,” Moyer said. “They just don’t give up. This has been over a year and a half in the making of doing this. I just had to gather the money to go back to the turbo, redo the car, and redo everything they wanted. They told me this is how it’s going to run. It’s incredible that it’s doing it.”
PRO 275
Pro 275 saw some shuffling in the final session with big-time runs from two of the top contenders in the class. Longtime outlaw racer Marcus Birt jumped to the top of the order when he recorded a 3.744 at 200.53 in the Tommy Youmans-owned, ProCharger-boosted “Salvage Title” Mustang. Jason Collins, the newly crowned FuelTech Radial Outlaws Series Pro 275 champion, drove the screw-blown Scott Tidwell Racing ’69 Camaro to a 3.746 at 200.35 to end up No. 2. Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier, Mark Woodruff, slid to third with his 3.765 at 198.26 in his screw-blown ’10 Corvette recorded on Friday.
X275
Nearly everyone in X275 stepped up during Saturday’s two sessions, including Friday’s provisional No. 1 qualifier, Eric LaFerriere. The driver of Duy Bui’s turbocharged “White Rice” ’97 Nissan 240SX laid down a 4.139 at 178.92 to solidify his position on the top of the qualifying sheet. Ryan Milliken also dipped into the 4.10s with his 4.182 at 177.72 in his one-of-a-kind Cummins diesel-powered ’69 Nova to qualify second. Charlie Johnson moved up to the No. 3 spot in his Mariana, Florida-based Mustang with a 4.216 at 172.01.
LIMITED DRAG RADIAL
The top three in Limited Drag Radial remained unchanged from Friday’s order, though two of the three drivers did improve their best times. Paul Gargus in the ProCharged Scott Tidwell Racing ’69 Camaro held on to the No. 1 spot with his 3.904 at 191.05 from Friday, while Huston Dial and Matt Bell went quicker than they did on Friday. Dial in the nitrous-assisted “Devil Horse” ’04 Mustang posted a 3.938 at 181.98 to stay No. 2, and Bell ran a consistent 3.949 at 192.41 in his turbocharged ’93 Mustang to remain third on the sheet.
OUTLAW 632
Outlaw 632 didn’t see any changes in the top three from Friday’s two sessions. Daryl Stewart from Jupiter, Florida, locked in the No. 1 qualifier position with a 4.143 at 172.25 in his Clayton Murphy-tuned, nitrous-assisted Chassis Engineering ’12 Camaro. Following closely are two fellow Floridians: Chris Holdorf from Clermont, posting a 4.231 at 167.30 in his Jamie Miller-tuned Dewitt Custom Concrete ’06 GTO, and Kyle Salminen from Port Charlotte, claiming the third spot with a 4.234 at 166.56 in his nitrous-breathing ’03 Cavalier.
ULTRA STREET
Cincinnati, Ohio’s Shawn Pevlor held on to the No. 1 spot in Ultra Street for the second consecutive year. Driving his ’92 Mustang, he posted a 4.464 at 156.63 on Friday to set the pace. Camren Massengale in his Indiana-based ’01 Z06 held on to his No. 2 spot, but improved on his Friday best with a 4.477 at 156.86. Cocoa, Florida-based driver Jason Spina cracked into the top three in his ’90 Mustang with a 4.499 at 156.34.
The 52nd Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks will conclude Sunday, with eliminations beginning at 9 a.m. Fans can tune in to the official event livestream on FloRacing. For detailed results and more event info, visit www.Facebook.com/BradentonMotorsportsPark.
Nate Van Wagnen | Drag Illustrated | Photo: Chris Sears
