Subscribe to RSS Feed
Photos from the Milan Dragway Ultimate Outlaw Shootout Series race have been posted to the photo gallery. Race results can be found at the end of the photo gallery. We’ll be updating the news ASAP.
Click here for the Milan Dragway – Ultimate Outlaws Photo Gallery
After months of waiting, we finally were able to hit the road to Piedmont Dragway for the season opener of the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout Series! Once again, we proved that the weather forecasters have no idea what they are talking about – the only thing that was in our forecast was blue skies, burnout smoke, and some awesome racing! 
Round 1 began with the defending champ Scotty G lining up against another nitrous car, that of Michael Martin. Scotty had the advantage from the hit, and never looked back, running a 4.492 @ 168 with a .022 reaction time. Martin left with a .075 light but did not make a clean pass. Next up was Mo Hall and Ed Rice. Mo took a brief nap at the tree while Rice nailed the tree with an .006 light, he did not make it A to B though, and Mo made his best pass of the day so far with a 4.467 @ 170.39, getting a grip on the track conditions. Jason Enos and Mark Swanson, top qualifiers, put the screws to it on single passes to see what the track could hold, they put on a little too much and overpowered the surface.
To start off Round 2, Mark Swanson toned it back a little bit from Round 1’s setup and made a great 4.408 @ 170mph pass against Scotty G, who made a respectable 4.450 @ 168mph pass. Swanson had the starting line advantage with a .013 light, Scotty also had a great light with an .037 reaction time. Mo Hall got the jump on Jason Enos to finish up the round, but had to get out of the throttle. Enos’ car made an almost identical pass to his previous clean runs, a 4.333 @ 183mph to put him into the finals. 
7.49 Index, a regular class at Piedmont, was a welcome addition to the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout. This group of racers dialed in their setups fast and when qualifying was finished, the whole field was within a tenth of the index. Gary Golden was the leader of the pack, qualifying #1 with a 7.523. Both Bobby Stokes and Dwayne Rozier were right behind him, only a few thousandths of a second behind.
The odd number of cars in the field gave us another single, this time Dwayne Rozier in the semi-finals. Rozier made a great pass, the best elapsed time during eliminations, a 7.494. Bobby Stokes and Gary Golden, #1 and #2 qualifiers, faced off and gave the fans a great race. Stokes had a .011 advantage leaving, Golden drove around him but broke out, so did Stokes. Stokes 7.455 with an .013 light put him into the finals against Rozier.
Normally at the 1/4 mile tracks that the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout series frequents, we have the 8.50 Index class. Due to Piedmont being 1/8th mile, obviously, we had to adjust a little. The Piedmont 5.80 Raiders were added to the show and did not disappoint. Like the 7.49 index group, the 5.80 Raiders were very close, with the entire field qualifying in the 5.8xx range. Mike Pyott was the only 8.50 car that made the trip south, and within a few passes, he was able to slow his car enough and get dialed in for eliminations. Joe Robertson was the leader of the pack after qualifying, taking the #1 spot with a 5.827 pass. Also in the 5.82 range was Derek Motley with a 5.829.
Robertson might regret not making a run in the previous round, Gloria Mitchell caught him sleepin’ and beat him with a holeshot, Robertson’s .127 light did him in against Mitchell’s .030 and 5.872 e/t. Derek Motley left a hair early lit his red bulb with a -.002, giving Ken Multer the victory and on to the final round against Gloria Mitchell. Multer earned it though, and ran a 5.874.
The top of the field made easy work of the bottom during the first and second round of eliminations. The top four qualifiers faced each other in the semi-finals. John Phillips and Kevin Robinson led off the semis, Phillips getting a nice head start but Robinson drove around and took the win with a 5.620 to Phillips’ 5.773. Terry Morton left minutes before Dean Goodin, Goodin dead late with a .171 light. Morton took the holeshot win with a 5.873 to Goodin’s 5.811.
X275 had the strongest showing out of any other class, with a total of 21 cars going for the 16 car field. We saw folks from all over, taking rides from as far as New Jersey and Georgia to compete. It was scorching during the day, but somehow the teams were on point and we saw four cars in the 5.0x range after qualifying finished. Chad Branson put up a 5.088, so did Andy Manson. Pete Harrell took the #2 spot with a 5.045, while Jeff Kyle was at the top of the pack with a 5.043. 
In the battle of the supercharged cars, Rich Bruder with the ProCharger lined up against the Vortech powered Kurgan ride. It looks like Kurgan didn’t touch a thing and his car could run brackets, he ran a 5.017 to Bruder’s 5.053 – what a close race! Andy Manson and Chad Branson also put on a great show for the fans, leaving at about the same time but Manson inching out Branson with a 5.028 elapsed time.
A couple of the Outlaw Drag Radial crowd drove through the night after racing at MIR on Friday night, along with some of the X275 crew, and that was appreciated immensely by the fans and staff of the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout. As we arrived to the track on Saturday, we saw quantity and especially quality in the Outlaw Drag Radial pits, including quite a few record holders in the class. Stevie Jackson’s bright orange mustang thundered off a 4.615 pass for the #2 qualifier spot. The man to beat after qualifying was Kevin Fiscus, running a 4.578 at a whopping 177mph!
Only heavy hitters left in the field, with cars from all over the country – Jackson from Florida, Fiscus from Florida, Henderson from Alabama, and Johnson from Maryland. Chad Henderson and Kevin Fiscus were the first to line up. Henderson was gone first and got the win light with a 4.683 @ 158mph pass, while Fiscus did not get a clean pass. Stevie Jackson also did his job at the line and got going first against Francis Johnson. Johnson was a little off his pace, his 4.649 did not hold up to Jackson’s 4.584.
We are live today from the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout series from Piedmont Dragway! 
We really admire the X275 guys – getting these cars to hook and shoot down the track is pretty difficult, the drivers are often fighting to keep the front ends down, or from doing 60 foot burnouts. Mike Cerminaro is back in action with a Nitrous combination and took the #1 qualifier spot during the first round of qualifying with a 5.310 @ 133mph. Rich Bruder, #1 qualifier from the last race, was right on his tail with a 5.341 @ 140mph pass. In the second qualifying round, Craig Walls came out with a setup good enough to take the number one spot with a 5.298 @ 137mph, in a field full of tough competitors.
Craig Walls drew John Ashnault in the first round of eliminations. Ashnault and the Disomma team have been working hard to get down, unfortunately they lit up the tires at the onset again and Walls’ .032 light and 5.284 @ 138mph earned him the win. We saw Ashnault and team at E-town on Sunday, continuing to test and tune. Walt Pfister turned on the red bulb leaving .031 early against Ron Rhodes, Rhodes not making a full pass but he’ll take the win. Brendan Mills had a great leave on Rich Bruder with a .013 light, Bruder no slouch with a .023 drove around Mills for the race fastest elapsed time of 5.042 @ 144.38mph. Wrapping it up on a broke bye, Mike Cerminaro puts it on the bumper to about 100 feet out which slows him down a bit, running a 5.748 @ 126.
8.50 Index as usual had a great showing, with each team showing up with a show quality car and putting on a great race for the fans. Many of these teams have enough data on their cars to roll them off the trailers, put a tuneup in, and make a great run. This was definitely the case for Craig Buscio, who brought out the Nova and put up an 8.511 in the first round of qualifying. That time would be challenged in the second round, but would hold up and Craig kept the #1 spot for the day. In the second round of qualifying, the Fonse Performance team moved up from #3 to #2 with an 8.518. Harry Gerb improved from #6 to the #3 spot with an 8.532 pass. The top 8 out of the 15 car field were all in the 8.50s! But as most of you know, these 8.50 racers are professionals and elimination order often does not matter much when it comes to who hits the winner’s circle.
Team South Jersey was in the house, with local racers making up half of the 11 car qualifying field. Traveling from out of state and much appreciated by all of us for coming to our neck of the woods was Mo Hall, Charlie Dolbin/Team Caldwell, Scotty G, Lou Sciortino, and Dale Collins Jr. The first round of qualifying seemed to be an information gathering exercise, with teams a little off the pace and trying to get a read on the track. Early in the round, Scotty G made a great pass with a 4.503 @ 164mph. TJ Kasper and team do a good bit of testing at Atco, their home track, and it showed as TJ went a 4.395 @ 182 to take the #1 qualifier spot after one round of qualifying. In the second round, it would be his old man, Tommy Kasper, who turns the wick up and goes 4.356 @ 180 to take the #1 qualifier spot in Outlaw 10.5 for the second race in a row, knocking Kid Kwik to #2. Scotty G improved on his previous elapsed time and also held on to #3 with a 4.484 @ 164. Mo Hall did what he needed to make it into the show at the bottom of the field with a 4.998 @ 160, with everyone knowing his car is more than capable of blowing the doors off the rest of the competition. Steve Gorman, fresh off his last win at Cecil County, was in the middle of the field in the #4 spot.
First round of eliminations brought us an amazing matchup with Tommy Kasper versus Mo Hall. Mo and Tommy leave virtually at the same time (.001 difference), Mo shooting down the track with the candles lighting up nice and bright. Tommy had the upper hand, running a 4.346 @ 181 to take the win over Mo’s 4.570 @ 167. Steve Gorman went back to the pits kicking himself for going .009 red against Lou Sciortino. Sciortino made a very respectable pass at 4.456 @ 178. Dale Collins gets off the line .032 ahead of TJ Kasper with a .025 reaction time, but TJ is able to drive around Dale and wins with a 4.447 @ 178mph, to Dale’s 4.585 @ 171. Finishing up round 1 was a great race win coming from the Scotty G camp. Scotty was up against Brad Harris, the round was all Scotty. Scotty has a .018 reaction time and puts up a 4.386 @ 168 elapsed time, the fastest nitrous pass of the day, to Harr’s 4.574 @ 165 pass.