Counterweight
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Behind the Scenes at
LIGHTS OUT 7
The Man Who
Would Be King
Keith Berry
Dominance
Beyond Measure
Barry Mitchell
Coming in Hot
Keith Haney
Anderson & Line
Stand Tall
Pro Stock Champs Look
Unstoppable in Fuel
Injection Era
THE FIRST TIME
Brittany
Force
Wins
Dan Stevenson
the Beatles on the cover every other
issue? Twice in three months I get to
read about Keith Berry? I get it; we
get it – let’s move on. There’s only 12
issues a year, right? So, now, you’ve
burnt up two of those with wall-towall drag radial coverage with the
same guy on the cover? You do realize they still run cars on slicks, right?
Trust me – there are races going on
that don’t pay $50 grand and are
reserved for DOT tires.
Vince Huffaker, via the Internet
Feedback, Friendly Notes,
& Hate Mail
some point in the future. I have to
believe that’d be one hell of an entertaining interview.
Matt Hall, via the Internet
Where Do We
Go From Here?
How long until drag radial racing is completely ruined – at least at
its highest levels? Every issue of DI
Stevie Jackson
David Wolfe
Ro b Valden
Second Time
Around
While I was surprised to see
Keith Berry on the cover again so
quickly (I admittedly wasn’t aware
of the standing arrangement to put
the winner of Lights Out on the
cover), I have to say that I couldn’t
have enjoyed Wes Buck’s feature
any more. Thrashing all night, going without sleep, driving all night
only to get to the track and have
more problems? Yeah, that sounds
just about right. It’s nice to know
that even the big boys go through
the same crap that the rest of us do.
Keep up the good work.
Matt Strauss, via the Internet
Lights On
Lights Out
Barry Mitchell’s
double up at Lights
Out 7 has to be one of
the most impressive
outings drag racing has
ever seen. I believe that
few people truly understand what it takes to
run 10 rounds of racing in something like
10 hours, let alone win
them all while running
4.20s in a nitrous car
on drag radials. Barry
Mitchell deserves a
medal of honor.
Dan Boyd,
via the Internet
In the days leading up to Lights
Out 7, I had friends close to the situation telling me that Keith Berry
might not even make it to the track,
and the next thing I know he’s going
to the final against Stevie Jackson.
That kind of come from behind performance is the type of thing that
reminds me why drag racing is so
great – you literally never know
what’s going to happen. Sadly, I
don’t think anyone thought Berry
had a chance in the final, but he put
the radial racing world on its ear
with that holes hot win, and it’s good
that we have Drag Illustrated to
permanently commemorate the
monumental moments in outlaw
drag racing history. That was definitely one of them.
Darryl Lewis, via the Internet
He may talk a big
talk, but how can you not love Keith
Haney? With Donald Long and all
of his followers constantly talking
trash, it would have been hard to
even show up in South Georgia, let
alone make a shot-heard-roundthe-world run to go straight to the
top of the qualifying sheets. For a
guy who had a freaking song written, played and posted to YouTube
mocking him, innumerable memes
posted on Facebook, it’s admirable
that he turned up ready to race and
win. I’m glad he was given his due
on the pages of Drag Illustrated,
even though he didn’t earn the cover.
Lyle Marsh, via the Internet
Are you serious? You guys going
the route of Rolling Stone? Putting
I can only hope that Keith
Haney actually wins Lights Out at
12 | D r a g
Notorious
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
that hits my mailbox reports yet another broken record on radials of all
sizes and, obviously, those records
will soon get fewer and further between naturally, but doesn’t something need to be done to slow the
evolution down? It’s completely out
of control, and it’s that way on every
level – from Outlaw 8.5 to X275 to
Radial vs. World. The drag radial
revolution has been one of the best
things to happen to drag racing in
decades, but someone has to step in
and put the brakes on, right?
Derrick Franks, via the Internet
No Prep?
The no prep craze is reaching a
fever pitch. What’s Drag Illustrated’s take on how long this
lasts? Do race tracks continue to
let three-second, 200+ mph capable
doorslammers compete on – sometimes – completely untouched racing surfaces? Can’t help but feel
like it’s only a matter of time before
something really bad happens at
these events. Promoters are making
a lot of money off these events as
well as generate a lot of excitement
and interest in the sport and no one
can be upset about that,
but the idea of taking an
activity that is already
dangerous and doing
everything possible to
make it more dangerous
is a little hard to wrap
your head round.
Jerry Thomas,
via the Internet
The key to keeping no
prep racing alive is
keeping pro racers out.
Pro Mod racers have
more events to choose
from than delay box
racers these days. In
the south, for instance,
you can race for good
money with an Outlaw
Pro Mod every weekend,
if not more. Do they really need to invade the
no prep/street racing
world? No. They don’t.
The promoters have to
understand that those
cars and drivers are not
the people that bring out the fans.
It’s the Street Outlaws type racers
that bring the people, and if you
make it so that they can’t compete or
don’t have a chance because they’re
racing against professionals.
Matt Koger, via the Internet
Contact Us
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Issue 110