Dirt
Longtime fast doorslammer
veteran dominating in 2016
By Lisa Collier
I
t’s been a dream year for Billy Harper and his IHRA Pro Mod team. Led by
crew chief Dennis Radford and assistant
crew chief Jim “Skid” Rowe, Harper has
won two of the four IHRA events this year, and
has such a commanding lead in points that it will
be nearly impossible for competition to catch him.
The team debuted a Sonny’s Racing Engines
903 EFI 5.3-inch bore space Wedge midway
through last year. They came out this season
ready to dominate, and have done exactly that.
“Things have been going great thanks to our
crew and crew chiefs and all the supporters like
Sonny’s Racing Engines,” Harper says. “Everything has really come together. It’s been a dream
season. This is our first full season back since
2008, which was also a dream season. Once we
got the right powerplant from Sonny and sorted
out some chassis issues it’s been a great season.
We’re loving every minute of it.”
Not only has Harper won two events in his
2000 Viper, he reset the IHRA Pro Mod elapsed
time record at the Orlando Speed World event
and then proceeded to
reset his own record
twice over. He currently holds the record at
5.832-seconds.
This is Harper’s first
full season of competition since he won it all in
ADRL’s Pro Nitrous category in 2008. Since then
he’s taken a step back
from racing to focus on
his construction business
and wait for the economy
to turn around. “It took
us a while to get the cobwebs and dirt daubers
out of everything, but it seems to be working
well. We’ve got a good team and that also helps.”
In addition to Radford and Rowe the team
consists of Andy Keeling, Ryan Bendick, Harper’s
wife Mary and Radford’s wife Judy. Radford is
quick to point out that crew chief duties are a
joint effort with Rowe. “He works really hard,”
Radford says of Rowe. “It’s a team. We’re both
crew chiefs. The two of us work together and
figure out combinations.”
products we need for the engine. He also offers
technical support.”
“I’ve known Sonny for a long time and have
bought a lot of motors from him,” adds Harper. “Sonny and Todd have been a great support.
They’re always looking for some way to go faster.
They’re just great to work with. And if we do
have an issue or a parts failure, they’re quick to
Radford also piloted
his own Pro Mod for
many years and utilized
Sonny’s power during
his tenure behind the
wheel, as well. “I personally started running
Sonny’s engines in 2010,”
he remembers. “The first
race we went to in 2010
with our Sonny’s 864
carbureted engine we
set the quickest run in nitrous history. We love
Sonny. He’s been fantastic. He takes care of any
repairs virtually instantly. He supplies us with any
get us parts and help us find solutions. They’re
one of the main reasons we’re going fast and our
performance is consistent.”
For Harper, going fast and winning races is
a bonus. The Kentucky native who once ran for
governor emphasizes that his main priority is to
enjoy the journey.
“The most important thing is just to have fun
and enjoy racing, which we do,” he admits. “You’ve
got to have fun doing it. Our team has done that
even though at Budds Creek we had a major failure. But we came back and won the race next time.
That shows true character and the ability to keep
winning. The records are nice, but it’s all about
having fun and enjoying the people.”
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
50 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 111
PHOTOS: IHRA MOTORSPORTS
Harper Commands IHRA Pro Mod