Drag Illustrated Issue 111, July 2016 | Page 52

“If NHRA wants to keep the fans coming and the sport going and the people in the seats then they don’t need to go too far backwards with everything – especially when it comes to pushing the performance envelope with these cars.” - MATT HAGAN MOVERS & SHAKERS SUITING UP The Kevin Mullins, as he is lovingly known by his drag radial racing cohorts, grabs a comfy seat on the asphalt in the staging lanes of Huntssville Dragway before bolting himself into his gnarly three-second, 200mph-capable outlaw drag radial Mustang. Super Sonny Sonny Freeland is well known for owning and racing Super Sport model cars of the Camaro and Chevelle variety. He developed such a distinction for “SS” cars, in fact, his friends eventually nicknamed him “Super Sonny.” He recently lived up to his name on the track as well when the Hollywood, Florida, resident won three races in one day at the season opener at Palm Beach International Raceway. Sonny won a pair of Box class races, then captured the win in No Box, then amazingly went 5 rounds in Top Eliminator, all in the same day while driving his trusty SS Camaro. CAROLINA KID Travis Harvey, a.k.a. “The Carolina Kid”, is as cool as a cucumber between rounds of racing his Pro Nitrous Camaro at the PDRA Summer Drags in Michigan. All Charged Up Ashley Tidrick made headlines at Bradenton Motorsports Park recently during the Snowbirds Outlaw Nationals. The Kentucky native wowed the crowd in the final qualifying session while driving her boyfriend, Andrew Johnson’s, ProCharged dragster. In her very first outing with the car, Ashley ripped off a record run of 3.63 at 199mph – the quickest-and-fastest pass ever recorded by a ProCharger-equipped vehicle. GLAMOUR GIRLS The wonderful women of the Ohio Outlaw AA/Gassers – a nostalgia match racing group that tours the East Coast – pose for a photo during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals in Norwalk. This group of wives and women are as much a part of the show as the period-correct, supercharged Gassers their significant others race – always ready to back them into the groove after a long, smoky burnout and guide them into the staging beams before a wall-to-wall pass down the drag strip. 52 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 111