Dirt
Showing Up and Showing Out
Justin ‘Lil’ Country’ Swanstrom
turns heads in Radial vs.
the World debut
By Nate Van Wagnen
take him lightly,” Swanstrom said. “Going into
that first round knowing we ran the .72, I told Dad
(Corey “Big Country” Swanstrom) we were just
going to run the same number, try to cut a light
and see what happens. Paolo ended up running
an .80 and we ended up going .73.”
Radial vs. the World veteran Mark “Woody”
Woodruff was waiting for Swanstrom in the
second round. Swanstrom left first with a siz-
able holeshot advantage, but the cold Florida
track wasn’t holding his nitrous-assisted power
as Woodruff went on to run a 3.769 at 209.79 in
his turbocharged Corvette.
“I tried to just duplicate and race the track,”
Swanstrom said. “I thought that would be a num-
ber to win. We went out there and .7 seconds into
the run it just kicked the tires.”
Still, Swanstrom was understandably satisfied
with his first outing in one of drag racing’s most
competitive classes.
“It was an honor just to run with those guys,”
Swanstrom said. “You had the best in the busi-
ness there: Woody, (Mark) Micke, DeWayne Mills,
Stevie Jackson. To be able to just run with those
guys is an honor to me. I’ve always wanted to run
Radial vs. the World. And to be able to qualify up
front and go past first round, I was happy with
the weekend.”
Swanstrom was just getting warmed up for his
next shot at Radial vs. the World glory, Donald
“Duck” Long’s Lights Out 10, Feb. 13-17, at South
Georgia Motorsports Park in Valdosta, Georgia.
Beyond Lights Out, Swanstrom and his Zeph-
yrhills, Florida-based team have big plans for their
Radial vs. the World rookie season. Swanstrom
has partnered with Mike Stavrinos of Speed &
Truck World in Fort Lauderdale. In addition to
applying the new look on the Camaro, Stavrinos
will also share the driver’s seat with Swanstrom.
“I’m going to run Lights Out and he’s going to
drive at Sweet 16,” Swanstrom said. “We’re just
going to switch off throughout the year. It helps
us both out and it helps me tremendously with
parts and being able to afford this big-ass hobby
I got. It will also help out when he’s driving and I
get to get behind the computer with my dad and
I get to learn more also.”
Swanstrom said he was blown away by the
support he’s received as he makes the switch
from big-money grudge racing to Radial vs. the
World. His sponsors include Team Z Motorsports,
Santhuff ’s Shocks, Carolina No-Time Produc-
tions, Fast Forward Racing Engines, Bell Groves
Enterprises, Payso Productions, Signature Metal
Fab Racing, R&R Fabrications and Stav Ink.
“My car is like a rolling billboard right now – I
got stickers everywhere,” Swanstrom laughed.
“But I have a lot of support coming from the no-
time world, a lot more than I thought I would
get. I appreciate everyone who’s come on board
for 2019.”
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38 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 142
J
ustin “Lil’ Country” Swanstrom
had a lot of eyes on his tangerine orange
Speed & Truck World ‘14 Camaro as he
made his Radial vs. the World debut at
the U.S. Street Nationals at Bradenton Motors-
ports Park, Jan. 25-26. The 22-year-old former
no-time grudge racing star confirmed his own
confidence and proved his haters wrong when
he qualified No. 2 in a field of radial veterans
and notched a first-round win.
“Having run no-time, I’ve always known what I
could run,” Swanstrom said. “Did I think I would
go that fast down there? Probably not right out
of the gate. But I had a lot of people say that I
wouldn’t qualify in Radial vs. the World, that
when I switched over I would be a class filler, I
would be wasting my time. I had a lot of doubters
and a lot of haters that were against me.”
Swanstrom wasted no time proving his place in
the field. He wheeled his Pat Musi Racing Engines
959ci-powered “Alcatraz” Camaro to a 3.726-sec-
ond blast at 195.10 mph in the second and final
qualifying session to qualify No. 2, missing the
top spot by two thousandths.
“For me to go down there and bust out that
3.72, it shut a lot of people up,” Swanstrom said.
“I knew I would do all right, but I didn’t think I
would do that good, that fast.”
Moving into eliminations, Swanstrom lined up
alongside Paolo Giust and his Jim Salemi-tuned,
supercharged “Black Betty” ’69 Camaro. Giust
was back in action after coming in contact with
the retaining wall during Friday’s lone qualify-
ing session.
“I knew he had rubbed the wall Friday night,
but he had potential to run low .70s, so I didn’t