off giant killer Tim Slavens in the semifinals with
a 3.698 at 209.59 to meet Laughlin in the final
round. There, Pharris was .015 on the starting
line and put together an impressive run of 3.690
at 211.13, falling by the narrowest margins after
Laughlin’s .004 gave him the close holeshot vic-
tory in what was a thrilling side-by-side final.
The loss stung, but what Pharris discovered
over the course of the weekend at SGMP was
unquestionably beneficial. Running 88mm twin
turbos allowed Pharris to use as much power as
possible, and with a minimum weight of 2,750
pounds, it opened the door for the string of in-
credible runs. Pharris delivered there, adding up
to a memorable weekend in Valdosta.
“We decided to give it a go and our minds
are blown, they really are,” says Pharris, whose
Mustang is now equipped with the engine and
drivetrain from Andrew Alepa’s RvW C7 Cor-
vette. “There’s all kinds of different combinations
you can use in this class. It gives the Pro Mod
guys the option to come hang out with a different
crowd of people.”
Pharris predicted early in eliminations it
would take mid-to-high 3.60s and great reac-
tion times to wade through the massive sea of
talent in RvW and that proved to be spot on.
That nearly was enough for Pharris to claim the
$50,000 prize, but after an extremely strong
2018 season, he seems to be picking up where
he left off in 2019.
As for his Lights Out experience, Pharris came
away impressed with the atmosphere on the 10th
anniversary of the race and what he was able to
accomplish against RvW’s best.
“Watching it grow over the years, it’s just been
crazy,” Pharris said. “There are people who build
cars just to run these races. Who wouldn’t want
to experience this a couple of times? You can’t
even find a parking spot.” – JOSH HACHAT
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
TIM SLAVENS
STEALS THE SHOW
■
TIM SLAVENS and tuner Mark Werden-
hausen made their first appearance at
Lights Out three years ago, just happy to be part
of the show. In 2019, they were the show.
The fanfare over the steel-bodied ’69 Camaro
took on a life of its own at Lights Out 10, with
an impressive following only continuing to swell
over the course of the weekend. It hit a fever
pitch when Slavens briefly set the Radial vs. the
World record with his blast of 3.621 at 217.74
mph during qualifying, and then found another
level when Slavens knocked off Stevie “Fast” Jack-
son in the quarterfinals with a 3.668 at 215.31.
Slavens’ weekend ended a round later against
Daniel Pharris, but not before he left a sizeable
110 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
■ TIM SLAVENS
impression on everyone in attendance in Val-
dosta and the tens of thousands of fans watch-
ing online.
“Just a couple years ago we were wondering if
we would ever run 3.99 on a radial tire,” Slavens
admits. “We talked about just coming and mak-
ing the field was a major accomplishment. We
still feel honored to be in the show.”
Slavens and Werdenhausen did more than just
make the show and they’ve left the 3.90s far in
the rearview mirror. They turned heads with an
incredible run of 3.643 at 214.79 during testing at
the U.S. Street Nationals in January at Bradenton
Motorsports Park – on a weekend where they just
hoped a high 3.60s run was possible – and they
again reached new levels at SGMP.
To even be swinging for the 3.50s seemed in-
comprehensible for both, but Slavens has been
masterful behind the wheel and Werdenhausen
has given him a car capable of slugging at historic
levels in RvW.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Werdenhausen says.
“To do what we’re doing with what we’ve got
is pretty awesome. It takes good people, good
support people in our corner, and we’ve worked
with a lot of guys on a regular basis to make our
stuff faster.”
The progression has been remarkable, but
there’s still very much a small-town feel to the
entire operation. The Camaro has a great deal
of its original sheet metal still on it, while Lights
Out 10 played on the big screen at the bowling
Issue 143