The Best & Worst of TX2K16
What better way to kick off the 2016 street car race season
than with TX2K, arguably the biggest event of the year? For
enthusiasts with true street-driven machines, TX2K is widely
considered the biggest and best event to attend, with all different types of vehicles attending. From four-digit-horsepower
GT-Rs to the wildly-tweaked machines of Pennsylvania’s Speed
Warhouse to Underground Racing’s twin-turbo Lamborghini
Gallardos, TX2K quite literally features all levels of street-worthy
performance as it takes over Houston’s Royal Purple Raceway
and the surrounding area.
With Peter Blach at its helm, the now-annual gathering began
in Houston back in the spring of 2000, and consisted of only
a few dozen cars. Originally named The Supra Nationals—for
obvious reasons—attendance has grown since then to beyond
anyone’s wildest expectations. Over the past 16 years, not only
has the event attracted the country’s quickest and fastest street
cars, but in order to be considered a real player, one has to
show up with a car capable of spinning the dyno roller north
of the two-ton mark. TX2K is known for attracting some of
the fastest domestic, import, and exotic drag racing cars in
the nation.
TX2K16 enjoyed the support of more than 70 sponsors, including premier tuning shops and car builders such as TopSpeed
Motorsports, T1 Race Development, and Real Street Performance, which not only use TX2K as a testbed to prove out
their winter projects, but also as a showcase to attract potential
customers. It is within the confines of TX2K where a shop can
make or break its reputation. Those that tear up the drag strip
with impressive numbers create a buzz for the course of the
event and beyond, while those whose performance falters
when the pressure is on get pushed to the back burner. The
sheer number of media members in attendance, along with
the dozens of videos that pop up during the course of the
event, prove the public’s interest in the amazing vehicles of TX2K.
TX2K16 kicked off with the Roll Race Nationals, with a limit of
130 cars hand-selected by Blach for their performance levels.
There are no gutted, clapped-out, tin-can race cars here; these
are real street cars, with full-width front tires and DOT-approved rear tires. The goal of the Roll Race Nationals is to
provide the fans with as many side-by-side races as possible
and Blach goes so far as requiring entrants to provide him with
a wheel horsepower number so he can arrange the matches.
There are three brackets: Unlimited, Super Sport, and Sport.
Once paired up, each pair of cars has 350 feet to pace one
another with a 60-mph starting-line goal, and once they are
in this target area, as they pass through the green zone, the
tree may go green at any point within that segment of the
track. First car to the finish line wins, and just as with any other
elimination-style bracket race, drivers advance until a winner
is crowned in the final.
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STREETRACE