LIGHTS OUT 7
PHOTOS: JT HUDSON, JOHN FORE III
Murder Nova:
No Bars, No Problem!
If there were anyone who
had higher expectations to uphold
at Lights Out 7, it would be the
stars of Discovery Channel’s Street
Outlaws who made the trek from
the 405 to race with baddest
small-tire racers in the country.
Shawn “Murder Nova” Ellington
and his infamous twin-turbo ’69
Nova shut up the critics when
he not only qualified 11th in the
32-car Outlaw 275 field, but
also made it down to four cars.
His first-round effort stole the
show, though, as the flat black
Nova picked up the front wheels
before the 330-foot mark, set
them down, then went back into a
May 2016
massive power wheelie and broke
the eighth-mile beams with the
rear tires at over 160 mph. “We
pulled a lot of power out of the
hole to make the car leave,” says
Ellington. “But when we do that, I
don’t change the boost curve, so it
comes in really fast. I was afraid it
was going to do that. It don’t matter if it 60-foots a 1.28, the thing is
going to run a 4.40. I’m just lucky
the shocks are stiff – made that
landing down there somewhat
manageable.” Ellington went on
to defeat Tyler Moss and Lamar
Swindoll Jr. before bowing out in
the semifinals to eventual winner
Barry Mitchell.
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