Drag Illustrated Issue 109, May 2016 | Page 86

LIGHTS OUT 7 Big Chief Makes Good When it was announced that reality television star Justin “Big Chief ” Shearer was set to enter Radial vs. World at Lights Out 7, many believed that his well-documented street racing past would fail to translate into success amongst the best small-tire outlaw racers on the planet. Though he missed the cut ever-so-slightly for the quickest field of radial cars ever assembled by qualifying 36th amongst the 57 cars entered in RVW, “Big Chief ” more than hushed critics with ever-increasing performances throughout the weekend, including a 4.101-second, 182.77 mph exhibition pass on Sunday night in the small block Pontiac-powered “Crowmod”. “We had some haters down in Georgia,” says Shearer, “but we had a lot of supporters, too, and it’s humbling. It’s humbling to have all these people come out and cheer you on and want to see you do well. We knew we were outgunned at Lights Out, but it was an incredible experience overall.” Saturday morning saw the area surrounding Cecil, Georgia – home of South Georgia Motorsports Park – in complete and utter chaos. Mile after mile of bumper-to-bumper traffic along I-75, multiple exit ramp closures and an ever-swelling crowd of fans essentially 86 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com brought the well-known eighth-mile drag racing facility to its knees. “We actually started turning people away early in the afternoon,” admits Donald “Duck” Long, who dreamt up the event in 2010 in an effort to bring radial tire racing to the forefront of the drag racing industry. Issue 109 PHOTOS: JT HUDSON, GRS MOTORSPORTS Expect Delays