PHOTOS : CHRIS GRAVES |
In a season that saw him earn some big race wins , Steve Wiley capped off 2016 with his first-ever Texas Outlaw Pro Mod Association title on the strength of three victories and five final-round appearances . Even though he was eliminated from the season-ending San Antonio race in the semis in October , Wiley topped runner-up Bob Alexander by 37 markers in the final tally . Over the course of a nine-race season contested at San Antonio Raceway , Texas Raceway in Kennedale , and the Texas Motorplex near Dallas , Wiley basically only had to show up at San Antonio to lock down the title . Despite the season of domination , the man who started his quest to go fast at the age of 15 said it wasn ’ t easy .
“ No , it ’ s really not ( easy ),” he said . “ You ’ ve got guys like Gaylen Smith and Bob Alexander and the Clark brothers , Eric Clark and Scotty Clark , that are pretty tough when it comes to Pro Mod racing in our series on the outlaw tracks and so forth . You gotta ’ be on your game here or you ’ re just wasting your time .”
Attributing good backing , a good team , and ensuring the parts on his ’ 63 Corvette were fresh and as well-maintained as possible , Wiley and the Texas Grim Reaper team also earned impressive victories at several races , including the no-prep Outlaw Armageddon event .
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“ Well , we run ( the car ) up at American Outlaws Live on the Friday race to get into the race and then we run it up on Saturday at the race ,” Wiley said . “ That ’ s the deal they had . Then we won |
the Outlaw Armageddon they had in Oklahoma .
“ The Bounty Hunter race we won , then we raced nine races in our series , and in the middle of all that , we went to the American Outlaws Live and run it up there , and then won Outlaw Armageddon , the $ 30,000 race .”
Wiley has every intention of defending his noprep title even with some of the changes in the rules package . “ Yeah , I fully expect we ’ ll go back to Armageddon . With all the rules that they ’ ve changed , they ’ re putting so much weight on the screw blowers , we ’ re having to change up our combination if we want to go . We ’ ve got a steel-bodied vehicle . If we ’ re made to change to go away from the vent to go to some of these races , we ’ re able to do that , if that makes sense .”
The “ offseason ” in racing is the shortest of any sport and when racing in the South , there is always a race that can be run . First up for the Texas Grim Reaper might be one of the biggest grassroots races on the calendar in addition to defending his TOPMA title .
“ We ’ re readying the car as we speak , trying to get the combination right to win the Bounty Hunter race and defend our title ,” Wiley said . “ That ’ s a start . We were actually talking about going to ( Donald ) Duck ( Long ’ s ) race ( Lights Out 8 ), but we just have to put it all together and get the car done and ready for that . That ’ s kinda ’ on the radar .
“ That ’ s in February , and in March , we ’ re going to go to the Bounty Hunter race , which is the second weekend and then our series starts the third weekend and we ’ ve got three in a row , three weekends in a row to race ( TOPMA ).” The Texas Outlaw Pro Mod Association season kicks off March 18th at Kennedale .
- BRANDON W . MUDD DI
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