Drag Illustrated Issue 119, March 2017 | Page 26

Dirt Pharris, Bell, Downs and Pevlor top list of winners at Memphis By Nate Van Wagnen S teady rain showers at Outlaw Street Car Reunion IV tested the pa- tience of promoter Tyler Crossnoe and his Southern Speed Promotions team, but their hard work was rewarded by Sunday night when champions were crowned in eight different categories. In the end, Daniel Pharris (Radial vs. the World), Matt Bell (Limited Drag Radial), Clint Downs (X275), Shawn Pevlor (Ultra Street), Tim Hendricks (MX235), Rodney Wil- liford (Pro Street Motorcycle) were left standing as the pro-class winners at Memphis Interna- tional Raceway. With over-the-top engine and power ad- der combinations and a variety of body styles, Radial vs. the World was the headlining class at OSCR IV. Daniel Phar- ris sat atop the sheet after three rounds of qualifying in the Andrew Alepa owned ’16 Cor vette, running low elapsed time of the weekend, a 3.799-second blast at 207.82 mph. Barry Mitchell, Mark Micke, DeWayne Mills and Tim Slavens rounded out the top five in qualifying, with exactly half of the 24-car quali- 26 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com fied field dipping into the three-second zone and five of them over 200 mph. Pharris and the Josh Ledford-tuned Alepa Racing Corvette charged on- ward through eliminations, defeating Scott Cox- well, Taylor Lastor, and Jeff Lutz to meet Mitchell in the final round. In the supercharged versus prize as the kick-off to the inaugural World Cham- pionship Showdown. Travis Esselman led the field after qualifying in his Ohio-based, twin- turbocharged Corvette with a 4.168 at 183.92 mph blast, followed closely by Lyle Barnett, who reset the world record for a leaf spring-equipped turbocharged battle, Mitch- ell lost traction early, while Pharris slowed from his usual low-3.8-second passes to a 4.11 at 185 to claim the $20,000 payday. Growing in popularity since its inception in 2016, Limited Drag Radial featured a $5,000 car with a 4.19. Jason Rueckert, Don Lamana and Anthony Manna set the top five positions in the 29-car field. Matt Bell overcame a 26 th - place qualifying effort to race to the final round, using consistency and quick reaction times to take down Dennis Bailey, Lyle Barnett and Jason Rueckert. In the final round, he grabbed a sizable holeshot and uncorked a 4.171 to defeat the 4.174 of Esselman. KBX Performance, Bennett Racing Engines and M&M Transmission partnered together to Issue 119 Outlaw Street Car Reunion IV