PHOTO : CHRIS SEARS |
the Yellow Bullet Nationals [ in September ] but at the last minute , Eddie decided we were gonna ’ go for it ,” Albrecht says .
In what was a huge surprise to the Al-Lee Motorsports team — as well as many others in the Outlaw 10.5 vs . Radial Wars class — Albrecht drove his way to the number-one qualifying spot . His killer
4.00 at 194.21-mph blast easily bested big-name drivers including Kevin Fiscus , Nick Agostino , Shawn Ayers and many more .
The underdog continued his attack race day and “ accidentally ” wound up winning the entire thing . “ It ’ s insane that we weren ’ t even going to go at first , but thank God we did !” Albrecht professes . The Yellow Bullet race wound up being a pivotal turning point for Albrecht and Whalen , as they realized they had a hell of a hot rod on their hands and their future was brighter than originally anticipated . “ Was it the fastest ? Absolutely not !” Albrecht realizes . “ But it ’ s consistent , and we have a good team , and that ’ s half the battle .”
Maintaining their momentum , the two headed to South Georgia Motorsports Park the following month . The 2016 iteration of the No Mercy race marked the first
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time Albrecht would run the GTO in the class Whalen had truly purchased it for : Radial vs . the World . In a mind-blowingly competitive field filled with 40 of the top radial drivers from all over the country , Albrecht qualified incredibly well with a 3.83 at 196.82 mph that put nearly the entire class to shame , and he made it look easy .
BLOWN BEAST
“ We knew everyone would be flying at Duck ’ s race , so we thought if we could qualify halfway decent , we ’ d be happy ,” states Albrecht , who far exceeded even his own expectations .
Once eliminations began , the young man continued to impress and put his bracket racing skills to work with consistent lights and excellent driving . He made it all the way through to the final round and had dreams of getting the win , but the “ Big Daddy ” De- Wayne Mills outran him at the finish . “ To look at the list of names I ran with is truly incredible . These are the people I look up to ! The
year before this , I was the nobody getting thrown off the starting line because I was trying to watch , and now not only am I racing with these guys , but I ’ m beating them . It ’ s indescribable , surreal , and truly humbling ,” says Albrecht , displaying a tremendous amount of respect for opponents who have been at it far longer than he has .
The power plant of choice for Albrecht and Whalen is a 526 ci Brad Anderson Hemi with a massive screw-type supercharger sitting atop the intake manifold . A QuickDrive transmission and Neal Chance torque converter were also added to the former Outlaw 10.5 car in preparation for its assault on the Radial vs . the World competition .
“ I can ’ t even be mad that I lost , because it was six months after we bought a car that we didn ’ t even know how to start !”
In January 2017 , with hopes of finding redemption at the upcoming Lights Out 8 race , Whalen and Albrecht brought their Al-Lee Motorsports GTO to Bradenton Motorsports Park for the U . S . Street Nationals . “ We had made some changes since No Mercy just tryin ’ to get a handle on the car and creep up on it a bit ,” Albrecht notes . Unfortunately , after a handful of testing passes on Wednesday before the race itself , the car kicked the rods out and put a big
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ol ’ bearing inspection window in the BAE block . The forceful blast also caused significant damage to the car ’ s front end , and the drive back home to New York was a long one . Whalen and Albrecht could only pray the catastrophe wasn ’ t foreshadowing how the rest of their season would go .
With great support from manufacturers and sponsors , as well as a seemingly never-ending thrash session , the GTO was brought back to life . G-Force Race Cars repaired the block , Goodrich supplied all new lines and hoses , and miraculously , the car was back up and running in time for Lights Out 8 in mid-February .
When Whelan and Albrecht pulled into Georgia on the Monday before the big race , they were cautiously optimistic about their odds . Testing began on Tuesday and they were finally able to acquire the data they had hoped for in Florida . “ The car was shaking the tires and we knew something wasn ’ t right . It wasn ’ t running the way it should , and we eventually found a few electrical gremlins that we were able to get resolved during qualifying ,” Albrecht says of the stressful situation .
With bolstered spirits , qualifying for the “ World Series of Small Tire Racing ” officially got under way with Albrecht back in the prestigious Radial vs . The World category . This time around , the class had grown to accommodate 51 of the world ’ s quickest and fastest , and once again , Albrecht was an unexpected frontrunner . A 3.81 pass at 202.42 mph put him solidly in third , but the feat didn ’ t come without incident . “ We had the starter kick back on us and it took five teeth off the flexplate , so I made new teeth out of welding rod and got it back together during qualifying . It actually came out pretty good ,” Albrecht proudly explains with typical New Yorker “ can-do ” attitude .
Eliminations began with Albrecht getting a win over Chad Opaleski . “ We had a one-dollar driver ’ s bet on whoever leaves the line first , and I won the dollar !” recalls Albrecht , sounding just as excited about winning the bet as advancing to face off against Shane Stack in round two . “ We took a bunch of power out but still
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