TIM SLAVENS
the team can put together in 2019. They’ve got
a busy schedule on deck, including all three of
Donald “Duck” Long’s major Radial vs. the World
races, but the encouraging start to the season
could make this their biggest year yet.
Slavens was consistently in the mid-3.70s dur-
ing testing on Tuesday and Wednesday, establish-
ing a baseline Werdenhausen feels comfortable
the team can reach all season.
Seeing the number of consistent runs, they
turned it up on Friday with the hope of cracking
into the 3.60s for the first time.
Slavens blasted through that barrier with a
.976 60-foot time, and powering to a 2.486 by
the 330-foot mark before the 3.643 showed up
on the scoreboard.
Social media quickly caught word of Slavens’
mind-blowing pass, unofficially kicking off an-
other season of the wild and unpredictable in
the world of drag radial.
“The pass before that we had a wheelie at about
100 feet, but I knew if could hang onto this one
it was going to be pretty fast,” Slavens said. “It’s
pretty surreal to jump that far into the 3.60s.
We wanted to put ourselves in a position to run
high .60s when we go to Georgia, but we didn’t
anticipate it would happen this week. The car
did perfect this weekend.”
Slavens went 3.705 in the first round of elimi-
nations, but lost against class heavy-hitter Mark
Micke on a holeshot. Still, they made significant
progress and headed into February much further
ahead than they expected.
Now, the goal is to make sure the run of 3.643
isn’t the biggest highlight of their year.
“It would be nice to continue go a little faster
and prove we’re not a one-hit wonder,” Werden-
hausen said. “This raises everyone’s expectations.”
Slavens and Werdenhausen were also sure to
thank a list of sponsors that include: Menscer
Motorsports, Hyperaktive, Design Performance,
M&M Transmissions, 417 Auto Body and TYDO
Race Cars.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
36 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 142
Dirt