DRAG ILLUSTRATED ROUNDTABLE
Tommy Youmans has always been a fan
of the Pro 275 class, and has raced
there from the outset. He welcomes
the influx of new talent and fresh
faces in the class.
for moving classes. I think anyone that shows up
for Pro 275 can win with the way the rules are.
If there’s 30 cars in the class, there’s a lot of cars
that can show up and win the race.
Is this just the tip of the iceberg – especially
when it comes to interest and participation
– with where this class is headed?
YOUMANS: I really think the class will continue
to gain in popularity. It’s a really fun class. Do I
think we’ll see .50s out of it? No, but who knows.
I never thought you would see 3.50s in RvW, so
you never know. Radial racing, it’s just unreal
and the popularity is just amazing. It really cre-
ates good competition. Everyone wants to keep
going faster. Even if you hit a personal best, you
just want to keep going faster. The competition
just breeds that.
GREEN: That little tire is just bad to the bone. I
love it. The car works really well and it’s just an
amazing deal to fall into. I think it’s only going
to get bigger and better. I’ve talked to a lot of
friends of mine and they would rather watch this
class than anything else, so the fans are loving it.
All the cars are really close and it’s just a really
good class.
Guys can show up and get in the field and
make a nice run in the mid-3.80s, and if every-
thing lined up go in the 3.70s. I see a lot of big
things happening and I think people are going
to keep coming to see that class.
AGOSTINO: In order for a class to be successful,
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the spectators need to like the class and the peo-
ple racing in it need to feel like they can compete.
I think you have that here.
M C MANIOUS: I absolutely think it’s going to
continue to grow. Once some guys get a handle
on it. I think you’re going to see .60s in the best,
killer conditions. Once they figure it out, with
that power out the back door, I can almost guar-
antee they’re going to be running with Pro Mods
with this tiny little tire. That’s shocking. It’s a lot
of no fear and technology, but the mile-per-hour
shows the potential for sure. I mean, we’ve got
a 400-inch small-block Ford. Who would have
thought we could run 3.90s?
There’s always been interest in this class, but
it seems to be ascending all of a sudden after
opening up the rules. What’s the reception
you’ve heard from fans or other competitors
of why they’ve taken to this class?
M C MANIOUS: I just think a lot of people can
relate to it. A lot of people have Camaros or Mus-
tangs sitting in their driveway, so that’s where the
excitement is. That’s what it’s all about. One of
the most fun things is the guy who is a diehard
Ford guy and comes up to our pits and asks what
motor is in there. When I say it’s a small-block
Ford, you just see their face light up.
YOUMANS: Everybody that talks to us real-
ly loves the class and they love the body style.
They love the stock-appearing-style cars, and
I think it’s going to continue to grow. Donald
has put out more money and that helps, and
the Sweet 16 is going to bring even more com-
petition. More tracks are adding it, too, and
that’s good to see. I think fans enjoy the cars
going fast that look like that. Let’s face it, RvW
took off when Stevie [Jackson] and DeWayne
[Mills] were running those cars that appeared
to be stock-style cars. Now RvW has more of
the Pro Mod-style car, and our class is picking
up all these stock-bodied-style cars and getting
faster, and the fans love it.
MICKE: I think it was a good call for us. I know
a lot of guys weren’t racing. Us personally, we
weren’t going to race this year. If the 275 didn’t
come about, we weren’t going to race in 2020.
It gave us a place to go. RvW is just badass, but
unfortunately it’s just grown past a lot of the
cars. I think this class is going to be a killer part
of the show.
If Radial vs. the World is radial racing’s Top
Fuel, it’s almost like you needed to find a Fun-
ny Car of radial racing to complement that,
where the times are close but it’s a little dif-
ferent racing or style of car. Can Pro 275 fill
that void and provide that?
M C MANIOUS: They definitely needed some-
thing in between Limited Drag Radial and RvW.
There was a huge void there and that void of
4.10s to 3.50s was huge. That’s a huge gap, and I
think that’s why those stock-bodied cars in RvW
– guys like Marty Stinnett and Tim Slavens – I
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