The outlaws are in town.
One of the most exciting classes in drag racing will invade Mission Raceway this weekend.
Outlaw pro mods will blast down the quarter-mile at speeds in excess of 230 mph with times bordering on five seconds. The outlaw moniker comes from the rules, or lack thereof, in what is the quickest and fastest full-bodied class in drag racing. The rules are very simple: anything goes. Blowers, turbos, nitrous and engines as big as 900 cubic inches. The pro mod class has evolved into one of the most exciting in the sport because of the variety and unpredictability of these 3,000-plus HP cars.
One of the top drivers on the west coast, California’s Mike Maggio, will have the target on his back as the favourite. He has run the quickest elapsed time (ET) on the west coast, turning in a 5.766 seconds last fall at Las Vegas. He is a multiple event winner in the PSCA and WCOPM series, and is looking forward to competing in Canada for the first time.
Rod Burbage, another California driver, is the defending West Coast Outlaw champion and has a number of five-second runs under his belt. A couple Canadian drivers will also have a say in who will be the champion come Sunday. First is Calgary’s Joe Delehay. He made the first five second run in western Canada, and wants to keep the trophy here, and has won at Mission before.
Mission’s own Jay Syvertsen will debut his new 1957 Chevy. He made a couple early test runs and the potential for five seconds is there. Another brand new car is the RH Race Cars/Lowe Down racing 70.5 Camaro. Agassiz’s Trevor Lowe is one of the winningest drivers in the northwest and Ryan Hinrichsen builds one of the best cars in North America. The combination could be lethal to the competition. Another half-dozen locals and south-based cars will also challenge for the race title Sunday afternoon.
The Canadian Pro Street open their season this weekend as well and the Canada West Doorslammers are in the middle of their eight-race series. It will be a door-car extravaganza. Qualifying starts Saturday at 5 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m. Final eliminations on Sunday begin at noon. As always kids under 12 are free. Go to missionraceway.com for info or speedzonemagazine.com for all the results.
