The third installment of the Southern Speed Promotions Battle of the States race went down this weekend March 17th – March 20th in Millington Tennessee at Memphis International Raceway. Tyler Crossnoe and Mark Samples always continue working tirelessly like in past years races to make sure the racers and fans are ready to have a great time and watch some of the fastest outlaw drag racing! Tyler Crossnoe handled the duties of prepping the track again! Tyler and his main man Jason Pooch Rueckert work tirelessly whenever they prep a track for radials and Memphis was nothing different. Last year the weather seemed to be an uphill fight all weekend with rain early on in the weekend the on Saturday turning into snow! This year the weather was nice for Friday and Saturday had some intermittent rain. Although the race wasn’t able to be finished Tyler and crew did an amazing job working the track considering what the weather did. For the Outlaw Street Car Reunion III: Battle of the States Tyler Crossnoe decided to add Radial vs The World instead of Pro Drag Radial,with the popularity of this class it was decided to run that rule set for this years race. X275, Limited Drag Radial (which replaced Outlaw 275/Outlaw Drag Radial), Ultra Street, MX 235, and the 6.0 and 7.0 Index were the other classes that were run.

Last year Tyler and the gang at Southern Speed Promotions had Justin Shearer and Shawn Ellington enter Outlaw 275. Justin had a crash on Street Outlaws and decided to build the Crowmod. He ran the car in Radial vs The World at  SGMP and ran some very stout numbers running a best of 4.18 in qualifying. This time around the “Crowmod” ran faster qualifying in the 5th position with a 4.03. The Firebird has the capability to run into the 3 second zone. Hopefully Justin decides to continue running on radials and we see him run that 3 second time.

Race Recap – Radial vs the World

After the hype of SGMP where Keith Berry won over Stevie Jackson for 50K Keith being the nice man he is donated money to AJ Kephart who has battled cancer as a young boy for sometime now. It is awesome of the WOOOO man to help out where he can.

Radial vs the World at Memphis saw a bunch of the same racers but once racer that is new to the radial game Tom Bailey decided to run his Beast Mode 1969 twin turbo Camaro. Bailey ended up qualifying #15 with a 4.242 which is off pace for the class but being the first time out was a good showing. If Bailey decided to continue running his Camaro in RvsW he will definitely be a top contender.

Andrew Alepa has one of the best looking Corvettes out in Radial vs The World. Rob Valden handles the driving duties of this beautiful machine and this is only the second race out with it and he was able to turn the clocks to a 4.06 in qualifying

Qualifying

Qualifying saw a bunch of 3 second qualifiers. Most notable Kyle Huetell running another 3 second pass just like last year when 3’s in the freeze happened! Daniel Pharris ran a 3.94, Dewayne Mills in the Golden Gorilla ran a 3.95 at a blistering 210, and Mark Woodruff in the former Tim Lynch owned vette ran a 3.96.

Eliminations

Eliminations were cut short due to rain but RvsW got down to 8 where Kyle Huetell and Isaac Preston, Justin Shearer and Marty Stinnett, DeWayne Mills and Tim Kinkaid, and Bob Bales and Steven Fereday were due to run. All made runs other than Kyle Huetell and Mark Micke so since they didn’t get to finish the purse was split at the final eight.

X275

X275 still continues to dominate around the country with many tracks running X275 rules or some variation of the John Sears ruleset. The combos in class are always very close and the racing is very exciting to watch.

Qualifying

X275 saw the normal top qualifiers with Rich Bruder taking the top spot with a 4.41, Jared Johnston 4.46, Tyree Smith in the Procharged Chevy II 4.51, Shane Fisher 4.52 and Earl Stanley 4.52. X275 always has great turnouts and this weekend was no different with 34 cars on the qualifying sheet.

Eliminations saw a tough field and what was left before the race had to end were Rich Bruder, Kit Luong, Shane Fisher, Kyle Bruce, Jared Johnston, Michael Roemer, Tyree Smith, and DJ Loiacano. All different combos were ready to do battle.

The competition in X at every big race always brings out the best and Memphis was no different. The combos that were left before the race stopped were a mix of turbos, superchargers, and nitrous. The big suprise was Michael Roemer who normally runs in Ultra came down to test and was able to go a few rounds.

Limited Drag Radial

LDR also as its called was a class that was formed from two other classes that saw some lower car counts. Outlaw Drag Radial and Outlaw 275. By combining these classes car counts have risen. The rules are pretty wide open but racers have to run on either MT Pro 275 Radial (-100 lbs.) – Pro Bracket in 28 or 29×10.5 are prohibited – MT 325/50-MT 315/60 (Pro315 prohibited) – 295/65 or 295/55 DOT Radial tire only.

Qualifying

This class had a great turnout 31 cars out qualifying at the first race for LDR! Combos in this class can range from twin turbos, single turbos, twin superchargers, single superchargers and a hos to different nitrous combos. Another class that appeals to some racers who want to step up from X275 and run with some of the big dogs!

Other than the weather being a factor the racers for the most part kept everything safe and no major delays for oil or damage. During qualifying Joe Wallace had a scare when he was lined up with Steven Fereday as he came off the line and spun around. Luckily he was able to keep it off the wall and just drove down track.

Ultra Street

Ultra Street had 16 cars come out to battle at the Outlaw Streetcar Reunion III and some of the biggest hitters put on a hell of a show for the fans. Ultra Street had a fast field with Butch Kemp in his N/A small block qualifying with a 4.80, Joel Greathouse in his small block procharged Mustang, with a 4.81, Shawn Pevlor in his small block nitrous Mustang with a 4.82, George Toll 4.85, and Alex Hays in his N/A big block a 4.87. As the weather cooled off Butch Kemp ended up running a 4.77! The progression of this class has been amazing and to see all different combos running so close speaks to the rules being so close is amazing! Take a look at the qualifying and ladder sheet to see the rest of the field and how close it was!

MX 235

Qualifying

MX235 is a class based out of the Midwest, most of the rules are based off of Ultra Street with a few variations but one of the main differences is that racers must race a 235 tire. Its crazy to see the likes of Shawn Pevlor, Darren Hilterbran, and Brad Medlock to name a few run in the 4.70’s and 80’s on the small tire!

Be sure to make it out for the 2017 Battle of the States. Each year this event continues to grow so come on out and support some of the top Outlaw cars in the country battle it out at Memphis International Dragway!

The entire gallery of pictures can be found on BRPhotogrpahy.com