Rocky Mountain Race Week Is Rolling – Earl Schexnayder, Eric Kuhn, Steve Willingham and Richard Guido Among Leaders from Day One
With ten years of solid history of Rocky Mountain Race Week (RMRW) in the books, the second helping, Race Week or RMRW 2.0, recently got underway for its fifth year in Texas.
Focused on tracks in Texas and Louisiana, the Motion Raceworks Race Week Presented by Sick the Magazine had several familiar names on the registered list, which will lead to some interesting battles for class titles.
Event coverage is just one part of the 200+ pages we pack into each issue of Sick the Magazine, which include features, guest columns and MUCH MORE! Get the official magazine of drag-and-drive: CLICK HERE to subscribe!
Race Week got its start yesterday at the first of two tracks in Texas, Pine Valley Raceway in Lufkin, Texas. Today, the combatants roll to Ennis, the home of Texas Motorplex.
Tuesday is a drive day to get the competitors from Texas to Louisiana, and a date with State Capitol Raceway in Port Allen on Wednesday afternoon / evening.
The tour then heads to Monroe and Twin City Motorsports Park for Thursday action, before completing the route back in Texas at Pine Valley Raceway for Friday racing and awards presentation.
The quickest class, Unlimited, has a couple of quick rides in the mix, Jason Hurley and Earl Schexnayder. ‘The Meltdown Firebird’ clocked its first 6-second pass last month at Tri-State Raceway, but Hurley could only produce an 8.00 at 190 mph best here.
That left the door open for Schexnayder, who guided his 2000 Ford Mustang to a 7.18 at 186 mph to lead the class, as well as overall low e.t. for the week thus far.
The Ultimate Radial class has a pair of cars on the playing field in the seven. Brad Thiessen’s 1970 Chevrolet Nova came within one stop of challenging for the title at RMRW 1.0, and he returned to clock a 7.699 on the first day. But that would sit second to Eric Kuhn, who put his 1955 Chevy through the quarter-mile at 7.491 at 185 mph.
The Outlaw class is a tight one at the top of the sheet. Multi-time RMRW winner Aaron Schaffer clocked an 8.558 from his 1998 Chevy Camaro, but sits eleven thousandths of-a-second behind Blaine Thiessen, whose Isuzu pick-up produced an 8.547 time slip for the lead.
Steven Willingham, who finished second at RMRW 1.0 this year, put his 1986 Buick Grand National at the front of the Limited Street class after one day at 2.0 thanks to an 8.51.
A Chevrolet and Ford battled for the Pro Street class lead on day one, with the ’69 Chevelle of Daryl Yost and Eric Rizner’s ’70 model Mustang clocking the lone 8-second laps in the class. But Yost’s 8.817 was just a little bit better than the 8.941 from Rizner, putting Yost at the front of the pack.
Walter Doyle secured the title to the Hot Rod class at RMRW 1.0, and he returned for a second helping with his ’66 Chevelle. An 8.64 pass at Pine Valley Raceway put Doyle in the top spot, as the lone 8-second car in the class.
The Stick Shift class is always a popular one at RMRW, and some familiar names graced the top three. The familiar 1965 Pontiac GTO of Richard Guido sits atop the pack with an 8.8475 pass, William Hagan’s ’96 GMC pick-up sits just behind him in second with an 8.87, and ‘Bangshift Billy’ Armstrong, winner of RMRW 1.0 this year, is third with a 9.18 from his ’66 Fairlane.
The Rowdy Radial class, based around the 26-inch-tall x 8.5-inch-wide tire rule, had the 2006 Chevrolet Colorado of Josh Reich posting the best time on day one on the eighth-mile distance.
The Naturally Aspirated class is split into Small Block and Big Block variants, with Dave Berry leading the Small Block field thanks to a 10.05 from his 1965 Nova. The 1981 Buick Regal of Robert Voss sits atop the Big Block field with the lone 9-second blast of the first day, a 9.955.
The index classes can be some of the closest competitions, and with only one day of five in the books, it stands to reason it will be another close battle in these classes. The quickest class, the 9-Second Index, found two Vince Ruhe and Jacoby Betts both garnering 9.04 passes from their classic Chevrolets, with Ruhe just two thousandths of-a-second better for the lead.
The 10-Second Index class has a Camaro versus Mustang battle in the works, with Mike Mead’s Ford in front of Travis Urbach’s Chevy by a narrow 10.015 to 10.016 margin.
Kyli Moore and Jacob Edwards are also a couple thousandths of-a-second away from each other in the 11-Second Index class, with Moore’s 11.028 from her GT-R just a bit in front of the 11.031 from Edwards’ BMW.
It gets no closer than the 12-Second Index class, with two competitors, Travis Boltman and Greg Stafford, both producing near-perfect 12.002 passes. The fourth place after the decimal point favors Boltman, giving him the lead after one day.
Ernie Raile leads the 13-Second Index class with a 13.09, and Anthony Watson commands the 14-Second Index class with a stellar 14.005 pass.
Jason King leads the Gasser class in his 1950 Willys with an 11.963 pass, Lydia Walden leads the Junior Street class with a 9.21 from her 1986 Ford Mustang and Chris Baker is at the front of the two-wheel Motorcycle class, thanks to a 10.30 from his 2008 Suzuki Hayabusa.
Competition is already underway at Texas Motorplex for day two, and we’ll have updates on Sick the Magazine throughout the week, including results and photos.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and RMRW - High Speed Media.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com