On this episode of Roadkill
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00:00 On this special episode of Roadkill, we're going on a drag racing road trip with 500 of our friends.
00:05 [MUSIC]
00:24 This is Roadkill, which is the show where normally we are out there destroying ourselves for your entertainment.
00:30 This time, we're going to force other guys to wreck themselves.
00:34 It's Hot Rod Drag Week, where we take 180 drag cars, some of them with like 2,500 horsepower.
00:40 We make them run five drag strips in five days and drive 1,400 miles.
00:44 There is major wreckage involved.
00:46 I don't know why anybody listens to us. I wouldn't have agreed to that.
00:49 And they're doing it all for a jacket.
00:51 Suckers.
00:52 Watch these chumps.
00:53 [MUSIC]
00:59 This is Tulsa, Oklahoma, day one, registration and class inspection and test in tune.
01:03 Drag Week started claiming victims before we even started racing.
01:07 I was interviewing Bob Larson about a broken axle on his car when I heard an awful noise.
01:12 And broke that right in half.
01:13 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:19 I heard a turbo car spooling up for a launch and then an ugly noise.
01:22 We ran over to find Doug Klein's Camaro smashed.
01:25 Luckily, the only thing really damaged was Doug's pride.
01:28 The sheet metal and front suspension took the brunt of the hit, but he was fine.
01:32 The cause of the accident was a leaking intercooler reservoir that threw water on the track in front of his rear tires.
01:38 It cast a small cloud over the event because we really hadn't even started racing yet.
01:42 [TIRES SCREECHING]
01:44 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:46 This is Tulsa Raceway Park, where we're going to start and end Drag Week this year.
01:51 We stopped here last year and the traction was just so killer that we had to come back.
01:56 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:02 Larry Larson has won Drag Week four times in his '66 Nova, so he knows what he's doing.
02:07 It'll be real interesting to see if he can stay ahead of the pack this year.
02:10 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:17 Wow, Larry just ran a 6.94, the quickest pass he's ever run
02:22 and the quickest pass anyone's ever done at Hot Rod Drag Week.
02:26 The '55 Chevy over there in the right lane, the guy that owns it built it in 1970,
02:31 made his own straight axle for it. It's been in mothballs ever since.
02:35 His kid just talked him into dragging it out, and they're doing Drag Week together for the first time ever.
02:40 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:49 I forgot about that. The one thing his kid asked him to change was the clutch,
02:52 because it's 30 years old. Dad didn't change it. That's what I smell right now. Bye-bye clutch.
02:58 Todd Mashmeyer has won the modified Power Router class before in his 1968 Camaro,
03:03 and he's back again with Travis Gilpin behind the wheel to defend the title.
03:07 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:13 Oh, yeah, look at the wagon go. Camaro went 7.79 at 179.
03:17 That station wagon just went 8.37, one turbo.
03:21 This is Jeff Lutz in his twin-turbo '57 Chevy, and he's run Drag Week with us for a few years,
03:27 and that's what's going to give him an edge here.
03:29 Not only is the car capable of the ETs he needs to run to catch up with Larry Larson,
03:33 but he knows what it's like out there on the road. He is going to be prepared for anything.
03:38 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:47 Let's show this what he's got with a 7.16 at 212 miles an hour,
03:53 the fastest mile an hour we've ever seen at Drag Week.
03:56 We'll see if he can hold this thing together.
03:58 [MUSIC]
04:00 Repairs were already underway in the pits as racing came to an end on day one.
04:04 We spotted Jeff Lutz getting his welder out of his trailer to help a few other competitors.
04:08 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:10 We were just about to leave. Everybody's tired, hot, hungry,
04:13 when Jeff Lutz fired up his '57 Chevy and heard something he didn't like.
04:17 He jacked up the car, crawled under it, and found a broken torque converter bolt.
04:21 It doesn't have the bolt, but he's going to limp it to the next track with a 5 out of 6.
04:25 5 out of 6 ain't bad.
04:26 It's 4 p.m. We've been here since about 8 in the morning.
04:29 This is the mess that happens in the pits afterwards
04:32 as everybody packs everything they've got to go drag racing into a little trailer.
04:35 Racing's done. We're heading for Texas.
04:38 We left Tulsa and headed to the nearest gas station.
04:40 And wouldn't you know it, after a couple of Unlimited racers topped off their tanks,
04:44 the station ran out of gas.
04:46 [MUSIC]
04:48 So the wagon's overheating, so they bought a garden sprayer, filled it up full of water.
04:52 The passenger's going to pump the thing while they drive,
04:54 and a little hose is going to shoot water at the front of their radiator,
04:56 hopefully to cool it off while they're driving.
04:58 When that doesn't work, they'll take the hood off, like I told them to.
05:01 [MUSIC]
05:08 1,400 miles doesn't seem like that big of a deal for a regular car,
05:12 but you put a serious street-strip car in traffic,
05:15 and suddenly overheating becomes a real issue.
05:18 Not 20 miles outside of Tulsa, we found cars dropping like flies,
05:21 overheated on the side of the road in 90-degree temperatures.
05:25 It's 8.40 at night. We've been on the road maybe five, six hours.
05:29 We've done a total of 40 miles.
05:31 We just stopped under an overpass and found Schroeder and his buddy from Canada
05:36 and their '66 Vette on the side of the road with a dead battery.
05:39 So they're fixing that right now while I'm sitting here taking pictures of their misery.
05:43 At the rate we're going, we're going to get to the track tomorrow when it opens,
05:46 and we're probably not sleeping tonight.
05:49 We have some beers here. This would be just nice.
05:53 We have no reason to leave if we have beer here.
05:56 Another 20 miles down the road, another broken car.
06:00 This time it's Todd Mashmire.
06:02 He hit the bridge with his car, took out the crossmember to the motor,
06:05 smashed the oil pan, the transmission pan.
06:07 Now he's got a welder to fix it.
06:09 [MUSIC]
06:14 Before the night was over, we caught up with Sean Fink and Brian Macy,
06:17 who were having a bit of charging system issues with their panel wagon.
06:20 That's our new alternator.
06:23 It kind of keeps up until you go slow and then not so good.
06:28 But hopefully we make it through.
06:30 And by the way, the hood was off the car.
06:32 [MUSIC]
06:40 Day two of Hot Rod Drag Week finds us in Ennis, Texas at Texas Motorplex.
06:44 [MUSIC]
06:54 There's a new class this year called Super Street Power Adder.
06:57 And what's interesting about it is that we make the small blocks and the big blocks run together.
07:01 Rick Prospero's got the '65 Nova wagon with a turbo big block.
07:06 And Tim Reed brought back his '79 Pinto that has a turbo LSX GM small block in it.
07:13 Both of these cars are capable of running 790s.
07:16 Tim Reed has gone as fast as 8.005 here at Drag Week in his '79 Pinto.
07:22 His goal is to get into the 7s.
07:23 He is that close.
07:24 So we came over to give him an interview, and his dad Al is polishing a wheel,
07:28 and the steering doesn't look great.
07:30 What's happened?
07:32 Well, Sunday we broke the--we hit a big wheelie and broke the rack.
07:35 So we've been fighting it the last couple days.
07:38 You broke the oil pan too, huh?
07:39 Yeah, I broke the oil pan.
07:40 All right.
07:41 Can you imagine Tim's off trying to get some steering parts?
07:43 Yeah, he's at--oh, right, he's getting the parts.
07:46 Are you guys going to make another hit on it today?
07:48 Yeah, we're going to try to make two more hits.
07:49 The wax job I'm putting on it, you know, it's going to make it a little slicker,
07:53 so that ought to get that half a second.
07:54 Oh, yeah, that's like race stickers.
07:55 That's good for 10 or 20 horsepower right there.
07:57 Awesome.
07:58 All right, well, good luck.
07:59 Hey, thank you, man.
08:00 We'll see you later.
08:06 Tim Reed finally got his Pinto into the 7s with a 7.99 second pass,
08:10 and then Rick Prospero answered with his own 7 second pass, a 7.93.
08:15 The question is, can Rick keep it together for the rest of drag week?
08:22 Dodge Ram single turbo on a Viper motor went 9.09 at 148 yesterday.
08:28 Today, not so good.
08:30 What happened, fellas?
08:31 Blew a head gasket.
08:32 Blew a head gasket.
08:33 What did you do, up the boost some more, or--
08:35 It was just time for it to go.
08:36 It was the same.
08:37 I think it was just time for it to go.
08:39 It's got about 50 dyno pulls in it, but we just--
08:42 I mean, we got a dyno last week, and so it's fresh, very fresh combination.
08:46 Cool.
08:47 Did you guys find a gasket to replace it?
08:48 Yes, sir.
08:49 Cool.
08:50 You going to make another hit today, or just fix it and hit the road?
08:51 If we can get back on the road, I'd be happy.
08:53 Yeah.
08:54 All right, cool.
08:55 Good luck, guys.
08:56 What they thought was just a blown head gasket turned out to be a torched head and block,
08:59 and since V10 parts are hard to come by in Tulsa, the Dodge was out.
09:03 He's bringing his son an axle for his 8 and 3/4 Dodge rear end, going in his old Ram pickup.
09:09 What was that for a service?
09:11 Did you guys get to make a lap today?
09:13 Made one.
09:14 Made one.
09:15 It's about two seconds off due to the snap axle.
09:18 So how quick can you guys do this, because it looks like you've done it before?
09:20 Hopefully, we'll be done here in about 20 minutes.
09:22 20 minutes for an axle change.
09:24 I like it.
09:25 Clock's ticking.
09:26 Go for it.
09:27 Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
09:28 How much nitrous?
09:29 150 shot, correct?
09:30 150 shot.
09:31 That's a crappy axle.
09:32 If I ever saw one.
09:34 Nice work, Dodge.
09:36 Call it experience, call it luck, call it being a general badass, but Larry Larson makes this look easy.
09:42 We just talked to him and found out he had all kinds of problems himself.
09:45 Pulled over by the cops, got lost, left the hotel this morning, got a flat tire,
09:50 and then on his first hit, broke a sprag in his Lenco transmission.
09:54 So he's got some repairs to make, and he's definitely got to make another run,
09:57 because he knows everybody else is gunning for him.
09:59 [engine revving]
10:04 Despite last night's roadside troubles, Mashmire's Camaro goes 768 out of buck 81.
10:10 We're standing here with Todd Mashmire and Travis Gilpin after your pretty much epic pass.
10:15 Last night, this car was strewn out all over the highway like a yard sale.
10:19 What happened?
10:20 We were outside of Muskogee and hit a big bump in the road and knocked a crossmember out,
10:24 knocked a big hole in the transmission pan.
10:26 Some very nice people come to save the day and rescued us, brought a welder and a generator,
10:32 and we sat there for about two and a half, three hours and got it fixed.
10:35 Got back on the road, struggled to get here, got low, we didn't even go to sleep last night.
10:39 What did it go, 499 to half track?
10:41 499 to the 8th, yep.
10:43 Went to 128, 60 foot, which is our best 60 foot, too.
10:47 So hit the road now, make it to the next stop.
10:49 That's the plan.
10:50 All right, good luck, fellas.
10:52 Thanks.
10:53 In Pro Street Naturally Aspirated, we've got two-time winner Doc McIntyre coming back with his '68 Camaro.
11:00 Naturally Aspirated, this car has almost run in the 8th, and that's his goal for this week.
11:05 121 in the 8th mile, McIntyre got it flat-footed, goes not, 892 in the 3, baby!
11:18 Congratulations, man.
11:20 Thank you.
11:21 How did the pass feel?
11:22 Beautiful, 123 in the 60.
11:25 Nice.
11:26 You picked up a whole bunch.
11:27 You can't believe the timing curve I built for that run, man.
11:30 Really, was it aggressive or soft?
11:32 No, soft.
11:33 And it didn't blow the tires off, finally.
11:35 Nope, it was perfect.
11:36 Wow, less is more, nice.
11:38 About time you did your job.
11:39 Yeah.
11:40 You going to hit the road or?
11:41 Yeah, I'm done, man.
11:42 All right, cool.
11:43 Got to nurse it along, get to Friday, and see if I can get that third jacket.
11:46 Awesome.
11:47 With the rest of the class more than a second off his pace, all Doc McIntyre's got to do now is finish drag week,
11:53 and he'll take the win in Pro Street Naturally Aspirated.
11:56 Day two of drag week kicked off with my favorite Canadian, Dave Schroeder.
12:00 You've been here before with a '55 Chevy, looking like the two-lane blacktop car.
12:04 I loved it.
12:05 This thing off the trailer was an animal.
12:07 How quick did you go on day one?
12:08 Yeah, day one we went 732 to 195.
12:13 I was really thrilled with that.
12:15 And that was with two stages, and it still had a lot more in it.
12:19 Schroeder and Enns Corvette made the fastest nitrous pass in the history of drag week, a 732 on day one.
12:25 We lost them on day two after battery failures and overheating took the car out.
12:29 This is Alana.
12:30 She's a new staff member on Hot Rod, and we figured that her first drag week should be trial by fire,
12:35 so we threw her in the car with this guy.
12:37 It's day two.
12:38 We're here at Texas Motorplex, and I'm about to go for a ride with Randy.
12:41 Randy, what are we riding in?
12:43 A '91 Mustang with twin turbos.
12:45 And this little green car is kind of quick.
12:48 Yeah, it's running fast 849 at 164.
12:51 Does it have air conditioning?
12:53 Yeah, you roll down the windows and you go 40 miles an hour and the air conditions you.
12:57 It's going to be a long drive.
12:59 Show off.
13:07 You want to go 1182?
13:09 Yeah.
13:10 Sorry.
13:11 I just missed the turn.
13:12 I'm a lousy navigator.
13:14 My girl can ride faster than you.
13:20 I'm trying to talk her into marrying me.
13:22 She's really cool.
13:24 I'm living in Tulane Blacktop.
13:26 You know what always upsets me, though, when I go through most of these school zones?
13:30 What?
13:31 There's no kids?
13:32 Yeah, it's like, okay, show me what I can kill.
13:35 You're not supposed to kill the kids.
13:41 That's the whole point of the school zone.
13:44 People totally frown on that.
13:46 Kids should be eaten, not heard.
13:48 We're on the road coming out of Ennis, Texas, the motorplex,
13:52 and we spotted this little dinky drag strip that we had to check out.
13:55 Cedar Creek Dragway, middle of nowhere, Texas.
13:58 This is America.
13:59 Today we're cruising with Brian Lones, who's been a friend of mine for a long time,
14:03 and he runs BangShift.com, but more importantly, he's our announcer for Drag Week.
14:07 He's a hardcore drag racing historian.
14:09 It didn't take much for me to convince him to pull over at this cool old drag strip
14:13 in the middle of nowhere.
14:14 It's one of the last--or maybe not the last--it's one of the grass-roots, outlaw,
14:18 non-sanctioned drag strips around, and it's been here 50 years.
14:22 The same guy over here has owned it for 30, and it's just got so much character.
14:26 I mean, the burnout box is worn deep.
14:28 The place has been around so long, but it's all concrete,
14:31 and nice wall, nice tree.
14:33 They're gluing the place.
14:34 Got a nice tower.
14:35 This is really grass-roots drag racing.
14:37 We wouldn't have Drag Week if it weren't for guys sort of finding their way
14:41 at little tracks like this.
14:42 We used to race me and my brother down through here.
14:44 Back then was when NAP was first coming.
14:47 Okay.
14:48 Now, if a guy would get ahead of you--and he'd do it on purpose now--
14:53 he'd kind of act like he was going to slurp at you, and you'd slow down,
14:56 he'd go ahead and win the race.
14:57 So it was a high-speed game of chicken, essentially.
14:59 [laughter]
15:00 This right here was the original drag strip.
15:03 You can see the lines on it and such.
15:05 And this is a new one they put in in 1986.
15:07 The tree was on a concrete block of dirt.
15:10 Oh, I see the block.
15:11 Yeah, look at that.
15:12 Here, check this out.
15:13 So this is the center block where the Christmas tree used to slide in.
15:16 They just drop them in so they can take them out later.
15:19 That's cool.
15:20 I think the two guys ran jet dragsters down this thing and went in the threes.
15:23 That wide.
15:24 Yeah.
15:25 Side by side, and this is about as wide as a freeway lane in L.A.
15:28 [laughter]
15:30 What could be better than having a junkyard on the side of a drag strip?
15:33 That's essentially what this guy's got going on here.
15:35 He's got a big collection of '50s cars and some worthless stuff, but inside,
15:40 we had a Trans Am, this early Camaro, a tri-five Chevy.
15:45 Good stuff.
15:46 We've got to hit it.
15:47 On to Louisiana.
15:48 [music]
15:52 $1,200.
15:53 $1,200? Get out.
15:55 That is a '64 5-ish Nova for $1,200.
15:59 Or trade.
16:00 How much is that camera worth?
16:02 Chevy 2-100, it's the low-end one.
16:05 It's pretty rusty.
16:07 Good-looking from afar, but far from good-looking.
16:09 [music]
16:13 Keith Harrison's a drag week veteran, but this is his first time with a '55 Chevy
16:16 running in our gasser class.
16:18 Unfortunately, he was fighting fuel pump problems.
16:20 And this is Luther Duncan in a '70 Maverick with an old-school small block and a 4-speed.
16:24 The cool thing here is that the engine was built by Eddie Miller,
16:27 who was a past drag week champion.
16:29 [music]
16:33 [music]
16:36 Now we're at Thunder Road in Louisiana.
16:38 A lot of people thought this was going to be the sketchy track.
16:40 The groove is really narrow.
16:42 Guys have been hooking up pretty good.
16:44 The surprise, though, is Larry Larson.
16:46 He just ran like an 850, banging and farting all the way down the track.
16:49 Sometimes I wonder if he does that for the show.
16:51 That's what he did yesterday, and then he pulls it off at the last second
16:54 and puts down a number that keeps him just in the lead.
16:56 Makes good drama for us.
16:58 [engine revving]
17:06 [announcer]
17:12 We just finished up.
17:13 We went 7.00 at 2.12.
17:15 We're headed to Memphis early, drag week 2012.
17:18 Here we come.
17:19 [horn honking]
17:21 Mashmire's bad luck continued
17:23 when the 6.05 Chevy under the hood of the Camaro
17:25 ate a Cam and a set of lifters the night before running.
17:28 [engine revving]
17:37 He still went 8.11 and a buck 74 in Gilliam.
17:41 Contrary to popular belief, winning drag week
17:44 is not about averaging the lowest ET in your class.
17:47 It's about beating the road.
17:49 Breakdowns are the norm.
17:51 They're not the exception to the rule.
17:53 We're cruising down the road here and just saw Vincent and Spirebird
17:56 laid up here with a bunch of broken valve springs.
17:58 As per usual, a bunch of other competitors stopped.
18:01 They're helping them out. They'll get them back on the road.
18:03 One of the major hurdles of drag week
18:05 is getting everything you need from one track to the next.
18:08 So guys are hauling little trailers.
18:10 Eric Yost's team, they built their own trailer, and it's nice.
18:14 This is aluminum, bead-rolled, TIG-welded.
18:16 What do we got going on here?
18:17 Basically, we got everything we need on the trip
18:19 if we happen to break anything.
18:21 We got everything to rebuild an entire transmission, converter.
18:24 Got our pit bike if we need to ride around.
18:26 Cooler for ice.
18:27 Keg? Nice touch.
18:28 How much do you think you got into this thing?
18:30 $150.
18:31 GT Cruiser axle is all we paid for,
18:34 and the rest is just scrap that some race teams have donated over the years.
18:38 I love the wheels.
18:40 It makes a good hood holder for an overheating car.
18:42 You can hide from the police inside of here.
18:44 I mean, if you needed to.
18:46 I'm not saying you need to.
18:47 If you needed to.
18:49 We're broke down on the side of the road,
18:51 but we got the best trailer ever and some pretty damn cold beer,
18:53 so everything's all right.
18:54 In day four, we're at Memphis International Raceway.
19:06 Memphis isn't kind to Lutz or Larson.
19:18 They're both having trouble getting their cars down the racetrack.
19:21 Broke a rocker on it.
19:23 Must have broke that on the first hit, and that's why it slowed down a little bit.
19:26 Oh, he lifted it 300 feet.
19:32 After an aborted attempt at making a run down the drag strip,
19:35 Larry ripped apart his rear end to find a smashed ring and pinion.
19:39 Ooh, yeah, pieces.
19:40 The scramble was on to find spare parts,
19:45 not to make another pass at Memphis,
19:47 but to get back to Tulsa and make his last pass on day five of drag week.
19:51 When we caught up with Todd Mashmeyer and Travis Gilton,
19:55 neither guy had slept more than four hours during all of drag week.
19:59 They ended up limping the Camaro into Memphis, Tennessee on six cylinders.
20:03 The duo had every intention of hitting the six-cylinder-powered Camaro
20:07 with three stages of nitrous to try to hold their lead over Brian Goldstone,
20:11 but when the car wouldn't do a burnout in the water box,
20:14 they knew they had to call it quits.
20:16 They broke the beam and got themselves a 20-second ET,
20:19 and that was it for them at drag week.
20:21 It looked like you guys intended to make a lap.
20:23 Yeah.
20:24 And then what changed?
20:25 Well, it wouldn't do a burnout.
20:27 Our intent was to make a lap, and if it blew up, it blew up, and whatever.
20:30 We're on our way to camp, to pick up Cam and Lifters,
20:34 and put it together tonight and drive, but...
20:38 We haven't slept in four days.
20:41 We had three hours of sleep two nights ago.
20:43 Man.
20:44 Like I say, the bridge, hitting the bridge that first night,
20:47 it put everything behind.
20:49 There's all kinds of bearings and roller tips in the bottom of that pan right now.
20:52 Playing ping pong.
20:53 Mm-hmm.
20:54 Yeah.
20:55 That's never good.
20:57 You're sure we'll be back next year?
20:58 Thank you, Mike.
20:59 Thank you.
21:00 Jeff Lutz's 7.14 pass was enough to give him a one-hundredth of a second lead
21:11 heading back to Tulsa, so I decided to hop in his '57 Chevy
21:15 and find out what was on his mind as he headed into the home stretch with the lead.
21:19 That chirp is not good.
21:25 I'm playing with the lifter.
21:27 We just left Memphis International Raceway not more than ten miles ago.
21:31 We heard a chirp.
21:32 It just didn't sound right.
21:33 He didn't like it.
21:34 I didn't like it.
21:35 He didn't like it, so we pulled over to find out what's going on.
21:37 He thinks we might have a broken lifter, which that's not good
21:41 because we've got 400 miles to go, and I think he's got lifters,
21:44 but we don't have another camshaft, so this is going to get interesting right now.
21:47 Wow.
21:56 Jeff Lutz just saved his engine from disaster.
21:59 That noise he was hearing as we were driving was at least this lifter, maybe more,
22:05 that stopped rolling.
22:06 This was basically skidding along on the lobe of the camshaft,
22:09 wearing the roller and the camshaft out.
22:12 Once you do that, metal goes through the motor, parts play ping pong,
22:15 bad things happen, and he doesn't get to Tulsa tomorrow to try to win this thing.
22:21 So he's got a spare set of these and hopefully a new camshaft waiting for him in Tulsa,
22:26 and he'll get this thing bandaged up, and we'll drive 415 miles tonight and make it there.
22:31 [engine starting]
22:35 Wow.
22:39 We're about an hour from Tulsa where it's been raining, and the road is super wet,
22:44 and these giant meats in the back are not happy about it.
22:48 We are literally just skating all over the road right now.
22:51 So we pulled over, took a little break.
22:54 We're going to crawl right now, maybe like 10 miles an hour tops
22:57 so we can keep making some time.
23:00 Oh, wow, it's cold.
23:03 Almost made it to the last checkpoint before the last day.
23:07 Not quite. The rain stopped us, so going to crash here in the car for the night,
23:12 hit the road in the morning. We're done for tonight.
23:15 [engine revving]
23:17 Day five, and we're back where we started, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
23:20 It's raining here today, and if it doesn't dry up soon,
23:23 we're just not sure if we're going to get this race done or not.
23:26 All right, everybody, listen up.
23:27 We have about 30 seconds. We have the announcement on the fate of the event coming.
23:30 And, yeah, give us 30 seconds.
23:33 Well, unfortunately, as you can tell, the weather has been junk today,
23:36 and it's not looking like it's going to get much better before tomorrow afternoon.
23:39 So I'm going to dodge the flying crew when I tell everybody that this thing is done.
23:43 The event has been ended.
23:46 What are you saying?
23:48 What? No, not ended.
23:51 Okay, Brian just completely choked.
23:54 You said it was pulling apart.
23:55 Here's the deal.
23:57 I'm standing here right now thinking, you know what, we need to race this thing.
24:00 There's a 10% chance of rain at noon tomorrow.
24:03 We're going to run.
24:06 We're back at Tulsa here today, which is Saturday, and it's not raining yet,
24:11 and so we're doing our best we can to get all these guys down the track.
24:14 [engine revving]
24:24 Tommy here in his unlimited class '57 Chevy found out the hard way
24:27 there is plenty of traction on that racetrack right now.
24:29 What happened, Tommy?
24:31 We had tuned up the car to make a really good pass, tried to get the car in the H today,
24:36 and whenever I let go of the trans brake, it came up pretty hard.
24:39 It was on a good pass, and then it came down,
24:42 and whatever it did, it broke both front shocks on the car.
24:45 I imagine you'll fix that up and be back next year.
24:47 We'll fix it, and we'll probably bring the '57 back
24:50 and possibly bring a second car, too.
24:52 Thank you. I'll see you further down.
24:54 All right.
24:55 Prospero got in line to make a pass right in front of Tim Reed,
24:58 but about 300 feet into the run, something definitely went wrong.
25:02 [engine revving]
25:05 Well, we hurt the transmission on that last pass.
25:07 It sounded like second gear went bad, so we had our spare from the very first time.
25:11 We're sticking it back in right now.
25:13 Tim just ran a 7.94. He needs a 7.91 to beat us,
25:16 so that's why we want to make one more bonsai pass
25:18 to see if we can get it down in the 7s again.
25:20 We are less than 1/100 apart right now,
25:22 so we put nitrous on it about an hour ago,
25:25 and we're going to go out and spray it and see what happens.
25:27 Prospero pulled off a miracle of getting his Powerglide back together
25:30 and in the car to make another pass,
25:32 but he did not go any faster than his previous run.
25:35 [engine revving]
25:36 Tim Reed's gamble of adding nitrous to turbos didn't pay off.
25:39 [engine revving]
25:42 It ended up blowing the spark out about 500 feet.
25:45 I'll be back next year.
25:46 [music]
25:50 In the end, Larry Larson came from behind to beat Jeff Lutz
25:53 by less than 1/100 of a second
25:55 and earned his fifth consecutive Unlimited Class title.
25:58 His '66 Nova is Hot Rod Magazine's fastest street car in America.
26:03 [engine revving]
26:05 Drag Week is an anomaly.
26:06 We don't give you a dime if you win this event.
26:08 All you get is a jacket and the pride that comes with having a seriously fast street car.
26:13 Join us next month for another episode of Roadkill
26:16 and watch Freiburger and I destroy ourselves for your entertainment.
26:19 Two-stroke blender? Let's make some margaritas.
26:22 What are we waiting on?
26:24 [music]
26:26 [engine revving]
26:42 Oh my God, he went into the center lane.
26:45 [engine revving]
26:50 [announcer speaking]
26:55 [engine revving]
27:08 [engine revving]
27:16 [announcer speaking]
27:21 [engine revving]
27:32 [announcer speaking]