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Holley EFI powered racers showed their strength over the weekend after claiming the top three spots in Radial versus the World (RvW) at Virginia Motorsports Park. The 17th annual Shakedown Nationals was arguably the best radial race of the year with multiple records broken and close finishes being just a few of the many highlights. Kicking off the weekend, Marcus Birt put the field on notice after becoming the first nitrous assisted car to break into the 3.50’s with his 3.579 pass in RvW Qualifying. As if this was not enough he backed it up and claimed quickest of all-time with a 3.575 @ 206 mph during the “Judgement Day” class eliminations.
Jeff Miller and his Bumblebee Camaro headed into the event on a 7-win streak and laid down an impressive 3.615 @ 205 to put the blower car into the number three qualifying spot. Bumblebee Racing had an excellent run throughout the weekend including defeating Norman Bryson in the second round before facing Birt in the semi-finals. While Miller and team put up a good fight, ultimately Birt would enter the final round.
Birt’s runner-up finish added to an already fantastic weekend for him and his crew who will be analyzing the run-data to see where they can improve. Jackson who tunes the nitrous combination for Birt expects an quicker field heading into Duck X Production’s No Mercy race in mid-October. When asked if he thinks there will be more 3.50 passes, Jackson said “Oh yeah, once someone knows it can be done, they’ll keep working until they figure it out.”
It's also worth mentioning that this was the first outing for MSD's new Pro 600 CDI Ignition system in radial racing, both Stevie Fast Jackson and Jeff Miller had it on board with them this weekend and Jackson put it in the Winner’s Circle!
Congratulations to all of the competitors using Holley EFI this weekend at VMP on a job-well done! Holley EFI now controls the fastest radial tire racecar, the fastest nitrous assisted car and the fastest screw-blown radial racecar, not to mention these titles were all written in one weekend!
To see the fastest side-by-side radial pass in history, click Motor Mania TV’s video below: