Mother Road Mayhem Delivers: New Street & Strip Format Debuts with Tight Finishes and Route 66 Action

Apr 20

What an incredible experiment….

Whenever anyone decides to try a new format of anything racing related, it comes with growing pains and a little skepticism.

Will it be as fun as the original?

Will there be enough competition to make it fun?

Will only being a Single Day be enough to fill the void I’ve had for monnnnnnnths since my last drag and drive event?

Well, Mother Road Mayhem definitely hit the nail on the head and gave the participants a great chance at a shakedown for the upcoming Circuit event, and gave an opportunity for several newcomers a drag and drive experience on a welcoming and less intimidating scale.

We decided to run this event with the traditional drag and drive format, requiring racers to submit a pass from the morning, make their drive (more on that in a minute), and then return to the track for more passes to lock in the standings for each class. Being the first attempt for this format, we learned that racers need to be ready going in to the morning session. Several racers took longer than anticipated to get a pass they were happy to submit, pushing back their time to leave to a dangerous level.

The drive was just over 70 miles, with three route stops along the Mother Road, Route 66. Taking racers to Ed Galloway’s Totem Pole Park, J.M. Davis Arms Museum and a drive-by photo opp at the Blue Whale in Catoosa. The Blue Whale is under construction so racers got creative with their Route Stop photos - some driving by recording a video, others stopping traffic for photos, and the remaining finding a safe vantage point to capture the tiniest bit of Whale in the photo.

With late departures, four of the racers returned dangerously close to the 3pm cutoff. Luckily, one racer had alerted me early enough I was able to get with the awesome track staff at Tulsa Raceway Park and extend the track availability by 15 minutes.

As usual, the 12.00 Index and You VS You class racers took every opportunity to make as many passes as possible to lock in the tight battles that always come from those classes.

12.00 Index was decided by a 0.083 margin, with longtime drag and drive racer Don Harmon taking home the win over newcomer Rian Burge. Don drove his Mustang more than 4 hours to compete. And Rian had a 280+ mile trip from Arkansas to compete.

You VS You was wildly close, with the top two drivers making several passes in both “sessions”. Jeff Short would add the trophy to his case of other wins, with a spread between his Quickest and Slowest Pass of just 0.015. Another newcomer in the Runner-Up position was Cody Reiss, behind by just 0.008, with his 0.023 spread. Doug Gierach, in his first drag and drive, took third place with a 0.1 spread, just ahead of longtime drag and drive racer Brandon Parker’s 0.167 4th place finish.

6.50 Index was a battle royale of one of the toughest Power Couples in drag and drive. Abby and Shawn Larsen duked it out for the closest pass ALLLLLLLL day. I don’t know how many passes they made but it was awesome to see them go head to head like that. Abby is a former Circuit 6.50 Index winner and Shawn finally got the chance to debut the GTO at a Drag Drive Repeat event. When they left for the drive, Shawn was leading by 0.015. The drive went great for the family, each racer carrying one of their sins as the copilot. Abby had it all but locked up until Shawn made “one more pass” and finished it off with a 6.529 to give him a 6.542 Avg. Abby submitted a 5.532 to lock in a 6.5505 Avg. When these two pull into the gate at The Circuit 2026, in ten days, everyone is on notice…..

Tailgate sponsored by Cornerstone Performance Transmissions was a fun class to watch. Dustyn Caudle came out swinging with an 8.531 on his second pass of the day and decided to change over. Michael Howard would leave in a wheelie most of the time. And Robert Huffines super cool 1962 F100 really turned heads the whole time.

Dustyn made one pass after his return from the drive and locked up first place with a 9.024 pass after giving us a show of driving skill as the Isuzu Faster was a handful down the track. He finished the event with an 8.778 avg.

Stick Shift was won by another great Power Couple within drag and drive, the Lowerys. Kevin and Cassie brought down their stick shifted, supercharged ‘57 wagon that is a fan favorite anywhere they travel. Kevin ended up with a Personal Best in the car, 12.395, during the morning session. After their drive, they didn’t let up and backed it up with a 12.484, giving them a 12.439 average.

Power Adder was filled with a Divco Milktruck and Groot. Nick Cryer came down from Illinois to compete in the world famous Divco Milktruck since he was meeting up with Jesse Madafferi on Monday to show off the truck to Jesse’s junior high class. Sadly, the Milktruck had other plans and a low oil pressure issue retired the truck just a few miles into the street drive.

James Esmond, in his second drag and drive would take the Power Adder Class win an 8.957 avg with his Groot S10.

For the first event of its type for us, we had a great time and learned alot. We appreciate all the racers and crew that came out to support us and the event.

The next event in the Street & Strip Series will be on June 20th, back at Tulsa Raceway Park. The Two Lane Showdown will have a slightly different format, with the track being open from 9am until 1pm. After which we will take a drive for some lunch/afternoon snack thank you to Deatschwerks. We will return to the track as early as 3pm for our afternoon/evening session alongside the Mid America Ford & Shelby Nationals.

Registration will be open very soon.