David Hance and the road to the Drag Radial 6 Second Barrier
“This just did not just happen. No way.” It wasn’t a reaction to running the first pass in the sixes. Instead, that was David Hance’s first reaction after spinning out and hitting the wall at the Shakedown at E-Town late last year
“It was surreal, like a bad dream; no way this just happened,” Hance recalls. “Fast forward to Bradenton, January 24th, a little over three months later, and we met our objective. Through a lot of hard work and a lot of help from a lot of people, we were able to get it done.” Hance’s 6.93 now stands as the high-water mark in Drag Radial racing, an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that it wasn’t done with a racing four-link or ladder bar car, but on a stock suspension.
To really understand Hance’s quest to be the first to run a six on drag radials, you have to look back on the history of the category, street racing, and the late model Mustang revolution.
In the late 1980’s, the 5.0 Mustang was the most popular car at the time for gear heads; it was relatively quick, easy to work on, the aftermarket was abundant with bolt-on parts for the cars, and Ford was heavily involved in promoting the Mustang within the performance aftermarket.
In 1988, Super Ford Magazine sponsored a 5.0 Invitational in Ohio as a showcase for the 5.0 movement. ‘Big Daddy’ Dwayne Gutridge was working with Steve Chris at Dynotunes at the time, and they drove a car from New Jersey on street radials with Bill Gammons and Keith Saundall. The car ran mid 12’s, which was considered fast at the time for the mods it had.
During the 1991-92 timeframe, Michael Knapp, one of the owners of Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, and Big Daddy got together to discuss ways to speed up the racing program there. They were often running past curfew and the track was looking for input for ways to help. Often there were in excess of 400 Mustangs on the grounds, with many cars switching to slicks after driving in and having to lock up jacks and tools on the fence. Gutridge suggested that they start a radial tire class so racers would not have to switch tires or leave tools and wheels locked up. He also predicted that there should be less downtime due to broken parts caused by street cars and less experienced drivers on slicks. Thus, ‘Heads-Up Radial’ was born. During the same period, E-Town was running a Mustang Showdown. Big Daddy had established his Outrageous Mustangs shop in 1990, was running Pro 5.0, and had several customers interested in the radial classes popping up. They were running mid-twelves then, so it wasn’t a ‘cubic dollar class’ to race in.
In 1995, the first pair of BFGoodrich Drag Radial tires were received by Troy Pirez out of Florida. Big Daddy wasn’t aware of them until ‘96, when his friend Oris Williams brought a set to the shop for him. At that time, you had to get the tires at special events or have an ‘in’ with the manufacturer. Early on, BFGoodrich was concerned by lackluster sales and considered ending production. Frank Heygard talked with Dwayne and was told, “I’m gonna make your tires a hit.”
They bolted a set on a customer’s car and went racing. The car, equipped with a 347 small-block Ford and a Vortech supercharger, ran 11.0’s. By the end of 1996, Gutridge was the first to break the 10-second barrier, running a 10.98 against Daryl from SLS Motorports in the Heads-Up Radial final of the year.
Back down in Florida, Troy Pirez was racing in the Street Car Shootouts at De Soto Speedway in Bradenton, eventually running 9.50’s The BFG tire was much better at putting power down than anything else available. Lots of people were running soft compound recaps available from Coker tire; they were very popular with the turbo Grand National crowd. Around 1999, radial tire racing started to take off, and in 2000 the Orlando World Street Nationals picked up a Radial Tire class for the first time.
Willie Figueroa was number one qualifier out of the 24-car field that year with an 8.67 at 164 MPH. He went on to win the event, with John Fernandez the runner up and Troy Pirez a semifinalist in the silver Nova. Other prominent competitors at that inaugural event were David Burgess, Armando Navarro, Tyree Smith, Dennis Ramsey, Shannon Wren, John Sears, and Dave Rudisell. The first year had no ladder; you just showed up and ran the guy next to you. Pirez had been running with the NSCA in Factory Street, and in 2000 the BFG Traction Advantage class with Jim Filipowski and Chris Singleton, but the organization was quite restrictive on what engine modifications were allowed.
The next year there were 55 cars vying for a spot in the full 32-car field, and more well-known names to add to the list; Mike McConnell, Lamar Swindoll, Jr., Chris Singleton, Dennis Lugo, Walter Drakeford, Dino Stavrinos and Michael Fratena. Pirez had led qualifying, and Shannon Wren had low ET in Project X, but it was Lamar Swindoll, Jr. who came home with the win, running 9.03 at 161.
By 2003, the field had swelled to 77 entries and the ET had dropped to 8.29 at 174, posted by Mike Dees. California resident Bobby Frye won Orlando that year, which would be the last time the fast guys would be running on BFGoodrich Drag Radials.
2004 saw the introduction of the Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial and elapsed times fell like rocks. That year, Rick Head came from California with a twin turbo Camaro and blistered the track with a 7.66 at 186, taking the trophy. By 2007, the top cars were mostly still in the high seven-second range, though in 2006 David Wolfe had run a seven-forty pass at the World Ford Challenge in a back-and-forth battle with Big Daddy for the outright Drag Radial record. Wolfe was told to keep it slower than 7.50 or result in a DQ for exceeding the chassis certification limit for his car, and as a result, the true potential of the car remained unknown.
In 2008 that all changed. The turbo cars were finally starting to get a real handle on power management. In February, Shannon Wren went to the Mid-South Street Shootout in Memphis, Tennessee with his SN-95 Cobra Mustang. I took a ride up with them and covered the race for Drag Racing Online. He managed to go 200, not once, not twice, but three times in a row. That trap speed set a new mark and showed that, at least in terms of raw horsepower, a six second pass is possible. Up until then, the short-half numbers on the top cars in the race to break the six-second barrier were good enough for the number, but no one had made the back half work as well. Those runs were it. Seeing Wren’s trap speed, Troy Pirez, Sr. remarked, “I knew right then someone would go sixes on a radial tire, and soon.”
That someone grew up in Queens, New York and the Five Boroughs were his stomping ground. Hance got started on the streets, like most of us, racing motorcycles on Fountain Avenue in Brooklyn in the late 80’s where he earned the nickname “Cycle Dave” for his ability to get on just about anyone’s bike and perform well. In the early 90’s, Dave left the bike scene and got into cars, along with most of his friends. Still on the streets, he raced an early box Nova with a 303 cubic inch Comp Eliminator engine and a five-speed that was renowned for hooking hard and taking home the cash.
Hance raced the streets until around 1997, when some close encounters with the law and some scary moments led him to the track. He went to Englishtown to run Ultra Quick 8 and raced two years there without qualifying for a single event, then bought Chuck Fest’s car from Tampa, Florida, a state-of-the-art 10.5 car built by Ray Miller Race Cars and maintained by Ramsey Performance. That car was later sold off, Donnie Walsh’s car was purchased, and Dave raced NMCA Pro Street and Pro 5.0 in the Fun Ford Weekend series.
In 2006, Hance debuted a new car in 10.5 and won three championships; NMRA 10.5, Ultra Quick 8 at E-Town, and Atco Outlaw 10.5, and capped it off by also getting the NMCA Super Street record. After some ribbing by locals on internet forums and watching the radial classes, he answered the call and bought David Reese’s EZ Street Mustang. Reese had campaigned the car in ORSCA and at various outlaw events and was moving to Pro Street. On the first pass after the purchase the engine gave up. Hance seized the opportunity to convert from the ProCharged alcohol combo to something he knew, twin turbos on gasoline. That would ultimately be the platform used in pursuit of a six.
I met David Hance last October at the First Annual Outlaw Drag Radial Championships in Bradenton, Florida. Prior to that, I knew him by reputation as the promoter of the Shakedown at E-Town, and he is good friends with a friend of mine, Scott Gaudagno of Scotty’s Racing Technology in Spring Hill, Florida.
Scott Gaudagno, a long-time friend, has done maintenance on Hance’s cars for years.
Hance made his first passes on the new combination at last year’s Shakedown, and the car got loose and into the wall. It was repaired by Crazy Don’s Chassis Shop in Island Park, New York in short order to make the Outlaw Radial Tire Championships in Bradenton.
At the ORTC race, Hance struggled early, and wound up in the second chance race, where the team did find the consistency to win as well as get best ET, breaking into the 4’s, the only car to do so in the second chance race.
Hance with ORTC Promoter Donald Long after his second chance win.
After that, the car was taken to Ford Speed Racing to get some TLC from Rob Wells and the gang to prepare for the Orlando World Street Finals.
Hance was qualified fifth after the third qualifying session with a 7.57 at 194, but the engine gave up on the last qualifying run and was taken to Pro Line for repairs. The race was won by Paul Major who swept it all, getting a bonus for top qualifier and top MPH, which he donated to a fund that had been set up for Leo Barnaby’s Daughter Jenna. Barnaby was killed in a car accident on October 18th, 2008 and was a friend to many racers.
Hance’s car was back in order a week later, and the team was off to the Snowbird Nationals in Bradenton where Dave ran a 7.52 off the trailer. After making some changes, he put a 7.22 at 207 on the board. Kevin Fiscus took the top spot in qualifying with a 7.18 and reset the record, just edging Dave Hinzman’s pass at the Shakedown.
In the first round, Fiscus would shock the world with a 7.06, only to come back the next round, stand it up on the bumper, come down hard and wind up in a nail-biting spin. Thankfully he hit nothing, though the car did suffer some damage to the suspension.
Hance witnessed the run from the water box and, “wanted out of the car bad,” but could find no one else to drive, and ran 7.15 at 210 for a new MPH record on the pass. He had built the car to run sixes, and now with Kevin’s 7.06 and his own 210 MPH horsepower, it was clear the race was on to be the first. Hance went on to win the event, but the first six was still on the table.
Back at Bradenton after PRI, Dave was testing again on Saturday, getting the best hit on the first run, a 7.13 at 211. He made four hits the rest of the day, but it was not to be. On Sunday, Bradenton was having a private club rental for Need2Speed.com. I was there running my own car and was able to film Dave on his first pass of the day.
Unfortunately, it would be the last pass of the day as the engine let loose. Hance returned home empty-handed, and the car went to Scotty’s Racing Technology in Spring Hill for repair.
I went with Ed and Lenny up to South Georgia Motorsports Park the next Friday night. At the time, there were massive snow storms in New York and Dave’s flight had been delayed. He was able to secure a later flight and flew to Jacksonville. We were basically flying blind in the rig, wondering if we would have to drive to pick him up at the airport or what. Once back on the ground he was able to get a ride on I-10 east to just north of the I-10/I-75 intersection, and we picked him up at 4:59 AM then drove on to Valdosta, now with Dave behind the wheel. We spent the night in a Super Wal-Mart parking lot and did some early morning shopping at 8:00, stopped by Mickey D’s for breakfast, and headed to SGMP.
In Georgia, Hance’s best pass netted a 7.179 at 210, and after staying late at the track to make some repairs to the headers we rolled out and ate some really good BBQ at a plate called the Smokin’ Pig. Once we were properly fed, it was off through the fog and back to Bradenton’s Runday Sunday Grudge fest for more testing.
Back at Bradenton, Hance’s best on Sunday was a 7.23 at just shy of 212, with a 1.31 60-foot and a 4.86 at half-track. After that session, the engine was removed and the exhaust valves were all replaced. The transmission was also sent back to ATI for freshening. When it was all back together again, Dave went to BMP once more for testing before the US Nationals. On Wednesday, he got a 219 MPH pass out of it, and on Thursday morning I drove down to catch whatever happened on film. He ran a 223 MPH pass and later backed it up with a 221, but the six still remained just out of reach.
Friday would be the day - as I was headed down to Bradenton, I got a text from Mark Gearhart asking if I had got the pass. Sadly I did not, but fortunately others had their video cameras at the ready.
From my perspective, I am so happy for Dave, because he did what he set out to do. I have been there for many of his runs during all of this and the fact that I missed it actually happening is very disappointing. Sometimes life gets in the way of things. In December, a friend of Dave’s started a thread on YellowBullet.com listing sponsors and a bounty for the first car to get in the sixes. Many people and businesses responded, and the total eventually climbed to somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000. Dave said from the start that if he was the one to do it he would also donate the money to Jenna Barnaby’s scholarship fund. Congratulations go out to David Hance, the first Drag Radial racer in the sixes. With that incredible milestone reached, what mountain is left for radial racers to climb? It’s hard to imagine, but they’ll come up with something, for sure…
Last edited by Chevelle Rob; 01-29-2009 at 04:57 PM..
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