It’s been a long time coming, but the six-second elapsed time barrier in the NMRA‘s Street Outlaw class has finally fallen. Arkansan Dwayne Barbaree, a longtime Ford racer who has moved up through the NMRA ranks over the years from Pure Street to Renegade and now Street Outlaw, performed the feat for the first time during qualifying this past Friday night during the 14th Annual SCT NMRA Nationals presented by Downs Ford Motorsport at Royce Miller’s Maryland International Raceway.

As night fell upon the legendary-for-its-hook facility, there was a distinct buzz in the air, with everyone wondering if this would finally be the event where the hard-to-reach milestone would fall. Although racers like John Urist, last season’s class champ Phil Hines, and Hollywood Sean Ashe were present and accounted for, it was Barbaree who came out for a single pass as the first racer in round one of qualifying. And by the end of his string-straight pass, the milestone was his, with an incredible 6.976 at 199.82 MPH lighting up the board and assuring the team of their place in Street Outlaw history. 

Barbaree’s entry is owned by Russell Stone, and the pair have teamed up to field one of the most deadly racing efforts in recent memory. Barbaree, who honed his driving skills behind the wheel of that wheelstanding Pure Street machine back in the mid-2000’s, is quiet and unassuming, but once you engage him in conversation his face lights up and you can see how badly he wants to perform well. In fact, although he was thrilled to be the inaugural entrant into the Six-Second Club, he was more disappointed that he didn’t hit the 200MPH mark.

The team is still working out the combination on this incredible machine, and we can only imagine what will happen once they really put the screws to it – he was even using a secondhand Pro Torque torque converter sourced from Brad Medlock. He ran the number again in the third round of qualifying against John Urist – with the conditions running right around sea level and the incredible MIR crew prepping the track to perfection, the pair ran side-by-side 6.98 passes into the night, with Urist becoming the second racer entered into the club at the same time. Unfortunately during the second round of eliminations, Barbaree went up in smoke off the hit, ending his weekend – but leaving him with the knowledge that he’s the baddest man in the class heading into the series’ fourth event next month in Norwalk.