In NMRA Pure Street, the class was dominated in 2014 by Teddy Weaver’s Mystichrome Cobra. With Roush power under the hood, he was unstoppable, running the table in competition. He and Charlie Booze, who did it in Hot Street before that class’ demise a couple years ago, are the only two to accomplish that feat.
At the Spring Break Shootout season opener we could tell Weaver’s long-time Pure Street competitor Jimmy Wilson had a lot of power on board, but he was having trouble harnessing that power out of the gate. Between Bradenton and the All-Star Nationals at Atlanta Dragway, Wilson tested several times to remedy the traction issue. We knew if he was to get his to leave, he was going to give Weaver fits the rest of the year. Well, as usual, we were right.
Wilson worked on his hair between the two races, but he also worked on his car’s clutch and suspension during the off-time. “The clutch in Bradenton was just too aggressive,” Wilson says. Working with SPEC, he was able to find the right application for his combo. Plus, he worked on his car’s UPR suspension to provide more starting line traction.
But another thing he worked on is his reaction time. Knowing Weaver and his car’s performance was going to be very close, Wilson knew it was going to come down to reaction time. “At Atlanta, I was working each round to have a quicker light. I knew I would need a good one against Teddy,” Wilson says.
“My .423 light in the finals was no accident,” Wilson adds. He paired that reaction time with a hella-quick 9.666 at 140 mph to finally beat Teddy Weaver; the first time Weaver has been beat in over a year.
For his accomplishment, you’ll see Jimmy Wilson’s car on the cover of Race Pages. There was a challenge issued for the first racer to beat Teddy Weaver, they would get their car on the cover. Well done, Jimmy. Now go get a haircut.