THE insane Outlaw Nitro Funny Cars came to Portland’s eighth-mile South Coast Raceway over the weekend, for what was a fantastic event. The rain stayed away, and with the track in excellent condition the 4000hp monsters twice broke the category’s previous eighth-mile record. Most cars consistently hit over 200mph and ran in the mid-three-second range!

Shane Olive in the Red Devil ’57 Chev was the first to set a new record during round one, with a [email protected]. Rick Gauci then came along on the next run and smashed Olive’s time with a [email protected]. Gauci later hit the wall on his final pass of the day while vying for a top-three position, which put him out of contention.

In the end it was Olive who took out the top spot, followed by Paul Messineo in the Dark Horse Mustang and the Bandit Trans Am of Darren Fry. It was Darren’s first-ever event in the Nitro Funny Car series, and he was stoked to pick up third place.