Paul and the Cuda Beast return to the track this weekend after almost two months, heading to Huntsville for an Open Outlaw Racing series event Saturday. It is described as a series "for 3.90-4.60 race cars to run heads-up at two great tracks in Tennessee and Alabama." U.S. 43 is the Tennessee track. The series has a Facebook page.
The purse is small, so the race will be basically a test session for the Beast as Paul looks to get dialed in upcoming PDRA races. At of this writing, more than 16 cars, from promods to dragsters to fuel altereds, have indicated they'll be on hand. Not sure if there will be any online news from the track, though the Cruzin-USA reality TV show will be filming the event for an upcoming show.
While the team will be focused on racing, they'll also be thinking about team member Keith Dockery, the Beast's computer guru and Paul's brother-in-law, who had surgery this week in Chattanooga and will be in the hospital into next week. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Paul said crew member Gregg Cash is past his medical problems and should be at the track this weekend.
Paul said he has added two new crew members -- Greg Parker and Toby Collins, a Top Sportsman racer from nearby Blairsville, Ga.-- to help on race weekends. Paul said he's hoping to make the remaining PDRA events this year. First up will be Memphis, in my neck of the woods, Aug. 20-22, so I'm looking forward to seeing the car in action again. Then it's Rockingham (Sept. 10-12), Bradenton, Florida (Oct. 1-3) and the world finals in Richmond (Oct. 22-24), where the Beast ran well last year. The Beast's class, Pro Boost, is the most competitive at PDRA events; the last one had some 30 cars vying for 16 spots. At the last event, in Maryland, the field was all sub-4 seconds, separated by less than a tenth of a second.
I'll have a Huntsville recap next week. Be fast and be safe, everyone.
