What do you do when you’re in the street racing mecca of Oklahoma, the track racing has come to an end for the night, and someone wants to call you out for some cash? Well, you head to the streets.
It’s not every day (or night) you see one of the top names in no prep racing, in this case no prep king James “Birdman” Finney, roll to the streets after one of the largest races on the calendar — Shannon Morgan’s Redemption 6.0 in Tulsa — to do some grudge racing. But Finney, always down for a grudge match on the street but rarely able to get one, as he shared in a recent Dragzine feature, took his twin turbocharged Pontiac Firebird to the streets of Oklahoma to accept a callout from another Pontiac known as “The Prostitute”, driven by JJ Da Boss from Arkansas and running out of the Memphis Street Outlaws camp.
JJ has quickly become one of the most well-known street racers with his witty tactics and off-the-trailer ways, and the result of this race no doubt elevates his status in the grudge and street world.
After Birdman took his test pass, resulting in a small wheelstand, his crew made suspension changes using pre-load to help drive the car straight and keep the wheelstand to a minimum. Because in a grudge race, you only get one shot to get it right.
The bets started at $4,500 per side and quickly grew to $6,500 a side. All told, the final pot was $13,000 placed on the line for one pass down the street. None other than Street Outlaws star Justin “Big Chief” Shearer himself showed up to flashlight-start the race that went down in the wee hours Sunday morning, along with several of his fellow cast members getting in on some real-life street action. Shearer brought both cars to the line, with Birdman building boost and coming in last. At the bang of the light, JJ was gone with a holeshot advantage that was a near jump, while Finney was dead-late by comparison and lost traction right at the hit.
JJ is known as one of the most colorful personalities in street racing and the aftermath of this matchup proves why he got that title. With his smooth talking and quick, witty comebacks, we feel like this first matchup between Birdman and JJ will definitely won’t be the last.
Video Credit: 1320Video