Thanks to the existence of the Arabian Pro Series in the Middle East, where conditions are ripe for the record-setting picking and drivers and tuners remain on kill mode at all times, we never have to wait long into a new year to begin adding names and numbers to the short list for our end-of-year Top 10 Runs feature. And, yet again, the country of Bahrain has delivered for us.
Georgia native “Stevie Fast” Jackson, already the world record holder in the radial tire realm (officially), added another line to his driving and tuning resume earlier this month when he powered his Bahrain 1-backed Camaro to the all-time roots supercharger record not once, but twice, on his way to a decisive victory at Round 3 of the Arabian Pro Series at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Jackson, who has a proven affinity to wheel anything that can possibly be wheeled, jumped from the seat of Phil Shulers’ screw-blown radial car, to his nitrous-fed Pro Nitrous Camaro, and then back behind the wheel of a blower car for the Arabian series and wasted little time in providing a hint of what his machine was capable of, notching a stout .910 60-foot time back in December — a number to which he pronounced his team was “making blower racing great again.”
(Left) The record-setting timeslip from the semifinal round of eliminations.
During Round 3, the Bahrain 1 team was certainly great as they put it all together in historic fashion — Jackson running a 3.665 in qualifying with a .902 60-foot clocking, before turning around a day later and going two better with a stunning new roots-blown standard of 3.640-seconds at 201.79 mph, compliments of an “off-pace” .905 short time.
The Arabian Pro Series’ Pro Modified category allows for supercharged big-blocks to compete 50 pounds lighter than in the PDRA Pro Boost class here in the states, but even given that small advantage, a 3.64 is still a monster pass for a 14-71 roots-blown door car. As Jackson befittingly shared, “It’s going to be a good year. Buckle up.”