As the 2015 racing season ramps up, pre-race testing has begun for the first huge radial race of the year; Lights Out 6 at South Georgia Motorsports Park. Rob Valden and the ALEPA Racing team headed to sunny Bradenton, Florida to gather some data before the big race, where they fired a couple of warning shots for those making the trek to Georgia in Radial vs the World.

Tuesday, Valden wheeled the understated maroon Fox Body coupe to a stout 4.01 at a blistering 202.06 mph. Of course, never a team to rest on “stout”, Valden and the ProLine crew took to the laptop to see just how far they could push the new Stage 3 481X. It didn’t take long for the team to reload and fire another blast as Valden raced to a 3.98 at “just” 201.88 mph to become just the third radial-tired car to ever click off a sub-4.00 second elapsed time. Rob is also the first radial car to produce consistent, reliable 200+ mph speeds, showing that the 202 was no fluke.

The team headed back to the track this morning, where they picked things back up and laid down yet another three-second number, this time a scintillating 3.96, again at 201 mph. For those who follow testing numbers, that is just two hundredths of a second off of the quickest radial pass of all time, Brad Edwards’ otherworldly 3.94 from testing late in 2014. There were grumblings and rumors all season that no big block twin turbo radial car would run even remotely close to Edwards’ 3.94, hinting that it may not be legitimate. However, if Valden can go 3.96 in just his second day of testing this year, it seems safe to say Edwards was just putting in the work needed to go fast a couple of months ahead of the other front-running RvsW teams.

Stay tuned for further updates. As we get closer to Lights Out, more teams will be taking to the track for testing to get ready for one of the biggest events in the nation!