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Redemption for Haney with Slammers Win at Xtreme Raceway Park

TULSA, OK – A dramatic rematch from the night before saw Keith Haney even the score with NHRA Pro Mod star Chad Green July 13, as he led stripe to stripe in the final round of the Slammers class during the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Pro Mod Series (MWPMS) event at Xtreme Raceway Park (XRP) in Ferris, TX.
Despite leaving with a perfect .000 reaction time, Haney held an ever-so-slim two-thousandths of a second advantage over Green off the start, but an eighth of a mile later his nitrous-breathing 2014 Camaro had stretched that out to a 12-hundredths margin of victory over Green’s nitrous-fed C7 Corvette in the left lane.

“Yeah, I got my redemption from Chad after our grudge race in the first round of qualifying. That didn’t go so well after we just made a mistake on the car and didn’t find it until the next round,” Haney explained. “But winning the Slammers class means I also got to pick up a few extra points for the championship run. And what’s even better is that was the fastest I’ve ever run at that kind of altitude.”

Haney, a Tulsa-based new-car dealer who also owns and promotes the MWPMS, qualified ninth for the Pro Mod field at XRP, but red-light starts in the opening round of competition relegated both him and second-place starter Green to the unique MWPMS Slammers class for Pro Mod non-qualifiers and those who lost in the first round.
“The left lane was a little tougher to see the tree out of and everybody was having that issue so I guess I wasn’t the only one. But no excuses, I was excited and I messed up and I went red,” Haney admitted. “It’s too bad, too, because other than that one round, my lights were absolutely on point. The whole weekend up until I went red, .020 was my worst light.”

Continuing the trend, Haney posted .019 and .012 reaction times in taking down Wayne Roberts and his blown late-model Corvette and then the twin-turboed ’69 Camaro of Michael Bradley to reach Green. After nailing the start with that perfect leave in the final, Haney ran 3.72 seconds to a 3.84 by Green to take the XRP Slammers title.
“It’s not necessarily where you want to be when the night starts, but it’s sure a lot better to keep on racing than pack up right away after the first round for the ride home. It feels a lot better to be going home with a trophy,” he said. “And just the fact that I had to beat a guy like Chad and his team proves there are no easy rounds in this Mid-West Series. I’m proud of my guys for pulling through with me.

“Of course there’s my crew chief Brandon Switzer, but my crew–Dale, Cale, Shane and Andrew–that’s who I’m talking about. They did a really, really good job this weekend and I can’t thank them enough. All of them. Everybody contributed.

“And I had my girlfriend Misty with me and my son, Logan, who let me know on the drive home that he thinks he’d like to give Jr. Dragster racing a try, so we’ll probably see that happen pretty soon. So the weekend may not have started out the best, but it turned out to be pretty darn good in the end.”

As the series promoter Haney also said he “couldn’t be any happier” with the reception local fans provided to MWPMS and its race teams at Xtreme Raceway Park.

“This was our first time there and the place was absolutely packed, a record-setting crowd is what I’m told and I can believe it. Both grandstands on both sides of the track were full, with people lining the fences on both sides, too. It really was impressive,” he said. “Clyde (Scott, track owner) and Gaylen (Smith, track manager) did a great job managing the crowd and with the track prep, but I also have to thank the people that help me with the Mid-West Series: Jimmy Boles, Ellen Eshenbacher, Damon Steinke, Jimmy Biggs, and our great announcers, Al Tucci and Colton Jordan. They all did an absolutely fantastic job.”

Keith Haney Racing will return to action Aug. 2-3, when the 2019 Summit Racing MWPMS season resumes at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway, near St. Louis, with its sixth of eight scheduled events this year.

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