February 22, 2014 NEW CADDY COMING FOR S&W PX TEAM Since the late 1960s, Camp Stanley has been a fixture in high-horsepower doorslammer racing. He really came into his own, though, during the mid-to-late ‘80s as a member of the self-proclaimed “Wild Bunch,” initially driving a blown Chevy Luv truck and later an outrageous, supercharged Ford Taurus station wagon. These days, he and racing partner Axel Weiss field a screw-blown ’68 Camaro, in which Stanley’s son, John, set a new worldwide, quarter-mile ET record of 5.644 seconds just last November at Las Vegas. So it came as a bit of a surprise when no more than a month later the team announced a new Pro Extreme (PX) car was on its way for the inaugural Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA) season. Built by Larry Jeffers Race Cars in House Springs, MO, the new Stanley & Weiss Racing entry will be a 2014 Cadillac CTS-V sporting the familiar S&W “construction-barrel” orange paint job with purple flames licking its fenders and doors. It will carry the same power combination as the Camaro, with a screw-blown Hemi from Noonan Race Engineering feeding into a Lencodrive automatic transmission with a Neal Chance converter. Stanley calls Jeffers “the biggest reason for the new car,” since he initially floated the idea of doing the project and was willing to partner with the S&W team to get it done. “But what signed and sealed it for us, honestly, was a lot of the financial help came from the runs we made in Vegas,” Stanley explains. “That enabled us to go to other manufacturers and say would you please help us? And a lot of people have stepped up.” Providing sponsorship support for a second-straight year is Steel Dynamics Inc., as well as Penske Racing Shocks and longtime backer Strange Engineering. And though it remains a sizable financial commitment for the small team from Hagerstown, MD, Stanley says he couldn’t afford not to take advantage of the opportunity. “We were running 3.60s in Houston at the last ADRL race and we went to Vegas and went 5.60s, which says the Camaro is just fine; it’s a good car, nothing wrong with it. But that car is also six years old and chromoly molecules, they give up a little bit after a while. So if I'm able to get into a new car and not have to spend a lot of money, then now is the time to do it,” he states. And though the Caddy won’t be ready for the PDRA’s first-ever race Apr. 3-6, at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina, S&W will be there with their trusty Camaro as Stanley says they’re committed to running the full eight-race schedule this year. “A theory I subscribe to is in for a penny, in for a pound, and I have been in for a penny, in for a pound with the master players in (eighth-mile PX racing) for four years now and I have no reason to venture anywhere else,” he says. “I actually see pretty much a seamless transition. I don't think we as racers will see a lot. I think you'll see a lot more easy interaction as opposed to the occasional dictatorial interaction that took place in the past.” Stanley also expressed confidence in the PDRA’s investor group, which includes fellow Pro Extreme competitors Mitchell and Jason Scruggs, Roger Henson and Gene Hector, along with Pro Nitrous racer Tommy Franklin, as well as series administrators Bob Harris and Rick Moore. “I know all these guys personally, and I've raced with them and I see no issues. I think it's a good thing. It's for racers, being run by racers,” he points out. Regardless, the goals for S&W Racing in 2014 remain to win its first Pro Extreme event and finish as high in the PDRA season points as possible. “Our realistic expectations and goals are to continue on with last year,” Stanley says. “We qualified for every race—which a lot of hitter teams didn't even do—and we ended up ninth in the points, which is one step higher than we ever got before. Slowly but surely I figured out a lot of things that were going on last year and then we went to Vegas, not with the intention of doing what we did, but it happened and guess what? We did it. That's all there is to it. “So now we want to take the next step and win a race and finish as high as we can in the PDRA points. I can’t guarantee anything, but it’s gonna’ be an exciting year; I think I can guarantee that!” Article by: Gordon Columbine