Alton Clements

Veteran Vortech racer Alton Clements brought his Vortech V-30 94A Supercharged Fox Body Mustang out to Knoxville Dragway this past weekend for Throwdown at K-Town event. Ready to mix things up in the Radial Renegade Class, Clements was eager to climb his way through the field of cars in attendance.

In eliminations, Clements ran a 4.71 E.T. @ 154 MPH in Round 1, moving on to face a nitrous powered Camaro in Round 2. His 4.69 E.T. @ 154 MPH in Round 2 was enough to move him to the Finals. Facing another Mustang (powered by nitrous), Alton ran another deadly consistent pass, turning in a 4.70 E.T. @155 MPH. This was plenty good enough for the win, and the Radial Renegade Championship at the event. Congratulations to Alton Clements and his team on his victory and for a job well done!

Don Onken/American Ethanol/Big Thunder Marine

After total domination over the past 4 years at this event, with the top speed record being set, broken, and set again, having the organizers shortening the course because they were worried about them actually going too fast, then setting the top speed record on the new, shortened course that has remained unbroken for over 2 years; the question going into this year's Lake Of The Ozarks Top Gun Shootout was "Can anyone catch Don Onken and his Vortech Supercharged American Ethanol 51 foot Mystic Catamaran?".

The answer for the fifth year in a row is "No they cannot!", with the quad-engined and quad-Vortech Supercharged beast taking the title yet again, although admittedly in a fashion that was at the same time less, and more exciting than at previous years' events. The reason for that is because on their second run of Sunday's competition, the 7,000+ HP boat threw a propeller through the hull at nearly 200mph, making for a scary run for throttleman John Cosker and driver Tony Battiato that ended safely, but also resulted in the end to their weekend.

“I think my eyeballs are still shaking,” said Cosker nearly an hour after the incident. “That was intense—I thought maybe we blew up a motor. It turns out it wasn’t that bad, but we broke prop, which bent the prop shaft and shook the boat so hard that the fender pins on the deck of the boat shot out.”

Luckily, the duo had already turned in a 201mph run earlier in the day that no one was able to best for the rest of the competition, which secured them the win. This 5th consecutive overall victory ties the all-time longest winning streak in the history of the competition, set previously by David Scott and his Nauti Marine in the five year stretch from 1997-2001.

“I was hoping for something closer to 210 mph this year, but we’ll take it considering everything we encountered this weekend and leading up to it,” owner Don Onken said. “We found the propeller blade that broke. It was stuck in the boat—we plan on giving it to the Shootout for next year’s auction.”

Thanks and photo credit for Lake of the Ozarks Top Gun Shootout 2019 photos: Justin Pfeifer, Brad Glidewell, Nathan Bechtel, Sara Halverson, and LakeExpo.com

Phillip Oakley - Oakley Engine Performance

Vortech Racer Phillip Oakley and crew headed to London Dragway earlier this month to run their Vortech Supercharged Top Dragster in the Open Outlaw Racing Program there. After unloading his ride and looking around at the competition, Oakley said "I thought I might have brought a knife to a gun fight. There were bad rides everywhere...NO JOKE!"

However, after the qualifying rounds were complete, it was Oakley standing atop the pack at the #1 Qualifiers position with a blistering 3.770 E.T. run at 195.99 mph. As the competition continued and the Elimination Rounds took place, the Vortech V-30 123A Supercharged Texas Roadhouse dragster with its Oakley Motorsports 540 cubic inch engine bolted to their Abruzzi Racing Transmissions and Converters would not be denied.