Jody Austin, Don Wilcox Claim Victories at 19th Annual Quick Performance World Fuel Altered Nationals
Jody Austin and BushWacker Racing put on a show at the 19th Annual Quick Performance World Fuel Altered Nationals at Eddyville Raceway Park in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Setting low E.T. and top speed of the event, Austin raced to the win in the ‘A-Field’ at the event known as the “biggest Fuel Altered race in the world.”
In the “Show Me Thunder” altered, Missouri’s Don Wilcox was also victorious in the ‘B-Field,’ with a 5.02 at 149.65 to Mike Allison’s 5.80 at 102.58.
Racing out of the pole position, Austin of Aubery, Texas, faced three-time WFAN champion John Umlauf in the final round. Austin left the starting line first and recorded a 3.60 at 214.29, holding off Umlauf’s 3.66 at 195.48, who faced challenges throughout the weekend.
“My car was drifting toward the concrete wall, and [Umlauf’s] glasses were fogging up,” stated Austin on social media. “Our BushWhacker hot rod made our best run of the show.”
Austin also collected the inaugural Brian Rainey Certified Bad Ass low qualifier award sponsored by Drag Illustrated Founder and Editorial Director Wes Buck, his dad Eddie and uncle W.R. and Buck Brothers Sunny Slope Auto.
“I won the WFAN there in 2020 and Nitro Chaos there in 2022, but this win is by far the best win of my racing career,” added Austin. “My BushWhacker crew performed flawlessly -Chuck Doane, Michael, and Robyn Eastland, my son Cody, and my ever-supportive wife Susan, who still lets me drive her one-half our BushWhacker hot rod.”
For Gerald Kramer, Eddyville Raceway Park Track Owner, the 19th annual event was a success.
“We had good cars, great weather, and some great racing,” said Kramer. “The final round was probably the best race we’ve ever had by the number one and two qualifiers, so that was cool the way that worked out. It was probably the quickest runs we’ve ever had at this event side by side, so it was a great way to finish it up.”
An interesting aspect of the weekend for Kramer was how the no. 1 qualifier emerged.
“[Austin] got the number one qualifier award by less than a hundredth of a second. He came awful close to losing that on Saturday. The number two qualifier, John Umlauf, had problems on Friday night, and they were outside of the top eight going into the race and ran a 3.720 and Q3 to miss number one by nine-thousandths of a second. So that was interesting,” added Kramer. “Umlauf won last year running two-tenths of a second slower and runnered-up this year with one of his career bests.”
Additionally, Austin helped the Umlauf team after they were having issues getting the car back into forward gear after the burnout and backup. Austin’s team offered some advice that helped turn the weekend around for the Umlaufs.
Now, Kramer is looking forward to next year’s two-decade celebration.
“My goal is to get the dates to work for the competitors. We would like to add an eight-bike top-fuel Harley class to this event.”
This story was originally published on August 27, 2024.
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