Keith Haney is quick to admit a driver error cost him and his Keith Haney Racing team an easy first-round win in Stroud Safety Pro Mod at the fall Throwdown in T-Town. Making up for that is one reason why Haney is fired up for the final race of the Summit Racing Equipment Mid-West Drag Racing Series (MWDRS) presented by J&A Service season, the Xtreme Texas World Finals, Oct. 21-22, at Xtreme Raceway Park.
Haney qualified third at the Throwdown at Osage Casino & Hotel Tulsa Raceway Park, the track he co-owns with fellow Pro Mod racer Todd Martin. He had a first-round bye, but Haney’s Musi-powered Summit Racing/Strange Engineering “Black Mamba” Camaro suffered a transmission issue in the final qualifying session that couldn’t be fixed for the opening round of eliminations.
“It was all my fault,” admitted Haney, who was the defending event champion. “Had nothing to do with the crew or anything. In Q3, for some reason I hit the line-lock button going down the racetrack, which slowed down the car and burned up the transmission. It should’ve been a 3.60-something. All driver error. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it. It is what it is. We tried to get it fixed. Had all the parts to fix it, just couldn’t get it fixed in time. So we had a bye, which we ultimately didn’t get to show up for. That’s how our race ended up.”
Before the transmission issue, Haney and tuner Brandon Switzer had the opportunity to break in a brand-new engine, which will remain in the car for the World Finals.
“We’ve had a motor sitting underneath the cabinet for two years that we’ve never had out,” Haney said. “Brandon said we need to pull that motor out and put it in for Q3, so we actually changed a motor in Q3, then I burned up the transmission. But we did that just to see what the motor would do and it was awesome. It ran just like it was supposed to. But we’re all fixed up and ready to roll. We’re already ready to go to Texas. Hopefully we’ll go down there and run our best E.T. like we did the first race of the year when we went 3.65. We’re hoping to beat that here at the last race of the year.”
Haney, who drives one of the only nitrous-assisted cars in a field full of boosted Pro Mods, knows what he needs to do to end the year on a high note.
“One thing is to be consistent,” Haney said. “The other thing is to see what we can put in it and get the track to take. Our goal is to make nitrous the fastest. At the last race, if I’m not mistaken, I was the only nitrous car there. I’m trying to make nitrous great again. The rules kind of fit the other combos. I just gotta keep working on our program to see if we can speed it up as much as we possibly can. I have to run my best to beat them.”
Haney and the Summit Racing/Strange Engineering “Black Mamba” Camaro will hit the track for two Friday qualifying sessions starting at 6 p.m. A third and final qualifying session is set for 11 a.m. Saturday, with eliminations scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Fans can watch the race through MAVTV on FloRacing at www.FloRacing.com.
This story was originally published on October 18, 2022. 
