Just two months ago, Larry Larson was driving his Harts Charger-powered ’66 Chevy Nova at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod. On Sunday night, he used that same car to conquer arguably the most competitive small-tire field ever assembled at the $75,000 King of the South invitational, headlining the Ronnie Buff Memorial weekend at Shadyside Dragway in Shelby, North Carolina.
Larson defeated Lyle Barnett, driving the Tommy Youmans-owned “Salvage Title” Mustang, in an incredible side-by-side race that saw Larson take the stripe by a minuscule .004 margin of victory. Larson was moved to tears after the win, calling it the biggest of his career after initially being on the alternate list to get into the race.
“I thought it’d be cool to get into this deal, but figured I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell,” admitted Larson. “When we got here, we only had 16 runs on small tires. I’m at a loss for words because it came around so good. The car worked amazing – we fought the 60 ft. all weekend, but if we can get that down to what some of these other guys are running, they’re gonna like me even less.”
Larson’s run through eliminations was impressive to say the least – six rounds against top-level competition with zero bye runs. He defeated “Turbo John” Phillips in round one of the 64-car field Saturday night, advancing on to Sunday, where his performance was even better.
En route to the semifinals, he outran Street Outlaws star and 2024 Snowbirds winner Kye Kelley, 2024 King of the South finalist Ryan Mitchell, and 2025 Carolina Cash Days winner Shelby Lynn, all by a car-length or more. In the semis, Larson beat Ryan Hendrickson in his “Foodstamps” Mustang, leading to the final-round showdown against Barnett.
“I’m not taking anything away from anybody, but it’s weird,” Larson said. “I just had a crazy feeling on Thursday when we got here that this could be a really good weekend for us. Going through all the runs in testing, and then once eliminations started, would I have wanted anybody in any particular order? No. But the chips fell right and the car sped up every round, and everything worked out just like you draw it up on paper. That doesn’t happen very often in drag racing.”
Barnett, meanwhile, went through Andy Wilabay, Wajdy WK, Michael Nale, Larry Houck, and Isaac Preston on his way to the finals. It was a huge weekend for Barnett, who also competed in the Lil Gangstas class all three days in his infamous “Beer Money” Mustang.
After winning Lil Gangstas on Friday night, Barnett saw himself in the finals again on Sunday, giving himself the opportunity for a huge double-up. Unfortunately, he came up just short in both final rounds, running under the 5.30 index in Lil Gangstas, and of course, the .004 loss to Larson. While Barnett’s performance was impressive, he was understandably emotional afterwards.
“It stings,” said Barnett. “It’s tough, man. This one’s gonna hurt for a little bit. It was pretty remarkable to be able to do what we did with Salvage Title, to be honest. That’s a front-running radial car that we took a big swing at with a setup, and it worked. And Beer Money did what Beer Money does. I had room, but just took a little too much stripe there in the final. But the Salvage Title loss hurts. I wanted this one bad, and we had a really close race. Larry’s a good friend of mine. He’s been doing it a long time – he’s 65 freakin’ years old – and he’s still out here running good. (Tuner) Lee White and my crew worked their asses off all week, and we had a really good time. I consider this one of my home tracks. I’ve won a lot of races here, and I really wanted to add this one to the mantle, but it just wasn’t our day. We’ll have to wait until next year.”
For Larson, perhaps the most impressive part of his conversion to small tires is the fact that he does almost everything on the car himself. He built it at Larson Race Cars, his shop based out of Oak Grove, Missouri. He tunes it himself, and of course, drives it. It’s an old-school mentality that Larson has maintained throughout his career.
“It’s hard to explain,” Larson said. “That used to be the deal. From what I remember, Tim McAmis won the first IHRA Pro Mod championship – and he built it, tuned it, and drove it. Over the years, that has fallen completely off, and money has come into the equation. People may look at this and think I’m filthy rich, but I’m here in a 48 ft. trailer and a dually. I told everybody – between the builder, the tuner, the owner, and the driver, I don’t have a chance. It was just a hell of a night.”
Larson was quick to add that while he does do a lot of the work himself, he’s not alone in his efforts.
“To do it all myself…if I step on my toes, it’s on me,” said Larson. “I say me, but it’s my guys at the shop that endure when I’m gone. Jeff [Scott] and Teresa [Collins], they have been amazing. I couldn’t do it without them. Greg Sandford with Pro Rolloffs, he owns the engine in the car. X Insurance has helped out. Dustin and Brandon Hart have been amazing with the Harts Charger. I can’t make it happen all on my own. I may do a lot of it, but I can’t do it without all the help I get.”
With a huge win already under his belt so soon after the switch to small tires, Larson is already motivated to keep the momentum rolling. He’s locked in for the Speed Promotions $100,000 small-tire event on June 20-21 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. And of course, he’ll be ready to head back to Shadyside Dragway in 2026 to defend his King of the South title.
“It’s been an amazing weekend,” Larson said. “Corey [Stamper] and the guys put on a great show. They worked through some adversity with crashes and oil downs, but this is one cool-ass race at a little backwoods track. I like the small tracks – the people are so happy to be here, and it’s just awesome.”
This story was originally published on May 27, 2025. 
The post Larry Larson Wins $75K King of the South in Small-Tire Showdown at Shadyside first appeared on Drag Illustrated.