{"id":103013,"date":"2026-02-09T19:44:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/tommy-youmans-earns-first-limited-drag-radial-victory-at-u-s-street-nationals\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:44:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:44:04","slug":"tommy-youmans-earns-first-limited-drag-radial-victory-at-u-s-street-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/tommy-youmans-earns-first-limited-drag-radial-victory-at-u-s-street-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy Youmans Earns First Limited Drag Radial Victory at U.S. Street Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tommy Youmans earned his first career Limited Drag Radial victory and first major event win of any kind at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission, delivering a strong and consistent performance in one of radial racing\u2019s most competitive categories at Bradenton Motorsports Park.<\/p>\n

Driving his steel-bodied 1970 Pontiac GTO, Youmans put together a steady weekend and battled through a demanding elimination ladder that included wins over No. 1 qualifier Jamie Stanton and Snowbird Outlaw Nationals winner Brian Weddle. He saved his best pass for the final round, running a 3.860 at 196.30 mph to defeat veteran Justin Martin. The performance capped a weekend that had been building for several seasons, as Youmans and his team continue to refine their unique Pontiac-powered combination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome. It was really special,\u201d Youmans said of his win. \u201cYou go out there with a Hemi and race, you\u2019re expected to perform. But you go out there with a one-off combination, a Pontiac motor, and run as good as we do, it\u2019s very fulfilling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youmans is quick to note that his car is the real deal. Coming in at just under 3,000 lbs., it features a steel roof, quarters, rockers, and A-pillars. The power comes from a 500-cubic-inch billet Pontiac engine built by Kauffman Racing Equipment, maintaining stock bore spacing and true Pontiac dimensions. The combination includes billet Kauffman cylinder heads, twin 88mm Hart\u2019s turbos, an M&M three-speed transmission and converter, and a Merillat Racing rear end.<\/p>\n

Youmans, who has been racing for two decades, transitioned from Pro275 \u2013 which he says his car was grossly overweight for \u2013 to Limited Drag Radial a few years ago. While he has collected some wins at local events, the U.S. Street Nationals marked both his first major event victory and first win in LDR, an achievement he\u2019s especially proud of.<\/p>\n

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Luke Nieuwhof photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI truly believe that Limited Drag Radial is probably the most competitive class in radial racing right now,\u201d said Youmans. \u201cIt\u2019s competitive with all different forms of power adders \u2013 from the nitrous and roots cars to the screw and ProCharger cars. We\u2019re really fortunate that our car works so well. Ever since we\u2019ve gotten a handle on it the last year or so, it\u2019s been pretty consistent making passes. It was running 3.90\u2019s (in Bradenton) like it was printing tickets \u2013 until we needed it to go faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of that progress Youmans credits to his tuner and friend Lee White, whose ability to read track conditions and manage the car\u2019s power played a major role in the team\u2019s consistency, particularly during the daytime elimination rounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cLee White is probably my single biggest advantage over my competitors,\u201d Youmans said. \u201cWhen he first started working with me and I told him what I wanted him to help me with, he was like, \u2018I don\u2019t know nothing about turbos.\u2019 He\u2019s learned and taken it under his wing \u2013 and he likes the Pontiac motor because it\u2019s different. He\u2019s learned how to run the motor and the car, and we\u2019ve all gotten better. We have a really good family-oriented team.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Street Nationals also served as the 2026 season opener for the FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series, giving Youmans an early points advantage. After finishing sixth in the standings last year, he believes the team is now capable of competing for both wins and a championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means everything,\u201d Youmans said. \u201cWe finished sixth last year, which was a big improvement from where we were before. We\u2019re going up and getting more competitive now. This has been a passion of mine ever since I built this car. Everybody said, \u2018You\u2019re gonna do\u00a0what<\/em>\u00a0with a Pontiac motor?\u2019 For Kauffman to build a motor of that caliber \u2013 and I own three of them now \u2013 they\u2019ve really come on board with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to going to Lights Out, trying to improve and compete for the win,\u201d added Youmans. \u201cThe Pontiac enthusiasts out there are just overwhelmed \u2013 they are good people, and they are hardcore Pontiac people. I\u2019ve had numerous people message me to tell me congrats and keep up the good work. And we intend to. We want to run for a championship and win some more races. We think we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Chris Simmons photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The post Tommy Youmans Earns First Limited Drag Radial Victory at U.S. Street Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tommy Youmans earned his first career Limited Drag Radial victory and first major event win of any kind at the U.S. Street Nationals presented by M&M Transmission, delivering a strong and consistent performance in one of radial racing\u2019s most competitive categories at Bradenton Motorsports Park. Driving his steel-bodied 1970 Pontiac GTO, Youmans put together a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103013\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}