![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Haney_Keith_Snowdbird-Nationals-2025-Luke-Nieuwhof-513.jpg\")
Still trying to figure everything out with the new car, Haney didn\u2019t perform as well at the Winter Series as he knows he\u2019s capable of. And with Switzer not available to attend the MWDRS season-opener (nor the PDRA East Coast Nationals as it turned out), the duo knew they needed to test extensively. After a full day preparing the car, the team headed to Tulsa Raceway Park for three days of non-stop testing. For the first two days, the car still didn\u2019t want to act right. But on the third day, things changed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know this, but I\u2019ve owned Tulsa [Raceway Park] since 2011, and I have never tested a Pro Mod at that track,\u201d said Haney. \u201cOur last day, Brandon said, \u2018We got to have everything right. I think I\u2019ve got everything where I know it needs to be.\u2019 That last day, we go 3.62 at 207 mph, and Brandon says, \u2018We got a race car.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, as the weather forecast continued to worsen for his own event, Haney made the tough decision to call XRP owner Clyde Scott and tell him the race needed to be postponed. As both a businessman and a family man, Haney didn\u2019t want to force teams to spend their time and money for traveling just to sit in the rain. Yet there was an opportunity gained from the unfortunate situation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI called Brandon and the guys and said, \u2018I want to make some hits. I want to go race PDRA Pro Nitrous and see how I stand up with those guys.\u2019 And immediately the guys said, \u2018Yeah, whatever you want to do, boss.\u2019 They want to race too. They enjoy success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Almost immediately, the team \u2013 Haney, Steve Cooks, Bobby Savedra III, Jordan Savedra, and Adam Engnes \u2013 made plans to head out to Benson, N.C. Severe thunderstorms were rolling through the Midwest as Haney was leaving with the rig \u2013 he admits if they\u2019d left just 20 minutes later, they likely would\u2019ve been caught up in a tornado that tore through Muskogee, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
By Thursday morning, it was time to see if all the hard work had paid off. Three test passes, three clean hits. The \u201cBlack Widow\u201d was more consistent than it had ever been heading into Friday\u2019s qualifying. Three qualifying sessions, and three more clean hits \u2013 including a 3.665 at 206.64 mph that landed Haney in the No. 6 spot out of 21 drivers. For the first time since debuting it at the Winter Series, Haney knew he had a hot rod.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took us a bit to figure it out, but I love driving this car,\u201d said Haney. \u201cI can see every single bit of the racetrack. Every single light that\u2019s on the tree. I can see out of this Corvette body better than anything I\u2019ve ever seen out of in my life. The car drives better than anything I\u2019ve ever driven.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd let\u2019s talk about 21 nitrous cars,\u201d Haney added. \u201cThe most they\u2019ve had in a long time. Go pull up any sheet. I couldn\u2019t tell you when they last had 21 nitrous cars. They outdid the Pro Boost category.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n On race day, Haney lined up against Billy Albert in round one and won with a 3.714 at 206.35 to Albert\u2019s 3.747. He then lined up against another Brandon Switzer-tuned driver, PDRA Darlington winner Mike Achenbach, in the second round. Achenbach went -.011 on the tree, while Haney rolled to a 3.755 at 195.19.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I let go of the button against Albert in that first round, I said, \u2018This car can\u2019t be beat,\u2019\u201d recalled Haney. \u201cWhen I let go of the button and the front end come up and it did what it did, I said, \u2018It can\u2019t be beat. I think I can win this race.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A timing system malfunction with the Christmas tree plagued the semifinal pairing between Haney and Buddy Perkinson, causing Perkinson to leave the line late. PDRA officials determined the race needed to be ran again; however, after losing with a 3.691 at 204.79 to Haney\u2019s 3.664 at 206.48, Perkinson declined the opportunity to rerun the race.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll admit it \u2013 I was mad that after I had won, basically crying on the top end like, I wasn\u2019t supposed to do this,\u201d Haney said. \u201cAnd then all of a sudden, someone comes over and said something malfunctioned in the tree, we\u2019re going to probably have to rerun. I said, \u2018I am not re-running. I\u2019ll go home.\u2019 I was emotional.<\/p>\n \u201cBuddy, being the sportsman he is, and his team are, they\u2019re good people,\u201d added Haney. \u201cWe\u2019re parked next to each other. We\u2019ve talked all weekend. They played with my dog. We\u2019ve had a great time. Let me tell you, that\u2019s real sportsmanship right there.\u201d<\/p>\n While the final didn\u2019t go Haney\u2019s way \u2013 an especially tough loss considering it appeared to be all but won \u2013 it was a monumental step in his program with the new car. Nine consecutive passes with zero aborted runs throughout the weekend prior to the finals, reaction times that were on point in eliminations (.031, .033, .053, .007), and a car that will be a contender throughout the rest of 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe went from the outhouse to the penthouse in just three days,\u201d Haney said with a smile. \u201cThe PDRA really showed good camaraderie for the sport with me coming here. We made more noise in drag racing\u2026if you look on the internet, it\u2019s everywhere. It\u2019s been really good for the sport because you\u2019ve seen them talking good about Midwest, and we always talk good about PDRA. I came to support this race because I believe in it and I care about the sport, and I feel like the Franklins care about the sport. I think we proved this weekend we\u2019re something.\u201d<\/p>\n The post \u201cFrom the Outhouse to the Penthouse:\u201d Keith Haney Discusses Impressive Showing at PDRA East Coast Nationals<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Keith Haney pulled his Jerry Bickel Race Cars-built, Pat Musi-powered \u201cBlack Widow\u201d C7 Corvette into the waterbox alongside Tommy Franklin for the final round of Pro Nitrous at the\u00a0Summit Racing Equipment PDRA East Coast Nationals presented by FuelTech, he knew he wasn\u2019t supposed to be here. Not just the final round \u2013 he wasn\u2019t […]<\/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-103422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103422","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=103422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dragillustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/PDRA2743.jpg\")