TX2K23 USA – Houston Raceway Park

Over 35,000 fans flooded Houston Raceway Park to attend TX2K23. Among the attractions were side-by-side 230mph roll race battles, ultimate drag race matches, a car show, a dyno competition, and a SwimSuit USA Bikini contest.

Wins, PBs and world records are all up for grabs when the track is prepped and the air is good. And with both the track and the weather coming to the party, a record number of racers made the journey to the southeast shore of Texas to compete in one of the most anticipated events on the racing calendar.

George Benson Jr., the proud owner of “The Fastest Cadillac CTS-V in the World” had to rebuild his engine after Street Car Takeover, and nearly didn’t make it to TX2K. Luckily, with some help from friends and workshops he was able to get it running on Thursday night.

Benson went to the track the next day and ran it like a bracket car with 7.5s and 7.6s all the way up the Heavyweight class ladder and right into the winner’s circle.

Nick Cole-Mann buried the LS stick shift world record a little deeper with a 6.82 pass!

James “Jackstand Jimmy” Taal brought out “McFlurry” a 1990 Foxbody Mustang with a 7.3L Godzilla motor and twin turbos. This entire build was done completely in-house in under a month to be ready for the drag and drive event “Sick Week”.

Making its TX2K debut, it did not disappoint, running in the 8.50 index class. Due to late arrival the team had little data to get the car to slow down to the index. With a stroke of luck, they had bye-runs all the way to the finals where they ran faster but broke out and ended up with the first runner-up trophy.

Ivo Jurisic in his 2J-powered vintage Datsun ran his best pass ever in the semi-finals of 2JZ class. Best 60′, best ⅛ mile, best ¼ mile, best mph, but it wasn’t enough! Ivo left his competition at the tree but they had other plans! The margin of victory was a scant .038s! Ivo’s 7.270@189 was no match for their 7.029@220.

TX2k was a challenging but ultimately successful event for No Prep Kings racers Jim Howe Jr. (orange Camaro) and John Odom (blue R35. With only a week to prepare for an exhibition appearance, they had to assemble two cars from scratch, with no motors, transmissions, or rear ends.

As the rules for the No Prep Kings were not yet announced, they had to make a last-minute decision to take multiple engines and guesstimate the best transmission and rear-end ratios for the event.

Despite tire shakes and a tight, sticky track, Jim and John managed two monumental accomplishments. John won the exhibition championship, and Jim set the record for the fastest side-by-side pass in the event’s history, with a time of 5.73 seconds over the quarter-mile.

Photos by Boostin Photography

If you have a race win or personal victory you would like us to know about, be sure to tag us on social media using #Haltech! Also, be sure to follow us on Instagram at @Haltechecu