PRI 2014: Weld Racing Promotes Larry Larson Edition Alumastar 616

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One of, if not the biggest story in drag racing during the 2014 season was the once-top secret project undertaken by five-time Drag Week champion Larry Larson and the on-track performances that followed the much-talked-about debut of his new Chevrolet S-10 pickup. Behind closed doors, Larson had a number of manufacturers involved in the project to make the five-second zone with a street legal vehicle a reality, and among those was Weld Racing Wheels, located just a short drive from his Missouri-based Larson Race Cars facility.

DSC_2438Larson collaborated with the team at Weld Racing to develop a front wheel that could be quickly and easily changed out, allowing him to swap from a street tire to a race tire without removing the entire hub assembly.

“We’ve worked with Weld over the years on some other projects and I spoke to the guys there and told them what I wanted to do, and initially it was going to involve taking the spindle mount wheel off and resetting the brakes every time we moved from street tires to race tires. But they weren’t comfortable with that,” Larson explained. “So they put their heads together and came up with this new design, and it’s just been awesome and really makes things a lot nicer.”

DSC_2437Said Weld Racing’s Chris Bovis, “Drag Week has some really unique challenges to it, taking a car like Larry’s and driving it from track to track and be able to do on-track what he’s done with it. It’s a very difficult challenge. So what we were able to do to handle that spindle-mount problem in regard to changing the tires was taking some of our sprint car wheel concepts with direct-mount front wheels and use some very common wheel shells in our facility to develop this wheel. We took a standard Alumastar front wheel and machined it down to five holes. So basically with five bolts, Larry can take take off the drag tires and put on the street tires with really quick changes and get back on the street or the track.”

Drag Week has some really unique challenges to it, taking a car like Larry’s and driving it from track to track and be able to do on-track what he’s done with it. – Chris Bovis

The result, which is already well recognized thanks to the immediate accomplishments of Larson’s machine, is the Alumastar 616, named in honor of Larry’s record-shattering pass of 6.16-second during Drag Week. Further honoring the decorated Drag Week champ, Weld Racing decided to make a limited run of just 219 sets of the 616 series wheels, which is the speed — 219 mph — that he ran on that particular pass.

Bovis shared that these wheels are going fast, and if you want to get your hands on a set before they;, to visit weldwheels.com or give them a call to place your order right away.

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About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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