Sure, you have run your car to redline between traffic lights.  You’ve run at a couple test and tune nights at a local track, and maybe even competed in a bracket night.  But last weekend, the Kumho Street Warriorz took over the front straight of Burke Lakefront Airport during the Grand Prix of Cleveland do take drag racing back to its roots.

It doesn’t take much to see the beauty in the idea:  take over the front straightaway and pit road of the Champ Car course and set up some grudge matches for local drag racers to run during the night.

It doesn’t take much more than a beautiful woman to arm-drop the starts and a carefully laid out course and you’ve got yourself one of the hardest hitting underground forms of motorsport today.  You can’t get much bigger than the Grand Prix of Cleveland, and you can’t get much hardcore than the Kumho Street Warriorz series.


The city scape of Cleveland made for the best back drop at a street race ever.  With the Kumho Tire Pit turned into the midway for the Cleveland Grand Prix, it was a thrilling weekend.  Freestyle Motocross, Professional Beach Volleyball Players, Live Music, mass amounts of vendors and people all enjoyed the USACi Show and Shine and the Outlaw SPL contest as well as the street racing on the airstrip.

Both Friday and Saturday night, racers of all ages and cars of all breeds came out to make fast passes down part of the Grand Prix cicuit.  The heads up racing was a throw back to the 60's, with no lights or timing, just fast cars being started by a hot chick in a bikini.  The Live Nation Toyota Tundra was the start tower for the weekends racing.

A Kumho Tire model was on the back of the truck staging and then dropping her arms to start each of the drag races.  Most of the guys were voicing an opinion that it was hard to concentrate on the start, with the beautiful lady standing in front of them.  No complaints from the female drivers, though.  Lake Erie on the right, the city scape of Cleveland on the left, fast cars and beautiful people.  What a weekend of racing!!

The Kumho Street Warriorz series is the most hardcore street racing series in the nation.  The parties are based around fans as participants in the event as opposed to spectators.  Non-elimination grudge racing gives the opportunity for anyone in the venue to street race their street-legal cars without tickets or cops.

United States Auto Sound Competition has been involved with the series from its inception in 2005 and is the draw for the show car scene, involving some of the most respected clubs in the country and involves local organizations in up-to 29 category shows with trophies for the top three in each.  The Outlaw SPL portion of the show is one of the most explosive new creations in the show circuit.  This car stereo competition is the basis of all bragging rights in car audio and proves the hardcore reputation as the organization that’s “breaking glass and taking names.”

The party will take over 18 cities in the 2007 season including non-traditional venues such as Burke Lakefront Airport during the Grand Prix of Cleveland and pit road at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With live DJ’s, sponsor midway, burnout contests, and stage shows including the Kumho Barely Legal Bikini Contest all added into the mix, the underground of car culture has finally been given a venue for hardcore competition.