Over the long winter months with no racing to be done, Andrew Alepa was hard at work putting together one of the most thought-out and sleek drag radial builds in history, taking Chevrolet’s newest installment of the popular Corvette body style straight from the showroom floor (literally), enjoying it for a few days, and then chopping it up to begin one of the most talked-about builds rolling into the 2016 season. After last minute finishing touches at RK Racecraft, Alepa took delivery of the internet sensation C7 and rolled straight to South Georgia Motorsports Park for Lights Out 7, untested and unknown of what was to come. After tabbing longtime wheelman, Rob Valden, to return to the driver’s seat, Alepa Racing was ready to take on the drag radial world in 2016. After a solid first outing at Georgia, the team rolled to Memphis for the Outlaw Street Car Reunion III, where they found the 3-second range for the first time in pre-race testing.

As the RTRA season kicked off this past weekend at Northstar Dragway in Denton, Texas, Alepa and Valden had their sights set on more 3-second runs and possibly even more than just a solid finish. As they rolled off the trailer in Thursday’s test session, a 4.00 popped up on the board, followed by a 3.94 at a whopping 209 miles per hour. On the third run during testing, the C7 clicked off it’s best run yet, a 3.90-second shot at 210 miles per hour, ending the day with a bang and proving to all that Andrew Alepa’s dream just a few short months ago is now a solid Radial vs. The World frontrunner and definitely means business.

Valden wheeled the deal to even more three second runs in qualifying, including another career best for Valden and the C7, breaking into the 3.80s with a 3.898 at 209 miles per hour in the second round of competitive RvW qualifying. Alepa, Valden and team turned the car around and capped the evening off in Q3 with a 3.886 at 193 miles per hour in which Valden had to abort the run due to a swift move on the top end of the racetrack. The impressive performance put Valden in the number two qualifying position right behind his boss, Kyle Huettel and the Pipeline Express supercharged Chevrolet Corvette from Cypress, Texas.

After standing in the second slot after qualifying, Alepa Racing earned a bye run in the first round of eliminations, coming out and going a solid 3.901 to carry lane choice into round two, when he faced off with Jeff Sitton and the nitrous-huffing Chevrolet Camaro known as Hyde. Valden ripped off the starting line and blasted off another career best en route to the round win, a 3.878, to advance to the semi-finals to face Missouri bad boy, Mark Woodruff and his twin turbocharged C6 Corvette.

As Pro Line Racing crew chiefs Josh Ledford and Steve Petty worked together and came to an agreement, a tune-up was loaded into the FuelTech FT-500 engine management system, boost curves were set, timing curves were laid over and chassis adjustments were made. Valden and Alepa were ready for the semi-finals and their toughest test yet.

Woodruff had the holeshot advantage but the Pro Line Racing-built HEMI had plenty of horsepower to drive around Woodruff and posted the quickest and fastest run in the history of the class, a 3.856 at 212.26 miles per hour!

Valden’s record run earned him a spot in the final round to face off against Ryan Martin and his 2010 Camaro, also powered by a twin turbocharged powerplant. Martin had trouble and couldn’t fire the car in the lanes before the run, leaving Valden a competition single in the final round and a first win for Alepa Racing and their brand new Corvette. Valden turned loose of the button and blasted off another 3.859-second, 212 mile per hour run, just for good measure and to back up the National ET Record from the round before, leaving Andrew Alepa Racing standing tall in the radial racing world.

Lead video credit: TheRacingVids