Billy Harper knows what it’s like to be a champion.

The veteran driver won the Pro Nitrous ADRL championship back in 2008.

However, since that time Harper has not raced in the ADRL and he’s only competed on a very limited schedule in other events put on by different sanctioning bodies.

Harper is competing this weekend at the Street Car Super Nationals VI at The Strip. Harper entered his 2000 Pro Mod Viper in the Pro Street Class.

Billy Harper knows what it’s like to be a champion.

The veteran driver won the Pro Nitrous ADRL championship back in 2008.

However, since that time Harper has not raced in the ADRL and he’s only competed on a very limited schedule in other events put on by different sanctioning bodies.

Harper is competing this weekend at the Street Car Super Nationals VI at The Strip. Harper entered his 2000 Pro Mod Viper in the Pro Street Class.

“It’s good to be out (here),” Harper said. “Any time you come to a race you want to win, and I have raced very little this year. This year is the first year out for this car and we’re just trying to sort things out. We raced here (in Las Vegas) two weeks ago (at the NHRA’s Get Screened America Pro Mod Racing Series). We just left the car out here (in Las Vegas) and thought we would come to this race (this weekend) to shake the car down again.”

Harper, who failed to qualify at the NHRA event, had a best run Friday of 15.685 seconds.

Harper also had engine problems right off the starting line and coasted through the finish line on his second qualifying past.

“This our fifth race this year and we have not done well at all,” Harper said. “I guess I got spoiled two years ago with the other black Viper. We will get it sorted out and it will be fine. We have not had time or the money to really race this year. These cars are all replicas of the 2000 Viper and this is the fourth one in the series we built. I just can’t get the car down the track and we will keep working with it to find the sweet spot with the tuneup, but, we will get there. We just keep trying new things and we have to work to try and get this thing consistent.”

Harper is based in Padukah, Ky., and he is in the construction business.

“I ran four NHRA events this past season, but I didn’t try to run a full series or run for a championship,” Harper said. “My thought for next year is that I will probably run four or five races and I will probably not start until midseason. We just need to get through a little bit more of this economy and get things worked out.”

Harper also isn’t ruling out a return to the ADRL circuit.

“We’re just going to wait and see how ADRL sorts out and what is left there,” Harper said. “We will consider racing there as well. It is more from the economy than anything else. We still have the ADRL car sitting ready to run. It is exactly like this car I’m running this weekend, except it is an earlier version and has a smaller engine in it. It wasn’t sour grapes or anything like that (on why he hasn’t raced in the ADRL since 2008). That was just the final race of that season and the next year we just had to shut everything down.”

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