After a controversial series of rule changes, prominent US radial racer Brett Lasala has announced his withdrawal from the Radial Outlaws Racing Series in his Coyote-powered Snot Rocket Mustang. His decision follows the high of some spectacular performances – and the massive drama that then unfolded.

Read Brett’s press release in full, below:

“We are officially withdrawing from the Radial Outlaw Series.

“After our performance at Bama Outlaws last weekend, we understood and accepted that a rule adjustment was needed to slow our combo down to the target 3.80-3.85 range where the class lives. It is important to note, and has been confirmed by multiple teams, that the clocks in the right lane at Steele are at least 0.02 seconds fast, meaning my car actually ran a 3.78 in the finals. Based on that, we needed to be slowed down by 0.03-0.05 seconds via a rule change.

“Within one day of the race, new rules were released adding 200 lbs, removing our intercooler, and removing our lockup transmission. This is a devastating blow to our program and likely a 2.5 to 3 tenth penalty. We would not be able to race the car competitively under those terms with any amount of effort.

“We reached out to the rules committee to discuss this.They admitted they did not know what size turbos were on my car or the actual size of the engine, which means they did not have full understanding of our potential. They put together a group call with all racers, including myself, to vote on the outcome. As you can guess, this did not go well. It turned into a witch hunt.

“This morning, I spoke with the committee again. They are working to reverse the initial rule change and make adjustments to reduce our turbo size and add a large amount of weight. After considering this whole situation, regardless of the rules set, I know that I cannot show up to another race without having to look over my shoulder. And if we have a good performance, it will be discredited and large adjustments will likely be made based on emotion to put us out of competition. I don’t want to put my team or myself in that position. That being said, I hope they continue with this change to give other Coyote cars a fighting chance in this series.

“After seeing how changes can be made to a single racer between events, and witnessing a group of angry racers being gathered to decide on rules, I’ve realized this is not a place I want to be or be associated with. This is very unfortunate, as I have respected and looked up to this series for many years.

“All that said, there is a core group of really good people and racers in this series who are great individuals and competitors. I have mixed emotions about not being able to compete alongside them any longer, but I believe this is the best decision for myself and the amazing companies who support our team.

“What’s next for Snot Rocket? We have a few exciting ideas in mind, and and we are ready to have fun again.