Congratulations to Performance 2 Way Customer Keith Berry on consecutive World Championship!

Keith-Berry-MugNMCA Mickey Thompson Radial Wars driver Keith Berry had good reason to go into the 2015 season with high hopes, as he had driven to the class championship the year before and had the car, the combination, the crew — and the conviction — to do it again.

He got the ball rolling by winning at the season-opening race at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida in March, and followed that up with a runner-up at Atlanta Dragway in April, and two runners-up at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois in August, including one for the rain-delayed, rescheduled and relocated race from Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky and one for the regular Illinois race.

His win at the final NMCA race of the season at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio in August catapulted him to the 2015 championship.

“I’m most pleased that my mouth didn’t write a check that my and my team’s ass couldn’t cash,” said a laughing Berry, whose 2002 Corvette is powered by a ProLine LS 454, Mozez heads, Berry Motorsports billet intake, 88mm Precision turbos, M&M Transmission-built three-speed Turbo 400 and ProTorque converter. “We meant to win back-to-back but knew how hard winning one was, and to do a repeat would be just as hard. We tested hard this year. We spent two and a half weeks combined in Bradenton in December and January testing so we could start the session off with a win and to let the competition know it was going to be a long year. We got the win and made a statement that ‘Tour of a Champion’ was more than just a catchy phrase.”

When asked if he has any laments about the season, Berry — who’s no stranger to qualifying at the top of the ladder and went as fast as 3.97 in testing and 4.02 in competition this year — pauses before indicating that he does, and they’re centered around his decision to send fellow Mickey Thompson Radial Wars driver DeWayne Mills down-track on a solo pass in the final at the race at Route 66 Raceway because he had a water leak in his heads and didn’t want to risk further damage.

“We had a cracked head, and I’m talking huge water leak, that we could have taken a chance on and hurt the motor bad,” said Berry, who added that he has great support from crew chief and tuner Ryan Rakestraw, who receives additional tuning support from Jamie “Red Hat Mafia Tuning Guru” Miller, plus Johnny “Let’s Ask Johnny” Crisafulli, Corey “F’ng Perfect” Lee and Joey Bell. “We made the decision to settle for runner up and be sure we were ready for the Norwalk finals. That was a hard thing to do. It all worked out, but it was a race I could have left to chance, but didn’t because of the big picture. Losing the battle to win the war is a hard thing to do.”

Catch the ever-entertaining Berry alongside his fellow NMCA class champions during the NMCA awards ceremony, held during the PRI trade show, Dec. 11, 2015 at the Indiana Convention Center.

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