We just love stock appearing old school muscle. This fine 71 Torino GT retains all the stock lines and trim from it’s show car days but owner Danny McRae decided to get out of that scene and go racing. We all know it’s what’s inside that counts so along came 532 cubic inches of big block Ford to get things going.
Rob Cossack Motorsports Contributor
Rob has had an interest in photography since he was young, but didn't get started until 2007, where he started shooting at the local tracks. After that he started doing local video coverage of heads up events and started working with powerTV shortly after.
Scott Husted’s Drag Radial Mustang hit the track last night at Sunshine Dragstrip after a nine month build. We reported on the car back in June and Scott was determined to finish it up before the fall racing season down here in Florida, looks like he made it.
It’s not too often you see a Ford Fairmont race car, and even less you see a Fairmont wagon anywhere at all. Well the folks at NRC Motorsports got hold of one and worked their magic, turning this plane-jane commuter into a nitrous gulping stock suspension racer with their sights now set on the ORTC’s October bash
After running in Drag Radial for several years with a 347ci. small block Ford and a 101 MM Turbo, Archie Marasco from Real Speed Racing decided to step up the engine program to a 427 with Yates heads and gave the car a whole new look while it was down for the upgrade.
After crashing his 1969 Firebird in Milan’s All Motor class in August of 2008 Dave Theisen is headed back after getting the car repaired by Jim Powski Racecraft with some more power under the hood thanks to Chris Uratchko Racing. With the new setup David is looking for 8.40′s with a future eye on NMCA Pro Stock.
After attending the same high school, and working in the same corporate office for twenty years at Eckerd Drugs Joe Duncan and Robin Horn finally got together and started dating just six months before the company closed it’s doors. The couple married on November 22, 2008 with Joe now working as a fraud investigator in Tampa, Florida and racing together with a pair of old school Chevy Nova’s.
After back to back wins in Stock Suspension at Sunshine Dragstrip’s Autoway Chevrolet Heads Up Madness series, Kenny Markwich had plans for taking the summer off and some routine maintanance on the car. Some major repairs to the cylinder heads were in order however after leaking water into one cylinder through the last event, pulling the plug to pump out any water before each pass. The father and son team had a good run with Fun Ford’s Pro 5.0 class back in the day, winning the championship in 1998.
Kelsey Lay graduated from Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in May of 2010 and is getting seat time in the Lay Racing Super Comp dragster in preparation to compete, with a goal of qualifying for the 2011 NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida. Piloting nearly 1000 horsepower at over 160 MPH is a dream for most when they are seventeen, for Kelsey, it’s a dream come true.
After a 6 month build time the 2008 Orlando World Street Finals winner is just about wrapped up with his latest project, a 1993 Mustang coupe destined for the Outlaw Drag Radial ranks. After the local track cancelled the OL 10.5 class Scott was looking for a new direction. He purchased the Mustang you see here and has’nt looked back.
As it turns out this 1983 Trans Am has been in Christian Bohonos’ family since he was just two years old and was owned by his Grandfather, an avid fan of both Burt Reynolds and David Hasslehoff of the famed Night Rider TV show. From that point Christian started learning about building fast cars and the performance industry, making small upgrades to the car as he went along, installing a new intake, cam, headers and carburetor on the stock 305 cubic inch SBC, eventually upgrading to a TH 350 transmission and 3.73 rear gears. To date the best performance has been a 9.46 @ 148 on 15 PSI. On it’s most recent outing he managed a 9.65 @ 149.99 MPH on 25 PSI with a last 1.7 60’. Once he has the launch and boost ramp figured out and gets on a good track, the simple combo could crack the 8 second barrier.
Father Son Project Headed for 7.50 Index Class with a ’62 Fairlane
Posted by
Rob Cossack
on 06/22/10
Early in 2009 Mark and Greg wanted to build a car together, but they were unsure of the direction of the project. Mark was more interested racing but his father wanted more of a street rod. At first they had little luck in finding suitable car, finding several that were too expensive to cut up, and frankly, a lot of junk. They ran across this 62 Fairlane in the back of a car lot, it was clean with a stock 6 cylinder, a three on the tree, and the price was right for the unique ride so they took it home.
Don purchased this 88 Mustang with the idea of having a weekend toy to play on the streets, but that soon blossomed to running with friend Blair Brannock in the NMRA/NMCA Tremec True Street class. He brought the car to Blair’s Rockstar Performance where Blair and Troy Fedora installed the engine and transmission, Wolfe Racecraft rear suspension, fuel system, DFI engine management and assorted wiring as well as the turbo system, including custom headers.
A 25.3 chassis stock suspension Lexus SC300 is not something one sees every day, so when Todd Brash from TRZ Motorsports sent some pictures of one of their latest projects I had to find out more about it. The car belongs to Mario Deniz from Titan Motorsports out of Orlando, Florida and will be getting a 1400 plus HP turbocharged 2JZ Toyota powerplant in an effort to break into the sevens with stock suspension.
This article is about the new fastest Silverado SS in the country, and it belongs to Murray Robbins out of Tampa, Florida. Robbins pick-up is a 2005 model he purchased new with malice aforethought to create a beast. He ran the stock motor for a while with a Kenne Bell supercharger on top, and then when the time was right stepped it up last year with a built 408 stroker from Robert Fulco designed to handle about 1,500 horsepower.
After an incident with the guardrail in December of 2009 Mike Kreeb is back at it again in his 56 Corvette. The Eagle Race Cars chassis was repaired in house with a new front clip, radiator and struts with fresh paint by Greg Givens, a friend of Mike’s from California. This factory bodies car has been low eights at 169 MPH and is better that ever after the upgrades.
The guys at TRZ Motorsports are always looking at new ideas and venues to market them to. When Tony Nesbitt’s car owner Billy Adams came to them to chop some weight out of the Team Midnight NMCA Super Street 10.5 W Corvette Mike and Todd jumped right into the project. They cut about 50 pounds right off the front of the car where it counts with a front suspension kit and now you can do the same as the parts will soon be available to the public.
As a fan of old muscle cars as well as traditional Pontiac engines I have to say this 1965 Catalina sedan is one of my favorite local cars. Owned by Jim Butcher and driven by his son Rob for two years in the 7.50 index class at Sunshine Dragstrip they are stepping it up to the next level for 2010 and making the move to 6.50 with a new engine from Ken’s Speed and Machine in Brooksville, Florida.
Ken Cruz’s first race with the new car didn’t go so well after breaking the 3 speed Lenco transmission in his 2002 Camaro Pro Mod. The transmission popped out of gear and knocked the teeth off of the reverser, resulting in the engine free revving to in excess of 11,000 RPM. This in turn damaged some valve springs and a couple of lifters, which was discovered on tear down.
Out with the old and in with the Hemi. Chris Mendola is looking forward to more power for the Mendola Motorsports 68 Camaro Pro Mod, with the addition of an Aaron Sipple blown injected Hemi with Venney Heads and SSI Supercharger to replace the blown 400 inch small block. Shakedown runs with the new engine should be on June 4th’s pro test session at Sunshine Drag Strip.
This fine example of a early muscle is owned by Dave Stevens of NBS Race Cars in Pinellas Park, Florida. Its current configuration is the result of an extended, seven year project transforming the car from a back half, small block powered car to stock suspension with a 511 cubic inch big block Chevy.
This sweet 4th gen Pontiac Firebird is under construction at NBS Race Cars in Pinellas Park, Florida and is an addition to a long line of traditional Pontiac-powered street machines for owner Alex Brooks. The 505 ci. engine was machined at Nelson Competition Inc. and assembled by Bryan Altizer at Jimmy Cope Race Cars. An Indian Adventures block is filled with fully balanced internals and topped off with some interesting cylinder heads from Roland Racing.
Stavrinos Steps Up to ADRL XTF with Nelson Competition Powered ’68 Camaro
Posted by
Rob Cossack
on 05/10/10
Stavrinos Motorsports is stepping up their game this year, selling the old car and heading to ADRL’s XTF class with a new sponsor and a new lightweight 68 Camaro from Sheppard Race Cars. Once again Stavrinos Motorsports will go with Nelson Competition for the engine on this all-billet piece.
The first ORTC Boost vs. No Boost event of 2010 is in the books and Mother Nature had her say for sure at this one. A rainy Friday and other weather related issues on Saturday delayed the racing into the wee hours Sunday morning but that didn’t stop the great racing and sportsmanship. Will Stevenson found his way to the Boosted winners circle and Jason Black defended his title from last years event for the nitrous side. Jason Richards took home the title of fastest leaf spring nitrous car running 4.75 @ 157 MPH.
Today we are in south Georgia for the kick off Boost vs. No Boost ORTC event of 2010 where radial cars come from across the country come for a shot at the biggest purse in the land. Starting with Thursday’s test session, we will be here providing same day coverage for all classes including the wild wheel-standing Ultimate Street class and the insane speeds of the boosted cars. Check back all weekend for the coverage.
In a move that is sure to catch many by surprise, long time nitrous racer Don Long has done the un-thinkable and put a Procharged combo in his wife Amanda’s new edge Mustang. After struggling with various issues since the car’s debut and having no real luck with the nitrous sniffing, Chemi power plant – it certainly was a shock when we heard the news.
This is the second race of the year for the ADRL as they move to Georgia at South Georgia Motorsports Park. The first event was a rain out on Saturday and hopefully the rain will hold off this weekend for some great racing. Check back to Dragzine.com Friday and Saturday, throughout the day as we will be bringing you updates from SGMP
Some of fans of Drag Radial will recognize the name Shannon Wren as the first man to back up a 200 MPH pass at Memphis’ inaugural Mid South Shootout back in March of 2008. Other, longer time fans may recall the infamous Project X 1963 Shoebox Nova. After being away from the racing scene for the better part of a year, I ran into Shannon at the Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia ORTC/UORS race at SGMP earlier this year where he mentioned he was dragging the car out of moth balls as well as getting the “Yeager Bomb” Mustang fit for the current level of competition
For the second race of the year for NMRA, and the first trip back to Commerce in several years, the Tremec True Street class is looking to be a good showing as several racers that attended the Bradenton, Florida 2010 kickoff are planning to attend again in Georgia.
The first weekend in March is time for the NMCA season opener in Bradenton, Florida, and once again for the fourth year in a row rain put a damper on the event. Of course that did not stop the great racing, just postponed the eliminations until Monday. We opened up with some nice weather for Friday’s test session. Check out the recap from the race weekend.
The inaugural race at South Georgia Motorsports Park was everything we expected and more. David Wolfe ran a string of 4.40′s to take the win in the Proline Race Engines sponsored Radial vs the World class over Scotty Gaudagno in a slick vs radial final. Wheelies were the order of the weekend in TRZ Motorsports Ultimate Street where Mike Freeman took the win over Bob Kurgan, Freeman’s team mate Brian Goss set low ET for the event with a 4.98 and hi MPH with a 140 MPH run to drive by Kirk Hatley. The BMF Extreme 275 class has several cars in the 4′s with Troy Pirez setting low ET with a 4.917 and getting a hole shot victory over Joe Morgan. All that plus exclusive winners circle interviews with David Wolfe and Don Long, and Troy Pirez.
Dragzine goes to Georgia to bring you live coverage of the Night the Lights Went Out ORTC race at SGMP. Beginning with Thursdays test session through Saturday’s no holds barred action. Drag Radial, Limited Street and Texas True Ten Five, wheelie bars and all mix it up for a shot at $20,000. Several cars have tested recently in the low 4.6 range with David Wolfe out testing a new engine combo on site Wednesday to the tune of 4.61. Weather forecasts highs in the high 50′s, just right for record setting performance.
With a new TRZ suspension installed and larger -6 feed line for the nitrous, it was time to take the Chevelle Project back to the track. This would be the first license runs after the new NHRA certified cage updates were made. After switching the tired slicks over to some drag radials, the Chevelle was able to run a new best time of 5.93 @ 113.09 mph. Come check out the videos of the runs inside.
