All Motor All The Time For Butch Kemp And His Ford Mustang

butch3While many drivers rely on big-block combinations to go faster in naturally aspirated classes, others revel in the challenge of running small-block combinations to accomplish the same thing; one such driver is Butch Kemp. He was introduced to the drag strip just after high school in a small-block Chevy powered 1969 Camaro which delivered him to thirteen-second passes, but it wasn’t enough to keep him faithful when he laid eyes on and then bought a small-block Chevy-powered 1967 Chevy II. It trapped 9.59 at over 140 mph with him in the driver’s seat in NSCA Real Street competition, which he had entered in 2001, and 8.45-seconds at 158 mph in NMCA Pro Stock competition, which he had entered in 2003.

Kemp Lendzion 1“I got to be competitive in Pro Stock, but between work and family commitments, I wasn’t able to make all of the races,” said Kemp, who lives north of Detroit, Michigan. “On top of that, all of the small-block combinations were being run out of the class by big-block combinations, and that made me realize that the writing was on the wall and that it was pointless to continue running in that class with my combination.”

So he parked the 1967 Chevy II — which was lauded as a stunner as well as a runner — at the end of 2005, bought Jamie Stanton’s 2000 Camaro and hired Chris Uratchko of Uratchko Racing Engines to design and build a small-block Chevy topped with CFE heads for 2006. The piece generated a whopping 985 horsepower on the dyno, and it armed him for competition in the once-a-month, May-through-October Friday Night Heads Up Series at Milan Dragway in Michigan, where he chose the All Motor class over classes like Run What Ya Brung, Outlaw 10.5, Drag Radial and others.

IMG_7922That year, while his fellow drivers averaged 9.20’s, he averaged 8.75 to 8.80, and he would add a hundred pounds for OSCA Pro Stock class action in Canada. He showed his strength behind the wheel as well as under the hood, and earned the championship in each of those series.

Upon NMCA opening Pro Stock rules to allow additional small-block heads, Kemp returned to the series and the class in 2007 with the Camaro, and was immediately competitive, driving to runner-up finishes twice and prompting NMCA driver Don Baskin to make an offer on and buy the car at the end of the season.

Butch Kemp has indicated that being named Milan Dragway's 2014 Driver of the Year means even more to him than being Milan Dragway's 2014 All Motor champion.

“I wanted to get back into my Chevy II for 2008, so I read the rule book again and Chris [Uratchko] and I found a combination that we liked, so we built a CFE 23 degree head engine with a Mopar manifold and it made 944 horsepower,” said Kemp. “We took the car to South Georgia Motorsports Park to test that February and at 8.50, it was about two tenths faster than the current NMCA Pro Stock record. Later that season, a hundred pounds was added to that combination for the rules, and because the combination would no longer be ideal, I switched to a CFE 15 degree GM-style inline head combination with help from Tony Bischoff for 2009, and I won the Canadian Street Car Nationals.”

Also in 2009, Kemp headed to the NMCA race at Milan Dragway in Michigan, where he coaxed an 8.43 out of the car, which had no wheelie bars at the time. On a later run, Kemp went into a wicked wheelstand that went wrong, and upon returning to Earth, the car crossed from the left lane to the right lane, tagged the wall and flipped. The crowd gasped as the car spun eerily its roof, and then applauded as Kemp crawled out and was escorted to a waiting ambulance. He was not hurt, but the car was, and he was forced to part it out while fans and fellow drivers speculated about whether he would return to race action. He responded about a week after the wreck by purchasing a 1993 Mustang with Cobra ground effects.

kemp mug used

In 2014, Butch Kemp became the first Milan Dragway All Motor driver with a small-block engine to get into the track’s All Motor Seven Second Club and the first Milan Dragway All Motor driver to go undefeated in a season. He’s also the first champion in the class with Ford power and has so far posted a best of 7.75 and 174 mph.

“I’m the type of person to keep going when I put my mind to something,” said Kemp, reaffirming what many already know about him.

He gave the Mustang his CFE 15 degree GM-style inline head combination and roared to an 8.20 at 165 mph during a test session in March of 2010, and at that point, he set his sights on Milan Dragway’s All Motor class and OSCA Pro Stock and went on to secure the OSCA Pro Stock championship after going undefeated in the class.

IMG_6599“At the end of that year, I was giving some thought to what I wanted to do and how I could remain competitive for the next season, and I was concerned that my 15-degree combination was maxed out, so I ended up buying a 440 cubic-inch GM SB2 engine from John Husek of JTS, with one of his custom cast-aluminum intakes and carburetors, and I sold my 15-degree stuff,” said Kemp.

With no testing, the result was an 8.11 out of the trailer and an event win in Milan Dragway’s All Motor class in May of 2011, followed later in the month by an event win in OSCA’s Pro Stock class in Canada.

“At the time, that was the fastest pass ever in the All Motor class,” said Kemp. “It was also a turning point in my racing career, because work and family commitments became more of a priority and I turned my focus to them.”

Kemp maintains that it has never crossed his mind to build anything other than a naturally aspirated combination.

That June, he sold his entire racing operation, including his car, engine, spare parts and trailer.

“I thought I needed a break and I thought I needed to get my mind off of racing because it was becoming overwhelming,” said Kemp. “I just needed to step back and prioritize.”

To the delight of many, he returned less than a year later after buying a 1968 Camaro as a roller and giving it a conventional-headed big-block Chevy built by Jeff Naiser of Naiser Racing.

I’m the type of person to keep going when I put my mind to something.

“I was going to play around with the car on the street and on the track, and figured I wouldn’t get as deep into it as I had been,” said Kemp. “I entered X275 and Outlaw Limited Street at Milan Dragway, but it wasn’t as competitive as I would have liked it to be, and I sold it.”

Kemp, who’s always willing to step up his game in the name of competition — and who’s always willing to swap cranks, rods, pistons, cams and other internals in search of the perfect potent combination — traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas, in August of 2012 to purchase from Ray Nosler the 1998 Mustang he has now. It had under the hood a BES-built 440 cubic-inch small-block Ford utilizing a Dart block with Edelbrock SC1 heads and a BES-ported Edelbrock manifold. The car had been driven by Bob Shahan in an eighth-mile Real Street class, and Kemp dropped a JTS 2.200-inch carburetor on it and deemed it destined for Ultra Street competition.

He debuted the burgundy bomber, with a Powerglide spinning underneath with a bolt-together Neal Chance converter, in Ultra Street at the Pritchett Brothers Ultimate Outlaws race at Milan Dragway that month, where it commanded attention after trapping a 5.08.

Butch Kemp, left lane, lines up against John Marcella and his Firebird during an All Motor race at Milan Dragway in Michigan. Marcella, of Marcella Manifolds, fabricated a billet runner intake manifold to sit atop  Kemp's 440 cubic-inch small-block Ford.

Kemp, left lane, lines up against John Marcella and his Firebird during an All Motor race at Milan Dragway in Michigan. Marcella, of Marcella Manifolds, fabricated a billet runner intake manifold to sit atop Kemp’s 440 cubic-inch small-block Ford.

“The car was really good from the get-go,” said Kemp. “But I knew that I would be learning as I go and making changes in order to make progress, just like with any car.”

Soon after that race, he delivered the car to Milan Dragway All Motor driver Alan Pennywitt to be painted Inferno Orange, and he delivered the engine to Uratchko, who went through it and freshened it.

In February of 2013, he loaded the eye-catcher into the trailer and headed to a Donald Long-produced race in Georgia, where he entered X275 even though he was rolling on 28-inch Mickey Thompson slicks. With a 5.14 gear in place, he got to the 60-foot marker in 1.14 seconds and to the 660-foot marker in 5.00-seconds at 138 mph.

“I think I qualified twentieth out of thirty-two cars, and even though I didn’t go rounds, it was still kind of amazing to me because I didn’t think I would be anywhere near where I needed to be for that class,” said Kemp.

IMG_7882He went on to run Ultra Street as part of the monthly Saturday Shootout Series at Milan Dragway, won each of the races and earned the Ultra Street championship. Before calling it a season, he obtained a three-speed Pro Trans from fellow Ultra Street driver Alex Hays, and replaced his 28-inch Mickey Thompson slicks with 29.5 x 10.5 slicks, then headed for an All Motor race at Milan Dragway with his sights set on breaking into the sevens. For his efforts, he was rewarded with an 8.01 in competition and a semifinal finish.

“After that, I decided I would go back to focusing on trying to do well in the All Motor class in the 2014 season, and I set goals for myself, including winning two races, getting into the track’s seven-second club and winning the championship,” said Kemp, who frequently accomplishes that which he sets out to achieve.

Kemp's Mustang is the quickest to the 60-foot in Milan Dragway's All Motor class with a 1.084.

Over the winter, Uratchko — as well as John Marcella from Marcella Manifolds — massaged the Edelbrock SC1 heads and outfitted them with larger valves, and Uratchko gave the engine a new 60mm cam while Marcella fabricated a billet runner intake manifold. In addition, Kemp had a new three-speed transmission built by Dave Smith of Pro Trans as well as two new center sections with 4.71 and 4.86 gearing by Wayne Henderson of Indy Gear.

butch and son cameron“When everything was ready, we took the engine to the dyno but we weren’t satisfied, so we tweaked a few things and went back to the dyno a second time,” said Kemp. “Then, we were really happy, and I felt I should be able to win races unless I made a mistake or there was a mechanical failure.”

By March, the car sat in Kemp’s shop ready to go, but it would have to wait until the 33rd Annual Spring Warm-Up at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio in April to strut its stuff.

There, with help from his dad, Dan Kemp, and friends, Tom Butkovich and Rick Dodge, he laid down a 7.82 on the first pass on what he referred to as a conservative tune.

He came out with guns blazing at the first All Motor race at Milan Dragway in May, where he posted an even-quicker 7.78 at 174 mph in the first round of qualifying.

“It was a tenth and a half faster than anyone had gone in the class,” said Kemp, who alternates between a JTS 2.200 carburetor and a Book 2.350 carburetor to feed VP Q16 to his engine. “Unfortunately, we got rained out before we got to race.”

It has never crossed my mind to build anything other than a naturally aspirated combination. Part of that is because I enjoy the challenge of going as fast as I can with what I have.

With his engine revving at high rpm through the traps pass after pass and only asking for a steady supply of fresh rocker arms in return, Kemp — who receives some tuning help from Patrick Barnhill and Jason Lee of PTP Racing — went on to win each All Motor race at Milan Dragway in the 2014 season. Along the way, he became the first Milan Dragway All Motor driver to go undefeated in a season and the first Milan Dragway All Motor driver with a small-block engine to get into the track’s All Motor Seven Second Club. As a result, he is the Milan Dragway All Motor champion, and the first champion in the class with Ford power, and his car, which delivered him to a 7.75 and 174 mph pass in September, is the quickest to the 60-foot in the class with a 1.084.

IMG_6621

It’s common for Kemp to swap cranks, rods, pistons, cams and other internals in search of the perfect potent combination.

With Kemp every step of the way as he puts passes on the car and his name on the all-motor-map are his parents, Dan and Janice Kemp, and his wife, Kristen, and children, Abby, Cameron and Elise. He also is supported in his efforts by John Marcella, John Husek, Rick Dodge, fellow All Motor driver Van Geibel, fellow All Motor driver Alan Pennywitt and his brother, Steve Pennywitt, Chris Uratchko, Tom and Marty Butkovich, Brandon “Buddy” Legath and Tom Kundrik at Mickey Thompson, Wayne Henderson of Indy Gear, Dave Smith of Pro Trans, Joe Oplawski of Hyperaktive Performance Solutions, who assists him with Racepak items and Dean Marinis, who offers input on chassis tuning and shocks and the curiously-nicknamed Porterhouse.

“It has never crossed my mind to build anything other than a naturally aspirated combination,” said Kemp, who was named Milan Dragway’s 2014 Driver of the Year. “Part of that is because I enjoy the challenge of going as fast as I can with what I have.”

About the author

Mary Lendzion

Formerly a writer at the Detroit Free Press, Mary Lendzion writes for Power Automedia, NMCA and NMRA, is the director of media and public relations for Summit Motorsports Park and is happiest in the driver’s seat of her Mustang.
Read My Articles

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