Dragzine

Area 51 looks stout with its blacked out Holeshot wheels and Goodyear tires.

Those of you that have been around the northeast for quite a few years may have followed such series as the MSRA, which catered to racers with a variety of classes. The fastest of those classes was drag radial and had a lot of great names involved. Guys like Chris Little, Chip Provenza and another that the racing world is about to get reacquainted with. Andy Fletcher has campaigned several different cars but most notably is his third generation Camaro that had been as fast as 5.11 @ 143mph. After a few years out of the scene Andy has been putting all the pieces together to make a comeback.

Fletcher has been sitting on the sidelines for a few years but has never lost track of where the sport has gone and has been preparing to make his return. X275 is where he set his sights after becoming involved with John Sears this season. The new plan consists of a conventional headed big block Chevrolet that is packed inside a Donovan block. The engine is a Charlie Buck power plant consisting of 565 cubic inches with a single nitrous oxide system. Andy will be making his debut this weekend during the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout at Maryland International Raceway.

As with any project there are many people involved and helping Andy in his newest venture are John Sears, Mike Keeler of Keeler Motorsports and Phil Racey. Keeler used his fabrication skills to make a new set of headers to clear the wide oil pan on the Donovan block. A set of Holeshot wheels wrapped in Goodyear rubber front and back which will be testing the limits of the Goodyear Drag Radial.  John Sears will also use this car as a testing point for the short deck conventional headed big blocks to see how far they will go in the class.

All eyes have been on the small block supercharged cars of Evans and Don Barnett and now Ron Rhodes has even been pushing the 4-second barrier with his small block nitrous setup. But just maybe one of the big block guys will step up and show the small blocks who is boss this weekend. Keep a look out for the project that has been dubbed area 51. Things may be getting a little strange when it shows up at the track.