If you frequent drag strips around the Midwest, especially Milan Dragway in Michigan, Keith Engling’s 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Pro Modified car is one you know well. The car has been around for a number of years, as Engling campaigned it out of his Skinny Kid Race Cars shop; but it was in need of an update.

The new Cutlass is leaner and ready to make its mark in Pro Mod racing.

The original Cutlass that Engling built was a full scale car that did battle at Pro Modified events and in the NMCA Pro Street/Pro Mod class … and it really was a legit street car turned-race car, with an original steel body that made it quite hefty. That car has now been “retired” from the drag strip, and purchased by one of Engling’s sponsors to be run in sand drag events.

The new Oldsmobile is a lightweight build that incorporates Engling’s years of racing knowledge and lessons into one car. From front to back, everything was redesigned to make the car as close to featherweight as possible, while being able to still work on any track.

The big feature of the new car is the scaled-down 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass body that Engling constructed himself. The new body is 10 inches narrower than a stock Cutlass, and over nine inches lower at the roofline, to give it a total height of just 44 inches. This body and the molds were made 100-percent in-house and Cynergy Composites took those molds to make a carbon body that only weighs 60 pounds.

The car will keep its Alan Johnson Hemi engine that wears a big C-rotor screw supercharger and is backed by a Bruno/Lenco transmission. The car will get its shakedown passes soon, then run at Milan Dragway in the Friday Nights heads-up series in the “Run What You Brung” class, along with the PDRA and NMCA, when possible.

“This was a total team effort with help from people like Richards Auto, Leimenstoll Services, Strange Engineering, Santhuff Struts, Stiletto Rack & Pinions, Pro-Werks, PPG Paint, Aurora Bearings, Eaton/Aeroquip Fittings, Motive Gear, Quality Powdercoat & Sandblasting, JE Pistons, Clevite, Patriot Headers, NGK Sparkplugs, Allstar, Quickcar, System One, PAC Springs and Alan Pennywitt for an awesome paint job” says Engling.