Network
Image credit: Mike The Photo Guy
Those who follow heads-up street car racing no doubt know of Skinny Kid Race Cars and their impeccable record of producing race cars that win their share of races and set their share of records. And those very same readers among us may recall Skinny Kid’s in-house ride, a classic 1972 Hurst Oldmobile, complete with the throwback Hurst paint scheme and all.
Skinny Kid’s Keith Engling and driver Brian Robbins were once regulars in the NMCA Pro Street division with the hefty Olds while also campaigning the car near their Michigan home and other street legal events around the country. At the U.S. Street Nationals in Bradenton in 2005, fluid got under the rear tires, sending the car hard into the wall, and again in 2008, Robbins survived a harrowing crash at Milan Dragway that took everything forward of the engine right off the car.
But these days, after a few years of repairs and laying low, the Skinny Kid Oldsmobile is stronger than ever. Now outfitted with a screw-blown powerplant, the pair joined the ADRL as it rolled through their home state last month, where Robbins uncorked a 3.87 at 186.99 MPH to qualify 14th in Pro Extreme. That performance, however, was just a precursor.
Earlier this month, Robbins pushed the aerodynamically deficient machine into the magical five-second zone for the first time, clocking a 5.969 at 244.76 MPH while testing at Michigan’s Milan Dragway. And in case you didn’t catch it, Robbins pedaled it near the 330-foot marker. Not bad for a car that, unlike it’s all-carbon fiber counterparts, was once a real Oldsmobile 442.
