April 30, 2016 – Sidnei Frigo’s life was turned upside down, literally. During a Friday session of qualifying for Pro Modified during the NHRA Spring Nationals at the Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas, Frigo lost control of his Artivinco-sponsored Chevrolet Corvette at the quarter-mile mark and was along for the ride during one of the most horrific crashes that the NHRA Pro Modified series has seen to date.
Sidnei escaped that wild ride with a bruised hip and a broken arm that was surgically repaired and has made a full recovery since. His beautiful twin turbocharged C7 was completely totaled with nothing left salvageable on the mangled mess of machinery.
Fast forward less than five months, and Sidnei is fully recovered and eager to get back behind the wheel. Jerry Bickel Race Cars completed the rolling chassis of the new, modernized Chevrolet Corvette that is a near clone to the previous car, with updates to the strut mounts and more four-link bracing than before. As of Monday, August 15th, the car was a complete rolling chassis as it was wheeled into the Georgia shop of RK Racecraft, owned by Ryan Rakestraw. In less than seven days, the C7 was transformed from a roller to complete turnkey race car ready for action by the team at RK.
The Pro Line Racing-built HEMI powerplant was lowered between the framerails and bolted in for plenty of horsepower, being boosted by a set of NHRA-legal Precision Turbo & Engine turbochargers. Homier Fabrications was brought in to completely wire and set up the electronics, including a Racepak data logging system, FuelTech FT500 engine management system, an NHRA-mandated Hyperaktive boost controller and a Davis Technologies bump box to ensure consistent staging each pass.
With the team at Pro Line Racing behind the tuning laptop for Frigo, the new C7 should be running as strong, or stronger, than the previous car did in no time. We fully expect to see Sidnei and the Artivinco Racing team debut this car at the Street Car Super Nationals: Anarchy At The Arch this upcoming weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois and possibly make the short trip to Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals the following weekend.