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Never before has heads-up drag racing enjoyed the competitiveness that it does today, and that fact has left racers seeking each and every avenue possible to claw ahead of their peers. Bucking brand allegiance, racers are, in exceeding numbers, opting for the best vehicle and engine platforms for their given needs, regardless of whether they carry the same manufacturers stamp or not. Such a movement has led to a whole new niche segment of the industry for motor plates, K-members, and other components to make crossbreeding of engines and transmissions a viable and painless option.
And, it’s also made diehards like Ultra Street racer Jeff Kindler a true rare breed.
Kinsler, a native of New Castle, Delaware, is a self-professed Pontiac man to his core, who campaigns a 1968 Firebird — equipped with, as it should be — a 500 cubic inch Pontiac mill. Jeff will tell you he isn’t quite sure how or why he became fanatical about the once proud, and now defunct Pontiac brand, but even if it affords him a small disadvantage on the race track, that’s his platform.
“I love Pontiacs, and I’m always going to run Pontiacs. I would never put another engine in it … I’d just build another car. It’s a love for the brand and people just telling me that I can’t do it,” he says.
So, where did it all begin?
“My father had a 1968 Firebird convertible that was in the family … when my brother, who’s a year older than me, turned 16, he got the car. They painted it and did some things to fix it up, and I guess that old car is what got me into everything, Jeff said. “I really wanted that car, but of course, he was older and so he got it, but I told my parents, ‘hey I want one, too.’ My father and I later went looking for, and found this car.”
Jeff says many of his friends at the time were into cars and racing, cruising Main Street in their hot rods, and often partaking in a little street racing on the outskirts of town. They’d also head to Philadelphia for some street racing, or trek to the Cecil County Raceway in Maryland on Friday nights, as well. “Once I got the car, and got into it with all of my buddies, I was hooked, and I’ve been racing ever since,” he said.
Kinsler (right) with son Josh (center) and Dirk Harrington, Jr.
Among his group of young cohorts was Ron Rhodes, whose racing endeavors have largely mirrored those of Kinsler’s, progressing from the streets of northern Delaware to the top of the small-tire world. “I’ve known Ron for more than 20 years. You can blame everything on him — if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be racing,” Jeff says. “I tell him I’m broke because of him all the time.”
Before Ron opened his current shop, Rhodes Custom Auto & Collision, he operated out of his own garage, and that’s where the original roll cage was installed in Jeff’s Firebird in 1999. The car was purchased for the paltry sum of $2,000 around 1989, and has come a long way. Jeff shared it was a little rough with half the body panels in primer and the rest in a faded blue, and it as in need of a lot of work. At the time it had a 350-inch small-block Chevrolet with a Powerglide, which served some enjoyment for a while, before he blew it up and replaced it with a proper 400-inch Pontiac.
“We kept working on it … back then you just kind of rigged everything, because I didn’t know then what I know now. We changed the motor, and painted it three times, and did this and that.”
The car, which had been painted a dark blue in his father’s backyard nine years earlier (electric blue two years after that, and then a VW Beetle green paired with a black vinyl top a couple of years later) was raced with a 455 and later a 468, dropping into the 10.30s — a number that those in online forums said were “impossible” with steel heads and a dual plane intake manifold.
It was in 1999 when Jeff and Ron added the cage. At the same time, the rear seat was pulled, and racing-style front seats were added to make it a more performance-minded piece. The subframe came out and the car was mediablasted front to rear and re-painted in the blue hue you see now. After quickly boring of car shows (car shows he won, we should add), he tabbed Butler Performance to build a 499-inch Pontiac short-block to go racing in the RAM Racing naturally aspirated radial tire series, where he punched into the 8.90s before the series folded.
Then, two years ago, Ron converted the car over to a 25.5 chassis for Jeff to go Ultra Street racing, where the performance demands — high fours at over 140 mph in the 1/8-mile — demanded something a little more purpose-built. The engine department also needed some attention.
Once I got the car, and got into it with all of my buddies, I was hooked, and I’ve been racing ever since. – Jeff Kinsler
After a tough 2014 season and beginning to the 2015 campaign, Jeff clicked off a career best 4.96 at the Shakedown in Norwalk, and then went 4.91 and 4.89 at Cecil County. That 4.89 stood as the nitrous record for a time, before Jeff’s good friend (and the focus of a recent Dragzine feature) Shawn Pevlor snatched it away. A day later, the team hauled to the Maryland International Raceway, qualified number one, and won the race with another 4.89. He also added a 7.77-second, 172 mph 1/4-mile lap to his resume at MIR during the World Cup Finals, where he advanced to the semifinals in the Streetfighter class. All told, Jeff went to the final round at three of his final fives race last year, completing a quality season by anyone’s standard.
Ron and his Rhodes Custom Auto, along with Induction Solutions, Butler Performance, and Hostler Transmission, are all the primary backers of Jeff’s racing efforts. Of course, it also takes the backing of family and friends to make it all happen, and Jeff has that in spades, including Dirk Harrington, Brian Hedrick, Mike Cerminaro, Jason Waterman, Jeff’s two sons Josh and Justin, and daughter, Danielle.
“My boys and my daughter help me out at all the local races. They hook up the battery charger, help remove the hood, change plugs and anything I ask them. It’s awesome to have them at the track with me. They love racing so much,” he says.
The engine, now measuring 500 cubic-inches, has earned Jeff the tongue-in-cheek label of “the cheater” by his Ultra Street peers, due to the unique rules in the class that allow for Buick, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac engines to carry more displacement than the common Ford and Chevrolet engines. Jeff, who has taken the name in stride, even put the slogan on the windows of the car, and jokingly calls the engine a small-block Pontiac, although everyone else just refers to it as a big-block.
BES built the powerplant up with an Indiana Adventures IA II aftermarket block topped with Edelbrock Performer RPM cylinder heads, sporting Ferrea valves and PAC springs. John Marcella from Marcella Manifolds ported the heads, which are fed by a Dale Cubic-prepared Holley Dominator four-barrel and operated by a Comp camshaft. Jeff relies on an Aeromotive 2000 fuel pump to handle the fueling side of things, an MSD Powergrid and coil setup for the ignition, and NLR nitrous controller paired with the aforementioned Induction Solutions crossbar plate, and custom stainless stepped headers built by Rhodes Custom Auto.
Jeff relies on a Pontiac Turbo 400 transmission with aluminum internals, Griner valve body, and 1.48 first gear, paired with an Ultimate Converters 10-inch bolt-together unit to transmit the power back to the 12-bolt Chevrolet housing sporting a Moser Engineering spool and 35-spline gun-drilled axles, through an Inland Empire 4-inch aluminum driveshaft.
Even if I built this car again, and I’ve really thought about it, I don’t think I’d change much, to be honest. I like it that much. – Jeff Kinsler
At the end of the day, Jeff says running the full-blooded Pontiac combination is all about being different. “I just run with the make that I have … I at least have to try. I like to be different, and it pushes you in different ways to make it work. Obviously, technology has helped with the Pontiac stuff. But if I switched to a different class, I’d try it with a Pontiac motor, for sure.”
That he’s been able to run competitively — and win — in one of the toughest classes in drag racing with a true Pontiac package, has given Jeff an undeniable level of pride in his race car. After all, over 27 years of racing, it’s the only car he’s ever known, and that’s something that few in the sport can say.
“Even if I built this car again, and I’ve really thought about it, I don’t think I’d change much, to be honest. I like it that much.”
