What goes around comes around, and for Michael Judd, despite selling it several times, his Ultra Street “Déjà Vu” supercharged 1973 Plymouth Duster kept finding its way back into his possession.
Digging through junkyards on the weekend as a teenager and pulling parts to make his ride faster, Judd set the stage not just for a lifelong career in the automotive world, but also a decade-plus project Plymouth that put him in the thick of small tire radial competition.
As the owner of Judd’s Garage in Beattyville, Kentucky, for 30 years, Judd certainly knows his way around an engine. In 2013, he decided to get in on the action his friends and customers were enjoying and began drag racing. That same year, and with help from Jackie Smith, Judd won the Limited 8.5 track championship at Kentucky’s London Dragway; impressively, he won yet another track championship in 2014 at Thornhill Dragstrip in Morning View, Kentucky, in Outlaw 8.5.
“In 2014, we bought our Duster from an aircraft mechanic in Missouri who had raced the car since it was new in NHRA Stock,” said Judd, who acquired his 1973 Plymouth Duster after spotting it on a Mopar-only classifieds site. “It had a real nice engine and transmission, stock interior, and a six-point roll bar. My only plan was to part it out and start fresh.”
Thinking his new Duster would make a great car for radial racing, Judd’s only issue with it was the color. “The more I looked at it, the more I hated that it was yellow,” he laughed. So, rather than dismantle it, he listed it for sale and just had a buyer only a few days later. “Well, a year went by, and I didn’t find another Mopar that suited me, then the guy I sold mine to called me out of the blue, asking if I would buy it back.”
By then, though, Judd had moved on to a Mustang and “went broke racing it,” so he sold the Ford. He ended up buying a different Mustang instead, but always missed his Mopar. “Well, the guy with my Duster called again and made a deal I couldn’t refuse, plus he said he had just had it painted with a different bass boat metallic yellow,” shared Judd.
Judd finally gave in and re-purchased his prior Plymouth, but immediately sold its drivetrain. Next, the roller was sent to Derek Bivins of Bivins Race Cars to be converted to a small tire-appropriate platform with a 25.5 SFI-certified chassis; Judd picked it up in 2015 and “all it needed was an engine and trans,” so it sat in his shop while he waited on a modern Gen III HEMI engine from Tony Bischoff’s BES Racing.
While his Duster was with Bivins, Judd had been helping his friend, Dean Vaughn, with his small tire Ford-powered turbocharged 1964 AMC Rambler wagon at no-time and no-prep events. “Dean asked if I wanted the Rambler, but I was already financially in deep with the Duster, so we negotiated a trade, and I raced the wagon for a year,” Judd recounted.
Still unhappy with not owning a “true small tire Mopar,” Judd sold the wagon and continued his search for something else, but then Vaughn called and offered the Duster back. “Well, I bought it back, but this time it was finally painted green,” he proclaimed. “The car was built for me, but never raced until I finished it.”
Given its incredible tendency to always find its way back into Judd’s possession despite being sold multiple times, his wife, Melissa, nicknamed the 1973 Plymouth “Déjà Vu.” Judd finally did give in to keeping it and raced the Mopar for several seasons.
Outside, the Duster’s mostly all-steel body was tastefully complemented by a fiberglass Glasstek hood and bumpers, and classic RC Components wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson E/T Street radial rubber sized 275/60R15, but Judd’s favorite part of the car is simply its 1973 Duster grille and tail lights. Inside, Kirkey seats hold Judd firmly in place while the fun happens, and the Glasstek fiberglass dashboard has been airbrushed to look practically factory fresh.
Up until 2022, Judd ran a 540 cubic inch big block Mopar engine with Brodix B1 series cylinder heads and a 106mm Forced Inductions single turbocharger, professionally wired by Victor Contreras at Victory Wiring. In 2023, Judd swapped to a modern Gen III HEMI platform with a solid block, which he ran on alcohol. He kept the turbo, of course.
Judd relied on a two-speed Turbo 400 built by Lonnie Diers at Extreme Automatics, coupled with a Coan billet bolt-together converter. Power was transferred out through the carbon driveshaft that was sourced from Ross Chandler at Wiles Racing Driveshafts, and into the sheet metal 9” rear end fabricated by Bivins. A Moser center with matching Moser 40-spline axles and Strange front and rear brakes rounded out the setup.
Bivins was also responsible for fabricating the tubular K-member and A-arms, while Menscer Motorsports delivered some of drag racing’s finest front struts. “I run Calvert Racing’s CalTracs custom split leaf springs in the rear along with Menscer rear shocks, and I really enjoy showing up at the track with leaf springs on the car and doing well,” shared Judd.
After several seasons, however, Judd was frustrated by his “crazy bad luck keeping an engine in the car.” By the end of the 2024 racing season, he was at the point where he was done and wanted to sell his Duster once again.
Fortunately, Geoff Turk at Blackbird Performance got in touch in April of 2025 and convinced Judd to try one of his engine programs. “He didn’t know me from anyone, but we hit it off and put his 360 cubic inch Drag Pak combination from his Blackbird X Challenger into mine,” explained Judd, focused on the Ultra Street small tire category.
BES Racing worked their magic with pre-season updates and a refresh for the Gen III HEMI, which is based on a Callies block and includes a Callies crankshaft and rods, Ross pistons, Blackbird Performance heads, and Jesel valvetrain components.
Turk’s engine, which has roughly 1,650 horsepower and 1,100 lb-ft of torque on tap, came with a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger, too, which was quite a change for Judd as he had firmly been a member of team turbo. The new power adder also necessitated another change, as Judd “had to put the engine back on water and race gas with a cooling system, intercooler, and everything.” Supplying the fuel is a complete Aeromotive system coupled with Fuel Injector Clinic injectors.
Judd also exchanged his two-speed Turbo 400 transmission for a three-speed instead, also by Extreme Automatics. Finally, he had Jon Corey at TCM Fab build a set of zoomie headers on a tight timeline so the car was up and running by mid-September of 2025.
For the first time ever in his life, the 53-year-old closed his shop to go racing. Judd tested on a Wednesday at London Dragway, and it went so well that he left the car in the trailer and went racing just two days later at Holley’s 6th annual MoParty event at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
“The first weekend out and with only a few test passes, we won the heads-up, no-time King of Street class. Luck was definitely with us,” exclaimed the Judd. Pleased with the Plymouth’s performance, Judd headed to Dan Van Horn’s Modern Street HEMI Shootout race at Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina. “Well, we found the King of Street winner’s circle again.”
To date, Judd has run a personal best of 4.70 seconds at 151 miles per hour in the eighth-mile and recorded a quickest 60-foot time of 1.10 seconds. For 2026, his primary goal is maintaining his momentum and running at the front of the field in the very competitive, very quick Ultra Street category. “Without Blackbird Performance’s Geoff and Jena Turk, I’d probably just be a spectator. They really went out of their way to help us with this program, and I wouldn’t be close to where I am without Geoff’s support,” affirmed Judd.
In addition to the Turks, Judd relies on his wife, Melissa, daughter, Caitlyn, son, Corey, and granddaughter Izzy, and friends including Jeff Howard, Travis, and Jordan Fry,e along with their five children, Adam Ferrel, and DJ Nipper. “We’re a rough crew that loves drag racing, and I get great help from all of them,” Judd added.
Now, after more than a decade and multiple attempts to pass his 1973 Plymouth Duster off to several different owners, Judd has found his stride with the Gen III HEMI-powered machine and finally accepted that his menacing “Déjà Vu” Mopar is here to stay.
CAR: 1973 Plymouth Duster
ENGINE: Blackbird Performance/BES Racing 360 ci Gen III HEMI
HEADS: Blackbird Performance
CRANK: Callies
RODS: Callies
PISTONS: Ross
POWER ADDER: 3.0L Whipple supercharger
TRANSMISSION: Extreme Automatics 3-speed Turbo 400
CONVERTER: Coan billet bolt-together
REAR END: Bivins Race Cars 9-inch, Moser center
SUSPENSION: Menscer Motorsports struts (front), Menscer shocks and Calvert Racing CalTracs leaf springs (rear)
BRAKES: Strange
WHEELS: RC Components
TIRES: Mickey Thompson E/T Street
QUICKEST ET: 4.70 seconds (1/8 mile)
FASTEST MPH: 151 mph (/8 mile)
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