Those that have regularly tuned in to Street Outlaws on the Discovery Channel throughout its first five seasons are likely very aware of the intense rivalry that the 405 has with racers from the state of Texas. With the two states neighboring one another — and Oklahoma City situated a mere three hours from another hotbed of fast cars in Dallas/Forth Worth — it’s not that surprising that the two parties would routinely clash with one another, and from that brews a heated-but-respectful competition.
During the course of those five seasons and change, we’ve seen a number of very tough cars and racers hailing from Texas make an appearance, and chances are, we’ll see even more during the season-long nationwide callout the show is running. One car that hasn’t graced the show to date but very well might in the future is Weatherford, Texas native Shawn Wilhoit, who owns a nasty twin-turbocharged 1963 Chevy II that he’s going to be pressing into grudge racing, no-prep, and street racing action.
The Chevy II is powered by a 540 cubic inch mill built by Morgan & Son Racing, and is paired with a set of 94mm Precision Pro Mod billet turbochargers. Wilhoit is backing it up with an Ace Racing Turbo 400 two-speed. J&L Performance (Josh Lindsey) is handling all of the chassis setup and tuning.
Interestingly, this car isn’t Wilhoit’s first Chevy II, and one might easily mistake this one for his former car.
Wilhoit and Lindsey spent six full years building his former Nova from the ground up. The car originally had a Morgan & Son 605-inch big block Chevrolet with two kits backed up with an Ace Racing Powerglide, but Wilhoit eventually came to the determination that he was simply outgunned against the competition he was facing. So he sold all of the nitrous stuff and, with Lindsey’s help, spent another six months piecing together the new combination, centered around the 540 and twin turbos.
But things were anything but smooth sailing at the outset.
“We finished up car and tested it at Northstar Dragway. We lost the back glass on the track from tire shake. But the next four passes the car hauled ass — we went mid 4.60’s on less than 18 lbs boost. The next week I went to Grudge Fest at Dallas Raceway and three passes out, hit the wall at 150-plus miles per hour and wiped the car out. The next day I was hurt and mad and cut the car up, saving only the motor and running gear.”
From there, he tasked Lindsey with building a completely new car, which is the ride you see here that’s headed to the paint shop and almost ready for its debut. The car is fully street legal, having been inspected and tagged, and Without shares he’ll be doing some grudge racing once it’s complete. He’s also hoping to line up alongside some of the 405’s best. Which would only be a fitting challenge for a racer who was once No. 1 on Dallas’ DFWSS Top 10 List before stepping away to build the new car.
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