Alan Bush started out with a 1977 Nova at the age of 16. “I went on my honeymoon in that car and turned it into race car, racing it up until this spring,” Bush says. “Now I’m going let my son drive it.” Bush’s son is allowed to race it because the elder Bush now has the 2005 Cavalier that you see here to race. And it’s already racking up some prestigious awards.
Bush’s new Cavalier was a five-year build. He bought it as a Top Sportsman car with a carbon fiber body and then took the car to Rick Jones at RJ Race Cars for chassis upgrades and to have it certified it to 6.00. Last September, he brought the car home and spent all winter, spring, and half of the summer completing the wiring, plumbing, and the like to get the car ready for competition.
His plan was to have the car ready for the NHRA national event in Joliet, and for a while it looked he wasn’t going to make it. That’s when Don Baxter, his son, Brandon Baxter, and Eric Flehming stepped in to help get the car done.
“We worked on the car for four days straight to get it done for Joliet,” Bush says. He must’ve left an impression with the new car since he won the Best Appearing award. He owes that award to Carl Root, who painted the car.
At the recent NHRA U.S. Nationals at Indy, which was the car’s third race, Bush won Aerospace Components’ Best Engineered award. With all of the top racers and machines in the country all in one place, such an award is arguably the most prestigious all year long.
“Thanks Al and Kim for sponsoring the Best Engineered award,” Bush says. “There were over 800 cars there, so I feel very honored to win this award.”
For power, Bush relies on a Steve Schmidt naturally-aspirated, 632-inch all-aluminum big block with an APD carburetor. Behind the aluminum power plant is a Hughes Powerglide and converter, and a custom fabricated housing with Strange Engineering axles and center section. The car’s four-link is an RJ Race Cars arrangement with custom-valved Penske shocks with Hoosier 16×33 slicks surrounding Weld Racing Delta One one-piece wheels. The Cavalier rolls on Weld AlumaStar 2.0 spindle mount-wheels up front.
Right now, Super Gas is the class he’s racing in to get started with the car, and he’s clicked off 180 mph on his 9.90 runs. On one pass the car ran 183 mph, putting it amongst the faster cars in all of Super Gas. The APD carburetor has a throttle stop on the car, which is responsible for Super Gas 9.90 elapsed times, but the mph represents the power available from the Steve Schmidt combination.
Bush is trying to get some seat time before he moves up to Top Sportsman, which will necessitate a bigger, more powerful engine when he makes that move. Bush feels he will have to run in the 7.0s in order to routinely make the field in Top Sportsman, and he’s not sure if the current 632-inch combo will get him there. Bush isn’t opposed to adding nitrous to his program, but right now he’s focused on getting comfortable in the car and progressing from there.
Bush shared that he will most likely finish out 2015 in Super Gas, and move up to Top Sportsman in 2016.
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