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Flash back to February 2014 at South Georgia Motorsports Park, when rain showers forced eliminations to be completed for Lights Out V on a cool Monday afternoon. Randy Haywood lost control of his beautiful twin-turbo Buick Grand National, and smacked both sides of the concrete retaining wall at SGMP, causing extensive damage.
Haywood climbed out of the car uninjured, and the team took the car back home to decide on what was next. Two and a half years later, skilled chassis builder Darren Breaud at B&B Race Cars is putting the finishing touches on the sleek Buick Grand National, getting it ready for battle in 2016.
Between Bennett Racing Engines, CFE, and Losito the SBC powerplant in Hillard’s Grand National will pack some serious power.
Breaud had to extensive work, but the chassis is back to perfection, and the new body panels dripping with gloss-black paint are possibly smoother than before. Packing a Bennett Racing Engines 427 cubic inch powerplant under the hood, the horsepower will be plentiful for Haywood. A pair of Precision Turbo 88mm turbochargers provide all the boost for the Bennett built mill.
The team called up Mark Micke from M&M Transmission for a two-speed Turbo 400 transmission, and a torque converter to match to help put the power down. The Grand National is finished off with a FAST XFI system, MSD Ignition products, a full Racepak V300SD data recording system, an AMS-2000 boost controller, and the Davis Technologies Profiler to round out the electrical system.
Hillard's GN is returning with his same black paint scheme, but with upgraded wheels from Weld Racing.
Rick Elgin was hired from RaceWire Technologies to work his magic on wiring all the products together, and making sure they are in full working order. Elgin also did a masterful job hiding as much as the wiring as possible to keep the Buick’s sleek look carrying over to all corners.
Owner Anthony Hillard knows a rebuild like this is a big team effort: “A special thanks goes out to everyone that has helped in the rebuild – either through words of encouragement, or recommendations or parts. All of the assistance and expertise is greatly appreciated and we hope to do you all proud when we hit the track soon!”
Be on the lookout for this twin turbocharged monster at LDR and Pro275 events coming up on the back half of the 2016 drag radial season!
