First Look: Alepa Racing’s Pro Drag Radial C7 Corvette Build

EngineRick Stevens, owner of Stevens Race Cars in Santa Fe, Texas, has already amassed quite a reputation for building badass stock-appearing radial hot rods. The most notable of this radial-tired rockets is the maroon Alepa Racing Fox body Mustang most recently driven by Rob Valden in Radial vs The World competition. That car has been deep in the 4.0’s and over 200 MPH in competition and sub-4.0 in testing with Valden at the helm. But Alepa’s newest project just may overshadow the ‘Stang completely, and we’re about to show you why!

BodyTestFitThat’s right, race fans…you’re looking at what seems destined to be a stock-bodied, ProLine Hemi-powered, full on assault on the radial world-capable C7 Corvette! While the build is still a long way from completion, you can tell from these photos that, as with everything he does, Andrew Alepa has spared no expense in brainstorming this beauty into existence. With the project being at this relatively early stage, details are scant, but what we can see is a beautifully-assembled chassis – a staple of Stevens-build race cars – that will wrap the driver in a protective cocoon of chromoly. Also visible, a nearly-infinitely adjustable 4-Link suspension setup that looks like something straight out of an NHRA Pro Stock car. With ‘Vettes coming from the factory with independent rear suspension, Alepa obviously had an easy decision in forgoing the weight break afforded to stock-style suspension cars in RvsW, opting instead for the fine-tunability of the 4-Link setup.

ChassisBareAbout the only other major component visible is the ProLine Hemi powerplant nestled neatly between the framerails. In its current configuration, it appears the engine will feature twin turbos as its power adder of choice, though that could certainly change between now and the project’s completion. With a couple of blown cars making waves in RvsW this year, including Jason Michalak blasting to the current quickest radial ET on the planet in the blown BAD9ER Racing Corvette earlier this year at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion II in Memphis, could we possibly see a change of induction for the C7? We will just have to wait and see. Check out the photo gallery for this build, along with several other projects, on the Stevens Race Cars Facebook page.

About the author

Jeremy Patterson

A former bracket racer, Jeremy, known by many as "Taco," stepped out of the seat in 2005 to focus on his growing family. A few years ago, he returned to the sport, this time as a photographer and a journalist.
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