The “Skid Row Z/28”: Chris And Aaron Lee Foray Into No Prep World

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When 19-year old Texan Chris Lee straps into his 1969 Camaro at the upcoming Outlaw Armageddon no prep race in Oklahoma, he’ll do as the certifiable ‘young gun’ of the field, competing against highly experienced and seasoned drivers who are, by and large, more than twice his age.

Lee and his father, Aaron, relative rookies to the sport of drag racing — they’ve been competing for less than two years — are throwing their hats into the big-tire ring in the no prep hotbed of the American Southwest, and they’re doing so with the help of one of the stars of the Discovery Channels’ “Street Outlaws” reality television program: James Goad, driver of “The Reaper”.

“A couple of years back, an employee of my fathers’ bought a Chevelle from James that had his old 765-inch motor in it. James was wanting this 765 back, so he built a 612-inch engine just the way this guy wanted it and they made a trade. That 612 was soon put up for sale, though, and my father and I bought it,” Chris tells.

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The Lee’s purchased the engine and dropped it into a C4 Corvette and raced it last season, where, in a chance meeting with Goad at an event in Amarillo, shared with him that they had the engine he’d built in their car. “We ended up staying up pretty late that night talking with James about cars and racing and whatnot, and the day after the race, he gave us his number and said to call him if we ever wanted to make some changes to that motor, since he knew it like the back of his hand,” Chris says.

From there, a friendship between Goad and the Lee’s was born — today, you can find the father and son duo assisting Goad with “The Reaper” in his between-race testing and at filming nights of Street Outlaws, trekking over 300 miles north of their Plainview, Texas home. It’s also led to their own foray into the no prep scene as competitors and the creation of a brand new race car to the Texas landscape.

In January of this year, Chris and Aaron decided to step up the performance of their Corvette and called Goad, but after close inspection of the chassis by the OKC runner, he didn’t feel comfortable providing the Lee’s with the kind of power they were after in a chassis unfit for it.

“He wasn’t comfortable making the engine upgrades, because come to find out, there were a lot of corners cut with the Corvette. He didn’t want to throw that much power at that car with me behind the wheel, for after reasons,” Chris explains.

It just so happened that, at the same time, one of Goad’s racing and business partners, heads-up and no prep racer Brent Austin out of Virginia (who campaigns a Camaro known as “Megalodon”) had just wrapped up a rolling chassis sporting a 1969 Camaro Z/28 body. A transaction was made with the Lee’s, and in February, they and Goad got to work preparing the car for a planned debut at Outlaw Armageddon later this summer. And with only a chassis, a body, wheels, and brakes, there was a lot of work yet to do.

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Coined as the “Skid Row Z/28”, the full-tube chassis is draped in original steel quarter panels and roof and has been mated with composite doors, decklid, nose and hood at Goad’s shop in Oklahoma. They’re also going the carbon fiber route for the interior, and with all the lightweight parts and pieces, expect the finished product to come in under 2,700 pounds at fighting weight.

Incidentally, the Lee’s also traded their 612 back to James to serve as his backup motor (it was actually used for three or four recent episodes of Street Outlaws) and in turn acquired the very 765-inch powerplant that had set the whole partnership into motion more than a year ago. They’ve outfitted the motor with three Nitrous Oxide Systems fogger kits that will be tuned by Monte Smith. A Turbo 400 and a Neal Chance converter back the power up and transmit to a Strange 430 center section bolted to a Moser Engineering rearend housing.

Chris, who attends West Texas A&M University, is keeping himself plenty busy over his summer break traveling to and from Goad’s shop to get the car completed, and with Goad himself overseeing the project, the Lee’s are drawing ever-closer to burning some rubber with the all-new machine.

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As Chris tells us, he and his fathers’ racing schedule beyond Armageddon remains wide open, but he wouldn’t rule out a return to race in OKC…with the Discovery Channel cameras rolling. However, because the Lee’s don’t reside in the 405 area code and are thus ineligible to race for the list, they’d instead need to compile a team from the North Texas area to get the interest of the shows’ producers to potentially arrange another rival-state race night. He does suggest however, that, because there aren’t frequent no prep events near their home, they may very well bracket race the Camaro from time to time — marking an interesting departure from the traditional no prep and street racing concept of keeping your elapsed times a guarded secret.

Chris will be one of many big-tire racers competing head-to-head at Armageddon trying to race their way in to the final spot in the 32-car invitational field that features all of the biggest names in the street and no prep world.

About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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