Among the heads-up categories here at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion, Pete Johnson’s show-quality 1963 Corvette is likely the only one that could be fired up and driven right out of the gate without hesitation. The Greenwood, Indiana native’s gorgeous self-built machine is powered by a 380 cubic-inch LSX paired with a set of BorgWarner S480 turbos and backed by a Powerglide transmission with a Gear Vendors overdrive.
“The car is really built for Drag Week-style stuff — it has to complete fuel systems, gas and alcohol, and we’ll run it on methanol here. This is our first time out this year — we broke it on the testing day before Drag Week kicked off last year. This is a brand new motor and we went 5.14 on the first hit here … it was just a soft hit to make sure everything is good. But it’s a real street car — we could drive it to the Shell station right now — we’d just change the tune and plug in the gas injectors and it’s ready to go.”
Johnson built the car himself over a span of three years, suing body his father had — the worst of the two, he admits. “I had Mustangs before this and I always got harassed about running an LS motor, and now I hear it from the Corvette people who can’t believe I’d cut up a Corvette to do this. It’a a step up — it used to be on stock suspension and now we have 4-link with factory A-arm setup. I’ve built a few cars, but it’s just for fun on the side.”
Mike Duke built the engine, which propelled it to a 4.93 in the opening round of Limited Drag Radial qualifying last night. Johnson’s goal is to put it in the 4.60s, which would put him on target to go 6.90s at over 200 mph at Drag Week or Rocky Mountain Race Week.
“I can’t run with these guys [in Limited Drag Radial] but we don’t really fit in anything else and it’s a good place to test on a great track.
The car sports a front and rear mounted fuel cell — the rear with an electric pump and the front off a crank-driven belt drive. A complete set of fuel rails and injectors for each system is neatly-plumbed under the intake plenum.
A year ago, Pro Modified newcomer Tim Blincoe’s weekend at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion came to an early and undesirable end in a terrifying accident when his ’63 Corvette spun around in the shutdown area, caught wind, and took flight, smashing down on its roof. Blincoe, a Kentucky bourbon warehouse magnate who may be the elder statesmen of the Midwest Pro Mod field this weekend, has long since forgotten the wild ride that initiated him to fast doorslammer racing, commenting only, “David [Monday, chassis builder] had it fixed in three weeks, you believe that?”
Blincoe has since achieved considerable success, earning his first major victory at the NMCA season opener in Bradenton, Florida in March. He and Monday, with the assistance of tuner Patrick Barnhill, burst onto the radial tire scene at Lights Out in February, running in the 3.70s in their debut. Blincoe then returned for the Sweet 16 and made the historic field on the bump spot with a 3.69, solidifying himself as a player in both the big- and small-tire game.
Monday has plans to assemble a pair of brand new C7 Corvette’s for he and Blincoe; Tom notes the two cars will be switching to lock-up torque converters in the near term, as well.
The team has nicknamed Blincoe’s Corvette “Spot,” as a series of major tire-shake episodes have knocked patches of paint loose all over the carbon fiber body, leaving patch spots along its flanks and the decklid area.
Blincoe struck the tires last night in qualifying round one and slowed to a 10.41.
Paolo Guist’s Radial versus The World Camaro has the most distinct and mesmerizing tone of any car in the category — with a Liberty 5-speed and a lock-up torque converter mated through a Quick Drive unit, the car audibly shifts six times in 660-feet. Paolo commented with a laugh: “it’s basically screaming ‘no, no, no, no, no, as it tries to blow itself up six times.”
It was a history-making affair in Friday’s marathon day of qualifying at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion. Following morning showers that pre-empted the day’s activities more than two hours, the action got hot and heavy early as the Midwest Pro Mod Series competitors began jockeying for position in the 16-car field in the day’s first session, plunging the bump spot into the 3.70s with each subsequent lap. Bahrain’s Ali Aryan stopped the clocks in 3.610-seconds to pace the field, while Jason Hamstra anchored the record field at 3.737. Tommy Franklin’s nitrous entry, third at 3.644, is sandwiched between four blower cars in the top five: Aryan, Justin Jones, Jeff Jones, and Aaron Wells.
Jamie Hancock
In Radial versus The World, Jamie Hancock stormed to the third-quickest pass in class history and the first in the 3.50’s by a nitrous car, blasting into the early Saturday morning darkness to a 3.599 at 198.17 mph. Hancock distanced himself by more than half a tenth over number-two Tim Slavens at 3.660. Mark Micke (3.662), Jack Greene (3.672), and Paolo Giust (3.684) rounded out the top five.
Nick Bruder
New Jersey’s Rich and Nick Bruder nearly added another mark in X275, as their small-block supercharged Mustang trumped the 4.290 it recorded on Thursday — a remarkable run in its own right — with a 4.236, just .001-second off their 4.235 world record clocked last month at the Sweet 16. Texan Kenny Hubbard joined Bruder in the 20s with a 4.256. Charles Hull (4.312), Ryan Millken (4.353), and Randy Matlock (4.359) round out the top five.
Martin Connelly
Bowling Green local Joel Greathouse will lead the Ultra Street field into eliminations thanks to a stout 4.635 at 147.55 mph, ahead of Brian Keep’s 4.649, Jesse Coulter’s 4.723, Paul Smith at 4.758, and Ron Belcher at 4.761. Martin Connelly paced the DXP 235 field with a 5.030 at 140.96 mph, just ahead of Austin Keen’s 5.096.
LDR No. 2 qualifier Paul Gargus’ beautiful twin-turbo ’68 Camaro.
Limited Drag Radial put on a show worthy of the price of admission in its own right, as the national record was traded back and forth in each of the two sessions of qualifying. Neil Hawkins entered the day on top at 4.13, but was leapfrogged this morning by Paul Gargus with the quickest run in class history at 4.080-seconds. Not to be denied, however, Hawkins powered back to the top in the sunset session with a record 4.066-seconds at 177.84 mph. An impressive 34 cars attempted to qualify for the 32-car field, which was anchored by Tracy Shores’ 5.11.
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