Thursday

It’s the first day of qualifying at SCSN 16 and you couldn’t ask for better weather. Kurt Johnson and the team at Total Venue Concepts have groomed the surface of Las Vegas Motor Speedway to perfection for all of the racers. For this event, all four lanes of The Strip will be used with two being prepared for slicks, and the other two receiving the full radial prep treatment. We’ve updated our gallery with more great shots from the action today so check it out along with our stories from the pits.

Volkswagen racing is pretty big in the western part of the United States, so it’s no surprise that we found a few VWs here at SCSN 16. Mike Sheldon’s Gulf Blue 1962 Beetle caught our eye as we were wandering around the pits. This VW is powered by a 2165cc engine and is backed by a Type 1 transmission that Mike bangs during his mid-10-second jaunts down the track.

For Mike, racing VWs is something that was introduced to him by a family member and it just stuck.

“My brother raced VWs and I watched him as a kid, it hooked me and I’ve been racing them ever since. I got to drive his car at Terminal Island Dragway back in the 1980s and that did it. It’s fun to be different and race something other than what you normally see at the track,” Mike says.

When you look at Mike’s Beetle, it doesn’t look like anything crazy at first, until you start to think about the size of the car. Being such a small vehicle makes it a real handful to drive deep into the 10-second zone, mix in a clutch and you’ve got a recipe for a good time. Needless to say, Mike stays very busy inside the tight confines of his Beetle on each pass. 

As a native of the Los Angeles area, Mike has spent a lot of time traveling to big VW races during his career. He’s been as far east as Denver and all the way to Arizona at one point too. Mike doesn’t mind the travel because he loves spending time with his racing buddies. 

“The friends I’ve made racing are what I enjoy the most, the adrenaline rush of racing is great, but the friends make it worth it.”

California native Artis Houston has been a fixture in the small-tire racing scene on the west coast for many years. Houston’s stunning 1971 Nova has been under the knife recently for a host of updates and is just now getting back to the track. The BES-built nitrous engine is still between the frame rails up front, but that’s about the only thing that’s remained the same for Houston.

“The car was on leaf springs for many years, but we’ve switched over to an X275 legal ladder bar suspension in the rear. Another change we made was going from a Mike’s Transmission Powerglide to a TH400 transmission. I went to ladder bars because I wanted to give myself more of a tuning window with the suspension. I also wanted to do something different with the car, I like the lower stance with the ladder bar set up,” Houston says.

Going from leaf springs to a ladder bar suspension is a big change, but to make it easier Houston enlisted the help of super tuner Kenny Hubbard. The suspension is very similar to the one Hubbard runs on his Nova, so that has made the transition much smoother for Houston. Matthew Mongo from MacFab took care of the installation and has been assisting with the tuning as well. 

“The plan right now is to keep running in X275 along with any other small tire classes the car will fit in. I want the car to run in the top half of the field in X275. The goal is to get the car to run in the 4.30s since I don’t have a lock-up torque converter,” Houston explains.