Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Here's where we go to kick back after the races with our pals. Pour a tall one, punch a few buttons on the jukebox, and relax...
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:19 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is David Strine, from Westminster, Maryland. I met David on Facebook a while back when he contacted me to recommend one of his racing buddies to be a Racer of the Week. His 1972 Chevy Malibu, which he named “Frankinstrine” is a fantastic classic hot rod. He runs with the No Prep group and has been very successful with it.

“Frankie” was built in 2012 by the late Jim Robinson from Baltimore Md. for David. It's a 3/4 tube chassis. with a 396” small block Chevy, nitrous assisted, with a power glide trans, a fabricated 9" rear housing with a 4.71 gear, and it runs on 32×14×15 Hoosier tires. The gloss black paint was applied by Mark Hobbs of Hobbs Auto.

"Frankie" has been to the winners circle 2 times and has earned several runner up spots, most recently at US 13 at Delmar Delaware. David said they are looking for great things to happen in 2020.

David thanks his wife Sherry for her love and support, and his friend Jeff Doster from South Mountain Raceway for his help and friendship.

David is a very down-to-earth guy. He’s a great drag racer, but what I saw as his true greatness is his selfless attitude about not just racing, but about life. He first made contact with me to recommend one of his racing buddies to be a Racer of the Week. I looked his friend up and sure enough, he’s qualified and he’s on the schedule now…but I also looked up David’s page and the Frankinstrine Racing page, and I was blown away to see this extremely high-quality hot rod and pictures of David’s friends and family all giving him great respect and love. David thinks of other people first, not himself. That is a rare quality, and since we first made contact about featuring Ken, we have become great friends and he has recommended 6 more racers for this, all of whom I contacted and they all accepted the invite. The happiest of all of them is David Strine himself, who is made happy by making other people happy.

God Bless you, David. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Nov 11, 2019 6:44 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Paul Dale, from Basingstoke, United Kingdom. Paul was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Simon Boot. Thanks, Simon! Paul’s story is a classic Drag Racing saga, which in my opinion would make a great movie. He speaks straight from the heart, and I have enjoyed my chats with him over the last few weeks.

Paul’s life in racing started when he was about 18. His Dad built a Fiat Topolino Altered from scratch. It had a 383” Chrysler lump in it. They used to take turns driving, and they ran in a group called The Wild Bunch for many years and did really well. Paul also had several hot rods, including a Zephyr with a Rover v8, a ’68 Camaro which they Pro-Streeted. It had 15 x 15 Centerlines on the back and 3.5 Centerlines on the front, running a small block Chevy. Paul used this on the street and for racing at Avon park. He then got into girls and got out of racing until about 6 years ago when a little 105e Anglia came up for sale. It used to be a very well known car that Tim Adams ran in Super Gas. He bought the car in a bare chassis state and rebuilt it quite quickly to get back out racing again. They started with a pretty stock small block Chevy and ran 11s and eventually got into the tens. They then joined a group called the Supercharged Outlaws and decided to have an engine built with a supercharger by Pater knight. This was the start of serious racing for them as a family, Paul’s mum Pam, Dad Steve, and daughter Somer are at the track at Santa Pod most weekends during the race season.

The “Acute Angle” is getting quicker every year and has run into the 8s. At the end of this season Paul decided to get greedy with the boost and unfortunately, blew the engine to bits. This was a great disappointment, but it has now pushed Paul into building the engine to run on methanol with an injected hat! The new small block Chevy should make about 1200 hp, and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t run into the 7s, which could mean it will be the fastest 105e in England, but time will tell!!

The car is a handful at the best of times and Paul told me he’s had many a scary moments in it! It’s only a 100inch wheelbase and it’s very narrow, so it doesn’t take much for the car to decide to go one way or another on its own without any warning!

I would like to thank his Mum and Dad, Somer and Lou, his other other half for all their support in his racing efforts!

Paul would also like to thank Andy Fadster and all the Supercharged Outlaws for making him and his team so welcome,
And he also thanks DragList LIVE for doing this and he said he feels very honored to be featured as a Racer of the Week.

Great car and a great story, Paul! We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Nov 18, 2019 6:27 pm

My pick for Racers of the Week are Bobby, Charity and Harley Frizzell, from Starr, South Carolina. Charity got in touch with me a few months back and recommended Bobby to me, and I found that the whole family is involved in their hot rod. They sent great info on the car and the time they’ve spent working on it.

Bobby races a 1963.5 Ford Galaxie 500. What makes the car special is he bought it from the original owner who also raced the car when it was new. The car was in a garage untouched for 25 years. Bobby pulled it out of the garage and brought it back to life and today races with the Southeast Gassers Association in the super stock class. The class doesn't get a lot of attention but Bobby is keeping the car alive and retaining the original owner's legacy while building and racing it now. The car is named Legacy because of this.

Bobby owns and manages the 78 Speed Shop in Anderson, South Carolina.

The history of the Legacy is as cool as the car is. Bobby purchased the it from the original owner, who ordered it new from Ford. He was in the military at the time and wanted a car he could drive on the street and race on the weekends. He raced the car at weekend races all the way thru the 70’s. Then he started street driving it till 1993, when he parked it in his garage.

Time passed and the car sat there till Bobby found it in early 2018. He purchased the car and began bringing it back to what it was. He rebuilt the original 390 and installed a Hightower 4 speed manual transmission. The Southeast Gassers Association started a super Stock class and that’s just the fit that Bobby was looking for.

Bobby told me he’s one of the brokest guys you’ll ever meet. When he started this Journey he had a guy tell him that he was wasting his time. People as poor as Bobby had no place in racing. He was fueled by that statement and was determined to build this car and race it.

He said he won’t lie; he couldn’t have done it without people like Daniel Powell at Powell’s cams and Powell’s Machine Shop. Daniel put a lot of his knowledge and his time into this car along with a killer custom cam. Bobby’s wife has put time in on the build and their 17 year old daughter Harley is his crew chief and has worked many hours on the car.

Bobby also wants to thank Quain Stott for giving him the chance along with the countless other drivers that gave him their old parts. That’s right, the car is built out of a lot of used parts. In my book, that makes it a genuine hot rod! Bobby said he wants to inspire other guys to the fact that it doesn’t matter what your financial status is, you can build a race car and you can have fun. He said he named the car Legacy because a legacy is something you live, and he’s trying to live his legacy and carry on with the cars.

Right now the car runs in the 8’s, but they are getting faster at each race so who knows where it will be at the end of the season? This is what Bobby does know…For a guy that was told he could not afford to be competitive…that he wasn’t good enough…that a 4000 pound car couldn’t be competitive. He’s sitting 6th in the points and the guys in SEGA have been nothing but great to him. They really are one big family. Bobby told me: “Hopefully my story can inspire guys to get out and build something cool. Never let people stop you from your dreams.”

They drag that old Galaxie all over the place on an open trailer behind a 30-year-old truck. Bobby’s got nothing to hide. He ain’t scared. He said they know they could have never made it without the great people that have helped them.

Hopefully they can pick up a couple more sponsors from it and make a real run at the championship this year. Sponsors looking for the Frizzell’s, check out:

The 78 Speed Shop, LLC Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/78speedshop/

The Frizzell Racing video on YouTube. It’s great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVt6UWUZo94

https://www.facebook.com/bobby.frizzell.10

Bobby, Charity and Harley, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Sat Nov 30, 2019 4:38 pm

Happy Thanksgiving!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Sat Nov 30, 2019 4:39 pm

My pick for Racers of the Week are Leo and Tina Georgis, from Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. Leo was recommended to me by our friend and world-class graphic artist Colin Hardy. Thanks, Colin!

Leo’s hot rod, “The Flying Carrot”, is instantly recognizable as one of Australia’s classic drag race cars, and I’ve had a great time chatting with Leo about his racing history as well as the history of this awesome race car.

Leo’s story starts off like this: when he was around 7-8 years of age, a family friend of theirs was involved in drag racing. Leo’s brother and he would travel along with him and his children to various meetings, and they were hooked at a young age. As the years went on and they finally had their own (street) cars, the brothers used to attend their local track and race there a few times while it was operational, until it was closed down in the late 80s and it still remains closed. Now there is no track where the capital city of Australia is. Leo said “work that one out?” So his current home track is around 320kms away (Sydney Dragway). A lot of traveling is involved, and occasionally he makes the 1200km one-way trip to Willowbank Dragway for the Winternationals every June, but Leo said it’s worth it.

After competing for about 10 years in Street class driving his Holden Torana, the decision was made to purchase the Escort from Leo’s son-in-law’s father and step up into the Super Sedan/Top Sportsman bracket in 2017. The Torana still remains in the family with Leo’s son taking the reins; as for the Escort, she’s an awesome little car, like a go-cart on steroids.

After a successful 2018/19 season, Leo became the National Champion in Super Sedan…something that racers dream of but he didn’t expect this would have happen to them, as we were running in fifth place going into the final meeting. There where a few drivers chasing the title as well. Let’s just say Lady Luck or someone was looking out for him and they came away with the title and a lot of new mates!

Now to the car. This little beast has been on the racing circuit since 1974 and Leo’s pretty sure it would one of the longest-running and still active racing cars in Australia. It’s a very popular vehicle, with old and new supporters that know the history of this car, either at race meets or car shows.

It’s a Mk1 1972 Australian Ford Escort Panel Van. The whole car has been chopped by 100mm right around as advised by the original owner, it’s an all steel body, with a new full chassis built a few years ago. The car weighs in at around 2200 pounds.

The power plant is a 400 cubic inch Small Block Chevy. It has a Dart Block, AFR Heads, a Victory Junior manifold, a 950 APD carb and it runs on VP MS109 fuel. The engine makes around 680hp.

It uses MSD ignition, the transmission is a 2-speed Power Glide. It has a 5000 Hi-Stall converter. The power goes to a Ford 9” differential with 4.11 gears.

It has Weld wheels, 15 x 10 & 15 x 4 Alumastars, Mickey Thompson tyres: 32 x 15 x 12 rears and 24 x 15 x 4.5 fronts.

Leo’s best ET to date is 8.92 at 152mph.

There a few people and sponsors that he’d like to mention for there assistance:

Bradbury Panel & Restorations (Leo’s son-in-law) for an awesome paint job and ongoing help, Aksenov Constructions, ACT Motor Traders, and their present new sponsor, Lamatina Carrot Growers. They’re actually a Top Fuel Race Team over there that are helping them out for the 2020 season. This is a major deal for the Flying Carrot team that will hopefully defend their Aussie title!

Leo also thanks his crew and family with all their help when they’re not racing means a lot to him so thanks to Benny, Robert, Simon, Ray, Martin, Budda, many thanks guys!

Thanks to Colin Hardy for the awesome Flying Carrot graphics,
and lastly to Leo’s wife, Tina, who has supported him over these years. Thank You.

Leo, this is without question one of the coolest and most unique hot rods I’ve ever featured. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Dec 09, 2019 2:44 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week is Stephen (Steven) Hawes (Halls) who resides out of Hillsborough, New Jersey. Stephen was recommended to me by our producer, Barb Santucci, who recently met Stephen and saw him race. He came highly recommended. Thanks, Barb!

Stephen grew up in Northern Virginia and his father would take him to Maryland International Raceway as a kid and that’s where he got the bug for racing. However he started out taking photographs of drag racing at tracks such as MIR, 75-80 Dragway, and Old Dominion Speedway. Since his first car was a 1966 VW Beetle, he toured around the VW Drag Racing Scene for years until meeting up with Bryan Epps and Chris Simmons. From there he was traveling the country, photographing events for the NHRA, IHRA and even the television show PINKS.

After 10 years of taking photos of the race cars he was ready to get behind the wheel himself. He bought his first drag car which was a 1974 VW Beetle with a chop top and had a 2160cc engine that would run 7.50 seconds at 90mph. His first ever race he finished in the semifinals and at his second ever race he ended up in the winner circle. After a few years of running in the bracket class he had the opportunity to step into a VW Pro Mod.

He purchased a 1956 Oval Body Turbo Charged on Methanol Chassis Car from Alan Fore out of Lyman, SC. This car, like many underwent many changes throughout its lifetime. It was originally built in 1998 by Ron Lummus Racing from Anaheim, CA. It was built for a VW Pro Stock Class and was campaigned in all motor trim until 2012 when it was converted into a full-blown Pro Mod.

Since then it’s wreaked havoc on the VW Community on the east coast dubbing the name THE BEAST. It’s best pass to date is a 5.27 @ 135mph in the 1/8th.

Its current configuration is a Pauter Big Block 2500cc engine, with Custom CNC Heads, Billet Atomizer Injectors, Garrett 79mm turbo, and a Mendeola 2d Transmission built by Black Mamba Racing, putting down close to 1,000hp to the track. If you want to see more of Stephen or his fellow VW Racers, you can find them online at http://www.vwheritageseries.com/

Stephen is the president and manager of HoleShot Productions, providing services with Audience Response Systems
Webinars, Live Webcasting, Audio Visual Production, Live Capturing & Recording, PowerPoint Services, Video Production, Project Consultation & Management, Set Design & Lighting,
Advisory Board Meetings, Speaker Training Meetings, and
Audience Response Systems among the many facets of his company’s capabilities. HoleShot Productions can be found online here: http://www.hspav.com/index.php

Stephen is a popular and respected competitor in his region, and I am proud to have him with us as one of the last Racers of the Week for 2019.

Stephen, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:12 pm

My pick for Racers of the Week are Ken Clark and Ryan Taggart, the Swamp Thing and White Zombie Racing Team, from Brandon, Mississippi. The team was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, David Strine. Thanks, David!

I’ve been chatting with the team’s crew chief, Joey Baroni over the last couple of weeks, and he’s given me some great info on these 2 cars. Joey came from the Dirt late model world to the drag racing world. He street raced in the 80s. He raced Dirt from ’94 to 2014. He also told me he had a Harley Crash. He said he learns every day how to go faster.

Joey took over in July after fixing the Swamp Thing wreck from the Kansas race in 2018. The team got two wins that year with Swamp Thing, which is a ’67 Chevy Nova wagon. They didn’t run White Zombie as they were installing a new ’66 Nova steel body to meet the No Prep Kings rules. In 2019 they got several runners-up with Swamp Thing; 1 win in Gulfport, and White Zombie went rounds. They made the Top 5 at Armageddon this year with White Zombie, one spot out the money round. They made the semifinals at Redemption in Prescott against the turbo cars with Swamp Thing and White Zombie. They came in 2nd in the Dirty South Series with White Zombie, and 7th place with Swamp Thing.

They will run the championship race in the first race of 2020. They have 3 wins with this deal that Joey can’t talk about because the new show is coming out January 20th. They have a 632-inch Reher-Morrison with 3 kits in White Zombie and a 762-inch Reher-Morrison in Swamp Thing with 3 kits.

The plan this year is to hit as many races as they can. Ken will have surgery at the end of December and will be healing for 3-4 months. They have the cars real close , but Joey’s still working on a good street set up for White Zombie. He said Swamp Thing will run on gravel.

I thought it was an interesting point that Joey made there. No Prep racing requires a completely different setup, to keep those monsters going straight down the track. Joey’s doing it and he smooth tells it like it is. These guys are some of the best there is for this type of racing.

Both cars are built, not bought. Joey said “First, thanks to all the fans. We can’t do it with out them.” He gives a Shout out to Nitrous Express, GPS Race Cars, HPLOIL, Williams Carburetors,BTE Transmissions, Hoosier Tires, Penske Shocks, and Racequip.

The team also sends thanks to Mark Niebes for his help and computer knowledge. He was a great help to Joey in setting these cars up.

Joey, Ken and Ryan, we wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future.
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:35 pm

My pick for Racer of the Week to kick off 2020 is Jerry Andrade, from Hilo, Hawaii. Jerry was recommended to me by our friend and the admin of the 808_FUEL page, Michael Baba Balbarino. I also was given help and information from Jerry’s wife Michelle, who put us in touch. Thanks, Michael and Michelle!

Jerry Andrade is one of the most successful, well-known and respected Drag Racers in Hawaii. He’s been racing for 51 years, and he has done it all and won it all. His nickname in H-Town is “Papa Wheelie”; a play on words, but a fitting title to his awesome on-track adventures.

I chatted with Jerry earlier this week and he has some great stories from back in the day. He took me back to 1971, when he went down to Oahu when they had a track there and won the Pacific Championship. He also won the quarter-mile foot race!

Jerry has won the annual Gary Arita Memorial Shakedown Race in Hilo for the 3rd consecutive time in 5 years. What makes this win special is he takes the ashes of the late Gary Arita for a run on the track either on the golf cart or in one of his race cars. The lady who is pictured with him in the graphic for his feature is Gary’s widow. This is a very thoughtful and meaningful gesture to Gary’s family and to all who attend that race. But that’s the kind of guy Jerry Andrade is. He never forgets his friends, and he always returns a favor to everyone he knows. He won the race with his black Vega. He told me he’s not racing the orange Vega wagon at this time because he hurt the front end doing a massive wheelstand earlier last year.

Jerry is the 2018 King of the track at Hilo Drag Strip. That is no small accomplishment considering the level of competition that exists at Hilo. Some of the fiercest and most powerful hot rods take to that track every time they have a race, and Jerry’s skill as a driver has made the difference in his winning record.

Jerry sends a big thank you to the Dean Kalawe crew for all their help. Dean tunes Jerry’s engines, and he was a Racer of the Week back in September. Jerry said he appreciates you all!!!

He almost went to the mainland to compete, but business matters have prevented him from doing that, but we hope that some time soon the gates will open and Jerry can come over and show us how it’s done!

Jerry, we wish you good luck, safe racing, and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jan 13, 2020 7:30 pm

My pick for the opener of tonight’s Racer of the Week Double-Header is Aidan Heatley-Smith, from Paris, Ontario. Aidan was recommended to me by our friend and former Racer of the Week, Dan Sharp. Thanks, Dan! Aidan said they’ve been good friends with the Sharp family for years, racing in England with them. They moved to Canada in 2004 but they have a huge world-wide following on social media, having raced all around Europe and North America for decades.

Aidan has been a DragList fan since he was 9 years old. He always emailed pics of his dad Smax’s cars over the years. He has been looking forward to his feature. In Aidan’s world, when it comes to racing, the world stops for it!

Basically the team is owned by Smax. He’s a former European Champion, winning the Championship in his rookie season in 2003, and has been driving top fuel ever since. Starting the Ant Hill Mob in the mid-70s, Smax was the 3rd person in Europe to run 300mph, in his debut event, first round, in 2003 , running a 4.89 @303mph in the 1/4 mile at that time, and went on that year to win the Championship. Smax drove the Leverich family top fuel dragster from 2007 until this year, and finally ran his first 3 second 1000ft pass in October of 2019, a 3.93 with an early shut-off. He’s still looking to run 300mph to 1000 ft to check off his “all you can do in top fuel” list.

Aidan is now the second generation driver, bringing the team name back in early 2008, and running under the Ant Hill Mob Banner ever since. He has been racing blown alcohol cars since he was 16, and now at 31, the team is gearing up their 2020 season looking to run some NHRA events for the first time. They love the sport and Aidan has been doing it his whole life. His dad has been racing 47 years straight this year, all self funded, and always actively looking for sponsors to get to the top level. Aidan said he would ultimately love to drive top fuel if they can find the right deal! The Ant Hill Mob is a fun, energetic, family oriented team, and they are great with the fans. They know how to have fun and defiantly put on a show for the fans on and off the track !

The first time Smax took Aidan to the track was at Santa Pod Raceway, and he witnessed England’s first ever 4 second pass. He was instantly hooked. When Aidan was around 9 years old, Smax owned a nitro funny car. He had no crew that lived near by, so he used to sit Aidan in the cockpit to warn the car up!! He was surprised that Christmas with a junior dragster and he’s been racing ever since! Now Aidan does everything from building the engines , organizing the shop and trailer, loading the car, and driving the rig! He sets up the pit as well and he says he wouldn’t trade it for the world. He’s a hard worker when it comes to the car, and he rarely lets his dad touch it (even though it’s his)! Smax does make the tuning calls though, but Aidan mainly lets him relax and interact with the fans while the Mob works. Aidan loves his dedicated crew guys Jacob, Josh and brother Ronan who’s been a part of his racing career since moving to Canada from England in 2004. You walk in the pit and you wouldn’t believe it’s mainly run by a bunch of young guys!

Aidan would like to thank the Leverich family, Gary and Bob especially for the opportunity they have gave the Smiths to get involved with their top fuel team and letting Smax drive the car all those years, and as the team grows and costs soar, they are looking for marketing partners to keep Smax active for a couple races a year. He was known as the “John Force of England”, and with his high energy interviews and personality, it’s always a good time around him. The team is really gearing up for 2020. It’s gotten to the point where they have a state-of-the-art Top Alcohol Funny Car program. They are currently sending everything out to be certified, they purchased a complete identical second motor that they are picking up next week! There are a few things in the works , but They want to also give a huge shout out to their current sponsors helping us out with products to make this happen:
Bill Zinger of “Blendtek Fine Ingredients”
Bryan and Brett at CP Carillo Rods and Pistons
Kris Boesen at Six B apparel
Ben Conant at DJ Saftey
David Allen at Hussey Gaskets
Donny Mosher at Engine Technologies
Brad at Renway Energy Fuels
Ronan Heatley-Smith at Roro Designs Powder Coating
NGK Spark Plugs Canada
And Manton Pushrods for coming on board this season
Without all these guys and all the support of family and friends , none of this would be possible !

A little goes a long way with The Ant Hill Mob. They use bigger than asked for decals and the cars and trailers, mentions and tags.

In all of their social media posts and videos, they give live updates prior to any runs and end-of-day updates so all of their activities are properly reported.

Thanks, Aidan for the excellent input for your feature. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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Re: Racin' and Rockin'..."JB's Take"

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Jan 13, 2020 7:32 pm

My pick as the closer for tonight’s Double-Header is Lee Johnstone, from Somerset, United Kingdom. Lee Was recommended to me by our friend Ross Norris. Thanks, Ross! Lee sent a lot of information to me about his hot rod, much of which came from an article by Mike Pye for Custom Car Magazine. Lee’s feature is a combination of this article, Lee’s messages and my own input. Thanks to all.

Lee’s all-steel Volvo P1800 Gasser is something to see, whether it’s on the drag strip or just sitting there looking great. Lee and his friend Steve Wright built this classic hot rod from the ground-up. And they built it with the sole intention of having fun.

They got the cold shoulder from the Gasser Circus when they turned up at Dragstalgia, but they weren’t bothered. They had both been involved in the politics of drag racing before, and neither of them wanted to get into that again. They got into this to do big smoky burnouts, lift the wheels off the line, and if they break something, spend the rest of the weekend having a few beers, some barbecue and watching the rest of the racing.

At first, Steve wasn’t hot for Lee’s idea but he finally gave in and offered Lee a partnership. He dug the big block Chevy and the Turbo 400 transmission out of his old van and they began work on building the car at Steve’s Apple County Muscle Car Workshop in Wellington, Somerset. Steve said they basically cut a huge hole in the bulkhead of the Volvo to fit the big block engine in and then started on the chassis. With Lee’s expertise as a fabricator and welder, they combined their resources and talents and came up with a winner.

Steve’s experience included being half-owner of the Gold RV injected Nitro Dragster, as well as having his own hot rod shop for several years. Lee, on the other hand, had been drag racing for decades prior to this project, having built and raced a Jag-motored Topolino on an E93A Pop chassis in 1971, then he worked his way up through a number of Competition Altereds, including the Warlord and the Apple County Cannon, in which he ran a best of 8.805 at 153 mph. Lee said “Down to about 8.50s is affordable, but that’s about as far as you can go on an average man’s living wage. After that, costs start to spiral.” Steve very much concurs, from his experience with a nitro dragster.

Rather than just buy stuff, Lee would make parts, or find something else he could adapt to the project. It’s the way a lot of the original gassers were built and this car represents that ethic from end to end.

The engine uses the same 4-bolt main 454 Day Van block, bored 30 over and fitted with a complete balanced rotating assembly from Crane Cams and a pair of no-name aluminum heads with uprated valve gear and roller rockers. The V6-71 blower is mildly overdriven, making about 6 PSI of boost, but that fits the ethos of the car. It won’t rev over 6 grand, but it still makes around 600 hp, which is 400 hp more than the stock engine had. It’s plenty to get the front end up off the line and run the car into the mid-10s.

Steve was Lee’s partner in the build, but decided a short while after running the car that he wanted to pullout. It would have taken Lee a lot longer to have built it on his own, so it worked out ok in the end. Lee bought Steve out and decided to run the car as a family project, with all three of his daughters driving: Eleanor, Victoria and Sarah. At the moment they are down to two as Victoria has a one year old and is a bit in demand elsewhere. Sarah and Eleanor are very enthusiastic and keep Lee on his toes; to date the car has run 10.49 at 126mph, with Lee as top gun. They recently had the car weighed and it comes in at 3008lbs. It's all steel, no wonder they get so tired after pushing it about the pits all weekend! They are updating the fuel system this winter from a pair of 650s to 850s and possibly a higher stall converter. Other than that it will stay much the same. Lee sends best regards to DragList LIVE from all of the team Ain't no Saint.

Lee send thanks to Steve Wright for building the car with him, he thanks Kim, Steve’s wife and Susan, Lee’s wife for always being by their sides and supporting them, his daughters Eleanor, Victoria and Sarah, Stephen Spiller for the electrics and help with loads of other stuff, Bobby Glassup, Richie Walters for the paint, Dave Hallaran at PAW Engineering for doing all the machining jobs they couldn’t do, Handling’s Motor Engineers, South West Tinting, and Billy MacDermid at Topspeed Automotive.

Lee, this car is an outstanding example of do-it-yourself engineering and hot rod building, and it is a true classic and a legendary hot rod which fits perfectly with your legend in British Drag Racing. We wish you good luck, safe racing and the best of times in the future!
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