Feature Car- December 2009

Steve Morris  (of New Era Racecraft) is one of the premier engine builders in the country and when he sets his sights on having one of the baddest street cars in the country you can bet that it will be a contender.

The “Detroit of iron” of choice…none other than a Caprice station wagon. You may ask, “why build a 4 door station wagon?” Well, when you have over 2,220 horsepower of Procharger big block Chevy weight and girth are not a major concern. Besides that….when was the last time you saw a 3500 pound station wagon with stock suspension and drag radials run 7.51 @ 193 MPH !!!

No wheelie bars…no problem when you have 4 feet of overhang out back. Steve has been know to hang the front skinnies 300 feet out before getting the monster to settle down (and still can produce a low 8 second time slip).  If you are walking through the staging lanes and see the wagon sitting there (with all four doors open) you’ll just have to stop and take at the “4 doors of fun” station wagon from the New Era Racecraft. Different is GOOD !!!

 www.neweraracecraft.com

 Feature Car October 2009 - Bob Kernwein 1988 Mustang GT 

I must have been born under a luck star because when I turned 16 my parents took me to the local Ford dealer and told me that I could pick out a car for my birthday. I thought that the 5.0 liter Mustang GT looked pretty cool and said “how about this Mustang ?”. They reluctatntly agreed and I drove that car home (I’ve got the coolest parents in the world) !!!!

Once I had the car at home I began, like most kids, to  try to make it go faster.  By the time i was a senior the car was pretty quick had even done a little street racing (even though I probably should not have). In May of 1989 I had my dad go with me to Great Lakes Dragway for my first time to a drag strip. I had all the bolt on stuff and stock suspension stuff on the car with a little hidden NOS dry kit. It ran 12.10 not bad for my daily driver. 

When I went to college i worked the whole summer to buy more go fast parts for it. By the time I graduated college it had a aftermarkey cam, heads, intake, injectors and a cage in the car and went 10.70 (all with still a stock untouched short block from Ford). Now that i was working I decided i wanted to go faster and wanted a bigger small block. I had Bob Alexander from Performance Transmission(217-935-5352) build me a 372″ yates headed cleveland motor with NOS– That got me into the 8.90’s.

Bob

The whole Fastest Street Car scene was coming on strong in  1994 and my friends and Dad went to Memphis and saw some of the baddest guys in the country (most which were from Chicago area). I decided then that I need more money if I wanted to run with the “Big Dogs”. Fast forward a few years-new motor from Fast Times Motor Works. We race that motor every where ( Byron, Da Grove, St louis, Memphis, Orlando) and it was fast having run 8.40’s. However the heavy hitters like Spiro, Samuels, Scavo were in the real low 8.0 range… engine transplant time again. 

New engine builder Pete Robertson (CPS racing Engine- 708-479-7383) who ran the Modified Super Stock series just started a 10″ tire program with the Modifieds and they raced more local tracks so I was on board for this new group. Pete built me a new 398″ yates headed windsor motor and redesigned everything in the car-fuel system, ignition, and started to help me understand more about a NOS motor than what I already knew. Pete was instrumental to me and helping me go faster.  In 2002 I won the Modified Super Street Series and went as fast as 7.86@179.87. 

At this point the writing was on the wall that all cars 8.50 and faster were going to need some major chassis updates to be legal.  I enlisted my friend Eric Miller of Next Generation Race cars of Streator Illinois(815-672-9226) to build a killer baby promod style 10″ tire car. Eric built me a a perfect work of art race car. It is 25.2 legal (6.0 and slower under 3200#’s) chassis with my original mustang gt. The car is ultra-low, clean and smooth body lines for aerodynamics. The tubes are all laid out nice and clean and precision tin work and carbon fiber inside the car makes it look awesome. Eric built everything on the car himself, rear end housing, designed his own four link brackets, parachute handles, door release handles, nos valve handles etc. One look inside and all you will see is Quality! 

I now have 2 motors for race car 1 was a used motor I bought with the blue thunder heads and its a tiny motor 392″  and the other is a 427″ brodix neal headed small block that Pete built for me. We went out the first race and had some good test passes 8.20’s spinning the tires to a 1.13 60′ and burnt a piston in the semi finals. Oh well, new car blues.  Pete freshened the used motor and changed some stuff to his liking and we went testing at Rt 66 a few weeks ago.  With a small jet in the nos fogger we went a 1.14 60′ and a 7.74 @ 178.86–not bad for only 8 passes on a new car and motor. once we get it all dialed in we expect low 7.50’s @ 185 mile performance. I would like to thank Eric Miller of Next Generation Race Cars for all his help, Pete Robertson of CPS Racing Engines, Gil @ Speed Wire Systems, Bob Alexander from Performance Transmission and my wife Jamie for the countless hours of dealing with my speed addiction.

September  2009 Feature Car – Tony Crisostomo 1979 Z-28

A lot of guys these days say that they have a real “8 second street car“. “Ya’ I drive it all over the place and it runs at 180 degrees all day long…blah…blah…blah”. Well Tony’s Z/28 actually does get driven all over the Waukesha area (a suburb of Milwaukee) and does run at 180 degrees in the middle of summer, has DOT tires, a comfortable interior including a killer stereo system, and runs 8.70’s at over 154 mph when the NOS Cheater plate is flowing !!!

Tony’s brother bought this car new and it has evolved over the years from a small block screamer that was cable of 11 second quarter mile times to the 8 second stormer that you see here. The goal has always been to build a car that actually can be driven for hours at a time so he chose a Miezere electric pump and a Be-Cool aluminum radiator to keep the 1,000 hp combo happy during the dog days of summer in Wisconsin. The 540 BBC has all the good parts in it including a Callies crank, Ross pistons, Oliver rods, Lunati SOLID cam (yes a solid cam), Dart aluminum heads, topped off my a 1050 Holley Dominator.

Gebhardt’s out of Jacksonville, Illinois did the chassis which includes a 9″ inch rear end, Aerospace brakes, wheelie bars, and parachute (to stop this 3,600 lb beast). Tim Jakus helped with the engine program and made the whole deal work on the street & strip. If your ever in the Waukesha area and see a silver Z/28 Camaro cruising next to your car you may want to think twice before trying to run him off a stop light. This car is loaded for bear and the bottle is always on…..do you feel lucky  ???

Max Chevy Magazine  Feature- Paul Tadin’s 1967 Chevelle

8.40’s @ 170 mph on 9″ slicks

OK, you see this pretty black Chevelle parked at your local Saturday night hang out and take a look under the car. It has a mundane stock GM suspension and a nice pair of aftermarket shocks. Then you notice that the thing has FOUR mufflers under it (two of which are cheap 3″ turbo style muff’s). The hood is closed but you see that it has 396 flags on the front fender so you assume it is a big block.

Then Paul Tadin fires the thing up to head home and you hear some serious hardware idling under the hood. Mind you the exhaust note is really minimal (with those 4 mufflers trying to tame the beast within) but the gig is up, this is a nasty street machine !!! You ask your buddy what he thinks it runs and he immediately tags it is a 9 second car. Close but no cigar…this 3600 pound street car has run 8.48 @ 170 MPH through the exhaust on the 9″ skinnys. Check out the video !!!