Greg Tinney's Oldsmobile Cutlass

 

Greg Tinney has been Drag Racing for over 40 years , and along with his current racing partner of 25 years they have won 8 championships out of the same shop.

 

Greg Tinney from Wolf Racing has raced Oldsmobile's for 40 years. He started out racing his 1971 Olds Cutlass street car back in high school. His current race car is also a 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass S 442 Clone.  Greg said he installed 1972 taillights just because he likes the look of those better. The car was wrecked when he got it and  planned on building it into a race car from the start so he stripped all of it down and replaced any damaged sheet metal , then He painted the car 1993 Cadillac Dark Plum .

 

Greg installed a 10 point roll cage with a rear x brace at L.J. Race cars in Davie,FL. He wanted to restore the car as well and not just cut it up.The car has all of the glass and it is all steel except for the Glasstek fiberglass hood and 5" cowl hood scoop that He made. He also installed a VFN fiberglass front bumper. 

The car weighs 3200 lbs and the best E.T. is 10.97@ 118.50 with a best 60 ft. time of 1.50 and that is without a transbrake. Greg  started out racing at Miami Hollywood Speedway and Moroso drag strip as well as Bradenton raceway. He built most of the car at his friend Ron's shop over a 10 year period and at his house.

 

 

 

 

Greg used a Jaz racing seat with Impact Racing 5 way harness and a Racequip window net. The vital signs are monitored by an Autometer Monster Tach. and gauges. A J.W. shifter handles the gear changes .  A factory GM tilt column with a 442 steering wheel on a Grant quick release , keeps the Cutlass going straight.   

 

 

  Greg uses Centerline wheels front and rear with 29.5x10.5-15 Mickey Thompson Slicks and Moroso rim screws keep the slicks secure .  The power is sent to a 12 bolt Chevy rear end with fully welded axle tubes. It has a T/A rear girdle cover and billet caps and studs. A billet spool and Moser 33 spline axles are also used. The housing uses B&B aluminum bushings and TRZ upper spherical aluminum bushings with adjustable upper arms and tubular lower control arms. The rear end also has a Moser pinion yoke and a Moroso rear u-joint girdle connected to a heavy duty driveshaft with a safety loop.

 

He used a Chassis Engineering Top Gun rear anti-rollbar and QA1 rear shocks. And up front Moroso super trick springs with QA1 shocks with front end limiters    

 Factory control arms are employed and Energy suspension poly bushings keep everything together.

 

 

The power plant is a 1968 Oldsmobile Toronado 455 . It has been bored .030 over and zero decked. The block is filled with Hardblok .  ARP studs and Cometic gaskets keep the heads in place. Greg said he used a steel crank and factory steel rods that have been polished and used Kenne-Bell rod bolts.       

 

                  

                           

The big 455 runs Speed-Pro pistons at 11.6 to 1. It is fitted with crankshaft scrapers and a rear oil pump baffle under a Melling ported oil pump with a Milodon oil pump shaft. A Kenne Bell oil pump screen is bolted to the pump.The oil galley holes are enlarged and the lifter feeds are all restricted. Greg used a Moroso 7 qt. pan and a ATI flexplate with ARP bolts. On the front is a Fluidampr balancer with a Dave Smith aluminum crank pulley.

It is equipped with a Griffin aluminum radiator with dual electric fans and a Meziere electric water pump. The heads are iron Oldsmobile E castings that have been ported and spent a lot of time on the flow bench. They were converted to 3/8 screw in studs with Comp Cams guide plates with Harland Sharp 1.6 rocker arms.  Stainless 2.11 intake valves and 1.71 Oldsmobile exhaust valves were used. They have dual springs with chrome- moly spring retainers and locks.

The heads use Jomar stud girdles and longer poly-locks covered by tall Moroso valve covers. It has a Accel ball bearing distributor with a MSD trigger and a MSD 6al ignition box with MSD 2 step and rev limiter. and Moroso spark plug wires send the spark to the NGK plugs . Two inch Hooker super comp headers and 18" collector extensions get the fumes out . The cam is a Bullet solid lifter grind with Manley pushrods and a Rocket Racing cam thrust bumper with a bronze front thrust washer.  A Rollmaster Billet timing set keeps the cam timed .The intake manifold is a Edelbrock Torker that has  Dominator aluminum spacer welded and ported on the top of it with a Holley 1050 Dominator  carb with a Moroso air bell .                                                                                                                   

 In the trunk is a 8 gallon Harwood fuel cell and a Product Engineering fuel pump connected to a Magnafuel Y Block and braided steel lines and a Magnafuel regulator up front.

 His transmission of choice is a Turbo 400 that Greg built using a Coan 9" 3800 stall converter. A a 34 element sprag was installed with a heavy duty band . Then he installed a 6 disc clutch pack with a rollerized output shaft and rollerized torrington bearings. A deep pan and a JW forward pattern manual valve body was also installed and it is all surrounded by a transmission blanket to keep him safe. 

 

 

 

Many people have helped Greg and would like to acknowledge them for their help and support. His parents and friends. Marty has helped him for many years. His friend Shelia helps him out greatly. Thanks to.Jax from Speed Shark Graphics for apparel and also his social media presence and promotion. 

His step daughter Alex has crewed for Greg for a long time and supported him always. His longtime girlfriend Audra was his crew chief and ran his whole operation, she passed away in 2012.

 Greg also thanks his longtime race partner Doug Roden from Legend Racing Enterprises in Schaumburg,Ill.  He has been a great friend,partner, machinist and racing mentor to him.  Greg said with help from his son Steve he is the 2014-2013 track champion at Byron Dragway in Byron Ill.

Other racers have helped me tremendously with my racing program. Toni from HR Race Car Products in Comer,Ga. installed the chrome Moly rear chassis cross member and lower arm brace tubes for additional strength and chassis adjustments. Also Rob Walden from Lamar Walden Automotive in Doraville,Ga. for his help and support and professional machine work. Thank you to everyone that has helped me achieve my racing dream and success.

Thank you for the opportunity to share my racing dream with everyone on your Drag Racing website , Greg Tinney  Wolf Racing.

 We thank Greg for sharing his story with us and look forward to updating his story further as he continues to keep racing.

Photos courtesy of Greg Tinney ,Wolf Racing 2021.

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Greg has made some updates to this bad Oldsmobile !

Carbon fiber Tube protectors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Stainless Steel exhaust headers.