Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  The Lucas Oil division 1 meet was a hot one, It was 86 degrees and sunny. It was held at Maple Grove Raceway in the heart of God's country, Mohnton, PA.   The turn out was out standing, the pits were packed and people filled the stands. This shows that people are still interested in the sport. The Pro mod class had 32 cars show up for 16 spots, I haven't seen that since the late 1980's  when Englishtown had 32 funny cars.                                                                                   The staging lanes during the last qualifying session on Saturday .                                   ...

    Back in the 1980's the Pro/Street trend was running hot across America and by the 1990's it was across the whole world. No car was off limits and people dared to be different. The builds were over the top, the cars had eye popping paint and mile-high air-induction systems. It wasn't about how much horsepower you had under the hood or sticking out, it was about who could outdo the next guy at the car show.   Other build styles were still going on at the time like traditional hot rod building and simple street machines were still prowling the streets. But Pro/Street was its own special thing and it still is but with a modern twist.  All the major car magazines featured Pro/Street builds from cover to cover and all the readers drooled over them. I know I did and dreamed to own one day. Car Craft, Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding & Super Chevy magazine were the go to publications each month to get your horsepower fix ! I recently came across this 1988 Chevy Bere...

What's in The Garage?  with mark francis !        Last month we posted the story of Mark and his Monza named "Louie the Lizard", a big tire street & strip car powered by a hot small-block Chevy. In this edition of What's In The Garage, we are going to showcase some of Mark's past and current build projects. As we learned he has a passion for the Chevrolet Monza, either in sedan or hatchback form Mark has owned a few of each and he has a few in his stable now . Each one is in a different stage in the build process . Buckle up and hold on as we take a look into Mark's Garage!    One of Mark's first builds was this 1978 Monza. Mark said that he bought while he was in high school (1986) from his best friend.      Mark tells us in his own words about his new purchase. It was a V6 roller that he blew the up before I bought it. I bought a 307 from a guy that worked in a machine shop, he built it for the NHRA Super Stock class bu...

    Mark Francis has an addiction to H-Body Chevy Monza's. Our main story is about Mark's green Chevy Monza nick-named Louie the Lizard, later on we will take a look at his other projects that he has brewing in the garage, from the past to the present Mark has built some cool hot rods . From a young age Mark was exposed to racing from listening to  his Father's stories of his street racing days and how his Mother went along with him. When he got older he would work on his fathers cars and amassed a wealth of knowledge. While still in high school Mark began building cars for himself and for his friends.   Mark said he bought this Monza coupe around 2000 to go racing while his Monza hatchback was getting tubbed out. The car is a 1975 Chevy Monza Towne Coupe that was purchased as a roller. He said it was heavy and hideous . It needed more work than he imagined. This was Mark's first big tire car but it wasn't his last as we will see later on. When he brought the Mo...