Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  Mark McGuire has been a truck driver for over 40+ years, currently he hauls heavy equipment. In the past he did a 10-year stretch driving a transporter for Dick Simon racing and he was also on the pit crew. Mark was just a child when his father was drag racing and said that's how he got hooked on racing. Mark was just 19 years old when he bought his first race car, it was a 1969 SS Chevelle dirt track car. He was lucky enough to land a sponsorship from a local California radio station 99.1, which helped with expenses.  He had fun, but after three races he realized that asphalt was for racing. He went on to race circle track cars for the next 30+ years, from street stocks to super late-models.      The Nova wagon didn't start out this pretty, this is a before photo of what this killer looked like in a previous life.           With help from Gilbert "Mel" Meltvedt the car was transformed, the Nova was named "The ...

        Ford had the Cobra Jet's, Chrysler had their S/S Cuda's & Darts and Chevrolet had their COPO program. These were all drag strip terrors, the public ate it up and rushed to their local dealer just to get a look at these monsters. Dealers themselves started building their own versions like this Camaro here.   Campaigned in NHRA competition by Dick Arons and Gordy Foust for Berger Chevrolet in 1969. It featured the factory L78 396 with 375 HP. backed up with a 4-speed transmission and heavy-duty 12-bolt rear end. Later the car was equipped with an L72 427 CI V-8 for use in Super/Stock competition. This Camaro was the SS/E class winner at the 1969 NHRA Spring Nationals in Dallas, it was also raced at the Super Stock Nationals in York Pennsylvania and at the"Big Go" U.S. Nationals. The Odometer only reads 210 miles as it was only used as a drag car its entire life and the mileage was put on a quarter mile at a time and was never tagged for the street. In ...

  This 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle is powered by a 496 C.I. big-block with Brodix aluminum heads and forged Eagle rotating asembly. A full roller valve-train from Comp lets the boost in . A Holley Dominator Cpu. controls the fuel injection system .  The fully polished Weiand 8-71 supercharger pokes through the hood and it's topped off with a Big & Ugly injector hat that draws your attention to the big Rat motor . Backing up the big- block is a 4L80E equipped with Trans- brake and 3200 stall converter.  Power is sent to a Mark Williams Ford 9- inch rear end with 4:88 gears and a spool. This car was built to be street friendly.  On super unleaded, this Chevelle produces 600 H.P. to the rear wheels but will make 1,000+ horsepower tuned on race gas.  Stopping this beast is 4-wheel disc brake system by Wilwood .   Other upgrades include a 10 point roll cage, along with five point race harnesses keeping the passengers safe.   The transmission is co...

  Robert George is from New Zealand and races this cool old school 1974 Camaro Z28. The original steel body was outfitted with fiberglass doors and front clip from Hairy Glass .  In race trim it only weighs 2350 pounds.   It features a full Chris Alston tube chassis with a Mustang II front end. Out back a set of ladder bars mount to a Dana 60 filled with 5:13 gears & a spool.  QA-1 shocks handle the bumps front and rear.   This is Robert's office. More high quality tin work is through out the interior. An old school cable drive Moroso Tach. sits on the dash , and only a trio of gauges is needed to keep an eye on things.       For power an LS7 454 fills the engine bay. It breaths through a big Holley Dominator carb. And it's filled with old school speed secrets. Dress up items include vintage Moroso valve covers.  The horsepower is sent to a TH-400 transmission with a trans-brake and a high-stall torque converter.     Here is a...

        This Sea-frost Green 1968 Camaro was ordered as a true Super Sport with a big block 396, then it was sent to Bill Thomas of Bill Thomas Race Cars in Anaheim, CA. There Mr.Thomas worked his magic on the 396.                   This car also has the Rally Sport hidden headlight package along with front spoiler, and the bolt on fiberglass Stinger Hood.     It features the Matching Numbers 396 block which is a rarity for a Bill Thomas car, because most of his builds had the 427 transplant. However, the original owner wanted to stay with the 396 and Mr.Thomas transformed Chevrolet's 396 into a sleeper big block that could terrorize any 427 on the street in 1968.   The 396 is set up with an Offenhauser Intake manifold with dual Carter AFB Carbs. A Comp Cams solid-lifter camshaft with the original Bill Thomas spec’s was installed during the rebuild .  The ...

   John Uzbasic was raised in Northern Wisconsin , then in 1979 he moved to Hawaii,  where he worked multiple jobs just to afford to live there. Even back in 1979 it was expensive.  So basically all he did was work with really no outside life.   John said that some years passed when he met two individuals that ended up to be good friends,  Roy and his wife Edie.  They were friends for some time and it was a surprise that after a number of months he shown John his race car.  At that time, he didn’t give it much thought because he wasn't really interested in racing at that time in his life.    Fast forward about 2-3 years,  Roy asked him a number of times to  check him out Drag Racing, John finally agreed to meet him at the track.  He said he got to the track early and jumped on the bleachers and waited for the event to start.               ...