Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

                                                                 Wicked Willys                                                              I tried to the best of my ability to maintain a certain look when these cars ruled the strip. (J.Andrew Stepka)   J.Andrew's 1941 Willys was acquired from a guy in Long Island, N.Y. It was turned into a Pro-Street car during its long life but it was a steel body and that was all that mattered to him. The frame was built by The Willys Works in upstate NY, but Andrew had plans to turn this old Pro-streeter into a ground pounding gasser from the glory years of drag racing.         ...

       Drag Fest 2024!  

  This cool looking Gasser is based on a 1962 Mercury Comet. The Ford-Lincoln-Mercury exec’s were looking for a catchy name and they found one ! The NASA space-race was on everyone's mind at the time, so they named it after NASA’s mission “Mercury”, added in Comet for an extra nod to the space-race and you have a winner. The body was painted a classic matte-black. Throw in some old-school lettering and some period looking decals and you have a classic race car for the street.     The body was customized with the typical racer tricks of the day, the front bumper was removed & the grill was worked over by removing the inner headlights.   Poking through the fiberglass hood sits a transplanted Chevrolet 454 big-block, topped off with a tunnel ram and dual quad Holley carburetors. The motor was hopped-up with a solid roller cam and roller rocker arms.  Backing up the big-block is the heavy duty TH-400 with a high stall converter and manual valve body, the tr...

      In the 1960’s the Chevrolet Nova was sold as an economy car. Most of them were built with tiny 4-cylinder engines or with the larger boat anchor inline six. They were compact and lightweight and the racers of the day took notice.       Like this example here, the owner built his idea of what the Gasser’s and A-F/X cars of the day looked like. The inline six is long gone and in its place is a fresh Merlin big-block packing 496 cubes and an original Hilborn mechanical stack fuel injection system feeds all those thirsty cubes.  For street-ability the injection system was converted to electronic and it’s controlled by a FAST ecu. Other goodies include ported aluminum L88 cylinder heads with stainless valves and Crane roller rockers. An MSD ignition system including a Pro-Billet distributor and Blaster-3 coil light the fire. For a little pizzazz period correct polished and finned valve covers top off the heads.       Backing up th...

Chevrolet introduced the compact Nova for the 1962 model year. They were available in 2-door coupes with hard tops & with post's, a wagon was also offered . If you wanted to show off there was a convertible option . They were a big hit with Hot Rodder's ,stuffing hot small blocks under the hood were the norm . For all out Drag Racing you could find Gasser's with injected 327's or the new big block 427's with superchargers and mechanical fuel injection . This freshly restored 63' Nova known as SNAFU is all steel and fitted with a hot small block. For power a 1968 Chevrolet  327 C.I.  block was bored .030' with 13.5:1 pistons was put into action.     It was capped off with a set of Dart cylinder heads and a Weiand intake manifold. The fuel system checks out with A 750 CFM. Holley double pumper carb., a Holley Blue fuel pump with braided lines run from the custom tank to the engine compartment. Te ignition system is by MSD, with a 6-AL Box and Blaster coil...

  This bright yellow Chevy 210 has only gone about 800 miles since its restoration. The ionic elements like the grille and bumpers have a unique appearance with an airbrushed look.  But as a true Gasser, you also need the right elements . That means a fiberglass one-piece front end to reduce weight and the high solid front axle big engine and street slicks complete the look.                                                                This was built to be a full competition machine for the street  or strip so a full  8-point roll cage was installed along with Corbeau racing seats, and Corbeau racing harnesses .   Other features include  power windows ...

    The Wicked 1 is a 1948 Anglia two-door sedan owned by Gerard Milidantri from Suffern, New York.  He’s a general manager of an aerospace company that overhauls turbine engines and on the weekends he runs the Anglia at South East Gasser events.   The club brings back  Drag Racing from the late sixties and the cars must have period correct parts that you could buy up until 1967 and no later . No modern electronics , no automatics, no electronic fuel injection . Only open headers & a 4-speed , perfect for wheels up launches. We caught up with The Wicked 1 & Gerard at Island Dragway in Great Meadows , New Jersey.   This Anglia was hand-built in Pennsylvania in the late sixties by a fellow named GK Bernard. It was later purchased by SEGA emcee Quain Stott .   At a SEGA event in 2019 it was the first time Gerard had seen the Anglia, and it made such an impression that he sold the his Corvette and decided to pursue SEGA racing. In 2021...