Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  This is AMX S/S # 3 known as “Patriot-1”. The American Motors  factory transformed the sheet metal from a 1969 model to represent a 1970 model, as only 1 of 53 examples were ever produced by Hurst Performance, this is a rare car indeed.  There are more HEMI S/S Darts out there now then have ever been built by the factory, how many people can say they have an original?  This is the real deal, it was purchased new by Phillip Frisbie.       The  390 CI V-8 engine features an Edelbrock STR-11 cross-ram intake manifold. Fuel is mixed by dual Holley 4-barrel carburetors with velocity stacks that are sealed to hood with gaskets allowing it to gulp fresh air from the power bulge scoop.         The interior is typical 1960's, black carpet, black high-back bucket seats and of course a Hurst shifted 4-speed  manual transmission gets the job done.  The exterior is painted in AMC factory race team colors in Red, White and Blue. The paint and lettering is flawless. The chassis features  Hurst

  Check out our new tech article page for some performance tips & tricks for your race car. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see just send me a message.  -Mike

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 but he went a differe

        We did a story on John Randell and his rear engine dragster in the past and now we are going to step back in time and go in-depth with him about his new (FED) front engine dragster that's named Re-Entry !   Did you know that John became the first Type 1 Diabetic to drive a Front Engine Dragster! Well on March 2nd, 2022 he created  history at Bakersfield, C.A. where he got licensed!    John tells us in his own words what transpired after that life changing event. On March 3rd, 2022, I qualified for my first March Meet! However, it wasn’t the history or the achievement I wanted, it was the opportunity to unveil Re-Entry!    Re-Entry was an altered my Father Jim Randell and his best friend Terry Roche ran in the early 70s! In 1972 Terry took the car to St. George,U.T. for a race and unfortunately ended up being the last race for Re-Entry. Terry passed away in 2008 and my brother Greg Randell did Re-Entry 2 on my nephews Jr. Dragster as a tribute. In 2019 when I bought

    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

      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 the powerhouse under hood is a 4-speed manual trans