I have been a drag racing nut since the mid 60's. When all of my buddies were collecting baseball cards, I was cutting up Hot Rod magazine and sticking the pictures on my walls. I didn't give a hoot about Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, or Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota Twins greats)...I followed Arnie "The Farmer" Beswick, Sox and Martin, Dyno Don Nicholson, Don Prudhomme, TV Tommy Ivo and many more. I always wanted to own a drag car...
Then I met my wife of 29 years. She drove a brand new 1972 Dodge Charger. It was a 318 car but with lots of good-lookin' features. We drove that as our daily driver after we were married and in 1999 I began a minor restoration. She said "Why don't you hot rod the motor while you're at it?" Nuff said. I bored it out to 323, added a few go-fast goodies and raced the Charger for a couple years. But soon the full-boogie drag cars caught my attention.
Enter Badfish.
I was on the prowl for an e-body and located one only 50 miles from my home. I looked it over and knew RIGHT THERE that this car was solid and worthy of some time and money to make it a dominant street sweeper/drag car. It had a built up 440 and racing trans that would push the car into the 11's.
I drove it in the same trim as I bought it for a year, then did some sheet metal work, redid the interior, painted it 1998 Viper Red and added the 1970 hockey stripe engine call-outs (just cuz I like 'em). Then I sent my motor to Dave Storlein of Porting Dynamics in Maple Grove, MN. Dave is an absolute wizard when it comes to motors and HEADS. After a detailed interview he set out to build a motor that would propel me deep into the 10's so I could race NHRA Super Street and ET brackets. I also had a major requirement...I wanted to do this on pump gas.
The result was a bored and stroked 440 that makes 650 hp and 647 lb. ft. of torque at the crank. I run all of that through a Chuck Lofgren prepared Torqueflite 727 trans with custom everything (Chuck just won Mopar Muscle's Hemi Challenge, building a hemi that beat Indy, Hughes, and others!). A rear brace was welded to my 8 3/4 rearend (thanks to my "crew chief", Al Wodtke) that houses 4.56 gears, and Strange Engineering spool and axles. The car was never tubbed or cut up and even runs the stock gas tank! The frames were connected and a 6-point cage was installed by the former owner so the chassis is up to the task, too.
Now I run in the low to mid 6's in the 1/8th mile at around 120 mph. Factored for the 1/4 mile and I should be in the low 10's around a buck-thirty. With a good tune up and some decent air (hard to come by up here in the summer - humidity sucks) and I could see some high 9's. That's my current limit, however, as my cage isn't certified for these ETs.
It is an absolute blast to drive. I can pull the front wheels off the ground with zero wheel hop (leaf spring car with no pinion snubber - thanks Chuck Lofgren for this, too!). My 60 foot times are around 1.5 seconds. It runs down the track as straight as an arrow!
If any of you have ever toyed with the idea of getting into drag racing, don't hesitate any longer! You just can't imagine the adrenalin rush of racing and the comeraderie at the track is second to none. The first time I raced our Charger, I was told by the Tech folks that I had to empty EVERYTHING from the trunk of my car. As I was a newbie, I had brought everything along including the kitchen sink! I asked if I had to be concerned about my stuff while I was racing rounds to which the Tech dude said "If anyone touches your stuff while your car is gone, 15 neighboring crews will swarm on him. Your stuff is safe." He was absolutely right…
Enough of my blathering on...here are some more pix.
