A variety of open-wheel race cars 

at the 2019 PRI show

The 2019 Performance Racing Industry trade show features every conceivable type of race car on display, but today we focus on short-track open-wheel cars 

Zeb Wise's USAC midget was at the Z-Max booth 

Justin Grant's NOS Energy midget was at the USAC Racing booth 

Logan Seavey's 2018 USAC Championship winning midget 

at the Mobil 1 oils booth. This Toyota-powered  car also won the 2018 

USAC car owner title  for Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb/Agajanian racing

This Toyota Racing Development winged sprint car at the 

Mobil 1 display was the focus of the TRD announcement 

of their development of an engine for the Word of Outlaws 

Kyle Steffens' USAC Silver Crown car 

in the Performance Plus Global Logistics booth.

Not only is P Plus his sponsor, Kyle is the Global Sales Director 

All photos by the author 

WELD® Racing Funny Car wheels

WELD® Wheels had a massive exhibit at the 2019 SEMA show, and the author took a close look at the WELD® wheels fitted to the John Force Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS NHRA Funny Car on display. 

The rear wheels are WELD® Delta-1 black anodized 1-piece forged aluminum wheels with titanium bead lock hardware which weigh less than 19 pounds each. WELD® advertises that these are the lightest, strongest, and stiffest 16-inch x 16-inch double beadlock SFI Foundation standard 15.4 Certified (Top Fuel and Funny Car Drag Race Drive Beadlock Wheels) drag wheels available and sell for approximately $2800 each.  There is only one other SFI 15.4 Certified manufacturer, Sander Engineering.

  

The Delta-1 wheels are fitted with Goodyear 36.0x17.5-16  D-2H compound tires with 115-inch circumference that weigh 48 pounds each. In competition, these tires carry 7 PSI pressure which is the minimum allowed by Goodyear engineers.

The front wheels on the John Force NHRA Funny Car Camaro SS are 17-inch SFI Foundation standard 15.2 Certified (Drag Race Front Wheels) black-anodized WELD® Magnum Frontrunner one-piece forged 6061 aluminum wheels mounted directly to the Strange® spindles and retail for approximately $850 each.   

The WELD® Racing Magnum Frontrunner wheels are mounted with Goodyear Frontrunner 22.0x4.0-17 hard compound tires that are typically inflated to 40 PSI in competition.   

All photos by the author 

BorgWarner boosts every INDYCAR®

The BorgWarner booth at the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) trade show in Indianapolis featured the NTT Data – sponsored Dallara INDYCAR® driven by rookie Felix Rosenqvist in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series shown in the road/street course configuration.

Owned by Chip Ganassi Racing, the Dallara is powered by the Honda Indy V-6 double-overhead camshaft all-aluminum engine which displaces 134 cubic inches fitted with twin BorgWarner EFR (Engineered for Racing) turbochargers. Boost pressure is regulated at 18 PSI (pounds per square inch) on super speedways except for 20 PSI boost is allowed for Indianapolis 500 qualifying. 21 ½ PSI is allowed on short ovals and road or street courses, and the push to pass feature temporarily increases boost pressure to   24 PSI for 15 to 20 seconds depending on the road or street course.

As the exclusive supplier of the NTT INDYCAR® Series, BorgWarner EFR 7136 turbochargers boost every car on the starting grid. Each EFR 7136 features gamma titanium turbine wheels with mixed-flow blade design and forged milled compressor wheels contained inside a stainless steel turbine housing. The dual ceramic ball bearing cartridges ride in aluminum bearing housings, and the turbochargers include integrated high-flow waste gate with boost control solenoid valve and compressor recirculation valve.

Information provided by BorgWarner

Please click to enlarge 

Felix Rosenqvist scored six top-five finishes in 17 starts in 2019, with one pole position start at the 2019 INDYCAR® Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Felix a native of Sweden wound in sixth in the end-of-season drivers points tally and was named the 2019 NTT INDYCAR® SERIES Rookie of the Year.

All photos by the author 

THE OUTRAGEOUS "HULK CAMINO"

In The Weeds Hot Rods, LLC- better known as ITW Hot Rods - showed their radical 2015 build named “Hulk Camino” at the 2019 SEMA show in Las Vegas. 

“Hulk Camino” is the creation of hot rod and rat rod master builder, Chris Walker of North Branch, Minnesota. Walker is also the builder of similar caricature "rat rod" creations as  "CanTANKerous", a 1937 Dodge fuel truck, "NOmad,” 1957 Chevy station wagon Built in 2013 " and "Bugly" a 1964 Volkswagen Beetle built in 2014.

“Hulk Camino” is powered by an 800-horsepower engine built around a 400-cubic inch Dart block filled with a Callies crankshaft and Diamond pistons, topped by a BDS 671 supercharger. The power is sent to the Strange® Dana 60 rear end via a Monster® R4 transmission.

The rat rod rides on American Racing wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson tires backed with Wilwood brakes.

For the 2020 SEMA show Walker plans to debut his next creation, “Roughcut” another 1957 Chevrolet station wagon

Check them out on the web at https://itwhotrods.com

Full-size Hot Wheels at SEMA 2019

The Hot Wheels booth at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show featured a huge display of wild custom cars but of most interest where two Hot Wheels cars come to life.

The “Python” was one of the sixteen cars released in the original 1968 Hot Wheels series, based on the "Dream Car" show car built in 1963 by Bill Cushenbery for show promoter Bob Larivee.  The “Dream Car” first appeared as a drawing in Car Craft magazine in October 1961, and later it was restyled as the “Tiger Shark.”

This modern roadster version of the “Python” started with a custom frame fitted with 1996 Corvette front suspension and Jaguar independent rear suspension. The little roadster is powered by a modular 4.6-liter (280-cubic inch) aluminum V-8 engine sourced from a Lincoln Town Car fitted with a custom intake and valve covers.  

Paul Jurewicz built the body using parts from 28 different cars, which included an Audi Quattro, 1953 Studebaker Hawk, 1960 Pontiac Catalina, 1963 Chevrolet Corvair and a 1959 Ford Thunderbird.

Designed by Ira Gilford the “Twin Mill” first introduced in 1969 is one of the most popular of all the Hot Wheels cars, and there have been four additional versions built – the “Twin Mill II,” “Twin Mill III,” the “Twin Mill Hardnoze” and the “Twin Mill Gen-E.”

This full-size version debuted at the SEMA show in 2001 features a fiberglass body over a custom frame powered by two supercharged 502-cubic inch Chevrolet engines said to develop a total of 1,400 horsepower. The cockpit of the “Twin Mill,” built by Action Vehicle Engineering in Chatsworth California, is accessed by raising the top with hydraulic rams.

Photos of the full-size replicas by the author

  

      

A 1955 Thunderbird gasser at SEMA 2019

The Arc Audio outdoor booth at the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) featured an unusual subject for a “gasser” style build, a 1955 Ford Thunderbird, built by Street Toys Mexico, based in Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua.

This heavily flaked candy gold metallic painted beauty converted into a roadster style body with shaved door handles and a chopped yellow Plexiglas windscreen. The bumpers are removed with a Moon-style tank out front. 

  

The Thunderbird is powered by a supercharged Chevy small block engine that sports Cobra valve covers and white painted fender well headers visible under the clear plastic hood.

The Spartan white and black trimmed interior is dominated by the lightning-rod style Kilduff shifter connected to the TH350 transmission.

The car maintains its gasser stance perched atop ribbed five spoke chrome wheels with pie-cut slicks from Coker Tires.

Founded by owner and CEO Demitrios Karabinis in 1988, Arc Audio specializes in car audio amplifiers, speakers, subwoofers, sound processors, equalizers, and electronic crossovers.  ARC Audio has more than 80+ USA designed products in their product lineup. Check them out at https://www.arcaudio.com/

Dodge “Lowliner” concept truck

At the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, Mopar exhibited the “Lowliner” 1968 Dodge D200 Sweptline custom concept truck.

Photo courtesy of FCA LLC

The 1968 D200 ¾ ton pickup was the fourth year of the second generation of the Dodge “D” series trucks; the second generation introduced with passenger car styling that featured a 3-inch lower cab. The “Sweptline” designation was applied to the trucks with the straight-side pickup box. Customers responded favorably with over 183,000 D Series trucks sold for the 1968 model year, Dodge’s highest pickup truck production total to date.

advertisement courtesy of FCA LLC

 The builders of the “Lowliner” moved the front axle four inches forward, which extended the wheelbase to 132 inches and gave the truck  air suspension on all four corners. The truck has three different air suspension settings - parked, drive, and "drive plus" for driveway access.

Author photo 

The truck's immaculate bodywork is finished in Dodge Candy Delmonico Red with “Dodge” ghosted on the tailgate, with Dairy Cream accents for the bumpers, grille, and 22-inch 'smoothie' style wheels.

Author photo 

The highlight of the build is under the power tilt front end, the mighty vintage Cummins 24V 5.9-liter (358 cubic inch) diesel engine with Holset turbocharger that produces an estimated 300 horsepower and 600 foot/pounds of torque which is transmitted through  a six-speed manual transmission to the 11-inch wide rear wheels.  

Photo courtesy of FCA LLC 

The custom interior is trimmed in “Blazing Saddle Tan” distressed leather  with a custom engine-turned aluminum gauge panel with seven Mopar gauges and the restored 1968 steering wheel. The floor-mounted Hurst shifter has a custom translucent shift ball with the Cummins logo.  

1924 Voisin C4S Sport Tourisme

In 1922, French aviation pioneer turned luxury automaker Gabriel Voisin produced a small lightweight car the C4 as opposed to his first cars the huge V-12 powered C2 or its follow-up the C3. Due to its size, the C4 was nicknamed the "petit voisine" or "little neighbor."

Like all the other Voisin automobiles, it was powered by a sleeve-valve engine, but in this case a four-cylinder 1328 CC (81 cubic inch) displacement engine with the dynamo/starter motor mounted directly to the front of the crankshaft.

The starter motor is visible directly below the grille shell which is topped with the characteristic Voisin radiator mascot a stylized art deco version of the figure of the winged Egyptian goddess Isis.

This Voisin C4S Sport Toursime shown at the Blackhawk Museum is fitted with a miles per hour speedometer as it was ordered United States delivery and was shown at the New York Automotive Salon at the Hotel Commodore in Manhattan in either in 1924.  

This C4S Sport Tourisme, with its patented disappearing top and trademark Ecossaise (plaid) paint scheme is one of just two known to exist. The C4S was only built through 1925, with perhaps 900 built in total.  The company produced a number of striking designs and innovations through the years, but Avions Voisin, described as "the most idiosyncratic of marques," dropped out of the automotive market in 1939 after limited production of the C30.

Photos by the author