Chevy II Much altered wheelbase drag car

Chevy 2 Much II

The Doug's Headers booth at the 2019 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show featured the "Chevy 2 Much II" a replica of the original 1964 Chevy II A/FX altered wheelbase drag racer. 

The original “Chevy 2 Much” was built in 1964 before the Funny Car class was created, so it raced as a match racer powered by an alcohol-injected 396 Chevrolet engine and ran 9-second elapsed times at over 150 miles per hour. Initially plagued by wheel stands the “Chevy 2 Much” was one of the first cars to be equipped with wheelie bars.

This version built by Doug Thorley in the early 2000's is powered by a Hilborn injected 496-cubic inch Chevrolet "big block" engine  outfitted with Doug's Headers and a Turbo-Hydramatic 400 transmission. 

All photos by the author 

INDYCAR Aeroscreen film by Racing Optics

INDYCAR Aeroscreen film 

INDYCAR's Aeroscreen, an advanced ballistic canopy-like windshield, designed to improve the safety for drivers in the event of frontal impacts in the cockpit area, is mandated for use on all INDYCARS on all tracks beginning with 2020 NTT INDYCAR Series season opener. At the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) Show, Racing Optics showed off their RO Windshield protector   - a multi-layer, removable optical film for the INDYCAR Aeroscreen.

Racing Optics, Inc. is a family-owned business founded in 1999 by Bart, Steve and Seth Wilson with a rich racing heritage as Dempsey Wilson, Bart and Steve’s father, and Seth’s grandfather, began building and racing cars after World War 2.  Dempsey reached the pinnacle of open-wheel racing in 1958 when he qualified for his first of four Indianapolis 500 starts.  Away from the track Dempsey ran "Dempsey Wilson Racing Cams," which manufactured and sold racing camshafts until his passing in 1971.

Check them out at https://www.racingoptics.com

Ford Performance 410 sprint car engine

Ford Performance 410 sprint car engine 

The Ford Performance Parts booth at the 2019 PRI (Performance Racing Industry) show showed off the new FPS (Ford Performance Stewart) 410 engine, a collaboration between Ford Performance, Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing (TSR) and Durham Racing Engines to supply engines for the Tony Stewart Racing World of Outlaws sprint car team. 

Also on display was the Tony Stewart -Curb-Agajanian Racing Toco Warranty -Ford Performance -Curb Records -Sage Fruit -Absolute Automation & Security –sponsored World of Outlaws sprint car driven by Donny Schatz.

The FPS 410-cubic inch engine debuted on August 16 2019 at I-96 Speedway and on August 31 2019 Tony Stewart won an Interstate Racing Association (IRA) Outlaw Sprint Series event on Aug. 31 at the Plymouth (Wisconsin) Dirt Track.

Schatz scored the first FPS 410 victory in the World of Outlaws (WoO) NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on October 18 2019 at Lakeside Speedway in the FVP Platinum Battery Showdown after he scored two podium finishes with the new engine at Williams Grove Pennsylvania.

In seven 2019 races with the new engine, Schatz won two races and collected six podium finishes. Schatz, a 10-time champion lost the 2019 WoO championship by four points to Brad Sweet – the closest championship battle in the Series’ history- but will have the new FPS 410 engine for the entire 2020 season whenever it starts.

Photos by the author 

The Bootlegger

This gorgeous black 1939 Ford Tudor Deluxe Sedan, built by Dan Scheid at Scheid Diesel Service Company in Terre Haute Indiana and Todd Cox of Todd’s Hot Rods Oakwood Illinois, appeared at both the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show and the 2019 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show.

“The Bootlegger” is powered a  6.4-liter (390 cubic inches) Scheid Cummins B Series Aluminum Billet Block engine outfitted with Scheid billet steel crankshaft  injection pump, injectors,  valve cover, front cover, pistons, and connecting rods. The engine, fed by single BorgWarner S366 turbocharger, transmits the estimated 400 horsepower through the Torqueflite 47RH heavy-duty overdrive transmission.

The car rides on Heidts Suspension Systems Superide II independent front suspension system with tubular control arms, Wilwood disc brakes, and RideTech coil-over shock absorbers, while out back is another independent suspension setup, adapted from a 2002 Nissan Skyline.

The bodywork is finished in Standox® Basecoat Deep Black with Axalta Imron® high-gloss Opaque Red polyurethane accents on the engine and the 17-inch US Mags two-piece Heavy Artillery wheels with polished lips and Ford hub caps. The red accents match the bright-red Ultra Leather interior that covers the four bucket seats, the floorboards and the headliner.   

All photos by the author 

Controversial Jaguar E-type at SEMA 

The 1961 Jaguar XKE was sleek and beautiful 

The original Jaguar E-Type design revealed in 1961 was sleek and beautiful but with added regulations in the United States market, the XKE gained side marker lights in 1968, and with new  light standards in 1970, the sleek covered headlights were replaced with larger exposed headlights and oversize turn signals.

By 1974 with US government mandates

 the XKE had grotesque additions

Model year 1974 brought about new bumpers to comply with the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Saving Act. This new regulation required no damage to the car’s lights, safety equipment and engine in angled 5 mph impacts. To comply, Jaguar added large square rubber bumper guards both front and rear. The once-sleek XKE design became a grotesque caricature in the eyes of purists.   

author photo

Chip Foose the custom car builder and star of the “Overhaulin’” reality television show built a “resto-mod” 1974 Jaguar XKE Series 3 Open Two Seater (OTS) over a period of two and a half years in Foose’s Huntington Beach shop. This Foose creation was shown at the BASF/Glasurit paint booth at the 2019 Specialty equipment Market Association (SEMA) show.

author photo 

Up front, Foose Design built a power bulge with a scoop into center of the hood, crafted a new Ferrari “egg crate” style grille and built sleek new bumpers. In place of the original 1974 upright oversized “bug eyed” E-Type headlights Foose Design hand-shaped new brass bezels for the new covered headlights.  

author photo

Out back, the Foose team removed the gas filler door and radio antennae, built new taillights into the fenders in place of the originals, and crafted new bumpers.  The car was converted into a true roadster with no roll-up windows and no top and the interior received the Foose touch to make it clean simple and elegant.  

factory photo

The Foose Design dashboard is a 

huge improvement over the original 

author photo

The controversial aspect of this build is under the long front-tilting clamshell hood. Foose discarded the original all-aluminum 326-cubic inch Jaguar V-12 engine in place of a 378-cubic inch Chevrolet  LS3 V-8 crate engine, breathing through a Magnaflow quad exhaust, connected to a General Motors 4L60-E four-speed automatic transmission.

author photo 

The car rides custom-built 20-inch wheels complete with knock-offs wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero tires that evoke memories of car’s original wire wheels. The custom bodywork is covered in BASF/Glasurit Refinish 90-Line metallic basecoat and clear coat paint system in a custom-mixed “Palm Copper” color created by Chip Foose.  

Glasurit advertises that its 90-line paint system is highly efficient to use, with less time needed in the paint booth thanks to fast application and short flash-off times. Another benefit is that less material is needed, thanks to the excellent hiding power and the low amount of mixing base in the ready-for-use mixture which is can be thinned with water.

Check out BASG Glasurit's website at http://refinish.basf.us/brands/glasurit/

All photos of the Foose Design Jaguar by the author 

A rare "resto-mod" sports car 

This Iso Rivolta IR 300 started life in 1967 as a rare luxurious coupe built by Iso Automotoveicoli S.p.A. in Italy, one of only 797 examples built between 1963 and 1970.

In the 1950s Iso’s founder, Renzo Rivolta, developed the Iso Isetta microcar and sold the car in Italy which he licensed to BMW and the little bubble car was sold around the world. For his next project, Renzo envisioned a “gentleman’s touring car” and the Iso Rivolta sports touring car is the result.  Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro at the renowned Italian coachbuilders Bertone, it offered comfortable room for four, Chevrolet Corvette 327-cubic inch V-8 power and a four-speed manual transmission. 

When found by Richard Griot (pronounced Gree-Oh) of Griot’s Garage car care accessory fame, this once beautiful machine was a badly rusted out project. Griot commissioned Louie Shefchik, of J & L Fabricating in nearby Puyallup Washington to rebuild and update this classic.   

Since the original chassis was too rusted to save, long-time SEMA member Art Morrison Enterprises built a new frame which received a General Motors Connect and Cruise LS7 427-cubic inch crate motor and Chevrolet Performance Tremec T56 Super Magnum Six-Speed Manual Transmission.    

Although the Iso Rivolta featured four-wheel disc brakes from the factory, 500 horsepower from the dry-sump aluminum LS7 engine necessitated a brake upgrade to 13-inch Wilwood rotors, which required bigger wheels so EVOD Industries produced a set of custom 17-inch billet wheels that are wrapped in Pirelli P7 tires.

Courtesy of Griot's Garage 

This car reached the final four of the sixth annual SEMA Battle of Builders competition at SEMA Ignited 2019 and it finished second in the voting behind the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro known as “VALKYRJA” built by Jim and Mike Ring. Griot's Garage recently featured the car on the cover of their catalog. 

Photos by the author except as noted.

"Outlaw" Porsche 550 Spyders

built SEMA style

The key to grabbing attention for exhibitors at the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show (SEMA) in Las Vegas is to display a car (or cars) with over-the-top build details. 

The Toyo Tires tent at 2019 SEMA show held a pair of highly customized 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder “outlaw” replicas built by Edison Sarkisyan’s S Klub shop in Los Angeles that illustrated this point perfectly, as the cars were mobbed constantly during the show.   

The metallic root-beer brown car with gold accents, converted to a center-steer configuration and powered by an air-cooled Volkswagen engine fitted with Weber carburetors, was a SEMA Battle of Builders finalist.

The gray car is powered by a turbocharged, water-cooled Subaru  WRX engine fitted with a huge intercooler. Said to produce 400 horsepower the engine is fitted with a titanium exhaust system and copper trim throughout the engine bay.

All photos by the author