2019 Dodge HEMI® Challenge Champion

2019 Dodge HEMI® Challenge Champion

On August 30 2019 second-generation racer Jimmy Daniels won his fourth straight Dodge Hemi Challenge at Lucas Oil Raceway Indianapolis in this vintage 1968 Dodge Dart equipped with a HEMI® engine from Ray Barton Racing Engines.  Dodge displayed the winning car, the specially designed Dodge trophy, which is a cylinder head from a Mopar HEMI® Engine, and the $15,000 winner’s check from Dodge at the 2019 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show in Indianapolis, Indiana.

For the past nineteen years the Challenge has featured heads-up competition between HEMI®-powered Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda factory race cars built specifically for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Super Stock competition in 1968. The factory-built lightweight, purpose-built package cars dominated Super Stock class competition over five decades ago with their high-compression 426-cubic inch  HEMI® engines equipped with a pair of Holley carburetors.

Dodge Production code L023 denoted the model designed specifically for competition in Super Stock racing. Only 80 HEMI® Darts were built, and they differed substantially from regular production models- it was more than an engine swap. Partially assembled Dart chassis were shipped to the Hurst Performance facility in Madison Heights, Michigan, to complete the transformation. Hurst technicians had to literally hammer out the shock tower sheet metal to create clearance for the valve covers.

1968 factory photo courtesy FCA US LLC

Other modifications included metal work on the rear fenders to accommodate the big rear slick tires, fiberglass hoods and front fenders, light weight front and rear bumpers and Plexiglas™ windows for secured by seat belt straps rather than window cranks. Although the cars in theory were street legal, the vehicles were delivered in primer sans warranty with a sticker that stated the car’s    “intended only for use in supervised acceleration trials.”

The 23-year old Daniels is unbeaten in the special event since his debut in 2016 and now has an unblemished 19-0 record in elimination rounds.  Daniels  the number one qualifier for the Challenge with an run with an elapsed time of 8.473 seconds, defeated first-time finalist Rich Locker’s 1968 SS/AH Plymouth Barracuda with an ¼-mile elapsed time run of 8.576 seconds to Locker’s 8.629 seconds in the finale.  

All color photos by the author  

TEAM PENSKE DISPLAY AT THE ENTRANCE OF PRI 2019

TEAM PENSKE AT PRI 2019 

Team Penske’s display of two championship INDYCARS at the 2019 Performance Industry show in Indianapolis Indiana gave attendees a new perspective on the Chevrolet-powered Dallara DW12 chassis fitted with the UAK 18 universal aerokit.

The neon yellow Menard’s sponsored #22 was driven by Simon Pagenuad during the 2019 NTT INDYCAR season. After he went winless in the 2018 INDYCAR season, the Frenchman swept the races in the month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  

Simon passed Scott Dixon and led the final two laps to win the INDYCAR Grand Prix held on May 11 on the Indianapolis road course, then on May 19, he won the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout to capture the pole position for the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  

On May 26, Pagenaud led a race-high 116 laps in a dominant win to record Team Penske’s 18^th Indianapolis ’500’ win.   Pagenaud finished second to his teammate Josef Newgarden in the 2019 NTT INDYCAR Series championship.

The red, white and black Hitachi sponsored #2 was driven by Josef Newgarden during the 2019 NTT INDYCAR season. Newgarden started the 2019 season with a win at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and was in the championship hunt all season long. With three pole position starts, three additional wins at Alabama, Toronto and Mid-Ohio along with eight top five finishes in 17 starts, Newgarden claimed his second INDYCAR championship, as he previously won the 2017 Verizon INDYCAR Series title.

All photos by the author 

“Fat n’ Sassy, 1954 Buick Century Estate Wagon

Fat n’ Sassy

The primary focus for brothers Dominic and Nicholas Cape is their race team Cape Motorsports which fields four Mazda-powered Tatuus USF-17 race cars in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship. The Cape team have earned nine consecutive titles with a total of thirteen titles to their credit. For relaxation in 2014, the brothers started the Cape Brothers Speed Shop.  

The shop’s latest creation “Fat n’ Sassy,” a two-tone green 1954 Buick Century Estate Wagon, appeared at both the 2019 (Specialty Equipment Market Association) SEMA show in Las Vegas and the 2019 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis.  

1954 Buick wagon mailer 

The new-for-1954 Buick Century design highlighted the new Libbey-Owens-Ford (L-O-F) panoramic windshield, which traced its history back to the 1951 Buick XP-300 concept car.  It reported took L-O-F engineers many months to perfect the wrap-around production distortion-free windshield. The 1954 models, the first of Buick’s second fifty years in operation, were unveiled to the public in showrooms on January 2 1954.

A 200-horsepower 322-cubic inch “vertical valve” “Fireball” V-8 engine powered the two-ton six-passenger all-steel wagon, Buick’s first all-steel wagon, as the 1953 Buick wagon was the last Detroit wagon produced with wooden structural components.  This wagon is equipped with the optional ‘Twin Turbo Dynaflow’ automatic transmission, the ‘Sonomatic’ radio, heater and defroster, along with a tachometer and 'Brodie knob' added later.   

The Buick Century Estate station wagon (catalog model 69) General Motors’ most expensive wagon, had a list price of $3,470. Ionia Manufacturing Division of the Mitchell-Bentley Corporation in Ionia Michigan built just 1,563 Buick Century Estate Wagon bodies for the 1954 model year. In a twenty-six year span, Ionia Manufacturing built station wagon bodies for all of Detroit's Big Three automakers from its six-block long facility.

“Fat n’ Sassy” started as a well-preserved ultra-rare original car, and the Cape Brothers “resto modded” the car, as the shop added a new frame and air suspension and a modern V-8 power plant with FiTech fuel injection topped by a vintage style Buick air cleaner (although it isn’t correct for this model). 

The wagon, fitted with a brand-new vintage interior and restored original steering wheel, rolls on 20-inch diameter by eight-inch wide Detroit Steel “steelie” wheels fitted with thin line whitewall tires, and a roof-top suitcase and surfboard complete the vintage road trip look.  

All photos by the author who is a proud SEMA member

John Force special edition 2020 COPO Chevrolet Camaro

John Force COPO Camaro 

The 2020 COPO Camaro John Force Edition shown at the Chevrolet Performance booth at the 2019 PRI show is a distinctively styled, supercharged race car.

Since 2012, Chevrolet has built only 69 COPO (Central Office Production Order) Camaros per model year, making them rare factory race cars but this John Force edition is a one-of-a-kind with its “2020COPO-FORCE” identification plaque, and is not part of the 69-car 2020 COPO Camaro production run. 

Powered by Chevrolet Performance’s supercharged, LSX-based 350 cubic inch engine, with a Magnuson supercharger and all-new LSX-SC cylinder heads. This car is equipped with the Racer’s Package, which consists of a carbon-fiber air inlet, dual batteries, weight box, parachute and a quick-change coupling for the supercharged engine.

In addition to the John Force signature graphics inside and out, the car has an NHRA-certified roll cage, custom embroidered racing seats and harnesses and rides on WELD® racing wheels fitted with Hoosier® tires.

This one-of-a-kind car was auctioned off on January 17 2020 at the Barrett-Jackson Auction for total sale price of $600,000.00 which went to the charity DonorsChoose.org. The winning bidder also received a custom helmet and fire suit provided by John Force.   

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 

A close look at a NASCAR Whelen™ Modified at PRI 2018

The NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Racing) booth at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry (PRI) trade show displayed the #46 Goodie Racing 2018 Chevrolet NASCAR Whelen™ modified driven by Craig Lutz and sponsored by Riverhead Building Supply. Goodie Racing is owned by Riverhead Building Supply owners Russell and Jeff Goodale with crew chief Douglas Ogiejko. 

The 106-inch wheelbase LFR Enterprises chassis built in West Boylston Massachusetts is powered by a 610-horsepower NASCAR-spec  364-cubic inch Robert Yates Racing engine  based on  GM LS2 block  with LS2 CNC ported heads fed by an 830 CFM (cubic feet per minute) Holley carburetor. The Spec engine is not “sealed” and NASCAR rules do allow teams to assemble, disassemble and rebuild the engine but no modifications to the components are allowed. 

Craig Lutz from Miller Place New York finished in fifth place in the 2018 NASCAR Whelen™ modified tour points in his first full season with Goodie Racing.  With three races completed in the 17-race 2019 NASCAR Whelen tour Lutz is in 14^th place in the standings with one top ten finish.

 Check out the NASCAR Whelen™ site at https://hometracks.nascar.com/regional/whelen-modified-tour/ and LFR Enterprises at https://www.lfrchassis.com/

Midget auto racing on display

at the 2018 PRI show 

There was a wide selection of midget auto racing displays at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis Indiana. 

The #21 KS midget race car driven by Karter Sarff from Mason City Illinois in the 2019 Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League was on display in the PAC Racing Springs booth. The car is powered by a Stanton SR-11 engine. PAC Racing Springs is the racing and aftermarket division of Peterson Spring Company  Check out their entire product line at https://www.racingsprings.com/

The Automotive Racing Products (ARP) booth featured the Honda engine that Scott Hatton used to win his fifth Badger Midget Racing Association championship in 2018 on display. The development  engine was built by  Haisley Machine of Farimount Indiana and used ARP fasteners throughout. Check out ARP's website at   https://arp-bolts.com/ 

The Mobil One display featured the Keith Kunz Motorsport Spike.Toyota that won  the 2018 United States Auto Cub (USAC) P1 Insurance National Midget championship driven by Logan Seavey. Seavey from Sutter California is only the third driver in USAC history to win the national midget championship as a rookie. 

Seavey started the 2018 season out right with a win in the season's first race in March at Southern Illinois Center indoor race, then added wins at Sweet Springs Missouri and Bakersfield CA on his way to the championship. Logan was a model of consistency thorough 2018 as he scored 15 top-ten finishes and started every feature event. 

All photos by the author 

     

A cut-away dirt late model at PRI 2018 

The Goodridge Racing booth at the 2018 Performance Racing Industry trade show in Indianapolis Indiana featured a cut-away 2019 Lazer late model chassis to show off Goodridge’s new line of G-Line Ultra PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) lined hose which features an Aramid and stainless steel outer braid for lightweight and high strength with full vacuum resistance up to 200 degrees Celsius (nearly 400 degrees Fahrenheit).

The first Lazer Chassis was built in Jonestown Pennsylvania in 1978 by the Bernheisel family, who still run the company which sells parts, chassis, bodies and offers repairs and set-up assistance to their customers.  In 2018, six (6) Lazer Chassis late model racers combined to collect eight (8) track championships, and Lazer Chassis drivers recorded 55 victories during the 2018 season.  

All photos by the author 

Check out the Goodridge products at their website at  https://goodridge.com/ and the Lazer chassis website at https://lazerchassis.com/chassis_lm.html