The Protectors of Our Freedoms As many of our longtime readers know weve had a number of Armed Forces members contribute to RPM over the years. Iwe cannot even begin to imagine the career and life they choose, dedicating themselves to the protection of our freedoms. When Tony Weber, Sherrie Weber and Trish Biro of RPM were contacted by Master Antiterrorism Specialist Lee McKinney to get involved in a special program that he administrates on his own personal time that would see RPM send cases of
Whos In This Issue of Features Often Imitated, Never Duplicated RPM Mag IS The ORIGINAL Voice Of Extreme Street Cars Outlaw Drag Racing WORLDWIDE... Dont Settle For Less We DELIVER Insane Fast Cars And Bring You NO POLITICS... JUST ACTION Your ONLY Real Time Real World Magazine Period FEBRUARY 2011 Feature UNIQUE A proud Farmer with a love for fast cars and Drag Racing hooks up with a nitrous guru, and the result is one bad machine... the Grand National of Chad Henderson. Chad has quickly l
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TONS OF FUN THE DEMPSEY DUO Story and Photography by Tommy Lee Byrd W A Father and Son Who Eat, Sleep and Breathe Drag Racing Build A Wicked 56 Chevy e love drag racing, and if youre reading this magazine, you probably love it, too, but theyll rebuild one of their existing machines. These guys are constantly working on a new project, but they rarely miss out on a chance to test and tune, or compete at a local race, so youll be hard pressed to find a time when they dont have two cars up and ru
The timeless shoebox Chevy is an automotive industry icon both on the street and on the track, and this 56 sees action on both MAHLE Clevite products have been on board every single NASCAR race winner since its beginning in 1948. But even we realize the true lifeblood of auto racing is on any short track on a Friday or Saturday night across the nation. This is the arena where todays gladiators battle for supremacy and we are proud to support them. As long as grassroots racing continues to brea
8 Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE
Lee Burdge of Mad Stitcher Custom Upholstery handled the interior for the Dempseys Chevy, and covered the Kirkey racing buckets in black tweed to match the rest of the interior. Mark came up with the cool digital dash setup, and built the sixpoint roll cage. Power comes from a 475ci big block Chevy pictured lower left, topped with aluminum cylinder heads, an RPM Air Gap intake manifold and a 1,050cfm Holley Dominator carburetor. Mark strives for consistency, so the big block is naturally aspirat
a .100inch overbore and additional machine work by Roberts Sons in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it was ready for action. Mark assembled the engine with a GM forged steel crankshaft, GM 716 dimple rods and Arias forged pistons, which feature a small dome to create a 121 compression ratio. The oiling system consists of a Melling high volume pump with a Moroso deep sump eightquarter pan, while FelPro gaskets keep all of the liquids where they need to be. Atop the short block is a pair of GM snow flake
Adding some artificial age to these shots courtesy of todays technology almost takes you back to the days when a 56 Chevy would be commonplace at a dragstrip on any given Saturday night. Mark and his son Justin specialize in building Chevy muscle cars, so building a trifive was a learning experience for both of them. Obviously, they handled it well, and created a wicked car that always gets attention. Its slick and its straight, and you can rest assured this classic Chevy was homebuilt by the fa
Justin is only in his mid20s, but he has his act together when it comes to building old cars, whether its for use on the street or at the track. He learned from one of the best, which happens to be the fellow standing on the right. holstery in Dayton, Tennessee. Kirkey aluminum seats wear custom covers, and the door panels were scratchbuilt by the Mad Stitcher. The original dash is outfitted with a digital gauge setup, which is a homebuilt creation that looks great, and works well, especially wh
Story Photos Tim Lewis Satisfactions hen taking on the task of building something using your own skill and ingenuity, the satisfaction of a job well done is very rewarding. However, when one chooses to take a project that one step further, outside of their comfort zone and in doing so develop new skills, the finished product is even more of a personal accomplishment, in fact, you might say that those satisfactions are permanent Take Kevin Mullins of Denton, North Carolina. Kevin wanted to bui
the floor and take out the trash But hey, that all goes along with being part of the team Mullins knew what he wanted to do with the car and now it was time to get the HED team together and attack the project headon. Starting with a 400ci Ford small block with a 4.125 bore and a 3.750 stroke and Ross custom built pistons with GRP rods to help pump the power through the little Ford that could Kevin used skills learned at HED to work up a set of Blue Thunder heads for some extra kick. Also done in
off the turbo set up. An AMS 1000 boost controller is in charge of keeping the boost levels where they need to be and so far on the dyno its made 1,785 horsepower to the rear tires on 17lbs of boost But dyno numbers and putting numbers up on the scoreboards are two very different things. Now it was time for the car chassis and body to get some much needed attention since the motor had gotten its fair share. Starting with a 25.5 chassis, which was done by long time HED supporter and close friend
Bob Kurgan NMCA Xtreme Street Radial BOSS 302 Block 7.94 177mph 2010 Cobra Jet 352cid and 428cid engines. Boss 302 and Boss 351 blocks with Zheads Dan Millen NMRA Pro Outlaw 10.5 Champion BOSS 351 Block 4.24 185 mph 18th Mile Arabian Drag Racing League, Quatar Team Saline Centimark Mustang BOSS 5.0 Modular Block 2009 CPS Bonneville Record Holder 253.42mph REAL POWER. REAL PERFORMANCE. REAL SUBSTANCE. REAL VALUE. BLUE. Ford Racing blocks and cylinder heads are engineered, tested, and man
When it came time to get this thing in the paint booth, Kevins long time friend Said Jakupovic was called on to get the body straight and in primer before laying down the bright Dodge Viper red A Schoneck Composites Outlaw front bumper was also installed. The wild exhaust out the top of the fenders was also laid out and once the pipes were done up Said was ready to spray away. The wing was built by Kevin in the shop and bolted into place following the paint. Once the motor was sat down in the fr
Drag Radials out back. Kevin custom burned a chip for it and the tune results were 450 horsepower to the wheels at only 9lbs of boost. Laura made her very first pass in her hot rod down the full 1320 foot quartermile and ran 11.60 at 120 mph. Now this is the best part of Lauras hot rod... it was built on a budget of just 5,000 Thats right 5,000 The satisfaction from the work of her and Kevin along with her biggest helper, her father Nelson Underwood, is priceless. Kevin would like to thank his s
D ont let the quiet laid back attitude fool you, underneath there is a fiery competitive spirit that exposes itself every time this sleek 87 Grand farmer turned spare time racer and the hospitality ends there, unless you count him cutting your weekend short by loading you onto the trailer a little earlier than you may have hoped. Shortly after getting his drivers license, a young Chad found himself in a little hot water following a few street races, so he moved his need for speed to the track
afford to get in trouble too much, so we left the street racing behind. After we spent a few years going 7.0s, we moved on to the 6.0 class and tore a small block up. Henderson remembers. Thats when we went to the big blocks and we havent looked back since. Chads first true race car was a 72 Nova, which he still has after 14 years of competition. The Henderson family maintains one of the oldest honorable professions known to man. Farming is what sustains the family in the form of corn, wheat and
An 86 grill instead of the 87 Only a diehard enthusiast could tell, and Chad assures us there is a correct year grill on the way. Although mostly a self supported family operation, the team could always use a little extra help and are obviously excellent ambassadors. 22 Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE
when we see so many others around us that didnt do so well. While farming may be their livelihood, the family considers racing to be their escape clause. When we get to the track the whole family plays a part in the team, Chad explained. Monte Smith builds and tunes the motors and all I really do is drive the car. My wife Marie is the driving force behind the team, always pushing and prompting me to improve through unwavering support. Of course my parents are behind us 150, but I dont think I co
stone as long as we can. said Henderson with a laugh. Everything was as perfect as it could get, Our first pass was a the stars were aligned for us. recognizes there is no I in Team and they all have their unique qualities they bring together successfully. Sparing no expense, Chad and Monte put together an impressive whos who of some of the top parts in the business today to achieve their goals of being the best. We have Racepak, Firecore, Holley, Mickey Thompson, PTC Transmission, TRZ, VP, Nit
I appreciate everyone that has stepped up and had a part in the success of this team. Everything that has been done was done not because the car was a bad car before, but because the team agreed they wanted to have the best car possible when we compete. We may have spent a lot of money on the car, but its quality stuff and it can produce a lot of data every time it runs, which is what we need, added Chad. Why the Grand National When everyone else is leaning towards the Continued on page 26 As a
Mustangs and Camaros of the world, what made the Grand so grand Its a 4 bar rear suspension car and I have watched a good friend of mine Shane Stack be successful in his 4 bar car, in fact we originally got the nitrous stuff off his car when he went to turbos, Chad explained. I wanted to buy Shanes car, but he hadnt decided to get rid of it. It was just the type of car I wanted so here it is. Being unique has certainly helped where the sponsors are concerned, they realize that with it being a di
with optional 5.7 LCD touch screen SELFLEARNING fuel maps Stop tuning your it for you Let Holley EFI do Chad Henderson Dominates EZ Street with Dominator EFI Dominator EFI Vehicle Management Systems are intended for all engine applications, from street to unlimited highend racing applications. Dominator systems have nearly unlimited capabilities to control any power adder, input, or output you can throw at them. Need to run a turbocharged, nitrous injected 8 cylinder running watermethanol inje
PRI Show In Orlando, Still THE Place to Be Story Photos By Chuck Scott The Performance Racing Industry trade show in Orlando, Florida the second week in December is still the one must do industry show for anyone who is in to performance and racing. It is where all the top manufacturers of racing parts, wholesalers, shop owners, racing media, and a few lucky racers who landed tickets come together to see whats new, make contacts, join into group discussions, go to seminars and socialize with
At 100 on Friday, Mickey Thompson hosted a group discussion with the hope to find some parity in rule sets for Outlaw 10.5 classes. I dont think Carl expected several hundred people to show up. The crowd was herded to several locations before they ended up in a spot where most people could hear. Some progress was made with an agreement by most to try to base the different groups rules off the Cecil Co. rules. Now it is up to the promoters to sit down and come to an agreement on unifying their ru
Borg Warner steps up to the plate with billet wheel turbos. These turbos were previously available but with a cast wheel. A billet wheel adds strength to the impeller that allows for a more aggressive design. Chad Branson used the cast wheel Borg Warner model in the Warbird Dart to be the first 88mm turbo X275 car in the 4s Yep, you are awake, this is not a dream. JW has built a brand new Turbo 400 case from scratch. The possibilities are endless with this new bullet proof case that does away w
On the car side of things, we had the pleasure to drool over Pete Bonafides insane blown Outlaw Benz. Check out the Holeshot Sunflare one peice spindle mount front wheels on this Outlaw 10.5 Mustang, they are the most pimp rollers I have ever seen Bigger is better right When it comes to big hp nitrous motors, the top builders are creating monsters. Ross Pistons has released their slugs for 5.3 bore space blocks with up to 5.125 bore size. Ross uses a super strong forging designed to take the ab
Story Photos By Chuck Scott W This Turbocharged Mopar Warbird ca hen it comes to killer turbo radial tire cars, Pete Harrell and the HED camp are on top of the game. The pacesetter for X275 turbo cars is Chad Bransons wild Warbird Dart of Asheboro NC. Chad didnt originally intend on building the crowd favorite Dodge the way you see it today. Last season it was a lot more traditional with a fairly passive two tone paint job and a nitrous assisted 572ci big block Mopar. It worked good if the
Chad Bransons fourwheeled Warbird fits right in with the vintage military planes and artillery at the North Carolina Aviation Museum. Several folks touring the museum gathered around the car checking it out not realizing we were doing a photo shoot. Below Coming in a little hot from an air patrol over North Cakalac, Chad pulls the chutes to slow the machine on the airport runway. an Fly Continued on page 36 RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com 35
Top left Move along folks, move along, nothing to see here but some old school ladder bars teamed up with some Strange coilovers on the old faithful Dana 60. Its all thats needed to provide some 60 foot times in the low 1.20s. Lower left Much like our look under the hood, the inside of the Warbird Dart is pretty basic stuff, but it gets the job done. One exception to the straightforward design is the plumbing and equipment that runs through the interior which is associated with the turbocharger.
The cockpit is designed for just one pilot and no cargo. I really wanted to sit in the Dart and make airplane noises but at 63 and 300lbs, I physically could not get in the car without some major amputation. Check out the very cool helmet that tops off the WWII Warbird package. inch 88mm turbo small block Ford, and also how they came up with the loving nickname for the Ford Dart. You can figure that one out. This unlikely pairing resulted in the first X275 turbo car to dip into the 4s and the 2
PHOTOS Top Right You put a what in a what Under the hood looks fairly simple compared to some of the turbo cars you see today. The little Ford motor looks right at home in the Dodge. Its kind of refreshing to see another cross breed besides the usual Chevy powerplant in a Mustang. The front suspension is actually a set of Aarms and coil overs off a Fox Mustang tubular Kmember setup. Lower Off to a quick start Chad gets out on fellow X275 racer Dale Handy who is doing one of his signature big wh
Chad B ranson Engine 352ci sma ll block Fo Power A rd d d e r 88 mm Borg Warner tu Cylinder rbo Heads T rick Flow highports Transmis sion Po werglide i ts got Ch Converte evy parts r Gregg too Slack Chassis 25.5 by Evans Ra Race Ca ce Cars a rs. nd Primeti me Suspens ion Lad der bar se tup Rear Diffe rential D ana 60 Tires H oosier 27 56015 Wheels billet spe cialties w Fab ith bead locks by Mac Best ET and MPH 4.99 at 1 and 4.96 45 mph i at 147 mp n X275 tr h with a 9 im 1mm turb ochar
and a B25, the BT13A was always his favorite. Chad has fond memories of the BT13A, like doing barrel rolls for the first time and just flying in the radial engine plane. Other not so fond memories were like those times when he was in college his dad tricked him into flying in it, then doing barrel rolls and hard turns because Chad was hung over from the night before. Chad stays plenty busy running his businesses, Branco enterprises a wholesale clothing company, and a retail clothing store Clothe
SRP Professional Series The most advanced piston kit for your high performance LS engine now includes skirt coating Lightweight 4032 alloy FSR forging Includes a 1.2mm LS7 style steel top ring, 1.5mm napier 2nd ring and 3.0mm oil ring 60 less top ring wear when compared to ductile iron Available for standard and stroker combinations Premium wrist pins and wire locks included Custom Pistons CHEVY LS7 FSR Designed specifically for extreme levels of nitrousboost, these are the toughest LS7 pi
Page 42 Page 42 Fabrication, Parts , Service Chassis Body Suspension Engines Cylinder Heads Parts, Service, Machine Work Exhaust ALL 42 Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE
Page 43 Page 43 Media Advertising Services Fuel Intake Carburetion Fuel Injection Intake Manifolds Performance Race Parts ALL Innovators in Fuel Systems www.quickfueltechnology.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com 2707930900 43
Page 44 Page 44 Power Adders Incl. Nitrous Oxide, BlowersSuperchargers, Turbochargers, SystemsPartsService Race Orgs, Tracks Events Tires Wheels Safety Apparel Communication 44 Visit Us Online at www.rpmmag.com RPM Magazine, THE Voice Of Fast Cars WORLDWIDE
Page 45 Page 45 Transmission Converter, Clutch Driveline CompletesPartsService MISC. Including Tools, Tents, Vinyl Graphics Incl. Ignition, Control Systems, Parts, Service Tuning Electronics
What Happens In Vegas... by Ian Rae, HeadsUpRacer.com Photos by Paul Schmitz, reflectionsofmotorsports.com The West Wins In what tends to be the ultimate EastWest shootout of street car racing, the 2010 Street Car Super Nationals VI was dominated by racers from the West Coast, eleven of the twelve classes being won by racers from West of the Mississippi. That is not to say there was no outside competition, names like Pat Musi, John Hall and Brad Personett had travelled from the East, last year
Highlights Of 2010 SCSN Brad on 10.5s Probably one of the most talked about highlights was Personett coming out on 10.5inch tires. Running the smaller tires as he did not want to carry another 200 pounds of lead, Personett blasted the Vegas track on Friday morning running an astounding 6.088 250.37 mph quartermile run. Another topic of the weekend was the weather. Uncommonly cool for the time of year the weather was chilly, windy and rainy all weekend with Sunday dawning with a track temperatur
Turbo versus blower semifinal Burbage near lane took the win over Thornton Below Number 4 qualifier, Brad Personett smokes the tires and allows Randy Walker bye for the win. John Mihovetz near lane faces off against 2009 SCSN Pro Street Champion Dan Vogt. agreement between Pro Street standout Pat Musi and promoter Mel Roth. Musi felt he was forced into the left lane when he had intended running the right on his second qualifier. Musi forfeited the run but still qualified second behind former win
ations. The wind at that point was gusting up to thirtyfive miles an hour. In the second round it was Vogt and nitrous runner Dennis Radford that were the upsets and sent on their way home. In a battle of the West Coast former Champion Ed Thornton took out fellow California based racer Monty Berney with a 4.15 to Berneys 4.317. With both racers running reduced schedules in 2010 it was only fitting that one of the West Coast stalwarts could advance closer to the big money round. Mike Maggio turne
have launched first but his Mustang making a beeline for the centerline spelled the end for the turbo racer. Texas takes the money In the Outlaw 10.5 class Kurtis Tamez sat in the pole position with a Friday qualifying run of 6.635 211.13 mph. However, that was it for Tamez as a dropped valve precluded any further participation in the event. The number one spot was not a happy place to be during the sixth running of the SCSN as Kevin Wallauer got drafted in as alternate for Tamez and during his
Robbie Blankenship runnerupped in the SCSNs ALL Motor class Hot Street. In radial tire racing Lonnie Patrick near lane had his best ever SCSN but fell to Roger Holder in the bright orange turbo Camaro. and Greg SethHunter using their turbo power to advance without any real issues. Rick Snavely had a good run going in the Garrett Turbo Mustang but got out of the groove handing the upset win to Craig Pullin. In a meeting of two former PRO 5.0 greats Murillo used a 4.36 to take out Glidden and his
Dale Pederson was the last Canadian standing in Pro Street Rick Snavely is always a challenger in the Garrett Mustang reckoned with. Holders run to the championship was made easier when both Major and Keenan could not make the call to lanes on Sunday morning. The upsets continued in round two when Al Jimenez fell to Dave Boles. In a battle of two West Coast drag radial giants, Dave Bowman took the win over Rich Hoyle. Then the drama started as Hoyle was reinstated as Bowman drove past the scale
The Godfather of Street Car Racing Monty Berney Mister 55s focus on Vegas l Tucci has called him the Godfather of Street Car racing, I just call him a good friend, but Monty Berney is much, much more He is a dedicated husband and father, a successful property developer and to all us racers and fans out there he is the epitome of an old school racer. His 55 Chevy racecars have not gone over to the slippery, slammed look, they look like the real thing and more importantly they perform. A Canadia
along the way and now sports a CRotor screw blower, and something that has challenged that old school racer on more than one occasion. Berney elaborated, We went to Infineon to test and the first time I swapped feet it was the most violent thing I sat in, the rear end just jumped straight up in the air, it went everywhere but straight. It was evil Tire shake and wild rides followed Berney most of the way through the year and good luck came into play where the tire shake weakened a floater spindl
Former NSCA World Champion Randy Jewell finished off 2010 on a high note while testing at Cecil County. The RJ ProFab American Tactical Imports Camaro ran a stout quartermile elapsed time of 6.14 244 mph. We will make the decision on where we are going to race when we get back from Vegas, Jewell said. The numbers the ATI Camaro ran at the end of the year were very encouraging, the plan is to get out testing early in the year and if that goes well you may even see us running for a championship
RPM Photojournalist Tim Lewis and Randy Van Raden team up on Outlaw Radial Mustang. Van Raden moved to Stafford, VA from Long Beach, CA bringing his Outlaw Radial Mustang with him, but it was nothing like it will be in 2011. Randy drove the car himself the first season he lived in the east and ran a best of 5.30 in the eighthmile, which at the time was one of the quicker 275 Radial cars in the area. The car was then completely torn down and a major rebuild began into what it is now. Tim explains
Well known England based street car racer Andy Frost is coming along nicely with his street legal Pro Mod style Vauxhall. For those of you who missed the biggest news, back in early September Andy announced to the world the partnership between Vauxhall Motors and the Redvictor1 Racing Team to support the MSA Pro Modified campaign with the new Redvictor 3 Street Legal Pro Modified Car. The team will be running under the VXR banner to promote the flagship Vauxhall performance range with, what will
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Project 4 Lug Thug By Chuck Scott The Real World Of Building A Killer Drag Radial Street Machine... On A Budget Spinal Fusion Part I RPM Magazines Project 4 Lug Thug gets caged fter a long wait to get ole 4 Lug in the chassis shop, it is finally time for the RPM Magazine Project car to get caged. The plan is to stay streetable and lightweight, stiffen the chassis and maybe save my melon if I crash. I figure I will need an 8.50 legal cage for now, plus I only plan on running the car 18th mile.
2 1 1. Before taking 4 Lug Thug to the chassis shop, I channelled the stock floorpan and built through the floor subframe connectors from 2x3 square tube. I ran outriggers from the subframe to the rocker panels for a solid foundation to sit the cage on. It is a lot better than the typical 6x6 plates welded to the floor that is required by the NHRA for an 8.50 certified cage. 2. Ronnie takes a few measurements with the top up to ensure the top bars tuck in nicely. 3. Besides total length measurem
After the first bend is made, Ronnie sits magnetic levels on the first leg and the top of the bender to make sure the bends are parallel. If the bender cart is a little off level due to where it is sitting, he can match up the 2 levels to keep the hoop from ending up twisted. 5. Vern cuts the notch with a simple holesaw tubing notcher. Ronnie said he used to burn up drills pretty regularly, even the big ones until he found the secret is to get one with a high amp rating. 6. Ronnie test fits each
Smile, Youre On Candid Camera eah, thats right, you are now on camera. Weve previously discussed the advantages of datalogging and how it can help tune the car as well as being a great diagnostic tool. We briefly mentioned having a crew person video tape the run so you can review it after so the entire team can see what really happened during the launch. Now, with the leaps and bounds in technology, it is possible and easy to put a camera inside the car and monitor all aspects of the run. Best o
ering how these things shake and rattle. All the time we were convinced, it is programmed right, it should start so far into the run, it has to be right. The camera proved what the Racepak was saying and after viewing the video we could move on and chase down the real problem. Another use is to monitor gauges that cannot be viewed during the run. Most racers do not monitor everything with their Racepak and the Replay XD is the ideal way to check up on those functions. Just point the camera at th
THE PERFORMANCE PARTNER YOU CAN TRUST. COMP Cams Is Here For You Today Well Be Here Tomorrow, Providing The Most Advanced Engine Components Backed By Superior Service COMP Cams is a company of racers we understand the passion and dedication it takes to be a winner because we come to work every day with that same competitive spirit. For employees at COMP Cams, second best is not an option. It shouldnt be an option for your next valve train purchase either. COMP Cams continuously expands our s
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