Plymouth And Dodge Street Racing Cars - Lonestar Shootout

We have long wanted to get some cars together and do a shootout, and so last October on a cool day in Houston, Texas, at the 2005 Lonestar Shootout, we did just that. We picked eight owners and their cars from the list that had entered the show and wanted to be involved, and had them meet us at the show so we could pit them in a run-whatcha-brung-type of bracket race. We didn't want to see a bunch of race cars that guys loosely call street cars; we wanted real-world, drive-em-on-the-weekend, hit-the-road-type of cars.

Barry Barker, Robert Greenlee, Rusty Webster, Bobby Drake, and Brian Uccello, answered the call. Yep, that's only five and we wanted eight. We're not sure what happened to the other participants, but they never made it to the show.

Even though only five guys were able to make the call with their cars, we let them have at it. Those five guys are definitely true car guys. Sure, the cars were show caliber, but all the guys flogged the crap out of them on the strip. Not one of the competitors babied their car down the track. There was smoke, hard launches, and even a little friendly smack talk before the racing began. Even though the competition didn't begin until Saturday, some of them practically made round robin blasts down the track during Friday's time trials. On Saturday, during qualifying runs, one of the competitors had an issue with a starter that prevented him from starting his car. He took it home, changed the starter, and made it back in time for racing. The only problem was he was unable to make any time shots on Saturday so he would know where to dial his car in for Sunday. The rest of the guys are true testaments to the lengths enthusiasts will go to help each other-the remaining four offered to give him a bye run in the first round of competition so he could at least get an idea of what to dial in. fortunately, we were able to get a couple time trials in before we had to begin the competition.

For this, our first shootout, the five cars competing were a true representation of a street car. They were all registered, had street tires, full interiors, and were driven regularly. By regularly, we don't mean they jumped in them on Saturday night, drove to the local cruise night, and then back home. No sir, these guys informed us they all see frequent duty on the highway. They even drive them to work occasionally.

So here they are, the participants of the 2005 Mopar Muscle/Lonestar Shootout.

Dangerous Duster
Brian Uccello - The Woodlands, Texas
1971 Duster

Brian was the only small-block entry in our competition and held his ground. Brian's numbers-matching Duster is the epitome of a street car. In 1973, Brian's first car was a GTX with a four-speed, but he really wanted a '71 340 Duster. That was in 1973; finally in 1998, he found what he wanted. This Duster originally retains all its factory sheetmetal, as well as the factory A/C. Brian tells us his Duster usually runs 13.50s, but during our shootout, he was experiencing some ignition gremlins, even with the 3.55 gear and 205/70/14 all-season radials. During our first qualifying session, Brian forgot to put his pants on (He was wearing shorts!), and so for safety reasons, he couldn't make the first round of time shots. But he did get to make it up. During the rest of the event, he remembered his pants and ripped off several low-14-second and 13-second runs.

Purple Haze
Barry Barker - Cypress, Texas
1971 Challenger convertible

Barry definitely has one gorgeous '71 Challenger convertible. He brought out his showroom-condition ride to show that Mopars were made to race. before Barry bought the Challenger, he wanted an E-Body, while his wife wanted a Corvette. When Barry's wife left for a trip, her words of "don't buy a car while I'm gone" must have gotten lost in translation, because that's when Barry found and acquired the '71. The car underwent the required rebuild, and in Barry's words, "Cars are meant for the drag strip," so he started driving and racing it from time to time. Barry tells us his car ran its fastest pass down the quarter-mile this weekend.

Red Rush
Rusty Webster - Pasadena, Texas
1969 Road Runner

Way back when Rusty was in high school, he owned a '74 Road Runner. He liked the car, but he really liked the '69 body style. It took awhile, but eventually Rusty found this one. He tells us he drives this car frequently and really enjoys taking it to the track. For this event, however, Rusty almost didn't make it. The week before the show, he had some problems that bent some pushrods, which almost meant the car wouldn't make the competition. Luckily, friend and shootout competitor, Robert Greenlee, was able to lend a hand and get the car running. On Friday night during time trials, Rusty's car started running rough and then just stopped. Fearing the worst, he thought it was a repeat of the previous week. As soon as he and Robert pulled the distributor cap, they found the metal contactor on the rotor had come off. They replaced the rotor, and Rusty was racing again.

Six-Pack Attack
Robert Greenlee - Deer Park, Texas
1969 Road Runner

Robert's first car was a '69 Road Runner, and those memories stayed with him because he had to have another one. In his words, "it may be as aerodynamic as a brick, but who cares?" He loves to drive and race his car, and many of the aftermarket parts are a compromise to achieve driveability. It's a true driver, having made the cross-country trek for the 1998 Power Tour (with the A/C on), and then again for the Woodward dream cruise in Detroit. Robert says his car may be easier to tune and run better with a single four-barrel, but since the Six Pack is synonymous with Mopar performance, it's going to stay.

Just to make sure Robert's Runner has enough power under the hood, a nitrous-oxide system is plumbed into the Six Pack, but for some reason, he never used it that weekend.

The Winner

At the beginning of this article we mentioned a car that was having starter issues. Well, Bobby Drake was the gentleman with that car. Sure, changing a starter may not sound like a daunting task, but try it with 2-inch headers. They needed to be loosened from the head, and the starter finessed out of the hole. Bobby left the track Saturday night, made the swap, and returned Sunday for racing. Bobby has owned this Road Runner for a couple of years now, and drives it every chance he gets. While he was definitely the quickest car in our competition, he was also the only one using drag radials. Hey, there was no rule that said he couldn't. Bobby's 60-foot times were consistently in the 1.59-1.61 range for all his passes.