It Takes a Lady was the title of a late-'30s movie starring Clark Gable as a race car driver. While the distaff focus in that classic film was Gable's love interest, in today's world, women have proven more than capable of handling the men behind the wheel. Take Laura Glasscock, for instance. Laura is a Sportsman racer out of Keysville, Virginia, who has been wreaking havoc by beating the boys. She was the '98 Street Legal Track Champion at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP), posted final-round showings at NHRA's Division II bracket finals in both 1998 and 1999, and has been a solid contender at numerous other local and Mopar-oriented events. In fact, she posted a runner-up the weekend we shot these pictures at Rockingham Dragway and won the final Chrysler Classic at VMP. The fact that Laura and her husband W.C. also have one of the nicest Mopar bracket cars in existence is a plus.
The car the couple is campaigning is a '71 Challenger R/T replica, which has run as quick as 12.00 at 111 mph since first hitting the track in late 2000. In the past, the team has campaigned everything from Pro Street 'Cudas to front-engined dragsters, all powered by Chrysler's venerable 440-inch wedge motor. This particular car wasn't actually meant to be a race car; W.C. bought it as a street driver. The couple was in the process of assembling a '70 'Cuda for the track, but when that project took longer than expected, the 440 went into the R/T "just for a little while to keep racing."
"Well, we couldn't take the car to the track without a nice paint job," continues Laura, "so we did some trading with John Pihs at Victoria Expert Body and Collision and ended up with a nice-looking, nice-running car with a thrashed interior. That wouldn't do either."
Since the old interior was indeed shot, the seats went to Malcolm Wade for custom refinishing, while W.C. put a spare 'Cuda dash under the windshield, adding an Autometer tach to monitor engine speed. Meanwhile, the tired suspension was upgraded with Super Stock springs and BFGoodrich tires riding on Drag Star rims were chosen to save even more weight.
The car left Chrysler as a small-block and could use a diet as well. Therefore, the big-block went in while Unlimited Products supplied a fiberglass hood, front and rear bumpers, and valances. After the quarters were replaced, John Pihs sprayed the car using Martin Senior basecoat/clearcoat blue metallic paint, and a pedestal-mount Go-Wing was added for good measure. The R/T stripes are from Phoenix Graphics. This program put the car over the scales at just 3,250 pounds minus driver.
Since W.C. makes his living spinning wrenches, he did the mechanical work himself. That began with the 440, which is built up with a basically stock but blueprinted bottom end featuring 9.0:1 pistons. The famed Mopar Purple Shaft .509 lift/292-degree duration cam is in the center of it, opening the valves in a set of pocket-ported 452 iron heads. On top of it all is a Weiand 7512 single-plane intake with an 850-cfm Holley routing fuel down to the runners; an MSD 6AL lights it off once it's there, and JR headers route the exhaust out through 3-inch pipes and Flowmasters. Behind this is a 727 'Flite stuffed with parts from Turbo Action and a 3,800-stall converter. A 3.91 gear in an 831/44-inch rear rounds out the driveline.
Though the car is certainly streetable, it now sees most of its duty on the track, where Laura can use it to bring home money, which she does frequently. Though real men drive 'em too, Mopar has produced its share of feminine heroes, from pros like Paula Murphy and Carol "Bunny" Burkett to Hillary Sloan-Thomas and Laverne Eberst on the IHRA side, so Laura's ability to run with the best puts her in with some fast company.
"Ya got beat by a girl!?"Too bad....