Minnesota Monster
Fans of the Fast Street Car racing scene marveled during the '03 season about the '71 Plymouth Barracuda campaigned by Dan Dye. Dye, from Rosemount, Minnesota, with his racing partner Miles Koolmeister, campaigned his machine for five seasons. Last year, he optioned to replace his nitrous-injected B-1 powerplant with a big honking alcohol-burning, supercharged 526-inch BA Hemi motor, built by New York-based Pro Mod racer Mike Janis. The car is run in the Outlaw 10.5 and Super Street classes within the popular National Street Car Association (NSCA). It is without question a challenge to tame a car that produces in excess of 2,000 hp and is limited to rear tires only 10.5 inches wide. Dye employs some interesting management.
"There is no doubt the car would be uncontrollable if you were to apply all the power," Dan revealed. "The secret is to apply it gradually. when you consider the power per square inch of tire on our car, it's almost equal to racing a Top Fuel car. We use a programmable MSD ignition system to help manage things."
So far Dan has taken the 3,200-pound race car to a 7.87 at 190-plus mph. he is convinced that is just the tip of the car's potential. "Our objective is to try to be the first 10.5-inch-tire car in the 6s. We feel we have the power and the combination to do it."
In addition to action on the NSCA circuit, Dan will run his car at a number of Mopar feature events next season, including the "King of the Street" races planned for Columbus, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.
Star stocker
since 1980, Kentucky's Larry Hill has raced one of the most impressive Stock eliminator cars on the circuit-a meticulous 440ci Six Barrel '71 Barracuda. Hill's car has proven to be very versatile as it is raced it in a variety of classes from A/SA to C/SA, depending on the car's weight and the state of the national index.
Larry reports his car used to be his "go to work and knock around car" before he and his wife Patsy decided to make it a full-blown race car. During his career, Hill's success has been significant. He has over twenty class wins to his credit and has set the national record for C/SA. Larry has multiple event wins at the NHRA Lucas Oil Divisional level and placed second in NHRA Division Three Stock-eliminator points last season. A first career national-event victory driving the Barracuda still eludes him. however, a runner-up finish at Route 66 Raceway in 1999 is an indication of that eventuality.
Larry does all of his own engine building with machining help provided by Tri-City Competition (CA), Kirk's Auto Machine (Tennessee), and Mikes Speed Shop (Tennessee). The race car chassis is by Gary Jennings of Jennings Race Cars.
Most racing weekends find Larry in competition with a posse of fellow Mopar-brand Stock-eliminator proponents, including Jerry Newsome, George Widuch, and Jerry Bennett. Larry's son Chris, who is an engineer for the Eaton Corporation, also plays a major role with the racing team.
"I think our success is a direct result of the collection of good people I can draw upon," Larry said. "We travel to most events as a group and help each other scheme to gain a competitive advantage."
Beau BelvedereKevin Dundas, store manager for Karbelt Pickering-one of the longest running and most famous speed shops in Canada-recently completed construction of an impressive '64 Plymouth Belvedere Nostalgia Super Stock car. Using a 484-inch Mopar mega-block Hemi engine equipped with aluminum Hemi heads, Kevin ran his car at select events during the '03 racing season and was rewarded with a best run of 9.33 at 143 mph.
"Originally this was a Southern car that we brought back from North Carolina and stripped," Kevin revealed. "We got Eddy Bryck at the Chassis Shop (Ajax, ON) involved and Tim Banning from "For Hemis Only" (Bewdley, ON). The '03 season was our first with it. We ran it at the Mopar events at both Norwalk and Columbus, Ohio, and managed to qualify number one and win some rounds. The car works great-it hooks up and goes straight every time."