Plymouth Barracuda Bracket Racer - The B3 Bomber

Timeslips don't lie, and this one is from our very first full pass. We were pleasantly surprised that our combination easily achieved our goal of 10-second elapsed times, and with a little tuning, we managed a best pass of 10.28 during our first test session.

Since our car met its goal of 10 seconds in the quarter, we deemed it worthy of paint and took it to J.D.'s Paint and Body for a race-quality paint job.

J.D.'s crew quickly went to work straightening the panels of our Barracuda, prepping it for the '06 Go Mango color that Amy picked for her car.

Since tire clearance at the front of the rear wheelwell is always an issue on A-bodies, we had J.D. cut and radius the front of the wheelwell for more clearance.

With the quarter-panel cut away, new metal was added to form the lip of the wheel opening. This modification gives our 28-inch-tall Mickey Thompson slicks plenty of room to grow during the burnout, and probably gave us enough room that we could run a 30-inch-tall tire if we wanted.

With the bodywork complete, the car is rolled into the booth where J.D. applied multiple coats of Diamont paint, transforming the car from a primered wreck to a stunning race car.

After the paint cured, J.D. wet-sands and buffs the finish to a mirror gloss.

Knowing we needed to get back to the track for testing, J.D. and his crew got our car back to us in record time (for J.D.).

For the rest of our second test session, Amy practiced her burnouts and reaction times, and made multiple full passes down the quarter-mile. The best elapsed time of the day was 10.26 at 130 mph in the 85-degree Florida heat, and the car ran very consistently. All of Amy's practice paid off. The week following our test session, she entered a bracket race at Lakeland Motorsports Park and ended up earning $500 by winning the Pro class!

When we got to the track, we decided to optimize the tuning of our car by making several jetting and timing changes. This combination loves fuel, and every time we increased main jet sizes the car went quicker and faster in the quarter-mile. We eventually ended up with 98 jets in the front and rear of our Holley 1050 Dominator.

Another important part of tuning a race car is trying different tire pressures. Amy found that 12.5 psi in the 28x10.5-inch Mickey Thompson slicks optimized 60-foot times. Her best 60-foot time during this test session was 1.44 seconds.