2002 Hardtail RED

This car was an impulsive purchase made on the spur of the momemt at the NHRA Div. 5 race in Brainerd in 2002.  The car was new and had never been finished.  The seller needed the cash and I saw an opportunity to add a third car at a good price.  This turned out to be much more work than originally envisioned.  The cage was too low and had to be raised.  The car went to Dakota Racecars for raising the cage and installing helmet bars.  They were also going to install the Road Runner 493 and a Powerglide transmission.  The MOPAR would not fit without widening the frame rails.  The car was backhalved to accomodate the MOPAR.  A four link conversion was out of the question as the 237 inch car barely fit into our gooseneck trailer.  As it was, the cabinet doors had to be open to allow the nose of the dragster to fit.  The car was originally built with huge stagger in the front end.  This was also rebuilt and eliminated.  Needless to say, the inexpensive dragster ended up well over budget.

We started racing this car in the spring of 2003.  The car with the 493 was deadly.  We won a lot of money with it.  Not being satisfied with a good thing, the Avenger gave up the 596 and the 493 went into the Avenger.  Now we could really go fast!  The 596 was more motor than the car could handle.  It ran 7.50's pooching it off the line to avoid wheelstands.  Even 75 lbs. of ballast couldn't keep the nose from lifting out of the beams at higher launch RPMs.  Our biggest success was the winning of the Quick 16 at the 2004 MOPAR Nationals in Columbus, Ohio. 

In order to go fast enough to make most Quick 16's, we had to pick up the pace.  This car was not enough chassis to handle the kind of power necessary to run low 7's.  It was quite a handful at margin tracks due to the lack of a suspension.  The decision was made to move up to another dragster.  The Avenger and this dragster were sold the winter of 2004 to finance the purchase of the new 2005 Miller Dragster.


Best Performance with 493:  8.15 @ 163 MPH

Best Performance with 596:  7.51 @ 173 MPH

The Car