September 2020 Teaser

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september 2020 | RPM Magazine

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.............................................................. CHRIS BIRO editor@rpmmag.com V.P. MARKETING/CUSTOMER RELATIONS.................. TRISH BIRO trish@rpmmag.com EVENT MEDIA.................................................. events@rpmmag.com EVENT SUBSCRIPTIONS COORDINATOR........... SHERRIE WEBER sherrie@rpmmag.com ART DIRECTOR............................................................

JIM McHARG

Photographic Contributions: TIM LEWIS, MARK goDragRacing. org, GEORGE PICH, TOBY BROOKS, MATT WOODS, TABITHA SIZEMORE, MATT TROMBLEY, LOUIS FRONKIER, BART CEPEK, PATRICK “RED” WILLIAMS, BLAKE FARNAN, JERRY GARRISON, NEIL ZIMBALDI, STEVEN TAYLOR, and EDDIE MALONEY. Editorial Contributions: TIM LEWIS, CHUCK SCOTT, MARK goDragRacing.org, TOBY BROOKS, JAMES WILLIAMS, TIM BIRO, STAN SMITH, JT, GEORGE PICH, JAY MISENER, and EDDIE MALONEY. Technical Writing Contribution: CHUCK SCOTT, SHANE TECKLENBURG, TOBY BROOKS, and TIM BIRO.

ADVERTISING SALES For advertising information contact

TRISH BIRO...........................519.752.3705....... trish@rpmmag.com

Special Events Manager: Chris Biro events@rpmmag.com Special Events Sales: Trish Biro: 519-752-3705 trish@rpmmag.com Subscriptions/Address Changes: Circulation circulation@rpmmag.com

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editor’s

RANT

by

Chris Biro

It’s Go Time

And We can’t afford to screw it up!

By now most of us have been enjoying some sort of “distanced” event during the worldwide measures to contain and mitigate the damage done by Covid-19.

Most have also been out to buy parts or get some work done on our cars. Many people I know have been busting out work in their garages like there’s no tomorrow the past 6 months, eventually inviting friends back to help and catch up on bench racing.

Many businesses have opened for business, but unfortunately we have lost some good companies and folks to the economic effects of the situation. Not to mention layoffs at larger retailers and manufacturers. Much like what happened in 2008 through 2012, those that are remaining need our support now more than ever.

Online shopping has increased by billions over the past 6 months, although I am not quite sure how to interpret this for our performance and racing industry as a whole.

Sure, as far as purses and shoes go, there are “those” people that just gotta have more and more and more, which I see as just a waste of time and money, not to mention what it does to our local economy and landfills. Generally speaking, us car people tend to first identify what we need, then buy it and avoid the excess.

I like to shop online, even for parts, but at the same time I really do enjoy heading out to a store or speed shop to buy stuff and sometimes just hang out with others of like mind.

There has to be mix of both, I think, a shift to include our large and small businesses into the new forced set of rules for our economy.

As a society we have been manipulated to demand lower prices and faster service, which for many years fueled the Chinese economy supplying massive amounts of inferior quality goods and materials to us. It has certainly strengthened their economy and hurt ours in many ways. I can’t deny that on certain items I tend to look for something that “will do”, but make no mistake, when it comes to quality and reliability, especially for the projects in my garage and on my home, I ALWAYS choose a company that has at least base operations on this continent, and manufactured here whenever possible, and it’s nice to see more and more performance and racing enthusiasts demanding the same of the parts they purchase. If the cost is higher, I just wait until I can afford it and try to avoid the “get it on credit” game. The last thing I need is more debt. In my humble opinion, more debt makes me more of a slave to the system.

What about “services”. The one thing no other country can take from us are the services that our retailers and shops provide. Be 4

it an actual physical service or quality advice or technical assistance. Will this economic upheaval lead to us to be a more service-minded buyer? You can’t get quality tech or guidance, parts installed, a chassis or engine built, or a paint job online or in a country across an ocean. While many people reading this can do a lot of these things themselves, there are very few who can do them all, well. So try this, if there is something you’re not quite comfortable doing, take it to the pros at your local shop. In the end it will save you time, and as I have said before, time truly does have a monetary value. Also, keep in mind when you buy something that there should be a certain level of pre-sale service and post sale technical support that goes along with it.

Funny story. Back when I owned a speed shop, a few years before the internet, we had a saying, “don’t bring your own steak to the restaurant”. Often times people would bring in their own parts for us to install, which was fine, however, where things went sour was when we were doing the original install work on their car and it needed (or they chose) some more parts to add to the work. We would price those parts out for them, but they would take the part numbers, go somewhere else to buy them and bring them to us to add to the install. WTH? One time, I had a regular customer who relied on us for all the work on his car, we did everything. While we were doing some other mods on his ride, I priced a nitrous kit with install for him. He went to a chain parts shop across town that sold the odd performance part and got a $70 less price on the nitrous kit, and here is the kicker, he still wanted us to do the install! If he had originally came to us to install a nitrous kit that he bought somewhere else that would have been ok, but to do this while his car was in the shop being worked on by us was a slap in the face.

In short, BOTH small and large businesses are very important to our economies as are both online and in-person transactions. It’s a given that physical services are imperative and will never go away, but when it comes to parts we as consumers need to demand not just quality but service as well, and the best way to do that is to not purchase inferior goods from God knows where that don’t have the people based in our country to back them up! We have amazing large online retailers and corner speed shops at our disposal, both staffed with knowledgeable people and it is important that we support them all.

Could this pandemic-related shakeup lead to a shift back to appreciating and protecting the companies, skilled staff and quality we have here in our own land? I for one truly hope so!

september 2020 | RPM Magazine

ADVERTISER INDEX AED Competition .......................77

Meziere Precision Mfg ...............32

AFR:

Misener Motorsports ..............101

Air Flow Research ........... 5,56,57 AJE Racing................................ 77 American Racing Headers .........56

Moser Engineering .................. 62 Neal Chance Converters............ 98

Aurora Bearing ..........................77

Northern Radiator .....................60

AVAK/Ridgegate Tools ...............50

Parts Pro/Total Truck Centers

Baer Brakes ........................31,66

..................................59,73,110

BES Racing Engines ...................66 Billet Specialties........................66

PBM Products........................... 13

Bill Mitchell Products .........12,72

Piston Racing Engines ...............89

C & S Specialties ........................69

Profiler ......................................63

Callies Performance Prod...........20

PRW-USA ..................................96

Calvert Racing Suspensions .......45 Canton Racing Products ............26 CFE Racing Products .................62

Race Part Solutions ............30,72 Racequip ...................................63

Chassis Engineering ..................52

Rage Wraps ..............................63

Clearshot Customs..................103

RAM Clutches ............................78

Delta Performance Auto Grp......20

RCD ...........................................88

Design Engineering ...................39 Dynotech Engineering...............11 ECAM .....................................102

RM Racing Lubricants .........21,71 Ross Racing Pistons ...............7,47

Energy Suspension/NPW...........52

RPM Magazine ..........23,73,108

Erson Cams.............................103

RPM Magazine Subscribe! .........35

GoDragRacing.org ..................102

SG Metal Works .........................70

Goodson Tools ...........................56 Granatelli Motorsports ..............61

SM Racecars ..............................97

GRP Connecting Rods ................67

Smackdown 4 ....................27,91

Harland Sharp ...........................38

Steve Morris Engines ....................2

Hitman Hotrods.........................57

Summit Midwest Drags.............51

Hughes Performance....................7 Ian Hill Racing .......................... 47 Icon Forged Pistons ...................88

Summit Racing Equip. 35,97,109 Taylor Cable Products .............100

Induction Solutions ...................18

T & D Machine ...........................71

Jesel ..........................................48

The Supercharger Store .............71

Joe Van O...................................57

Ti64 ...........................................99

JW Racing Transmissions ..............5 Karbelt ......................................77 Kinsler Fuel Injection..........13,63

Tom’s Upholstery .......................48 Total Seal Rings .........................10

LenTech Automatics ...........38,70

Trailer Alarms.com ....................88

Liberty’s Gears ......................... 70

Trick Flow ...........................15,97

Lokar Performance ................... 66 Lutz Race Cars ....................... 102 Magnaflow................................96

Tuned By Shane T ......................65 Ultimate Headers ......................77

MagnaFuel ................................16

VFN Fiberglass Inc. ....................62

Manton Pushrods ...................100

Weinle Motorsports ..................17

Mark Williams ...........................89

Wiseco...................................... 96

Metal Products ..........................63

World Products..........................67

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September

2020

Often Imitated, Never Duplicated—For 21 STRAIGHT YEARS RPM Magazine has been the ORIGINAL Voice Of Wild Street Machines and Extreme Drag Cars WORLDWIDE! Don’t Settle For Less! We DELIVER Insane Fast Cars and Bring You NO POLITICS... JUST ACTION! Your ONLY “Real Time” “Real World” Car Mag...PERIOD!

The TeacherAuto.......................................................

54 Mechanics teacher Martin Girard holds lessons outside the

classroom with his wild nitroused 5-speed Mustang!

Fool’s Gold ............................................................................. 8

HELLcat on Wheels ...................................... 42

Alexander Torres’ Charger; “The Fastest Hellcat in California”

This wicked street/strip turbocharged Mopar is one cool father/son project!

Sexy Sally ...................................................................... 28

Shawn White’s ’70 Chevelle is more than just another pretty face!

86

SHOP TALK “I have a problem -You probably do too!”

Still Got It......................................................................... 74

This iconic Malibu pro streeter is as fine today as it was when it debuted 33 years ago

94

Shannon Poole will be back racing his 1964 Corvette!

102 Project Pace Car Race Car: Part 4 The Short Block Lives – Installing our rotating assembly

READ COMPLETE ISSUES OF RPM MAG ONLINE AT WWW.RPMMAG.COM 6

september 2020 | RPM Magazine

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This wicked street/strip turbocharged Mopar is one co 8

september 2020 | RPM Magazine

Story by George Pich Photos by Matt Trombley

ool father/son project! www.rpmmag.com

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september 2020 | RPM Magazine

Jody & Jared Babcock’s Gold Duster AKA “Fools Gold” may be an original 22,000 mile find, but once you take note of the big tires filling the wheelwells and the chute to help the turbocharged beast slow after a hard hit at the track, all bets are off.

“We purchased this car as an original stock 6 cylinder Gold Duster in 2013,” tells Jody Babcock of the rare find Mopar.

The car was bought with a plan in mind, and that plan was for Jody to build it with his son Jared through his early teens, and then by the time he was old enough to drive and race, it would be his to do so with.

The Gold Duster name was actually an option package offered by Plymouth that started mid-way through the 1970 model year. It consisted mostly of badging, gold stripes, upgraded seats, carpeting, insulation and a vinyl roof. Although it was offered with the 340 engine, many were base 6-cylinder offerings. As you can imagine, this particular car, equipped with the “leanwww.rpmmag.com

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ing tower of power” Slant 6 engine and a few extra bells and whistles added to the base Duster’s very minimalist trim, was not the most popular in the lineup. But still, they’re rare and we think having one 48 years later is pretty cool.

The car ended up near the Babcock’s home in Battle Creek, Michigan when the previous owner shipped it from Northern California with hopes of building it into a 340 clone. That never happened, though, as Jody stepped in to buy it.

Having been raised in a car oriented family, Jody had the horsepower bug since he was old enough to drive. “My first car was a 1967 Plymouth Belvedere II which I still own. I raced the car on the street and track occasionally,” he said.

After taking a break from cars to raise a family, Jody decided it was time to get the family into cars. By the time his son Jared reached his teens

continued on page 19

275/60/15 Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials the rear wheelwells nicely and you can just catc glimpse of the Caltrac bars if you look hard eno 12

september 2020 | RPM Magazine

A nice clean small block Mopar with single turbo install made possible through the skills of Jody that were passed down to his son during this build.

s fill ch a ugh. www.rpmmag.com

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And it all fits under a flat hood, which is interestingly one of the reasons Chrysler first built the Slant 6 that originally occupied this space; to provide a lower profile engine.

The engine is a Brett Miller built 358 inch Mopar creation, originally commission for NASCAR use.

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september 2020 | RPM Magazine