The Champion Speed Shop is rolling up the barrels of nitromethane and the small block Chevrolet powered AA/Fuel Special into the truck, and heading to Sacramento Raceway for the Governor’s Cup on Saturday September 19th. The team is prepared to put everything into the eight car nitro battle and wrap up the summer. Top Fuel hot shoe Adam Sorokin is looking forward to a return to his alcohol Funny Car stomping grounds, and collecting another Governor’s Cup to stand next to the one he already has.
An eight-car field of AA/Fuel dragsters will join fearsome Outlaw Pro Mods, a grip of CIFCA Alcohol Funny Cars, and four afterburner-equipped Jet Cars for some drag racing action in the sun and under the lights in the California State Capitol. Qualifying action will run on the Friday night preceding the event, for not one but two evenings of header flames lighting up the night sky on the last few Summer nights of the 2009 season.
The legend behind the 40th Annual running of the Governors Cup is somewhat hazy. In an effort to make the drag race more official, promoter Jumpin’ John Durbin sent out an invitation to the Governor himself to cut the ribbon at the track. The Lieutenant Governor showed up instead, and there has been a Governors Cup every year since. The top fuel dragster battle is the last of the summer before fall beckons the vintage drag racing gang south to Bakersfield for the 18th NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion.
WHO: Champion Speed Shop
WHAT: Supercharged Small Block Chevy on Nitromethane
WHEN: Saturday, September 19th 2009
WHERE Sacramento Raceway Park. 5305 Excelsior Road Sacramento, CA 95827
WHY: Nitromethane Under the Lights
HOW: Get to Sacramento Raceway Park
Getting thousands of horsepower through a clutch, down through the tires, and onto the track is a precarious and explosive balancing act. Variables that make for the right combination can shift in split seconds and overpower the grip of the tires just as fast. While the Champion Speed Shop went out in the first round on Sunday with a 7.08 against Howard Haight’s winning 6.09, the racing action could not have been better for the on their feet crowd at Beech Bend Raceway Park. Adam Sorokin was in, slightly off, but never out of the throttle as he grabbed a few handfuls of the 3000 horsepower small block Chevy. Sorokin got out on Haight, lost traction, but kept the car in the lane – driving sprint car style for some flat track sideways top fuel thunder out on the drag strip. The race was over for the Champion Speed Shop, but the crew prepared the Streamliner for a return time-only run that followed Round Two of Top Fuel Eliminations. This time Sorokin ran an arrow straight 6.05 second quarter mile at 239 with-a-five miles per hour. The team was ultimately one run short the pack, but brought the combination closer to getting out in front of it. Next stop, South San Francisco, California.
Oil is an inevitable part of the front engine top fuel dragster experience. The answer to the question of what happens when the oil hits the windscreen of the Streamliner was answered by Adam Sorokin and unparalleled high velocity driving prowess at 236 miles per hour. Sorokin said the car was on a hard charge and wanted to keep going, when a sheet of green slime on the windscreen got him out of the throttle and shutting the show down. Sorokin kept the Streaminer in a straight line on the top end of Beech Bend Raceway by looking out the left side canopy porthole and maintining close, but constant distance away from the passing guardrail. At 236 miles per hour. Sorokin got the chutes out and lit up the clocks with an oiled-in 6.11 elapsed time, besting the morning qualifying session run of 6.27 at 199 mph. When in Beech Bend it’s not the humidity that gets you, it’s the nitromethane.
The Champion Speed Shop has made it to Bowling Green, Kentucky for the NHRA Reunion, and clicked off a 6.15 at 204 mph in the 90-plus degree heat during a an afternoon qualifying session at Beech Bend Raceway Park. With one eye clouded in with humidity and nitromethane and the other on the track, driver Adam Sorokin left a hair early on the tree in the right lane. Howard Haight is shown here on his way to a 6.07 run at 245 mph blast in the left lane. The Champion crew is now readying the car for the second round of qualifying for the top fuel dragster field, set to run on what is forecasted to be a slightly cooler Saturday top fuel qualifying session.
The Champion Speed Shop is fine-tuning the Chevrolet-powered Special in preparation to motor far further south than South San Francisco for the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green Kentucky, June 19-21. Putting together an all-new race car and getting the fresh clutch and tire combination to mesh with almost three thousand horsepower can be a little tricky – especially when races last a mere 5.96 seconds each. Even with two test sessions and two races in the past, the Special has had less than five minutes of actual on-track measured run time. Bowling Green, Kentucky will be the next stop on the road towards quicker and faster quarter mile assaults. The entire crew is geared up for the drag race, and will once again bring a Chevrolet and nitromethane to the lush grounds of Beech Bend Raceway Park.
“It’s like going to Churchill Downs to drag race. Bowling Green is truly beautiful, and unlike any other drag strip. It’s one of my favorite races of the year”, said driver Adam Sorokin.
Thanks to the miracle of modern technology we’re able to present this inside the cockpit video of driver Adam Sorokin on a complete run in the Champion Speed Shop small block Chevy front engine Top Fuel dragster at the 2009 Rod and Kulture Dragfest. Seeing is very much believing. This short movie occurs in real time, and covers the entire run. First comes engine start to burn out, backup, and staging into the lights. Once the bulb goes green, Adam puts the screws to the Chevy for the run. 5.99 seconds later he hits the parachutes, and puts on the whoa from 235 miles per hour to make the turnout road.
The long haul to the Bakersfield started before sunrise on Friday at the Champion Speed Shop world headquarters in South San Francisco. The Special and trailer were already under way. The Champion Speed Shop 1934 Ford pickup’s blown small block Chevrolet was idling ready. Crew members motored towards Famoso Raceway from all points on the California map. A little over a month after the return of the small block Chevy on nitromethane to the March Meet, the Destination was once again the same. Bakersfield, California. This time it was Dragfest. (more…)
With the recollection of memories and good times of the Half Moon Bay Dragstrip 50th Reunion just a few days in the past, the Champion Speed Shop is loading up the gear, the nitromethane, and the gang to motor down to the Rod and Kulture Dragfest for some drag racing action at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. The Champion Speed Shop Special will join top fuel forces with eight nitro-huffing diggers, altereds, and even some funny looking cars for three action-packed days of quarter mile mayhem. Live music, a cacklefest, and a drive-in movie with drag racing features on Saturday night are part of the scheduled events.
The Champion Speed Shop in association with Miramar Events is proud to announce a return to the Pebble Beach of Drag Racing. The Pacific Coast Dream Machines show will host the 50th Reunion of the Half Moon Bay Drag Strip on April 26th, 2009. Bob McLennan along with Andy “Rodfather” Brizio, son Roy Brizio, and the entire Champion Speed Shop team would like to extend a welcome to anyone who ever worked, raced, or simply enjoyed the spectacle of drag racing by-the-sea. The latest Champion Speed Shop top fuel streamliner will be on display, along with a replica of the Kent Fuller built dragster that belonged to Champion Speed Shop founder Jim McLennan. There will also be plenty of memorabilia and memories at the very place where a bread van loaded with speakers, timing equipment, fences, and a generator made its way down from Champion Speed Shop South San Francisco headquarters and transformed the Half Moon Bay Airport into a drag strip where records were broken. photo from the Sammy Hale collection
The Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show is a celebration of velocity and innovation featuring everything from the Nebulous Theorem land speed record cars to the World’s Largest Airship Zeppelin. Read more for the full press release on the Pacific Coast Dream Machines and the Half Moon Bay Reunion. For show information go to Pacific Coast Dream Machines
Delivering a race car from a concept to 240 plus miles per hour of genuine velocity involves a herculean team effort. In the case of the Champion Speed Shop Streamliner, the concept evolved from an initial design suggestion to the latest incarnation of the small block Chevy on nitromethane dragster. The four plus year development timeline began with a common vision of retro liners like the Glass Slipper. Bob McLennan called on Jeff Teaford, who took the vision into a series of drawings and models that eventually led the development and construction of the finished race car. Read on for more about Jeff and some original drawings. (more…)
The Champion Speed Shop is rolling up the barrels of nitromethane and the small block Chevrolet powered AA/Fuel Special into the truck, and heading to Sacramento Raceway for the Governor’s Cup on Saturday September 19th. The team is prepared to put everything into the eight car nitro battle and wrap up the summer. Top Fuel hot shoe Adam Sorokin is looking forward to a return to his alcohol Funny Car stomping grounds, and collecting another Governor’s Cup to stand next to the one he already has.
Getting thousands of horsepower through a clutch, down through the tires, and onto the track is a precarious and explosive balancing act. Variables that make for the right combination can shift in split seconds and overpower the grip of the tires just as fast. While the Champion Speed Shop went out in the first round on Sunday with a 7.08 against Howard Haight’s winning 6.09, the racing action could not have been better for the on their feet crowd at Beech Bend Raceway Park. Adam Sorokin was in, slightly off, but never out of the throttle as he grabbed a few handfuls of the 3000 horsepower small block Chevy. Sorokin got out on Haight, lost traction, but kept the car in the lane – driving sprint car style for some flat track sideways top fuel thunder out on the drag strip. The race was over for the Champion Speed Shop, but the crew prepared the Streamliner for a return time-only run that followed Round Two of Top Fuel Eliminations. This time Sorokin ran an arrow straight 6.05 second quarter mile at 239 with-a-five miles per hour. The team was ultimately one run short the pack, but brought the combination closer to getting out in front of it. Next stop, South San Francisco, California.
Oil is an inevitable part of the front engine top fuel dragster experience. The answer to the question of what happens when the oil hits the windscreen of the Streamliner was answered by Adam Sorokin and unparalleled high velocity driving prowess at 236 miles per hour. Sorokin said the car was on a hard charge and wanted to keep going, when a sheet of green slime on the windscreen got him out of the throttle and shutting the show down. Sorokin kept the Streaminer in a straight line on the top end of Beech Bend Raceway by looking out the left side canopy porthole and maintining close, but constant distance away from the passing guardrail. At 236 miles per hour. Sorokin got the chutes out and lit up the clocks with an oiled-in 6.11 elapsed time, besting the morning qualifying session run of 6.27 at 199 mph. When in Beech Bend it’s not the humidity that gets you, it’s the nitromethane.
The Champion Speed Shop is fine-tuning the Chevrolet-powered Special in preparation to motor far further south than South San Francisco for the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green Kentucky, June 19-21. Putting together an all-new race car and getting the fresh clutch and tire combination to mesh with almost three thousand horsepower can be a little tricky – especially when races last a mere 5.96 seconds each. Even with two test sessions and two races in the past, the Special has had less than five minutes of actual on-track measured run time. Bowling Green, Kentucky will be the next stop on the road towards quicker and faster quarter mile assaults. The entire crew is geared up for the drag race, and will once again bring a Chevrolet and nitromethane to the lush grounds of Beech Bend Raceway Park.
With the recollection of memories and good times of the Half Moon Bay Dragstrip 50th Reunion just a few days in the past, the Champion Speed Shop is loading up the gear, the nitromethane, and the gang to motor down to the Rod and Kulture Dragfest for some drag racing action at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield. The Champion Speed Shop Special will join top fuel forces with eight nitro-huffing diggers, altereds, and even some funny looking cars for three action-packed days of quarter mile mayhem. Live music, a cacklefest, and a drive-in movie with drag racing features on Saturday night are part of the scheduled events.
