“We’ve been trying to get our 60-foot and half-track times down. In Sacramento it started to come around. That’s what we were looking for”, said Bob McLennan of the combination hitting a quick step at Sacramento Raceway.

With the car back at the South San Francisco base after the mid night grab for the Governor’s Cup, data and engine component analysis has yielded a plan to match out of the gate performance with a top end charge for lower elapsed times and higher top speeds from the Chevy-powered digger. Driver Adam Sorokin agrees the potential for maximum velocity is in order for the California Hot Rod Reunion – a fantastic place to witness drag racing history in motion and in the making on the very same weekend.

Sorokin clearly felt the car coming into line at Sacramento, and has confidence the team has learned what it takes to run nitromethane with success through the unprecedented engine setup. While the venerable Chrysler hemi has huffed nitro through thousands upon thousands of runs down the dragstrip, the small block Chevrolet nitromethane formula is the sole provenance of the Champion Speed Shop.

“I really think we have a car that can win. We’ve got some of the best people on the team you can possibly have”, said Sorokin mere days before the season finale of the 2009 NHRA Hot Rod Heritage series points battle finale.

The 18th Annual California Hot Rod Reunion takes place at Famoso Raceway on October Oct. 16-18, 2009. For event information please visit the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. For race track information visit the Famoso Raceway.

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.

Friday started out early and ended just as fast. Less than an hour after the car was out of the trailer and fired up to seat in the clutch discs, skies darkened and a wind pushed ahead of something that doesn’t happen all that often out at the Famoso. Rain. And lots of it. Buckets of rain stopped the race for the day. The car and all the equipment were pushed back into the trailer without even one run. This rain would pass, and Saturday brought a blue sky and nitromethane back out to the lanes.

Saturday Chicago Style

After nipping at the fives with 6.01-second 234 MPH first round qualifying blast, the Champion Speed Shop Special was back and ready for the late afternoon Chicago-style eliminations round at the Rod and Kulture Dragfest. The team was ready to rock when a jammed reverser felled Brad Thompson after both cars heated up the tires with a burnout. Adam Sorokin was able to back up and was in the beams when the order came to shut it down. With not enough fuel in the tank to complete another burnout and run, the team was sidelined until after fuel altereds and funny cars.

Just seconds later a medical emergency in the stands had the only ambulance leaving the grounds, and resulted in two blinking reds flashing on the tree. The entire show was postponed until another ambulance could make it back out to Famoso. Champion Speed Shop veteran Tom Homer joked that he could call the Auto Club to bring some nitro combusted during the burnout and backup. The 400 cubic inch small block huffs thirteen gallons of the good stuff on a stout pass, and can evaporate five gallons on the burnout alone.

The crew was dispatched to the pits to pick up a few gallons of the good stuff. With the tank topped off, engine cooled down, and any extra nitromethane backed out of the cylinders, the starter kicked over the small block Chevy to life. The Champion team worked with the clockwork precision required to get a 2500 horsepower race car consistently down the quarter mile. With the staging bulbs lit, driver Adam Sorokin took it and motored down the quarter mile to click off the quickest time and fastest run yet for the new setup. The clock lit up with a 5.96-second elapsed time and 235 MPH speed.

“It didn’t even throw up on me”, said Sorokin.

Despite the five-second time, the race was over for the Champion Speed Shop. The AA/Fuel top fuel dragster show at Dragfest was run Chicago Style. This means that every car makes one run. After the tire smoke clears, the two quickest and fastest cars come back to run for the win. In this particular Famoso-style Chicago sangwich, Rick Williamson bested Adam Sorokin’s 5.96 by a mere one hundredth of a second. While racing was a wrap for the Champion Speed Shop, the show was not finished.

Race and Run Again

The car was torn down and reassembled as night fell and the Dragfest transformed from race to entertainment mode. The crowd gathered underneath a drive-in movie sized screen running drag strip visuals to a period correct soundtrack by the Dynatones. Nitro action would continue come sun up, with exhibitions of nitro altereds, funny cars and kustom kontraptions running non-stop. The Sunday sessions netted two more runs for the Champion Speed Shop, with a 5.99 and a late afternoon 6.06 to wrap up the weekend for the South City crew.

Next stop – Bowling Green, Kentucky for the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion. June 19th-21st 2009.

MORE: Rod and Kulture Dragfest May 1-3 2009

After a morning that started well before sunrise, the Champion Speed Shop made it down to Bakersfield and clicked off a successful launch. A subsequent pit side teardown of the small block Chevy revealed everything was go for a second test pass in late afternoon. Bobby McLennan reports the car ran straight down the quarter mile with driver Adam Sorokin shutting off early for a smooth 6.42-second ride through the lights at 224 mph. Next stop South San Francisco, and a return to the March Meet to put the coals to it. Photos by way of Cole Coonce and the Top Fuel Wormhole

After a successful day of shakeout passes at the Sacramento Raceway, the Champion Speed Shop Special is on its way to Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield this weekend for further testing. Driver Adam Sorokin reports his experience from behind the canopy at Sacramento at the top secret testing session was a good one, saying that “it’s not unlike what a funny car feels like – only a bit smaller”. Follow through on the rest of the entry for a few more shots from the testing in Sacramento.