The Champion Speed Shop has gone out of the running with a blazing 240 mile per hour blast in eliminations at the March Meet. “It hooked up and went, but we didn’t have enough for him”, said driver Adam Sorokin of his 6.12 second run against opponent Shannon Stuart. The loss followed a valiant effort in which the team brought the completely new streamlined Special from testing to first round eliminations with methodical precision, only three days after landing on the hallowed ground of Famoso Raceway. The South San Francisco crew will certainly refine the small block Chevy combination in the coming racing season. While the weekend may be over, the saga of the Champion Speed Shop has clearly begun again.

Bakersfield, California – The Champion Speed Shop Special lit up the clocks with a 6.15 second run at 234 miles per hour in second round March Meet qualifying. “It’s getting better every time. The car hasn’t slowed down yet”, said hotshoe Adam Sorokin after the clean and straight run down Famoso Raceway. One more round of qualifying is on deck before eliminations begin on Sunday. Update: The team is in the number eight slot with a 6.06 second run in final round qualifying. 

The Champion Speed Shop is ready for second round qualifying with Famoso raceway basking under a Bakersfield sun and cloudless sky. We figured it was a good time to deliver a warmup from yesterday and a preview of today. The launch window for top fuel action is currently scheduled for a 12:30 PM. Click over to the video for a few seconds of the small block Chevy huffing some nitro.

The collective force of the Champion Speed Shop has motored the small block Chevy powered Streamliner through first round qualifying at the March Meet. Driver Adam Sorokin reports the car got out of the gate and delivered a stout midrange hit. Sorokin hung with the Chevrolet all the way out for a clean run. While the incremental numbers for the run look good, a no time condition resulted when Brett Harris drifted across the centerline and tripped up the clocks. A post-run teardown of the Chevrolet revealed a healthy engine, and the team is now preparing the car for the first session of Saturday qualifying.

Bakersfield, California – The Champion Speed Shop is here at Famoso Raceway. The Special is on the ground and the crew are ready for racing action to commence in the morning. The 1972-vintage transport hauled along 65 gallons of nitromethane, a ton of tools, 60 gallons of oil, two small block Chevy engine blocks, three superchargers, two sets of tires, and a triple set of cylinder heads for the ride.  If you’re at the March Meet come on by and say hello. If you can’t make it down to Bakersfield, then follow along here for updates from the 51st running of the March Meet. We’ll do our best to keep the tin cans and string connected to the internet and deliver the good stuff over the next few days.

With but a few days to go until the 51st March Meet, the Champion Speed Shop presents this prequel to the drag racing hootenanny even now descending on Bakersfield. This video was edited down from a one-day testing session at the Patch last Saturday, with a dusk run featured for wings on goodness. All systems are currently go for more nitro huffing small block Chevrolet action this weekend. Be there!

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. (more…)

The Champion Speed Shop has been a name synonymous with velocity and innovation for over 50 years. Founder Jim McLennan built his first dragster in 1953. By 1957 the Champion Speed Shop legend was born. It has been a little over two years since the “Smiling Irishman” motored onto the great dragstrip. The Champion Speed Shop lives on in celebration of his pioneering spirit. This video was produced in honor of Jim’s induction into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. For more information on the IDRHF head on over to the Big Daddy Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing. 

The Champion Speed Shop Special is set to run the March Meet at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield, California. The 51st running of the premiere nostalgia drag racing event will mark the official end of a six year hiatus of the legendary nitromethane powered Chevrolet dragster from the nostalgia AA/FD drag racing ranks.

The latest incarnation of the Champion Speed Shop Special continues the tradition of lightweight small block Chevrolet powered dragsters set in motion by Jim McLennan in 1953, and carried on by son Bobby McLennan into the modern era. The Champion Speed Shop Special will be driven by Adam Sorokin, whose own father Mike Sorokin drove The Surfers front engine top fuel dragster in the sixties.

While the small block Chevy is itself an anachronism in the hemi fueled AA/FD field, the Champion Speed Shop Special furthers the innovative evolution of the front engine top fuel dragster with a streamlined carbon fiber canopy that envelops the cockpit.

“The genesis of the car started long ago with cars like the Glass Slipper and other streamliners. If the engine had stayed out front, this is where the class may have gone”, said Bobby McLennan.