MSD True Street Program - Cure For the Common Man

Rush hour traffic, a week that's too long, not enough money and never enough time. Those are just some of the things that make waiting for the weekend so you can escape in your car all worthwhile. Yet, when the speed limit is 55, it seems like you can never get away quite fast enough. PRO Edelbrock seems to have found a cure for that ailment with their MSD True Street program, which is a part of every event.

This is where real street enthusiasts can pull out all the stops, get some national exposure--and maybe even be king for a day. It's the best kept secret in drag racing. New cars, small cars, musclecars, domestic or import, slow or fast, there's a place for them all to share equal billing and compete on even terms.

It all starts by going to a Pro Edelbrock street event. By then you will have read the rules to be sure your car complies and so you'll understand the class format. You bring your helmet, pull in with a full tank of gas, go through tech and then the fun begins. It all starts with a 30-mile cruise around the event area hosted by your local law enforcement. For once, you won't have to worry about looking in your rear view mirror. They'll be the ones up front leading the cruise. Everyone's on his or her own and you must complete the cruise in order to take part in the on-track portion of the program.Once you arrive back at the track, the cars are escorted to a special parking area under the watchful eye of PRO Edelbrock officials as everyone cools down. There's no opening the hood, no adding fuel, no messing with the car. More often than not, you can expect a few side bets going on who will have the quickest car.

Then it's time for some fun. The call comes for everyone to go to the staging lanes where the cars line up in random order. The cars stage, launch and then come right back to staging again. It's three consecutive rounds with no cool down in between. The times are recorded, averaged and then listed with the quickest car in the 15-second and down categories being declared the winner in their class. The overall quickest driver is declared "King for a Day" and retains all the bragging rights and associated privileges until next year's event.

What? No money? Nope! True Street is a throwback to the good ole days when the world's quickest and fastest street cars would endure a cruise and race till the end--all for a jacket. The fun is addictive and the camaraderie is something that you'll never forget. If you don't believe, then maybe Paul Ferrucci or Tony MacDonald can tell you why. Both drivers liked winning so much that they went out of their way to go to more events to become the first pair of multiple race winners in Pro Edelbrock True Street history.

MSD True Street is a place where almost anyone can enjoy a great cruise, get in some track time and maybe even have more than a few moments in the sun. It's the cure for the common man--and even the common car. It's coming soon to track near you. See you there!

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH TWO MSD TRUE STREET CHAMPS

Mark Eggers
Clearwater, FL
1970 Datsun 240-Z

Working as a fireman/paramedic can be a demanding job with long hours. Marc Eggers of Clearwater, Florida put some of that time to good use as shown with this early-model Datsun 240-Z that won the PRO season opener at Bradenton in 2004. Marc had known about this car for a while and purchased it about three years ago. One of the first priorities was to dump the IRS in favor of a solid rear axle and to straighten out the fuel system, which helped with getting the car to go down the track straight and being consistent. When PRO Edelbrock introduced its True Street class, it looked to Marc like the place to run.

"I really like the format," Marc said when asked about his first True Street race. "It really sparks a lot of debate on the Internet forums about what is and is not a true street car. Some people have the idea that as long as it has four wheels and they can drive it on the street, nothing else matters. Others seem to think you should have carpeting, A/C and even the stock ignition. You can go from one extreme to another. True Street is different and offers something that the spectator can relate to instead of the all out drag cars."

Marc put the car together with a Bill Mitchell 427 small-block Chevy crate motor, which was dyno'd at 503 peak hp. Marc's engine combination used basic off-the-shelf parts with a set of AFR aluminum heads and a custom ground cam from Comp Cams. A Turbo 350 was his choice of transmission. Extra motivation comes from a simple NOS plate system with a 275 lbs. shot of juice. At 2,580 lbs. on 10.5-inch tires with a 3.90 gear, Marc's best numbers have been a 9.10 at 149+ MPH.

While Marc got a lot of notoriety with the car, he won't be running True Street in 2005. Marc sold the car and plans on building a Junior Dragster for his son so he can spend more family time at the race track.

RICHARD BARTEL
Derby, KS
1967 Chevelle

Kansas has never known for having a lot of street car race events. So whenever one gets reasonably close, Richard Bartel looks at making a weekend of it. That's what he did at PRO Edelbrock's annual stop at Bowling Green, Kentucky--and he came home a winner.

Richard did this with a show-quality Chevelle that packs a 468 BBC under the hood with Performer RPM heads, an 1150 Dominator and a healthy shot of NOS. Backing that up is a Turbo 400 automatic with 3.73 gears in the rear. It's a fun ride, too, as Richard has gone as quick as a 10.12 while weighing in at a whopping 3,700 lbs with him in the car. Yet, with a low 9.0:1 compression, the car runs on pump gas and remains very streetable.

"I put about 1,500 miles on the car annually," Richard said. "I'm a member of a car club where we go on rod runs, cruises and poker runs all the time. Building the car the way I did allows me to drive it, race it and then load the whole family up for a cruise.

"Having to complete the cruise and then not being able to raise your hood afterwards helps keep the purpose-built race cars out of the class," Richard continued. "The cruise also keeps the 9 and 10-second purpose-built cars out of True Street because their 5 and 10-gallon fuel cells are just too small. They can't complete a 30-mile cruise and then race with the amount of fuel they carry."

Richard has found that meeting new people and the camaraderie of other gear heads has been one of the best parts of going to the races. Some of the people he's met have made going to events like Bowling Green an annual get together. In fact, he's already made plans to make three Pro Edelbrock events in 2005."If they keep working with and advertising the class, there's no doubt it's going to get bigger and bigger." Richard said. "My hat's off to those guys at Pro Edelbrock."

IT ALL STARTED WITH SOME RULES...

Intended for high-performance street vehicles with mild to wild modifications, True Street participants are required to be registered, licensed, and insured and able to drive over a 30-mile distance.

Tech Requirements
In order to compete, all vehicles and/or drivers are required the following:

1. Valid driver's license
2. Valid vehicle registration
3. Valid license plate(s). Dealer/Temp plates prohibited.
4. Valid insurance ID card. Faxes and/or letters from insurance companies and/or brokers not acceptable.
5. Valid state inspection sticker (if required by state vehicle is registered).
6. Hood is required, may be made of lightweight material. Hood scoops permitted. Hood/scoop may be liftoff, must cover the entire engine & induction system.
7. Any type of passenger windows permitted, but must be functional--up/down and in working condition.

During the tech-in process, vehicle must have operational street equipment, including headlights, taillights, brake lights, turn signals, and horn. It is the participant's responsibility to familiarize oneself with the class requirements as found in the 2004 PRO rulebook and the safety requirements as found in the 2004 NHRA rulebook.

Street vehicles from all model years with stock-chassis or back-half type vehicles running true 10.5-inch wide tires are allowed with any kind of engine type or power adders. There is no minimum weight. Stock firewall & stock front frame rails must be in stock location and unmodified. Starting at firewall rearward, floor and chassis may be replaced with aftermarket components (as in typical back-half chassis). Full tube-type chassis vehicles prohibited. Stock-type front suspension or stock bolt-in-type replacement front suspension required. Tubular front suspension components permitted. Coil-over shocks/struts are permitted. Bolt-in front suspension retrofit kits (ex. Heidt's, Fatman, etc) are permitted. Aftermarket rear suspension permitted of any design. Coil-over shocks and springs permitted and may be relocated. Wheelie bars are permitted.

Entries are required to have an OEM steel (fiberglass/composite if OEM equipped) body shell. Aftermarket body kits are permitted, but the hood, front valance, rear valance, and rear trunk lid/hatch are the only lightweight components allowed. Hoods are required. Rear wings of any type are permitted. OEM safety glass windows required & must be functional. Lexan prohibited.

All 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, small-block and big-block engine types and multiple power adders are permitted. Manual or automatic transmissions and rear ends of any type are permitted. Exhaust system with mufflers are required.

DOT slick tires or DOT-legal radials tires required for drive tires during the road tour only. Racing slicks or DOT radial or DOT slick tires are permitted for race qualifying/class run off. Maximum actual measured tire size is as follows: Actual measured tread of tire is limited to 10.6 inches. Tire height is unrestricted. A "go-no go" gauge will be used to measured tire width. Tire shaving is prohibited. Spindle-mount front wheels prohibited.

Cruise Information
There will be a 30-mile police-supervised cruise on highway and city streets prior to competition, limited to those vehicles that have passed tech inspection. A police escort will supervise the cruise in accordance with local laws and ordinances. Each competitor and crew are on their own reconnaissance during the police escort and cruise and bear the full responsibility of all actions. Please be safe and follow all traffic laws during the cruise. Support vehicles (i.e., tow vehicles, crew, etc.) are permitted optionally on the road tour, but must trail behind the True Street participants, and the escort, at all times. All support vehicles are on their own recognizance and must obey all applicable local safety and traffic laws. Cruise is mandatory in the time allotted for competition. Any vehicle unable to complete the road tour under its on power, within the allotted time, will be disqualified from racing. Any vehicle that falls behind the trailing escort will be disqualified.

After the vehicles return from the road tour, they will assume their position in the pit areas for the cool-down period. The cool-down period will typically last between 15 and 30 minutes. During this cool down period only, entrants may adjust tire pressure, install fresh nitrous bottles, install ice in their intercooler (only if located in trunk, rear hatch or rear seat area), and re-fuel only. A strict CLOSED HOOD policy will be in effect until a competitor has completed his or her three back-to-back passes. Engines must remain turned off during entire cool-down period. External cooling of engine by any means (cold water, outdoor fans, etc.) prohibited. Any engine changes, repairs, or adjustments (changing rocker arms, carburetor adjustments, etc.) prohibited. Changing of tires permitted.

Time Trials
After all three quarter-mile passes are completed, each racer's ET will be added and the average of the three passes will be computed. The outcome of the three-run average will be posted Sunday morning, and the awards presentation will be held Sunday. On a qualifying run, if a contestant properly starts, stages and receives the starter's signal but breaks to the point the run is not completed, a time of 28 seconds is issued and it is considered a valid qualifying run. Crew members are not permitted around participating vehicles, in the staging lanes, or in the burnout area, between rounds of competition.

Tire pressure may be checked in the staging lanes, or between rounds, and may be lowered. Air may not be added to tires any time during the back-to-back passes. Vehicles are required to make three full passes in order to be included in the final average ET tally. All vehicles must run three passes in the same order as the first pass, any attempt to gain additional cool down time between rounds will result in disqualification. The only possible exception to this rule is the use of a parachute, if required by vehicle speed. One crewmember can be placed in the staging lanes to aid in the re-packing of a parachute; however, chute must be re-packed in a manner so as not to be disruptive to competition rounds. There will be a separate staging lane designated for any vehicle needing to re-pack parachutes. Any vehicle unable to start under its own power will be disqualified. Once all rounds have been completed, prize money and awards will be given based on the final average of all three quarter mile passes. During, and in between, the back to back passes, no changes may be made to vehicle other than lowering air pressure in tires. Fresh nitrous bottles, fuel, and ice may not be installed/replenished.

Trophies & Awards
Trophies and awards are given not only for the "King of True Street" (quickest average) and runner up, but also for the lowest average ET in 10.00, 11.00, 12.00, 13.00, 14.00, and 15.00 second categories. This heads-up class runs off a .400 Pro tree in an all-run format. When called to staging lanes, all True Street competitors must report to the lanes prepared to make three back-to-back quarter mile passes. All hoods and deck lids must remain secured, as they must remain closed until completion of all three passes.