MSD True Street Nationals - The Hard Way
Heatley poses with a belt he shredded earlier in testing. "I didn't get out 300 feet on this one." His '69 runs a Hughes Powerglide, a Moser 9-inch rear and 4.10 gears. Heatley ran a 9.86 on his first and only pass, throwing the belt before the finish line. | 
Lending our street mayhem an air of legitimacy were Banks County Sheriff Sergeant Paul Lewallen (left) and deputy Shane Adams. They did a great job orchestrating the closure of intersections on our 30-mile drive. | 
With the smack-talk session under his belt, Tim Campbell (McDonaugh, GA) took his '93 Mustang LX to the track, where it laid down an 11.01 three-run average. Campbell elects not to rely on power adders-instead, a 10:1 compression 351 Windsor gets its oats from a pair of old-style TFS Street Heat heads, a Victor Jr. intake, a COMP 292 solid-roller cam, and a Barry Grant 750-cfm Race Demon carb. Power goes through a Lentech AOD and the stock 8.8-inch rear with Moser axles and 3.73 gears. | 
Terry Herbert is another MSD True Street regular and hails from Elizabethtown, KY. Since we saw him last, Herbert upgraded to a dual-stage NOS Big-Shot nitrous system. On this day, it helped his 434-inch small-block propel his '84 Monte SS to a new best ET of 9.97. Herbert's recipe: Pro Topline heads with a Victor Jr. intake, a 900-cfm Holley double-pumper, a Turbo 350 manual-valve trans and 4.56 gears loaded into a GM 12-bolt. | 
Between the 30-mile drive and the drag race runs, there's always a little time for some smack-talk, all in good fun of course. | 
Matt Leetch's LX uses an intercooled ITS twin turbo kit (out of production) making 15 to 16 lbs of boost into an 8.5:1 347-inch Windsor. Fuel management for the fuel-injected small-block is via a PMS computer and Pro-M "Univer" mass air meter from Anderson Ford Motorsport that drives 60 lb/hr injectors. The stock T5 trans has been tossed in favor of a Tremec TKO 600. The stock 8.8-inch rear houses highway-friendly 3.27 gears. Although Matt claims it runs fine on 93 octane, he opted to run 110 octane race fuel for this event. His best ET so far is 11.60, running the 93 juice. | 
The father-and-son team of Chip (left) and Matt Leetch hails from Buford, GA. On matching polo shirts is embroidered "Going For Broke Racing," which hardly imparts the fun-loving spirit of this family venture. Dad drives the '04 Mach 1 in the foreground while Matt pilots the black twin-turbo '93 LX notchback. | 
Fresh out of the build shop was Joe Kosiba's small-block '63 Nova. "I'd like to see maybe an eight out of it, but the car's brand new," quipped Kosiba. In shakedown passes, the Hoffman Estates, IL-based Chevy ran 9.65 at Union Grove, WI. The combo consists of a 406 small-block with Brodix Track 1 heads, Edelbrock Super Victor manifold, a Holley 950 HP carb, a COMP cam, and a NOS Big-Shot nitrous kit. Running gear is a Turbo 350 with a 9-inch Ford rear loaded with 3.50 gears. | 
It's a nice change of pace to see traditional hot rods represented in True Street, and Sonny Smart stepped up with his '39 Ford. This is no fairgrounds cruiser though-it runs some serious ETs with a best of 9.20/146 under its belt, thanks to a 496-inch big-block Chevy with Dart 320 heads, a Weiand tunnel ram, two 1150 Dominators and a 175hp NOS Big-Shot nitrous hit. "This is a real-deal driven car," says Smart. "We drive it about 200 miles a week. It was originally a four-door sedan, but we made it a coupe. It's an all-steel stock-frame '39 Ford. The engine mounts are even stock." | 
When we last saw Robert Wilson, his '65 Impy was knocking down low 13 with help from a new 383 small-block. "It keeps eatin' the thrust bearing in the 383," muses Wilson, "but I'd really rather not badmouth the machine shop." For the Atlanta outing, Wilson's old 327 was placed back into duty, and ET dropped back into the 15s. | 
Leading the pack out of the track for the 30-mile cruise was Phil Bonner (Lilburn, GA) in his stock 2000 Corvette. We asked him if he was related to the "real" Phil Bonner, pilot of the famous Warbucks A/FX Mustang, and he told us: "I'm related to him some how on my daddy's side." | 
True Street is a great cross-section of hot rodding culture, and Mike Puckett (Norcross, GA) proved it by bringing out his '90 Thunderbird Super Coupe. With a best ET of 12.71/108 under its belt, Puckett's T-bird is no ordinary sled. The Eaton-supercharged 3.8L V-6 has been tweaked with a reground cam from COMP, a C&L mass air housing, a larger homemade air intake, a Magnum Powers throttle body, a 5 percent Auto Specialties overdrive blower pulley, a homemade double-row intercooler, larger 42-lb injectors and a Superchips Custom Tune by Higgins Ford Performance. |
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