MSD True Street Challenge - Blowing Sunshine

While combing the NMCA pits, we encountered the lovely Teri Coleman from Orlando, Florida. The 49-year-old loss prevention manager works for Macy's, and digs helping her husband, Les, work on the family '95 Impala SS. We promise we'll never boost another thing from Macy's.

Meet Michael Pervetich, a 54-year-old pipe fitter from Fort Myers, Florida. His claim to fame? He's put his '87 Corvette into the 11s (11.97/115 best) with the stock TPI injection system. This combo is amazingly stock, but he gets help from a 383 rotating assembly and a Lingenfelter 219 cam, as well as larger intake runners from AS&M.

This year's MSD True Street car count was up significantly from last year, partly because NMCA promoters invited the True Street competitors from the NMRA race held weeks earlier at the same track. This explains all the late-model Mustangs in attendance, including the '87 LX belonging to Scott McCleery. Scott's 351-based 408 Windsor packs A 100-HP Edelbrock nitrous plate, Victor heads and intake, an 850-cfm AED carb, and a JW-built C4 trans. On this day, it was good for mid-10s and Third Place.

True Street is a family affair, as 50-year-old Tom Puhek proves. He brought his grandson, 2-year-old Thomas Puhek IV, proving you're never too young-or too old-to start hot-rodding. Tom ran his '92 Dodge Daytona, which has a 3L V-6 and an automatic trans. With a 75hp shot of nitrous, it's run a best of 14.6/91.

After the 30-mile drive, the staging lanes were packed with True Street iron. The FWD Chryco guys seemed to like being at the front of the line, which we also noticed last year.

And now for perhaps the oddest car of True Street: Steve Coccaro's '65 Metallica Malibu. Steve built it under contract at his shop (Murray's Speed and Custom in Pompano Beach, Florida), for a Miami radio station doing a give-away promotion for the metal band Metallica. The guy who won it wanted cash instead, and sold it to Steve for a song. It runs high-10s on motor with a 9.75:1 383 small-block. We asked the 50-year-old Steve why he still has "Metallica" on the door when he's not obligated to keep it, and he said, "I like Metallica's music."

Dorinda Blaney is a latent fingerprint analyst for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, and she loves her brand-new automatic '07 Mustang GT. She's no slouch behind the wheel, either, running a best of 13.74/104 with just an Airaid cold air package.

We found Brittany Hemmerly (21) watching the action in the stands, and asked her to pose for a picture or five. She swears she's not a model, professing instead to be a manager of a Publix supermarket in Sarasota, Florida. Yeah, sure. Brittany took to the camera like a fish to water-can a modeling career be too much of a stretch? "I really want a big-block Chevelle," says Brittany, "They just look the best to me."

Lonnie Ellis hails from LaPlace, Louisiana, one of the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Life goes on even in the face of adversity, and Lonnie showed us a thing or two with his '81 Monte Carlo. Mid-11s are the usual fare, thanks to a 400 small-block with Dart Iron Eagle heads, a Victor Jr. intake, a Holley 750, and a 250hp shot of NOS. Unfortunately, Lonnie was a bit off pace on this day.

Greg Whitaker's rebodied '95 Trans Am leaves hard on his second run, as it huffs a snootful of nitrous into its 383-stroked LS1. Last year, Greg broke on the 30-mile drive. This year, he made it through his second run before calling it quits. Is this guy's luck ever going to improve?

Pontiac Power!We love seeing full-blooded Pontiac-powered Pontiacs, and Anthony Truzzolino's '81 Grand Prix didn't disappoint. Anthony and crew chief/buddy Robert Uremovich drove it the 94 miles from Cape Coral, Florida, just to attend MSD True Street. It's run a best of 11.20/118 on motor, but was a tad off pace with a 12.54 average on this day. With such nice launches, we suspect problems on the top end. Anthony is a line mechanic at Roger Dean Chevrolet in Cape Coral, and built his 474-inch 455 with iron '69 400 heads, an Edelbrock Victor intake, a Holley 950 HP carb, and a solid flat-tappet Xtreme Energy cam from COMP. Driveline mods consist of a manual-valve Turbo 400, an ATI 4,200-stall converter, and Southside bars. Launching on the footbrake, the Grand Prix has put down a best 60-foot time of 1.56. For ignition, Anthony just got a new MSD Digital 6 box. "It's freaking awesome," he says. "It starts up better, it idles better, and it has crisper throttle response."

The Magnacharger OptionSince this is our supercharger issue, we took special note of the blown mill in Chris Downie's '02 Silverado. Starting with the stock 5.3L Gen III engine, Chris added a 10-psi intercooled Magnacharger blower kit, stuffed in a .580-lift COMP roller cam with 220 degrees duration (at .050), then plumbed it with a 100hp shot of nitrous from NOS. A Snow Performance Boost Cooler runs straight methanol into the air intake under boost, and, voila!-it runs 12.0 at 114 mph. Exhaust from the otherwise stock engine exits via a set of Arizona Speed & Marine headers and a custom 2.5-inch dual exhaust. On the drivetrain side, the Silverado leans hard on a Yank 3,000-stall converter. Chris operates Jim Taylor Automotive, an auto repair center in Sarasota, Florida, so if you live in the area and you share the same jones for high-tech boost, look him up.

Going Fast On The CheapRich Perry is a family man with two kids. He also has six cars, so you know he's on a skinny-kid budget with this '66 Nova SS. After picking up the basket-case project for $2,500, Rich built a .030-over 350 using '76 vintage iron heads, which he ported himself. A mild COMP 262H flat-tappet cam went in, and the deal was topped with a Victor Jr. intake and a Holley 950 HP carb. To keep the gas bill in check, Rich endowed the mill with a modest 8.5:1 compression to work with 87 octane. Here's where it will blow your mind: off the nitrous, the Chevy II has run a best of 12.23/110 (11.49/116 with a 100hp Edebrock nitrous hit), with a 2.67-geared open rearend he nabbed from an S-10 truck. It gets better, though. Rich bought a budget B&M 10-inch converter for $109, which he launches on the footbrake. He then shifts the Turbo Action Turbo 350 at just 4,000 rpm. ("I hear it and it sounds like it's right to shift," he says.) A set of swap meet 1 5/8-inch headers and a full-length Flowmaster exhaust move the gasses. ("The kids said the old dump pipes were too loud in the back seat.") The most expensive part of the car? The Heidt's front end. The entire project took nine months to complete, and cost a total of $8,000. Did we mention that Rich did all the paint and bodywork himself in his back yard? Score one for the family man!