2008 LSX Shootout - LSX Shootout

GM Performance Parts - LSX Drag Radial
After last year's stellar competition, we had high hopes for the 2008 LSX Shootout Drag Radial class. While the amount of racers wasn't any bigger (10 showed for DR), there had been huge buzz during spring and summer '08 about several of the competitors. In contrast to last year's insane thrash to get the car done in mere days after a wreck, Tom Kempf actually had time to prepare for this event, and with the defending champ well-rested, many had Kempf retaining his crown. Rumblings abounded about fellow Midwesterners Mike Brown and Steve Turley: would Turley work past the mechanical problems that kept him from taking the '07 crown...and would Brown's 7-second TA be a DR contender? And as of late, Steven Fereday out of Texas had been turning heads with his bad black Camaro. It was known to be wicked-fast...could it handle the torture of seven-second qualifying rounds?

But by far, the hottest topic leading up to the event was Paul Major and the ridiculous numbers he'd been laying down. It was well-known that Paul's Corvette was hurt during the '07 event, but a new build and a killer twin-turbo setup had Major setting the strip on fire in mid-2008. From high sevens last year to mid sevens now: a 7.4 in August, and a 7.3 at a blistering 205 mph in October! Many had proclaimed that if Major's ride could hold together, it would not only win Drag Radial, but dominate it! But with a few new faces running low 8s, and dark horses like Michigan's Jim Filipowski and his 7-second Camaro, anything could happen...and that's just how we like Drag Radial.-RJ

"The turbo's definitely got...        read full caption "The turbo's definitely got issues, but we think we can make three rounds," Paul Major told us early on. "We lost a turbo twice, then had to scavenge around the pits to rebuild it. A lot of people had GT47 spares, so we stole bearings and whatever else we needed to make it work."...	...Paul-who is running a 427...        read full caption ...Paul-who is running a 427 LSX block with ET heads and a Neal Chance converter-also hurt a tranny in qualifying. His 'Vette slices to low 7s by pushing around 28 pounds of boost...when his turbos are cooperating.	Brian Krzewinski of Rising...        read full caption Brian Krzewinski of Rising Sun, MD was fighting rev problems, as his '99 T/A's LS wouldn't go over 7200 due to weak valvesprings-hitting the eighth-mile and falling over. He runs a stock-block LS2 with ET Performance 225 heads, a hydraulic roller cam from Kurt Urban, and a 98mm turbo with a Performance Auto Fabrication turbo kit-and he'd like it to hit eight grand. His Pontiac has 20 runs on it. Starting from 9-second license runs, Brian has got those times down to an all-time best of 8.40 this weekend. In Round One of eliminations he put on a good show, hitting 8.39 at 167. Unfortunately for Krzewinski, his opponent was last year's runner-up Paul Major-and Major's scalding 7.59 at 190 put Brian on the trailer.
"It's eighth-miling good,"...        read full caption "It's eighth-miling good," Apex, NC denizen Martin Cox said of his juiced Camaro. This SS benefited from a 427, C5R heads, and some Madman suspension tuning-but a last-minute combo thrash before the Shootout made for some trial and error. Cox was picking up ET, but an 8.28 at 164 was unable to compete with Fereday's 7.60-second Camaro in the first round.	"We're trying to get the bugs...        read full caption "We're trying to get the bugs worked out of this new combo," said Travis Gates of the Jim Filipowski-driven Camaro. This Michigan F-body is powered by an LSX block and 101mm turbo, pushing around 20 pounds of boost. Jim qualified number eight with an 8.73 at 179, and got through Round One with a solid 8.18 at 179 as Rob Valden's mid-8-second Firebird had problems and couldn't make the round. Jim rose to the challenge of a second-round pairing with Kempf, nailing a 7.91 at 187, but it wasn't enough for Kempf's 7.70 at 190.	Last year, Drag Radial fans...        read full caption Last year, Drag Radial fans had high hopes for Ohio Boy Steve Turley. In 2007 Steve's '98 Camaro qualified number one, but broke in Round Two against Paul Major. This year, Turley took a bye 8.28/175 first-round run into a second round match with Major. In a bizarro-world replay of '07, a broken Drag Radial car was on the track after this run...but this time, it wasn't Turley. After a lengthy staging period, Steve stepped it up with an 8.12 at 165 to take the win. Major's tranny overheated and at half-track, it blew trans fluid onto the engine, starting a massive fire that engulfed the Corvette.
Mark Koehler of Cincinnati,...        read full caption Mark Koehler of Cincinnati, OH is piloting this Pontiac. This car was finished in May after taking about three and a half years to build. With a combination, he didn't plan on being the fastest ride out this year. The TA is powered by a 364-cube hydraulic roller setup, featuring a Turbonetics 101mm borrowed from Mike Brown and a BigStuff3 controller. It's been a best of 8.06 at 175 mph at around 28 pounds of boost. "We've been trying to tweak it up every race we've been to," Mark says. "Here, we were 8.23, but when we changed the wastegate settings and tried to get a little more aggressive on the line it spun and went 8.40 shaking the tires. We're the underdog here going up against the defending champ [Kempf] and we're gonna make him earn it." Though Mark ran a weekend-best 8.18 at 175 against Kempf, his redlight gave Tom the win.	Paul escaped uninjured but...        read full caption Paul escaped uninjured but his 'Vette did not. Though the fire suppression system did kick on there were still some crispy parts of this C5, a tough way to end his weekend.	Bad luck struck '07 True Street...        read full caption Bad luck struck '07 True Street winner Mike Brown and his '98 Trans Am. The boosted 7-second TA was seconds off its normal pace, and Brown wasn't able to make the first round, relegated to the sidelines to watch Drag Radial action.
"We got here Thursday night...        read full caption "We got here Thursday night for test and tune and made a decent pass, then struggled Friday-nothing but tire smoke," Matt Harlan (left) said of Tom Kempf's Camaro. "It's the first time out on smaller tires, and we're just trying to get the car to work." Tom and his crew were able to get the Red Rocket ready for the first round of eliminations, when it went 7.77 at 187 to dispatch Mark Koehler.	Steve Turley wasn't completely...        read full caption Steve Turley wasn't completely unscathed, as his two-step came on while going through the lights,...	...and the explosions in the...        read full caption ...and the explosions in the pipe blew the aluminum downpipe open. Though he was able to borrow a pipe from Tom Kempf, "It's a hail-mary pass," Kurt Urban quipped. The block was pushing water, too...
"The car feels smooth as can...        read full caption "The car feels smooth as can be, no issues now," Kempf revealed. "We're just going to take our time, dial it in round by round, and play our gameplan." The Red Rocket didn't get a ton of changes since winning last year's Drag Radial crown; it's still the same block with only a different crank,...	...and he did add a 106mm...        read full caption ...and he did add a 106mm turbo pushing 28 psi. In Round Two Tom went 7.70 to take Filipowski, and turned a 7.73 in a third round bye run. And then it was finals time: "We'll see if we can turn it up a little bit here," Tom smiled.	Quietly making rounds while...        read full caption Quietly making rounds while all of this was going down was Steven Fereday, the week's number-one qualifier with a 7.77. "The classes that we usually run we're limited to a 91 turbo and 20 psi, and it runs 7.80s to 8.0s. This setup here is pretty much the same, the only change is a 106mm turbo with a billet wheel. It's making right at 29 pounds of boost...
...So far it's been perfect...        read full caption ...So far it's been perfect in eliminations." That's an understatement-this '02 Camaro was dead-on, running 1.30-1.33 60-foot times and 7.67, 7.68, and 7.6 in eliminations to get past Martin Cox, make a bye run, and then easily defeat Turley's hurt Camaro.	The sun had set when the Drag...        read full caption The sun had set when the Drag Radial final took place. Tom Kempf's 2000 Camaro had run a 7.70 that Sunday, and Steven Fereday had gone 7.60s in his 2002 Camaro. When the tree came down both men left quickly, Kempf's .056 reaction a hair quicker than Fereday's .060. Both turbo Camaros dug hard and flew down the track. At the top end, Fereday pulled ahead by the slimmest of margins, shooting across the line in 7.58 at 188. Kempf crossed in 7.60 at 191 miles an hour. Another amazing Drag Radial final, another margin of victory within mere hundredths. Drag Radial's new king is Steven Fereday!