Second Place Brian Ambrosini Kenosha, Wi '74 Amc Gremlin
Brian is a regular at the wheelie contest with his Big Bad Orange Gremmie. He told us he hadn't intended to compete this year. "The contest is hard on the car and hard on me," he said. "When I heard the announcement about the $20,000, I decided to compete."
Brian came down hard on the transmission pan and pushed the car into the pits before the end of the final round. He was told he had five minutes to repair the car and get it back on the track, so Brian's friends helped with the thrash in the pits. "At four minutes, the Speed TV guys told me the race was all over," Brian said. At that point, the car was repaired, so Brian drove it to the starting line, where the crowd got involved and began to chant "let him go" at the same time the track announcer was on the loudspeaker trying to yell over the crowd and get him not to go. Brian backed down when the police told him he was in control of the situation and the charges would be inciting a riot.
Gremlin Specs
Engine: The block is from Indy Cylinder Head with a 4.00-inch bore and a 4.38-inch stroked Moldex crank and Venolia rods and pistons.
Power-adder: Brian uses a nitrous Fogger with a 0.42 jet to add about 400 horses
Transmission: It's a one-two-shifted Powerglide with a transbrake and a 5,000-rpm stall.
What did you break? "I split the transmission pan wide open this year."
What do you always break? "I always break the trans pan, but I only cracked it last year."
Tires: Those are 31x10.5W-15 M/T tires, so Brian can run in the NMCA 10.5 tire class.
Weight: With the 'glass and most of an interior, it weighs 3,010 pounds.
Power: He guesstimates about 1,250 hp on the bottle.
Quarter-mile: His best this year is 7.89 at 175 mph.
Big Bad Orange: Brian sprays his own and beats panels at his shop, Precise Auto Body in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Changes from last year: "Only the guy working on the chassis; he is Bryan Metzenheim from Metz Performance."
Coming back next year? "If there are enough people who like my car, then I will keep doing it."