14th Annual World Power Wheelstanding Championships - Are They Nuts?

Our Favorite
Greg Broshous' High & Wild '63 Chevy II gasser made everyone smile. Greg and Scott Broshous built this gasser 16 years ago because they wanted something fun to play around with. After seeing the good time everyone else was having at Bryon, they swapped out Greg's 331 Chevy for a 408 with Dart heads and a little shot of nitrous. Even with the extra power, he's a little bit of an underdog, with a Doug Nash four-speed and a Dana 60 with a 5:13:1 gear. Shifting the car in the middle of a wheelie is a lost art. The shriek of ripping gears and the clank of High & Wild's bumper when it scraped across the seams in the concrete were some of the greatest sounds of the weekend. Greg had a great time showing his cars to everyone who came by his pits. He came in Third and got $250. He says, "I had one of the best times ever. I'll be coming back for sure."

Longest Wheelie
In 2007, Dan Smith broke a camshaft 250 feet into one of his bumper-dragging wheelies and wasn't able to make the show. This year, he came back with a vengeance, winning Longest and Best Overall Wheelie.

Dan's '72 Dart features a 418-cube small-block he whipped together in his garage. He ported a set of standard '73 Mopar heads and made those wild-looking fenderwell headers. This naturally aspirated small-block Mopar has powered Dan's Demon to a 9.68 e.t.

He used the same methodical approach that won him big money before. On Saturday, Dan was making practice runs while removing the 30 pounds of ballast he runs in the front of the car. The next run, he put the 30 pounds of ballast in the trunk. You could see Dan's plan coming together, as each run he was adding a little more weight and each run was better than the one before. By Sunday, Dan had the weight and balance just where he wanted it. Pulling up to the line for the final run, he had changed from a 3,800 chip to a 4,400 in the rev limiter. The Demon smoothly lifted its wheels, dragging its bumper off into the distance. At 450 feet down the track, Dan's Dart was a little spec in the viewfinder when its front wheels finally came down. It was definitely the cleanest of the day, and Dan made it look easy. He took the $10,000 he won on Sunday to a local Dodge dealership on Monday and bought a black six-speed Hemi Challenger. Using one Mopar to help him buy another--that's pretty cool, Dan.