Car Craft’s Real Street Eliminator VII

Jimi Day’s ’69 AMX looked like an early favorite and was only a couple of tenths away from taking the whole Muscle Car class win. The AMX was built by previous RSE champ Randy Johnson’s D&Z Customs and is powered by a normally aspirated Chevrolet Performance LS3 crate engine.

Like a favorite pair of jeans or that 9⁄16-inch wrench that feels perfect in your hand, Real Street Eliminator just keeps getting better. The headline says RSE VII, but that number reflects only the latest version. Ask a veteran CC reader, and he will tell you that RSE can trace its roots all the way back to the mid ’80s (May 1986), when we put four victims through their paces during a complex, two-day event. There have been dozens of events in the interim, and, since we’re supposed to be wiser, in the new millennium we’ve condensed RSE down to a three-part event held in conjunction with Car Craft’s Summer Nationals in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

We’ve split up the competitors into three classes just to make it more interesting, and also so our precious muscle cars don’t have to slug it out with Corvettes and Vipers! We’ve also changed the format a little, narrowing the competition down to a maximum- horsepower Lucas Oil/E3 Spark Plugs chassis dyno test, the always-fun QA1 autocross, and Car Craft’s innovative Launch Box. Just as in past years, the points chase through three days came down to a battle for hundredths of a second on the Launch Box for the Muscle Car class, and even more surprises were in store for the Late Models, as a classic dark (or more accurately orange) horse stole the show from a couple of early leaders. Hint: We designed this event to reward power and consistent performance.

As is usually the case, the fight came down to Sunday morning runs on the autocross and the Launch Box, as the top two cars in the Muscle Car and Late Models classes battled it out for the title. There was even some interesting potential blocking efforts going on with late arrivals. The Corvette/Viper class wasn’t as populated this year (with only two competitors), but it was still a fight right down to Sunday. To bring you up to speed on the points system: We assign 30 points to win each category, with 20 points for Second place, and 10 points for Third. Obviously, if a competitor can win two categories, it locks in a win—but that was only the case in the Muscle Car class this year.

Lucas Oil/E3 Spark Plug Dyno Challenge
All three categories carry the same weight in terms of points, but the chassis dyno test is the key. If at any time within the contest we have a tie, either in lap time or with points for position, we use horsepower as the tiebreaker. That brought some big guns to the party this year, including Justin Nall’s E85-fueled, turbocharged, LS-powered ’66 Chevelle that swept the horsepower king of the hill honors, with a seemingly effortless 765 rwhp number. Next closest was Brandon Schilling’s ’09 Shelby clone Mustang pushing out 673 rwhp, while AJ Mehta’s normally aspirated 427 Corvette took the sports-car class win with 548 hp. Of 19 total competitors, eight cars cranked more than 500 rwhp. Horsepower junkies that we are, power-adders of any kind are encouraged. Frankly, we’re surprised when somebody shows up without at least a 150hp shot of squeeze. We also applaud Justin Nall’s effort for taking advantage of the easily accessible E85 pump fuel. We asked him if he used anything special, and he said, “Nope, I just filled it up at the local gas station right before I drove here.” Where we come from, that’s impressive. If there was a guy who should have showed up with a little more muscle, it was Jimi Day’s ’69 AMX. While it promised to be strong on the autocross, Jimi’s last-place showing on the dyno put him behind early.

Jesse Riggle’s ’99 turbocharged Firebird was a Saturday-morning walk-on and was only 5 hp shy of the Late Model class horsepower win with 668 rwhp. He certainly mixed up the standings and contributed to the drama.
Jesse Riggle’s ’99 turbocharged Firebird was a Saturday-morning walk-on and was only 5 hp
Justin Nall could easily qualify for sleeper status with his Butternut yellow ’66 Chevelle. A near-stock idle masks the turbo 6.0L LS engine’s true potential, but it was the distinctive smell of alcohol in the fuel that caught our attention, as he burns only E85.
Justin Nall could easily qualify for sleeper status with his Butternut yellow ’66 Chevelle
Brandon Schilling’s white Cobra clone served notice early that he was a player. The UMP 2300 TVS blower helped the 5.4L Mod motor make 673 rwhp. It also made everybody in the Late Model class pay attention.
Brandon Schilling’s white Cobra clone served notice early that he was a player. The UMP 23

Lucas Oil / E3 Spark Plug Dyno Challenge Results
Late Model Class

Position/Owner	Vehicle	RWHP	Points
1st: Brandon Schilling	’09 Mustang	673	30
2nd: Jesse Riggle	’99 Firebird	668	20
3rd Joel Route	’07 Mustang	460	10
4th: Brian Kunkel	’10 Camaro	401	-
5th: Jesse Kalvik	’99 Ford Lightning	397	-
6th: Carson Turnquist	’02 Ford Lightning	384	-
7th: Peter Barton	’91 Mustang	358	-
8th: Dan Howe	‘84 Monte Carlo	290	-
9th: Brett Lindert	’97 Mustang	274	-
10th: Mike Callahan	’99 Crown Vic	268	-

Muscle Car Class

Position/Owner	Vehicle	HP	Points
1st: Justin Nall	'66 Chevelle	765	30
2nd: Nathan Shaw	'71 Nova	655	20
3rd: Josh Leisinger	'70 Camaro	562	10
4th: Troy Borgen	'69 Camaro	552	-
5th: Robert Fox	'67 Camaro	417	-
6th: Eric McClelland	'68 Camaro	412	-
7th: Jimi Day	'69 AMX	397	-