2009 Summer Nationals - University Avenue Cruise

There is always a cool barn find at the Nats. This is a '71 big-block Corvette with a lot of original parts still on the car. According to the owner, the paint is more than 30 years old and the car still has the original LS5 engine and TH400.
There is always a cool barn find at the Nats. This is a '71 big-block Corvette with a lot
We're about as far from Corvette resto guys as you can get, but it looks like all the parts are there except for the distributor shield. In 1975, the 385hp LS5 454 was a $295 option.
We're about as far from Corvette resto guys as you can get, but it looks like all the part
Part of the Real Street Eliminator event this year held in conjunction with the Summer Nats was a new event we called the Launch Box, sponsored by Rust-Oleum. The contest is simple: launch the car into that little box about 120 feet from the start and stop without mowing down any cones. The quickest car wins, but it's much tougher than it looks.
Part of the Real Street Eliminator event this year held in conjunction with the Summer Nat

At most car shows, you dust off the folding chair and swap stories. But at the Summer Nationals, the hip participants brought their tire pressure gauges and assaulted the QA1 Autocross Course. This was open to all participants, but the really serious guys were the Real Street Eliminator competitors. This is Keith Anderson's Viper that competed in the Late Model class. We'll tell you who won next month.
At most car shows, you dust off the folding chair and swap stories. But at the Summer Nati
If wall-to-wall cars were not enough to satisfy your horsepower hunger, there was also the Mobil 1 Dyno Challenge to find the car with the biggest gun. Jim Plimpton is a perennial player in this league and stole the show with his 1.429-rwhp feat. According to dyno operator Andy Wicks, "I shut if off at 7,600 and the power was still climbing."
If wall-to-wall cars were not enough to satisfy your horsepower hunger, there was also the
We spotted this E85 badge on Mark Gjavenis' ProCharger-blown '65 Chevelle. His current best on corn squeezin's is a mellow 1,233 hp using an F2 ProCharger to blow through a carburetor on a 540ci Rat motor.
We spotted this E85 badge on Mark Gjavenis' ProCharger-blown '65 Chevelle. His current bes

With total aftermarket support, Jay Brown built this 504ci SOHC Ford Cammer with an original Hilborn manifold converted to EFI. It makes 800 hp on 93-octane pump gas, and to complete the image, Jay stuffed it into his '64 Galaxie 500. Now you know what to do with that case of cabin fever this winter.
With total aftermarket support, Jay Brown built this 504ci SOHC Ford Cammer with an origin

Cruising On University Avenue
Porky's Drive-in has been in the same location on University Avenue since 1953, and cruising has been part of the restaurant's landscape since the beginning. Though cars cruise there all summer long, after the Nats closes each day, the crowd lines both sides of the street for an entire block. There were almost as many police cars as muscle cars, and the tickets flowed as freely as the Coke from the soda fountain. Who knew a burger, onion rings, a shake, and just the slightest chirp from your tires could cost so much.