Cover Section: Build a Better Daily Driver

25 Ways to Build a Better Daily Driver Tips and tricks to make your daily commuter more commutable

Special Section: 35th Anniversary Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team

35 Years of Drag Racing Machines We look back at the evolution of Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock

Dominant Dixon Larry Dixon Jr. has set the Top Fuel world on fire this year driving the Miller Lite dragster

35th Anniversary Commemorative Poster

All-Star Team: The Early Years Drag racing pioneers look back at the impact the award had on their careers

Tech

Testing the StealthRAM Holley's new EFI system for small-block Chevys is super-trick

How to Rebuild a Posi Useful tech if you've wasted yours doing burnouts

Project SuperNova, Part IV Disc brakes stop good

Lashing for Power This dyno test is yet another compelling reason to step up to a solid-lifter cam

Buttoning Up the 'Bu Our '78 Malibu gets some final tweaks and an exhaust system and makes a trip to the chassis dyno

A Look at Gauges "Mechanical or electric?"--it's the burning question

Features

David's Slingshot Big power in a small package makes a giant-killing combination

GM's '03 New Car Preview The General's serving rice for dinner

Super Sport Redux A race car with street/strip roots

Departments

Point of View

Readers' Pages

Straight Scoop

Heads Up News

Speed Shop

Tech Talk

Hot rodding and racing lost one of its luminaries this past weekend when John Buttera passed away from complications of a brain tumor. "Lil John," as he was known to the industry, was 67 at the time of his passing.

Renowned hot rod builder and HOT ROD Magazine's 1988 "Man of the Year" Boyd Coddington died early Wednesday at the age of 63. The cause of death has not yet been released.

GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 28, 2007) - Wally Parks, the driving force behind the formation of NHRA, has died at the age of 94. It was Parks' vision, goals and unconditional commitment to the need for speed and side-by-side racing in a safer, more controlled environment that created what is today the world's largest motorsports governing body.

On the morning of March 16, 1988 Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murderedin front of their home in California's San Gabriel Mountains. The doublemurder went unsolved for 18 years until today when, in a Pasadenacourthouse, Thompson's ex-business partner Michael Goodwin was convictedfor the killings.

For all you readers who dug our junkyard tour of Curboy's Auto Wreckingin the June '05 issue, here's a tour of another great salvage yard thatspecializes in vintage and classic machinery. But unlike Curboy's, whosedamp Massachusetts location contributes to astonishing levels of rust,Desert Valley Auto Parts is located in super-arid Phoenix, Arizona, soits inventory of 5,000-plus (yes, 5,000) pre-'80 cars is mostlyrock-solid.

Make no mistake, Ford wanted to create a little buzz when it introduced the GT40 concept car three years ago at the Detroit auto show. That buzz has turned into a roaring boom with its 21st century version of the legendary four-time Le Mans-winning GT40 race cars from the '60s. Aesthetically speaking, the new GT virtually mimics the contours of the original GT40s, however unlike the original, you can expect a plush interior that's ergonomically designed for comfort rather than the flat aluminum panels of a purpose-built race car.

There's nothing better than wandering around boneyards looking for diamonds in the rubble. Now imagine those diamonds are GTO Judges and Shaker hoods. And it's real. On a recent winter trip to the East Coast, we visited Curboy's Auto Wrecking in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and were blown away by the astonishing assortment of rare muscle on the premises. Curboy's has been family owned for three generations and has a thriving late-model parts division. But the guys also have a soft spot for vintage tin and have been stashing it away for over four decades.

American racing has always been dominated by the drag and circle track varieties. After all, the U.S. is an enormous place where many (if not most) of the roads are arrow-straight and virtually every one of the country's 3,141 counties has a fairground with an oval horse track. So it was only natural for us to race ... well ... there. It's Europe that's filled with twisty roads up the sides of mountains and former goat paths through vineyards--they're the ones who came up with road racing.

The steady flow of Stupid Gearhead Stories from our readers proves thatthe trials and tribulations of hapless hot rodders never cease, and thedeath-defying antics of our readers never cease to amaze us. But otherthan a few bumps and bruises, our luckless readers always come away withnothing worse than a fractured ego and a funny story. -Matt King

Got a favorite road, destination, road trip, or racetrack that is perfect for your muscle car scene? Then let us know! Car Craft is compiling a list for our 50 Kick Ass Road Trips that we'll be publishing in the August 2006 issue and we want to hear from you, the reader, where those road trips are. Whatever it is that makes your favorite road trips, well, your favorite road trips, we wanna know. It could be a killer hangout, an ultra-fast road, a cool cruisin' road, a smooth flowing road with some nice twisties, or even a historic (or not so historic) racetrack or location - just about anything.

All we need is your name, address, phone number, description of the Kick Ass Road Trip and any high-res digital images (minimum 300 dpi) or snapshots (sorry, but they can't be returned) sent either by email to Car Craft's 50 Kick Ass Road Trips or by snail mail to:

Love Your Rust

I have a vision. It's not a particularly coherent one, but it's vivid. It involves the disappointing morphing of street-machine guys into lawn-chair-riding,trophy-collecting, crybaby-doll-type guys. It's a plan of how to avert that eventuality, and how the rest of us who still require horsepower under toe can rail against the current trend of million-dollar musclecars and three-figure clone cars while still owning and driving the body styles we hold so dear. Here it is: rat machines.

By now, everyone knows of the havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina. Never before in our country's history has such an enormous number of Americans suffered so greatly from a single-or even series of-natural disasters. There's nothing we can say about the devastation and tragedy that hasn't been said a million times already. To help the victims as best we can, Year One has started the Hot Rodders' Relief Fund to collect donations for the Red Cross relief efforts. Every penny collected will go to the Red Cross.

Got some photos? Upload them in the Barn Cars Forum

It all started on a whim. Donnie Wyldes, Jr. is 47 years old and when he graduated from high school, musclecars were everywhere. His first car was a '71 383ci Road Runner that was followed by a series of other cars including a '70 'Cuda. Donnie's one of those guys with a lot of time on his hands, so in 1990 he decided to build a small-block Chevy built entirely out of wood. His reasoning when something like "Since I can't work on the real thing, except for the great and oil - it's almost like the real thing."

See this car? The rumor is that it once belonged to Craig Breedlove and was one a small number of prototypes that led to the creation of the Breedlove AMX 600. We have a couple of barn-fresh photos of this AMC discovery and the original article from 1968 posted here. If you have heard of it, tell us what you know.

Oldsmobile and Cadillac had already made it to market with overhead-valve V-8s by the dawn of the '50s, but in 1951 Chrysler introduced an amazing engine-the Hemi V-8. The new engine was based around combustion chamber technology that had been partially developed during the war for aircraft and tank engines. The core of this architecture was the hemispherical-shaped combustion chambers that placed the valves in a stacked configuration at opposing angles. This design increased the efficiency of combustion and allowed for bigger valves, centrally located spark plugs, and more direct routing of the intake ports. By the time the Hemi made it to production for the '51 Chryslers, it sported 331 ci and compression that cranked out an astounding-for-the-day 180 hp.

Oldsmobile and Cadillac had already made it to market with overhead-valve V-8s by the dawn of the '50s, but in 1951 Chrysler introduced an amazing engine-the Hemi V-8. The new engine was based around combustion chamber technology that had been partially developed during the war for aircraft and tank engines. The core of this architecture was the hemispherical-shaped combustion chambers that placed the valves in a stacked configuration at opposing angles. This design increased the efficiency of combustion and allowed for bigger valves, centrally located spark plugs, and more direct routing of the intake ports. By the time the Hemi made it to production for the '51 Chryslers, it sported 331 ci and compression that cranked out an astounding-for-the-day 180 hp.

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carcraft.com Facts:

Did you know can upload your own photos and a description of your car in the Readers’ Rides section? Click on Cars & Events in the left navigation bar, then select Readers’ Rides from the drop-down menu. Click on the Submit Photo button on the lower right of the screen. Be sure to follow the directions--particularly regarding photo sizes and formats--otherwise your photos will be distorted.

Any time you wish to return to the home page, just click on the Car Craft logo. It’s available from anywhere on the site!

To narrow down the list of articles in any index (such as Tech Articles or How-To found on the within the navigation bar), click on the Make, Model & Year drop-down (which will intially say "All Makes."). For example, click on the All Makes text to reveal the list of Makes. Select the one you want to view, and the Model list for that make will appear. Then select the Model, and a list of Years will appear. When you have selected the items you want, click on the "Go!" button.

You can click on the "Go!" button at any stage of the process. Thus, if you wish to see all Ford stories--but only Ford--click on "Go!" after selecting Ford from the Make drop-down. If you wish to see all Ford Mustang stories, click on "Go!" after selecting your Make and Model. To see only 1999 Ford Mustangs, click on "Go!" after selecting from all three drop-downs. This function allows you to also see stories from our sister sites, such as hotrod.com or fourwheeler.com.

The steady flow of Stupid Gearhead Stories from our readers proves that the trials and tribulations of hapless hot rodders never cease, and the death-defying antics of our readers never cease to amaze us. But other than a few bumps and bruises, our luckless readers always come away with nothing worse than a fractured ego and a funny story. Got a Stupid Gearhead Story of your own? Help us continue our tradition of laughing at others' misery by sending it to: Stupid Gearhead Stories, c/o Car Craft, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048, or e-mail it to carcraft@primedia.com, and include "Stupid Gearhead Stories" in the subject line.-Matt King

Ask anyone who's worked around hot rod magazines long enough to have a valid answer what the most elaborate magazine cover shoot of all time was, and you'll probably get the same response: the time Car Craft talked General Motors into shutting down its Van Nuys, California, assembly plant for a photo shoot.

Motorsports are hot, especially NASCAR, and thanks to a shot in the arm from POWERade and a souped-up television package on ESPN, things are looking up for the NHRA. Grassroots street-legal drag racing groups are picking up steam, and we hear some folks still get excited about open-wheel racing. Here's your chance to vote for your favorite form of motorized mayhem. We think we know the answer, but we still want to hear it from you.

Vote Here

If you read car magazines during the ’80s and ’90s, you can’t possibly forget the tubbed, blown, graphics-laden, and generally over-the-top trend that dominated the street-machine scene for over a decade. Since its heyday, other trends have come along, like Pro Touring and small-tired, street-legal-style drag cars, not to mention the boom in concours-correct musclecar restorations that’s just now starting to taper off.

A few years ago we started a firestorm of controversy by proclaiming Pro Street to be “dead.” But one thing’s for sure, even if the shine has worn off building new Pro Streeters, there are still a ton of existing cars out there, along with hordes of fans who drool over all that chrome and rubber. We’ll never settle this once and for all, but here’s your chance to cast your vote.

Tell us: Is Pro Street dead or alive and well?

Vote Here

Much like man’s rise up from his cave-dwelling, knuckle-dragging beginnings, three pro classes of the NHRA—Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock—have evolved from rather rudimentary foundations. In commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team, we’ll look at some of the most prominent technological advances that have taken place since the inception of the All-Star awards in 1967, beginning with the biggest dog in NHRA drag racing’s pound—Top Fuel. For added perspective, we also interviewed a prominent drag racing legend from each class to get his take on the subject. So sit back, imagine the smell of nitro, and enjoy the history lesson contained in the sidebars below.