2010 Car Craft Summer Nationals - Car Craft Magazine

Ccrp 1012 2010 Car Craft Summer Nationals Home

If variety really is the spice of life, then hold the cayenne pepper. You won't need any added condiments when perusing these pages. If you were at the show last July, you know what we mean-the Car Craft Summer Nationals runs the gamut of tastes and styles. If high-end Pro Touring cars are your thing, we had top builders shooting it out in the Real Street Eliminator competition. If dirtball, chewing-gum-and-bailing-wire builds are more your style, we had those guys in attendance, too. Slow touring? Check. Lowriders? Check. Pro Street? Of course. Bikinis? Only on the girls.

Here is just a small sampling of what there was to see this year. We have way more stuff sitting on CarCraft.com waiting for you to surf on over. Check out all the sights and sounds of the '10 Car Craft Summer Nationals.

Cool Boost
The Summer Nationals are never short on power-adders, and this year didn't disappoint. Here are just a few of the superchargers, turbos, nitrous, and even a Nitro big-block Chevy in a pickup. Would that make it a Funny Truck?

Check out the massive F3R139 Procharger breathing into the 565-inch big-block in Wayne Fritchie's '65 El Camino.
Check out the massive F3R139 Procharger breathing into the 565-inch big-block in Wayne Fri
Wayne told us the combination is good for 1,172 hp at the wheels on 93-octane pump gas and exhaling through a full exhaust system with a pair of 2 1/2-inch mufflers. How could something so wrong be so right?
Wayne told us the combination is good for 1,172 hp at the wheels on 93-octane pump gas and

Ace photographer Wes Allison spotted this old-school Autorotor/Whipple Charger twin-screw supercharger topping the port fuel-injected small-block in this '67 Camaro. Whipple was one of the first companies to develop twin-screw supercharger kits for the automotive aftermarket. The kit was a popular bolt-on for the TBI engines in Chevy and GMC trucks.
Ace photographer Wes Allison spotted this old-school Autorotor/Whipple Charger twin-screw
This Chevy pickup, nicknamed the Violent Tyrant, was packing major heat in the form of a nitro-burning big-block Chevy. Jim Res (holding the Quick Detailer bottle) told the crowd it runs on gasoline most of the time. The 500-inch Dart block was machined by NAR Racing engines, and it makes 800 hp on gasoline and as much as 2,500 with a 30 percent mix of nitromethane. Longtime fuel Funny Car racer Dale Creasy Sr. did the nitro tune-up, and Jim has the full-time job of keeping all that AlumiFab sheetmetal work clean.
This Chevy pickup, nicknamed the Violent Tyrant, was packing major heat in the form of a n

Smoke
Real Street Eliminator was back again this year with the biggest number of contestants to date. We will highlight the competition next month. The QA1 autocross was open to anyone with a car on display, however, and we managed to stop by the course just in time to see this behemoth Expedition tearing through the cones. The driver was awesome at the helm of this barge, too, clocking times better than several cars. Thick, black diesel smoke would make Al Gore cry from 30,000 feet in his private jet.

Culinary Delights
Food is half of the fun of the Summer Nationals for us dopes from the land of bean sprouts and tofu. We marvel at the fried, grilled, and barbecued stuff like newly landed Martians to our strange, neighboring planet. Here are some of the goodies.

We spotted a new item on the menu at perennial favorite Giggle's Campfire Grill: chicken-fried bacon...
We spotted a new item on the menu at perennial favorite Giggle's Campfire Grill: chicken-f
...Photographer Allison was the only one man enough to try it, and guess what? He likes it. Hey Mikey-he likes it.
...Photographer Allison was the only one man enough to try it, and guess what? He likes it

Staffer John McGann eagerly coughed up the funds for a cone of Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies. We recommend buying the bucket, though. You'll need to accompany it with a lot of milk or coffee. No problem, they sell both at the stand.
Staffer John McGann eagerly coughed up the funds for a cone of Sweet Martha's chocolate ch
NOS was handing out samples of its new flavors for showgoers. Get tweaked!

Smokin' Hot
Yeah, the burnout contest is cool, but the biggest draw is the bikini contest held on the main stage near the GM Performance Parts tent. We borrowed a cherry picker for the aerial shots.

After all the judging, last year's Miss Car Craft, Chrissy Wood, handed the crown to this year's winner, Samantha Olmstead.
After all the judging, last year's Miss Car Craft, Chrissy Wood, handed the crown to this

Drive-By Shootings
Random stuff we saw:

Meet 11-year-old Alex McGaughey, probably the youngest car owner at the show. He bought this Firebird for $500 with the money he earned cutting grass. He's had it for just three months but had already swapped the rear axle by himself. He wants to build a Bandit car, and we don't doubt his success.
Meet 11-year-old Alex McGaughey, probably the youngest car owner at the show. He bought th
Yeah, it's a brown Pinto, you got a problem with that?

2010 Car Craft Summer Nationals Official Magazine Coverage

Special Thanks
We wish to extend our gratitude to GM Performance Division. Without the company's support, we're not sure the show would happen. Thanks, guys.

Best Plates
We noticed lots of vanity plates this year. Here are a few highlights.

More to come
As stated earlier, there is way more coverage for you to scan online at your leisure. In addition to all the sights and sounds at the fairgrounds, we also shot about 14 cars to run as features throughout next year's issues. Here are a few sneak peeks.