Horsepower Wars $10K Drag Shootout: Inside Team Stinky Pinky and the Dream Team

In our last exciting episode of the $10K Drag Shootout, we took you behind the curtain to get a good look at Team Boddie’s big block-powered 1984 Buick Regal and Team Bigun’s LS turbo 1986 Mustang. Now you’ll get a peek at Team Stinky Pinky’s blown 1986 Camaro and the COMP Cams Dream Team’s turbo 1990 Mustang. You’re gonna like them.

Team Stinky Pinky, Dr. Rod Knocker 1986 Camaro
The name may be hilarious, but Team Stinky Pinky’s 1986 Camaro, Dr. Rod Knocker, is a dead-nuts-serious race car. It was also the car that probably fought its builders the hardest from the get-go.

Being GM people, the car Team Stinky Pinky really wanted was the 1985 Buick Regal. It offered better options for aftermarket suspension parts that would save on fabrication time. But being the last team to choose a car left them with a choice being the ’86 and a fourth-gen Camaro.

“I knew we couldn’t put a blown big-block Chevy in a fourth-generation Camaro without cutting the windshield, and in the rules it said we had to have the factory glass,” team leader "Disco" Dean Kurtz explained. That left us with the third-generation Camaro, so we had to make it work.”

Since Camaros are pretty heavy cars, the team’s plan was simple—just gut it and forget it.

“We really didn’t weigh the car, but I’m going to tell you it weighs about 1.5 tons, I think,” Dean said. “For weight reduction, we cut out every single possible thing we could get away with that we didn’t think would compromise the car’s integrity.”

Disco is a Roots blower man, so that’s what the Camaro got. Based on a Chevrolet Gen 6 block, the 500-plus cubic inch engine has a custom-grind COMP Cams camshaft, a set of ProMaxx aluminum heads with 317cc intake runners, and a very used Littlefield 8-71 high helix blower fed by a 1,250 CFM Holley 1250 Dominator carburetor. And whoever doesn’t love those headers sticking out of the hood ought to turn in their gearhead card.

The transmission is a new TCI Turbo 400 with a used nine inch torque converter scored from Abruzzi Transmissions. The rear axle is a used Moser Engineering 9 inch Ford.

The rear suspension features boxed factory lower control arms, a reinforced torque arm hung with a BMR Suspension relocation kit, Summit Racing adjustable shocks, and the stock coil springs from Team Bigun’s Mustang. An airbag was added to the right rear of the car to deal with squat when the Camaro launches. The team kept the the front suspension stock since was no room in the budget for aftermarket parts.

As icing on the cake, Team Stinky Pinky missed their first chassis dyno session and didn’t get any data during the second session due to, a er, lack of communication. Just before time ran out, the team made a baseline pull and got 631 rear-wheel horsepower and 541 lbs.-ft. of torque at just 5,800 RPM. That gave Dean enough information to start tuning and see how far he could turn up the wick. Considering the competition, he’s gonna have to turn it up plenty.

The Dream Team, 1990 Mustang
The COMP Cams’ Dream Team’s experience was the complete opposite of Team Stinky Pinky’s. The team managed got the car they wanted, had few build issues, and even managed to finish under budget.

“As a group, we knew we had to get one of the two Mustangs. We were very interested in the ’86, but (driver) Dwayne Gutridge said that car is going to be a lot of work,” said TCI Automotive’s Jeff Reed, the team leader. “We’d have to pull the engine, pull the transmission. Dwayne said the ‘90 is stripped-down, it’s got 3:73 gears and an 8.8 rear-end, new caster/camber plates, motor mounts laying in the back, and six pony wheels we can sell for cash money. After all was said and done, we felt this was the best car we could have gotten.”

With the car already stripped, the Dream Team started the build by installing the Rhoades Race Cars roll cage, putting them several hours ahead of their competitors. Like Team Bigun, the Dream Team went with turbo LS horsepower. The engine is based on a GM LM7 long block, scored from the Horsepower Wars staff for $260 before the competition even started.

“We bored the motor .020-inch, but the crank looked good. We just had it polished and put it back in there,” Reed explained.

The cylinder heads are used LM7 parts acquired off the LS1Tech forum, and the team used some of their Summit Racing budget to buy a COMP Cams valve spring and retainer kit, an LS lifter and guide kit, pushrods, LS rocker arm bearings, and a billet roller timing set. The cam is a custom-ground COMP roller.

The induction is based around a used LS truck intake manifold and throttle body with used OEM induction and EFI system parts. The factory computer manages the engine via HP Tuners software. The oomph for the LS is a BorgWarner SX400 76mm turbocharger. The team plumbed the turbo system using a scrap aluminum tubing, a Mishimoto intercooler and Hypergate wastegate, and an HKS blow-off valve. The transmission is a used Turbo 400 with a TCI torque converter from Summit Racing.

The factory 8.8 rear axle came with a set of 3.73 gears, which the team reused. The rear suspension has BMR Racing adjustable upper and non-adjustable lower control arms, QA1 single-adjustable shocks, factory coil springs, and a used anti-sway bar. Up front are Moog control arms, Strange Engineering single-adjustable shocks, and QA1 springs.

In the end, the Dream Team Mustang came under the minimum 3,200 pound weight limit. With Gutridge in the seat, the car tipped the scales at 3,120 pounds. The team is calling their shot too.

“Dwayne swears up and down he’s going 8.50-something,” Reed said. “I’m going to say if the car will do a 1.25 second 60-foot and stay off the bumper, it’ll be that quick.”

If you’re handy with a calendar, you’ve figured out the $10K Drag Shootout is already in the history books, finished during the Shakedown at the Summit event in mid-September at Summit Racing Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. Since Horsepower Wars knows how to keep a secret, we’ll all have to wait until they post the results on October 4th to see which team emerged victorious.