Horsepower Wars $10K Shootout: Finishing the Builds and Dinosaur Suits

The tools are put away and all four of the Horsepower Wars $10K Drag Shootout cars are on their way to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, where they will be stored until race day at the 2018 'Shakedown at the Summit' event, September 13-16.

Of course there was drama and mayhem as the teams worked their fingers to the bone getting the cars ready for the transporter. Read on to find out all about it.

Episode 4: Middle of the Build
This was the in-the-weeds portion of the competition as the teams attempted to finish building their engines and getting the rolling chassis ready for the drivetrains.

Team Stinky Pinky blew through its budget--and had to kickstart engine builder Jimmy Bowling into gear--as they struggled to get the Roots-blown big block Chevy together and in the third-gen Firebird.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Team Bigun got their turbo LS engine in the 1986 Mustang and fired it up--the first team to reach that point. Extra credit should have been awarded for using concrete from Home Depot as filler to stiffen the engine block.

The COMP Cams Dream Team plunked its turbo LS in the team's 1993 Mustang, but not without some internal issues, which required a long team meeting to resolve. Stuff like this can happen when you throw four big personalities together in a high-pressure environment.

And Team Boddie? They got their nitrous-fed big block Chevy in the Buick Regal, but not without issues. The camshaft was bent slightly, requiring some old-school tactics to straighten out. The team also lost the E3 spark plug building challenge, which meant they had to wear inflatable dinosaur suits for one hour.

Episode 5: The Scramble to Norwalk
The pressure got turned up way past 11 as our heroes labored for two 16-hour days to finish and and chassis-dyno their cars before the trip to Norwalk. 

Team Stinky Pinky's had timing and other issues as they attempted to get the supercharged big block Chevy running. They messed up their first chassis dyno session when no data was recorded, but managed to get a solid run at the last minute and put up some very happy numbers. They finished the build with around 13 bucks left in their budget.

Team Bigun executed their plan to the letter. They were the first to get their Mustang to run and the first to make dyno pulls with little drama--and some big numbers. Team Bigun is also going to Norwalk with $339.00 in their collective pocket.

The Dream Team kept up with Team Bigun nearly stride for stride. They had to hustle to make the dyno pulls, but their Mustang was still able to hit the rollers on time and get some data to help set a baseline tune for the Shakedown At The Summit. The Dream Team goes to Norwalk with almost $198.00 in American money.

Team Boddie worked on their big block Regal literally to the last second, but didn't finish in time to make any dyno pulls. What's worse, the Regal would only move in reverse--no foward gears in the Turbo 400 transmission were operational. They'll have to address that issue at the track, so it's a good thing the team has about $465.00 in build funds left.

Horsepower Wars will be posting videos of each team's build over the next couple weeks, and video of the $10K Shootout in early October. We'll set you up with links as soon as they are available. And no peeking to see who won!