It’s a New Season for Power to the Wheels

Mopars at the Strip
Las Vegas, Nev. 3/28/08 - 3/29/08

Over 15 Cars Dyno’d, Three Qualify for Winner’s Circle

Our first event of ’08 was the Mopars at the Strip competition at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And what an event it was. We faced some interesting weather conditions, but encountered some awesome cars (and trucks!) and heard some amazing stories.

We recognized Ken Muckey on Friday when he drove up in his ’72 Plymouth Duster. He rebuilt the engine in the off season and was eager to see how he would compare to last year’s dyno run. He jumped up 30 horsepower and posted 377.75 with his DynoMax Super Turbos.

On Saturday, we heard an amazing story from first-place winner, Jim LaRoy, about his ’71 Plymouth Roadrunner. Jim also competed last year at our Reno, Nev., event and we were happy to see him return…and Jim was happy to be able to compete!

You see, Jim had both of his sons with him, Cody and Tay. They were returning from Westech Performance Group, Mira Loma, Ca., where they tested the car on a chassis dyno (posted 554 in Mira Loma!!) earlier in the week. After that, the family headed out to Mopars at the Strip to run on the drag strip Friday. They ran 116.88 mph…and blew the #1 cylinder exhaust port into the water jacket on the cylinderhead. But Jim’s sons were too far from home to just throw in the towel and say they had enough before they even had a chance to compete in the DynoMax Power to the Wheels Dyno Tour competition on Saturday. They pulled the cylinderheads off of a smaller 383 engine they had stored in their truck and put them on the ’71 Roadrunner 452 engine. Early on Saturday morning, the LaRoy boys posted 510.86 horsepower.

You see, that’s not even the full story.

In 2004, Cody read a story in the December 1982 issue of Popular Hot Rodding about his Grandpa. Jim’s father was a serious gearhead – and had built an engine that was featured in PHR. Cody read the article and started tinkering around his grandfather’s flowbench. In 2005, they took the Roadrunner to Mopars at the Strip, and then blew the clutch during its first dragstrip pass. In 2006, they reworked the engine a little and won that year’s Mopars Dyno event with 474 horsepower. Last year, you saw what Cody and his father pulled at the Reno event – 529 horsepower. We can’t wait to see what happens in ’09…or if they decide to see us again later this year on the tour. Make sure you check back here to see the 1982 article. Jim’s mother is working hard to scan it for us to post here!

Jim was followed by Dave Foreman and his 2005 Dodge Ram. He posted 286.54 horsepower with his DynoMax Super Turbo mufflers. Dave was very appreciative of my dyno team – thanks! We hope to see you at another DynoMax event real soon!

We expect to see all of you at a DynoMax event soon!

If you have any questions, feel free to post them, or if you’re interested in one of these vehicles – we’ll be happy to help you touch base with one of the contestants!

See you in Georgia this May!