TRAILERS and TRUCKS
Okay, I missed a couple PRI Shows and I don’t go to NHRA national events. WOW! Is all I can say about what they have done with the truck/motorhome conversions and trailers. I think the truck conversions were originally targeted at the Sportsman racers and the same goes for the original stacker trailers; they were pretty generic in their looks and pretty basic in their equipment. Well, that isn’t the deal anymore. Beautiful truck conversions, full body paint, a lot of them on twin-screw chassis with 500 hp and more! Several trailers were set up to haul three cars or more in absolute style. The “Sportsman thing” has pretty much
passed by me, though. A few of the trucks were well over $250,000 and a couple of the tag-style stacker trailers were in excess of $100,000. I looked around a little and found one “normal” 26-ft tag enclosed trailer but it had every option in the book and retailed for over $17,000.
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Do they actually sell that many of those big trucks and trailers? Where do they park them at the races? Has the DOT decided not to crack down on their own CDL requirements? Where do they park them if it has rained at a dragstrip in the last couple days? Maybe they only go to races with paved pits; that would explain why I never see them!
I know I will be staying with my little Class C and my enclosed trailer. I think I am about $300,000 short of being in a “first-class rig.” Man, were they impressive though!
I met a guy from Australia that has been selling his parts in the USA. He was a unique individual that still lives and makes his parts in Australia. He makes some great-looking fabricated aluminum valve covers and one thing that caught my eye was a camshaft belt-drive for big block Mopars. He also has them for Chevy and Ford applications. In a drag racing parts-world filled with Chevy parts it was cool to see an Australian-made Mopar part. Good one, mate!
 Australian Muscle Parts has introduced a line of camshaft belt drives for Chevy, Ford and Mopar. The quality looks great and we will be trying one on the new 541/E85 Mopar Max project engine. |
Outstanding racecars were all over the place. Beautiful paint jobs, the latest technology on display and craftsmanship that was out of this world was common. There was one car that stood out to me though. It wasn’t the fancy paint or the assembly details, it was the fact that it is going to be a turbocharged Pro Mod! The car belongs to Troy Coughlin, another JEGS car. Outfitted with a Sonny’s Semi-Hemi it is reported to be a 4,000 horsepower monster. If they get it figured out between the engine and the transmission (namely the clutch) a lot of guys say it will run 5.80s!! That ought to bring out the “rules-changers” in force.
I had a great conversation with Jay Cason at the Meziere Enterprises booth. He definitely showed me some things on cooling systems I didn’t know and their new starters are awesome. Who would have guessed he is helping promote a dragstrip about 30 minutes east of San Diego. It doesn’t surprise me that he is getting more and more cars every week. I will be doing a “keeping your cool” tech series in March and several companies will participate. I hope you get a chance to check it out.
There is a lot more to cover but that gives you an idea of what I was doing at the PRI Show. I can’t close without mentioning we ate at a place that had an appetizer sampler plate that went for $83.00! The steaks were $39.00 and a cold beer was a cool $5.25! For this old racer from Iowa…it was CULTURE SHOCK! (Our beers are $2.00, the steaks are $12.00 and what the heck is a $83.00 appetizer sampler plate?) The best part was I was with great friends and I got the rare treat to hear “Berzerko Bob” tell it like it REALLY WAS. . .and it was really funny!
