GM Powered Dragsters Will Rock Goodwood Festival Of Speed With Horsepower
DETROIT - Along with blue jeans and rock 'n' roll, drag racing is one of America's leading exports. This distinctly American form of motorsports, which distills racing to the pure essence of acceleration, will be on display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed when a variety of GM-powered drag racing machines stage a celebration of U.S.-style horsepower.
Lord March's manicured driveway is a far cry from the dry lakes and abandoned airfields of Southern California where the sport began. The stripped-down hot rods and primordial dragsters that ruled the drag strips 50 years ago have given way to purposeful quarter-mile missiles fabricated from high-strength alloys and carbon-fiber composites. But while the machinery has evolved, the sound and fury of a one-on-one motorized gunfight remain true to the sport's roots.
"GM engines have been the driving force in drag racing from the first time a racer power shifted through the gears," said Steve Shannon, executive director, GM Marketing Services/Racing. "Great GM powertrains and great GM nameplates such as Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile figure prominently in the history of drag racing's production-bodied classes."
Cadillac and Oldsmobile OHV V8 engines were hot rodders' preferred powerplants in the early '50s. The arrival of the high-revving small-block Chevrolet V8 in 1955 revolutionized drag racing. The small-block's brawny sibling, the big-block Chevrolet V8, has ruled drag racing's sportsman classes for nearly four decades. Pontiac's performance image was honed on the quarter-mile, while turbocharged Buick V6s and Oldsmobile's purpose-built Drag Race Competition Engine (DRCE) rewrote drag racing's record book.
"With 307 national event victories and 34 Manufacturer's Championships, GM is the most successful manufacturer in the National Hot Rod Association's Pro Stock class, the most technically demanding category in drag racing," Shannon noted. "Visitors to this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed can expect to see a display of tire smoke, unadulterated horsepower and awesome acceleration that are the hallmarks of drag racing."
The winding course through Lord March's estate will present a challenge to dragsters designed to travel in straight lines. Heading the roster of GM-powered dragsters that is slated to appear in this year's Festival of Speed is Michael Malmgren's ACDelco-sponsored Pro Stock Camaro. Powered by a 500-cubic-inch (8.2-liter) big-block V8 that produces more than 1,200 horsepower, Malmgren's Camaro was the first European Pro Stock to run a quarter-mile in less than seven seconds.
The Festival of Speed will showcase drag racing's heritage with several classic machines: Rob Smallworth's 1955 Chevrolet sedan, Colin Lazenby's 1956 Chevy, Ian Jackson's 1964 Corvette and Brian Waskett's 1967 Camaro. Andy Robinson's entry wears Studebaker body panels, but underneath beats the heart of an 11.6-liter GM-based racing engine.
Propelled by the irresistible forces of GM engines and a passion for performance, drag racing has become a worldwide phenomenon. This year drag racers will take their place alongside auto racing's heroes and legends at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
