We recently took a drive up the freeway to California Dragway in Fontana this last week for the LA Invasion Event. This event had a great turnout with over 160 muscle and late model cars coming out for test and tune racing and a car show. It was organized by Mark Gidden, who has kept us in the loop the entire time about the event. Great job, guys!

Unlike most racing events, this one had a deeper purpose. The LA Invasion show donated a portion of the proceeds to the Save the Ta Tas Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing funds to organizations who provide research and education with regards to Breast Cancer. The organizations they support can be found at:here.

Since all the action on the track was just testing and tuning, we decided to walk the show and find you the top five hottest cars from both the car show and the dragstrip.

First, we came across this clean looking 69 Camaro. Powered by a built out 406 ci, driver Casey Chappell told us that the car was able to put out 430 hp to the rear wheels.

While the Hooker Headers, Demon carburetor, and Edelbrock manifold help to make that power, its the Global West suspension set up on the car that keeps all that power going in the right direction. The car has run its best of 11.70, but the hot Southern California day only allowed this car to go 11.90.

Nice and clean just the way we like it!

Next, we found this beautiful 1972 Chevy Nova. If you think the paint on this car is something to look at, you are going to love the engine under the hood.

Starting with a Dart block and heads, owner Moe Wilson filled the block with a set of JE Pistons and strapped two Dominators to the top of the engine. After a little bit of tuning, the engine now pumps out 900 HP. That’s enough to push this 3600 lb car to a best of 9.62 @143 MPH.

We tried to find an angle to shoot this car from so it would get any glare, but she was clean and shiny it just couldn’t be done!

Over in the car show area, we ran into Angel Figueroa, the lucky owner of this sweet looking Firehawk.

While SLP did a great job of building these cars to perform, Angel decided it needed a little more. After running a 10.70 @ 131 MPH, the engine was stroked out to a 402 ci using a Late Model Engines Stroker kit. Not wanting to stop there, a fully intercooled Procharger setup was installed feeding a FAST Intake that now has the car putting out over 700 HP to the wheels.

Angle also used BMR Suspension on his ride and even told us he not only drives this car on the street, but drives it almost every day!

While waiting in the staging lanes, we stumbled on to this 1968 with an interesting choice for an engine combination. Owner Robert Estrada has owned the car for over 23 years and has put a lot of the work into the car himself.

Once the original engine paid it’s dues, the tired motor was pulled out and a Chevy 327 was installed. Wanting to improve drivability, an Edelbrock EFI system was installed to give this car a little more dependability as well.

Robert then upgraded the brakes on his car to some OEM Z28 brakes and stuffed a GM 12 bolt rear end behind the Turbo 400 transmission in the car.

Another Camaro making the top five, has a 496 under the hood with a Scat Crank and SRP Pistons doing the work inside the block. On the top end, the owner used a Professional Products Intake manifold that was ported and polished.

The owner also installed an MSD Ignition but for some reason, kept the stock heads! This was such a ballzy move that we had to make it one of the top five! Even with it’s restricted heads, this car went a best of 11.48 in the heat. That not far off the car’s best of 11.32.

Finally we have our pick for the top car of the LA Invasion show, this clean 86 Buick owned by Louis Ascencio. Normally ran in the 1/8th mile, this car has seen 6.30’s many times out on the track. This is one of the few times the car has been run in the quarter mile.

Keeping with the 231 ci sizing, Louis upgraded the turbo to a Precision Turbo to give this car a little more air to breath with. To make this car strong enough for the street, he added a set of QA1 shocks and a complete Global West Suspension.

The car was running great that day according to Louis, so well that while we were getting some info and shooting pictures of his car, the track officials stopped by to tell him to slow it down or they would be asking him to leave! Turns out the cage in the car doesn’t have enough bars in it to run low 10’s in the quarter. Having almost always run eighth mile, this was never a problem before.

Street Muscle Project Car Updates
Grandma Makes her first pass while Respect puts some track time under it’s belt.

To give the guys at the LA Invasion a little treat, we decided to grace the tack with Grandma’s first set of passes. We will have a lot more on the happenings with this car in a later blog.

A very special thank you to everyone who helped with the Project Car “Grandma” with PowerTV and Street Muscle. With almost 800,000 viewers between the powerTV videos, articles, blogs, Yellow Bullet, YouTube, Streetfire, and various other sites, we couldn’t have finished the project without your invaluable help.

Although not every story or video is in the can for the public, we got the car out for her maiden voyage, and it was a great success. We’ll be finishing the various build articles, and have some new surprises in store for the future.

Thank you to everyone who helped support the project and gave us tips and tricks, especially the guys from Yellow Bullet and Malibu Racing!

The first full pass down the track was straight and true with a 10.63 @ 127 mph for a pump gas, streetable, 10:1 compression hydraulic roller Edelbrock/Musi crate engine with nitrous gears (3.89) and a glide, on DOT legal drag radials. This is with a nitrous setup, but naturally aspirated. We have many additional upgrades and tests planned for Grandma, but for now, we’ll enjoy the completion and initial passes of the car! Very special thanks to everyone involved in the Project!

Project Respect made its first set of quarter mile passes as well. After baseline test on the eighth mile, the car recorded a best run of 10.68 in the cool night-time air. So we expected to see time somewhere around the high 16’s given the air once we got the car out on the quarter mile.

To help make sure we got to that time and maybe even bring the time down a little, we installed a complete Hooker Headers Exhaust system and an MSD Ignition system.

To our delight, the car ran a best of 16.20 @ 85 despite the warm air hovering over the track.

Overall it was not only a great day for our cars, but for the entire show as well. Thanks to everyone that came out to show to run their cars and those who worked the track. A special thanks goes out to event organizer Mark Gidden for inviting us to the event and putting on such a great show.