Subject: Not VW but this is what drag racing is all about.
speedster356
A.k.a.: Peter Mcleod
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posted on March 1st, 2004 at 08:38 PM
Not VW but this is what drag racing is all about.
A Drag Racer Turns Handicap Of His Yugo to His Advantage
By DAN MORSE
Staff Reporter
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
ATCO, N.J. -- Dave Benton revs up his engine as the announcer at Atco
Raceway calls the action over a scratchy public-address system. "Eighty
cubic inches," announcer Max Scherwin tells the crowd of about 2,000. "I
know motorcycles that got bigger motors than that."
And Mr. Benton is off. It's his third drag race of the morning, all in a
1986 Yugo.
Let people laugh.
Dave Benton and his Yugo
The arthritic 62-year-old challenges 17-foot dragsters, souped-up Chevys,
roaring Mustangs -- taking full advantage of a handicapping system that
gives his baby-blue hatchback up to an eight-second head start in
quarter-mile dashes. Under the emblem "Underdog Racing," Mr. Benton has
become something of a legend around New Jersey's weekend drag-racing
circuit.
Mr. Benton is a throwback to a time when drag racing wasn't about who could
spend the most money muscling up a car. What drivers couldn't afford, they
simply made themselves. A clutch release? Mr. Benton slapped an old
air-conditioner magnet on the floorboard that he activates with a switch on
the stick shift. To lighten the Yugo, he uses a battery from a garden
tractor; gas is held in a 1-gallon oil tank taken from a Honda motorcycle.
In seven years of racing, he has cut his time to 14.785 seconds from 21.9,
hitting speeds of around 90 miles an hour.
But ... a Yugo? The $3,990 car that Consumer Reports once called "a grab bag
of barely assembled nuts and bolts"? The vehicle that after it was launched
with a slogan of "Everybody you know needs a Yugo" scored worst in its
category on U.S. government crash tests? The car that for years became a
staple on the joke circuit (Why do Yugos have rear-window defrosters? To
keep your hands warm while you push it)?
Actually, in many ways, Mr. Benton is as unique as the Yugo.
A lifelong New Jersey resident, Mr. Benton was born with a clubfoot and wore
a leg brace through grade school. At the age of nine, he took apart his
first engine. "A '37 Chevy," Mr. Benton recalls. He remembers, he says,
because "I never got it back together."
He studied forestry for a year in college but dropped out to pursue a string
of disparate careers: Porsche mechanic, cowboy, bulldozer operator,
motivational speaker, instructor of automotive technology.
By 1986, Mr. Benton and his wife, Linda, a high-school math teacher, decided
to downsize from their '73 Cadillac and old Chrysler station wagon. The
first compact they test-drove: an '86 Yugo GV. A half-mile into the ride,
Mr. Benton was so taken by the car's pep and handling, they turned the thing
around, zipped back to the dealer and bought it. As it happened, Yugo
America Inc. was headquartered just up the road in Upper Saddle River. And
in 1987, Mr. Benton got a job there, in the technical-services department.
Inside Yugo America, though, things weren't going well. The company had
recalled its first 9,000 cars because some of the seat belts weren't bolted
on according to specifications. And though Fortune magazine had singled the
Yugo out as one of the products of the year in 1985, the car's sales fell
consistently short of annual goals of 200,000; they never reached
one-quarter of that.
In 1992, Yugo America filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, stopped
importing the vehicles and left American dealers to take dramatic measures
to sell off inventories. One pitch: "Buy a Buick, Get a Free Yugo."
Mr. Benton was once again out of a job. But when his desire for an
inexpensive hobby drove him to New Jersey's amateur drag-racing circuit in
1992, Mr. Benton opted for the Yugo. His first quarter-mile time, 21.9
seconds, was only slightly faster than a greyhound could have run it.
One day, returning home from the Atco Raceway, Mr. Benton was clipped by a
passing Camaro. He was forced into the center guardrail, flipped four times
-- and walked away, unscathed. "Tough little cars," Mr. Benton says.
Getting Serious
After the wreck, Mr. Benton salvaged the 80 cubic-inch engine, Yugo's
largest ever, stuck it in a replacement Yugo he bought at a junkyard for
$100 and really got serious about making a fast car.
Over the next five years, he ran about 400 races, generally competing in
"bracket" divisions. Under that format, drivers submit the time they expect
to run. Typically, Mr. Benton might submit a 14.91, while his competitor
would post something like a 10.04. Then Mr. Benton would get his 4.87-second
head start. The winner: whoever is closest to his predicted time -- without
going under it.
Still, he feels the need for speed. This winter, Mr. Benton rebuilt the
engine's short block, looking to shave more ticks off his time. And on May
15, he and two Yugo Underdog buddies -- Pete Mulhern, 57, and Dave Greason,
63 -- have gathered in Mr. Benton's driveway to finish up the engine so Mr.
Benton can unleash it the following day at the Atco Raceway.
Mr. Benton still limps. Mr. Mulhern also moves slowly: He has had two heart
attacks and suffers from emphysema. Mr. Greason, a diabetic, has had
open-heart surgery and has a condition called essential tremor, which makes
his head shake. He figures he doesn't have all that long to live. "It's
winding down for me now," he says. "It's time to have some fun."
Yugo Central
Behind the three, a dark garage has been turned into a Yugo parts center.
Six engines lie on the floor. Exhaust systems rest against the wall. Nuts
and bolts are stored in old Planters Cheese Balls cans, or are scattered on
the concrete floor. The mess spills into the driveway, where six parked
Yugos extend into a weed-caked front yard.
Mr. Benton climbs behind the wheel, and flips the ignition switch-piercing
the quiet neighborhood with what sounds like a lawn mower on steroids. Mr.
Mulhern, wearing a white fishing cap and reading glasses, tweaks the
carburetor with a long, thin screwdriver.
Eventually, Mr. Benton declares the new engine ready for battle.
Early the next morning, Mr. Benton packs for the day: lunch, soft drinks, a
plastic sandwich-bag filled with vitamins and various medicines. Mr. Mulhern
arrives, and the two hitch the drag-Yugo to the back of Mr. Benton's
everyday-Yugo. They drive to the track, arriving before most of the other
racers, and start replacing the standard front tires of the dragster with
racing ones.
Within minutes, a younger man, Kevin Thomas, bounds up to check out the car.
"I heard about you!" he says. "I heard about the Yugo!" Mr. Thomas, who
drags a Subaru station wagon, tells Mr. Benton he has a turbo kit on order.
"I want to become an Underdog too. I want to scare some people."
Dropping Weight
Other racers and spectators wander by, some shaking their heads, some
laughing. But the jokes don't last long in this crowd. Mostly, it's Mr.
Benton's mechanical skills that impress his fellow racers -- and have helped
him cut down the weight of the car to its current 1,340 pounds from about
2,000.
The morning goes well for Underdog Racing. On this day, Mr. Benton is racing
only against cars his own size and speed, in the "Sportsman Import"
division. In his second practice run, Mr. Benton sets a new personal record:
14.785 seconds.
He eventually loses in the semifinals to a Mazda RX-7, but he has done well
enough for a swing by the awards stand after the race. He picks up a trophy,
$85 in prize money (he has won money just three times before) and climbs
back into the dragster. En route to his space in the pits, Mr. Benton drives
by hundreds of fans and racers -- cracking open his driver's side door and
thrusting the 18-inch gold trophy into the air. The crowd cheers.
Mr. Mulhern has been waiting patiently in his lawn chair, by now exhausted
from an afternoon in the warm sun.
"We did it again," Mr. Benton says, showing him the cash.
Jet cruiser-Coogee 22-09-05 900 deg C @ 110,000 rpm
Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals....................Except the Weasel.
Flintstones
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posted on March 1st, 2004 at 09:04 PM
That was an awesome read !!!!
Good to see they are passionate about their racing and have done extremely well on just 80cc's. Go the Big Block
cheers
sikdub
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posted on March 8th, 2004 at 01:18 AM
Gotta agree, a great read.
Steven
modulus
A.k.a.: Peter Hill
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posted on March 8th, 2004 at 11:34 AM
Quote:
Originally
posted by Flintstones
... done extremely well on just 80cc's. ...
14 seconds from 80 cc would indeed be good work...
This is 80 cubic inches, about 1300 cc; still, 14 s quarters from a 1300 isn't slow - I think that these guys are not exactly the
retirement-home rubes that they're made out to be and the writer is not allowing the facts to get in the way of a good story...
posted on March 1st, 2004 at 08:38 PM
