Paul Smith's '98 Corvette
Paul Smith and his son Paul Jr. are a two-man crew with their C5 Vette. The elder Smith was quick to point out that Junior has been the jockey for the past five years and in that time has grown to be not only deadly on the tree, but very focused whenever he's behind the wheel. The Smiths entered the C/LSX class for the event, which is a 10.00 class but is an NMCA regular in Open Comp. By the way, if the car looks familiar to you, it may be because they won Pinks All Out at Atlanta Raceway out of 450 entries!
Name: Paul Smith
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Class: NMCA Open Comp, C/LSX 10.00 Index class
Best e.t.: 9.95 at 135.77 mph
Best 60-foot: 1.33
Motor: 427ci LS2
Intake: FAST, 90 mm
Heads: MTI Racing ported LS6 heads
Power-adder: None
Exhaust: MTI Racing 1 7/8-inch long tubes, 3-inch exhaust with an X-pipe
Transmission: Original, rebuilt by Rossler; 4,500-stall converter
Suspension: Stock, QA1 shocks
Weight: 3,155 pounds with driver
tires: 26x4.5-15 Hoosier front, 28x10.5-15 Hoosier rear
Rearend: IRS, DTE Stage 5 rearend, Quaife posi, 4.10:1 gears
Power: 500 hp (rear wheel)
Steve Fereday's '01 Camaro
If ever there was a fairy tale story for the shootout, it had to be Steve Fereday and his crew. Based out of Houston, Fereday can be seen running a number of eighth-mile races but had never run on a set of drag radials before. On the way to Memphis, he stopped off for a quick test session in New Jersey, which resulted in 7.70 run after lifting the pedal. On the next pass, he chattered the tires hard, breaking the driveshaft and ripping apart the transmission tailshaft. Oops. Not one to be defeated, he had another driveshaft red labeled overnight, swapped in his spare tranny, and journeyed on to his final stop. During qualifying, Fereday managed to qualify No. 1 and even took home the win with several consistent mid-7-second passes throughout the weekend. Who does he credit for the win? His entire crew, the FAST EFI system, and an AMS 1000 boost controller. When asked what he thought about the event, he simply said, "Man, it was awesome!" That says it all.
Name: Steve Fereday
Hometown: Houston, TX
Class: True 10.5, Outlaw Drag Radial, Limited 10.5, Drag Radial
Best e.t.: 7.57 at 193.94 mph
Best 60-foot: 1.23
Motor: 408ci LSX
Intake: Edelbrock Victor Jr., Accufab 95mm throttle-body
Heads: ET 265 Heads
Power-adder: Precision Turbo 106 mm, PT 3000 intercooler, Tial 60mm wastegate, two Tial 50mm blow-off valves
Exhaust: Racecraft 1 3/4 with American Racing Merge 3-inch collectors
Transmission: Rossler Powerglide; 4,000-stall converter Neil Chance bolt--together Pro Mod converter
Suspension front: Factory style Burkhart Chassis K-member, A-arms, Santhuff struts
Suspension rear: Factory F-body style suspension by Madman & Co. Racing control arms, panhard bar, and torque arm
Weight: 3,400 pounds with driver
Wheels and tires: Weld Racing Wheels, 26x4.5-15 ET Front, M/T P295/65R15 ET Street Radial rear
Rearend: Burkhart Chassis custom-fabricated 9-inch, 3.50:1 gears
Power: 2,000 hp (estimated flywheel)