(All photos by John Welsh)
As you’ve probably heard by now, this week is Hot Rod Drag Week! As the rolling display of horsepower traverses the Midwestern United States all week long, competitors in all sorts of insane vehicles are pulling trailers and hitting up each stop, some pulling passes WAY below the 10-second mark. It’s truly one of the great motorsport events on the calendar. As the tour rumbled into Norwalk, Ohio’s Summit Motorsports Park last Tuesday, BangShifter and Grassroots Motorsports forum member John Welsh hopped in his car and checked out the mayhem for himself, as he lives just minutes from the track. John’s no stranger to the allure of making a big, sleepy car go fast, as he’s fielded an early V8-powered Infiniti Q45 at the budget friendly Grassroots Motorsports $20xx Challenge in past years with success. When he got there, he found this seemingly out-of-place vehicle hanging out in the pits:
You all know we love the boxy bluntness of the Chevy Caprice. Heck, Lohnes even owns one! How is Buford doing these days, by the way? But this one looks like it just left the grocery store, piloted by your Aunt Mildred. What is going on here?
This is a very clean, yet pedestrian appearing, 1984 Chevrolet Caprice owned by Jeremy Stelford. Here’s the kind of car that many of us remember loafing around in back in the 80’s. I, for one, remember riding around in tons of these back then; seemingly everyone had one. This is the 2nd year the car has run Drag Week, and it’s easy to miss when you have other stuff blasting around like the Lutz’s all out builds. John actually saw it make a 12-second pass and did a double take, and found it later in the pits. Let’s have a closer look!
The attention to detail is spectacular. Those are re-capped whitewalls with drag slick rubber on steel wheels with screw-on wire wheel covers. Unless you get up close, you would never know!
You have to love the multiple 80’s sleeper call outs placed around the car. The “I Love Bingo” sticker is perfect.
Also dig the bobble-head dog and the requisite suction cup Garfield on the rear window. I haven’t seen one of those in years.
Aside from a fire extinguisher and an aftermarket cup holder console, this is box stock inside, covered in the finest Parisian Brothel Red Velour your dad’s dollars could buy in 1984. A friend of mine had one of these back when we were younger in all blue, and we called it The Rolling Couch. One look at that split bench and you’ll know why. It’s like a living room on wheels! And yes, that’s an 8-track tape on the seat… BLO to be exact.
A fine selection of the finest Hawaiian shirts takes residence behind the driver’s seat to instill that “old people on vacation” vibe.
The cars that compete in Drag Week have to serve as their own support vehicles, so Jeremy pulls a vintage-appearing trailer behind the Caprice full of spares and tools. Again, a quick look and you would never know.
The trailer itself is modeled after the classic “canned ham” trailers of the 1950’s and 1960’s, but it too holds sleepy secrets. First off, the windows are painted on, and the back opens up clamshell-style. The wings and roof mounted pink flamingos are a nice touch.
Jeremy even rocks the giant chrome fender towing mirrors for trips between tracks. Not only functional, it adds to the sleeper vibe.
Here’s where the magic happens. Under the hood lies a 502ci Big Block Chevy pounding out around 600 horsies. Aside from the MSD coil and ignition box, nothing looks terribly exotic, either. It still has cruise control and A/C!
We love the simplicity of this build. Grandma’s Caprice + Big Block Chevy + some 80’s trinkets = Super Sleeper! If you see this thing rolling across the interstate, beware, because it will likely blow your doors off! Jeremy, we salute you. And John, thanks for the submission!
Geriatric Cruiser Class 2016 Drag Week Champion! Last year at DW Brian christened it that from the tower when I lined up against Jeremy’s Caprice in my Crown Vic. Genuinely a nice guy with a very low key car, the whole setup is “deep cover double secret probation” kind of thing. Great performance with (I’m sure) more to come- he thinks its got 11’s in it without spray and from what Ive seen and the improvement over last year you’d be a fool to doubt it. All hail the Sleeper King!
Those slicks are SLICK! All in all the sleepiest sleeper I’ve yet seen. Should get a personalized tag that reads NARCOLEPSY.
I saw this sleeper Caprice at Drag Week last year, very cool car and now I know what kind of a power plant it has.
Had the chance to meet Jeremy and his father while also competing during DW2015. Couple of great guy’s. The car sure gets a lot of attention at the tracks, gas stations, motel parking lots, etc. Plus the trailer they built is killer.