One of the events I look forward to working each year now is the Holley LS Fest at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Having attended this shindig for a few years now, it has been really neat to watch it grow from a quaint little collection of cars, to the full bore blow out that it is now. Truly the most diverse event I attend every year, people have the opportunity to show their cars, cruise a neat countryside scavenger hunt, dyno test them, drag race them, autocross them, sit in on seminars on how to make them run better, hob knob with some of the biggest names in the industry along the manufacturer’s midway, and on and on. It is a three day whirlwind of coolness and I’ve really taking a shine to the whole thing.
Because there’s so much stuff going on and my life is largely dedicated to the drag strip portion of the program with occasional stints calling the autocross of screaming about drifting, the list of all the winners that Holley put out if super handy and good. I knew who was in the running for several of these events but not exactly who took home the trophy and prize money. The Corvette that Josh Leisinger drove to the “Grand Champion” award by participating in every aspect of the event and accumulating points at each, is a show stopper. It ran low, low 10s in the quarter miles, hauled in the autocross, and did the street drive along with all of the other events with aplomb. Truly a cool piece and Josh is a great wheelman. A fine show, indeed!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL OF THE WINNERS (WITH PHOTOS) FROM THE 2014 HOLLEY LS FEST –
5th Annual Holley LS Fest Results
Drag Racing presented by Scoggin Dickey Parts Center and Engine Power TV
The Chevy High Performance Magazine LSX Drag Radial class is home to some of the heaviest hitters in 1/8 mile LS drag racing today. In the headline class, Mark Carlyle brought home the trophy in his Atomic Fusion C6 Corvette Z06. Mark beat out last year’s champion Mike Brown in the final round, running a 4.577 at 173.38 mph, besting Brown’s 4.915 at 168.89 mph.
The Wiseco Performance Products LSX Real Street class featured some of the closest and most intense 1/4 mile racing of the weekend. This class features a highly restrictive set of rules which limits tire size, turbo/supercharger/nitrous jet size, as well as drivetrain and chassis configurations which keeps these cars true to their street car roots. Greg Delaney made his way to the finals in his 2000 Pontiac Trans Am, where he squared off with Paul Falcon’s 4th gen Firebird. Delaney was able to drive past Falcon who posted the better reaction time, but was not able to hang on as Delaney’s Trans Am posted a 8.049 elapsed time at 172.54 mph.
The drifting portion of LS Fest has become one of the most popular events. In contrast to other motorsports, runs are judged subjectively based on entry speed, line clipping, angle & counter steer, and presentation. 2014 saw a new champion, with Nate Hamilton claiming the trophy in his S13 Nissan 240SX, making his way past Steve Topping in a tandem final that required two runs to determine the winner.
The autocross challenge was divided into two portions. The first was an all-run format to see who could put together the single fastest time of the event. Danny Popp was able to repeat his autocross performance from last year, securing the number one overall time despite some fierce competition. Popp held a 0.295 second advantage over second place.
The five fastest cars then moved on to the autocross shootout, where each driver made three runs, and their cumulative time of those three runs decided the autocross shootout champion. The top five raw times were posted by Danny Popp (33.604), Johnny Cichowski (33.899), Josh Leisinger (33.974), Tyler Powell (33.982), and Mike Dusold (34.175). In the autocross shootout, Johnny Cichowski managed to repeat his performance from last year, beating the defending Grand Champion by 0.093 seconds with a 100.826 cumulative time.
The speed, stop, and steering challenge could be considered a hybrid between drag racing and autocross. Competitors must navigate the short course and come to a stop within the designated braking area. Since there are two lanes, one featuring a left turn, and one featuring a right turn, drivers’ times are a cumulative between their best passes in the left and right lanes. Danny Popp edged out Josh Leisinger by 0.2 seconds with a 22.3 cumulative time to become the 3S champion.
The Grand Champion is determined based on results in drag racing, autocross, and the 3S challenge, with 5 bonus points being awarded for participating in the countryside cruise and 5 points being awarded for participating in the show-n-shine. Josh Leisinger won by the smallest margin in LS Fest history, edging defending champion Danny Popp out by one point. On his way to victory, Josh ran a 10.1 second quarter mile, the fastest pass in Grand Champion history.
Randall Farless has been at every LS Fest event since its inception. Randall was a spectator the first year, and has been an ever-improving participant since then. This year, Randall finished 10th overall in the Grand Champion competition. Randall’s effort and attitude was awarded with an invitation to SEMA and the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, which both take place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The dyno challenge was separated into two categories, one for naturally aspirated combinations, and one for power adder combos. Anthony Cooper’s 2002 Camaro brought home the naturally aspirated crown for the second year in a row by putting down 564 horsepower. Anthony Peck’s LS-swapped 1988 Ford Mustang outclassed the rest of the power adder field by 415 horsepower, putting down an amazing 1300 horsepower.
The always popular engine swap challenge is a race between two-man teams to see who can swap an LS engine into a previously running non-LS car the fastest. This year, Mike Edwards and Tyler Lauters from Tuscaloosa, Alabama mastered the G-body shuffle in two hours and nine seconds. They edged out a great effort by Will Meyst and Martin DeGumbia from Middletown, Connecticut to win the challenge and the engine.
Show-And-Shine presented by Snap-On Tools and LS1tech
The show-and-shine competition was comprised of 19 different categories to encompass every conceivable type of vehicle that could be LS swapped
Best street machine – Kevin Gray’s 1989 Pontiac Firebird
Best all access – Gordie Rutkowski’s 1966 Chevrolet Wagon
Best late model – Michael & Stacy Dodson’s 2011 Chevrolet Camaro
Best classic custom – Troy Russell’s 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air
Best classic truck – Calvin Andrews’ 1970 Chevrolet C/10
Best interior – Troy Russell’s 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air
Best non-domestic – Zack Nielsen’s 2002 Lexus
Best street rod – Rocky Rowland’s 1963 GMC Pickup
Best muscle truck – Tom Hartmann’s 1995 Chevrolet S10
Best late model truck – Jason Logan’s 2004 Chevrolet Silverado
Best under construction – Kyle Katzenbach’s 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer SS
Just because – Michael McCoy’s 2014 Chevrolet Camaro
Best muscle car – Leslie Jones’ 1968 Pontiac Firebird
Best paint – Steve Owens’ 2010 Chevrolet Camaro
Best engine – Johney Matney’s 2012 Chevrolet Camaro
Sponsor pick – Deb McGilton’s 1969 Chevrolet Camaro
Best engineered – Bob Bertlesen’s 1969 Chevrolet Truck
Holley president’s pick – Drew Strazar’s 1988 Jeep Wrangler
Best of show – Calvin Andrews’ 1970 Chevrolet Truck
You can see our show-and-shine coverage HERE.
Bowler Performance Countryside Cruise & Scavenger Hunt
To add a little competition to our countryside cruise, we picked over 50 objects to photograph over the route. Tabitha Hoover was this year’s sharpshooter, finding the most items on the scavenger hunt in her 1956 Chevrolet 210. Her and her family drove the route five times frontwards and even once backwards to make sure they found as many objects as possible.
+The complete results for all 2014 LS Fest competitions can be found HERE.
