Are you familiar with the concept of ChumpCar or the 24 Hours of LeMons? That’s where you take a $500 beater, make it safe enough to race without killing yourself, and beat on it until you either finish the race or have to clean up the result of your cheap crap-can car going into meltdown mode. We like the idea, but one part of it holds a lot of people up: it’s endurance road-course racing. Hours upon hours sitting in the operator’s seat of a 1997 Escort, driving, avoiding getting hit by other competitors while making sure that the temperature gauge doesn’t hit the point of no return…sounds more like work than anything else, doesn’t it? What if you just want the car to last for one day, or just want to have fun beating on something at the absolute limit? Maybe you have a couple of old nitrous bottles that you’d like to put to good use. That’s where Thunder Valley Raceway’s “Junkyard Wars” comes in: $500 budget, two classes (“Spray ‘n Pray” and “All Motor Division”) and cash prizes.
If you think that BangShifters could pass up an opportunity like that, you would be deadly wrong. James Pringle, known to the BangShift forum as “BBR” and the builder and operator of one sincerely serious big-block Ford-powered Fox Mustang, certainly couldn’t. But what fantastic shitbox would serve the purpose of the race? Well, it had to run (or be close enough to running to not be an issue) and it had to perform better than some punk who managed to keep a first-generation Neon together long enough to make a pass. His choice was a severely ragged out 1998 Buick Regal GS that was the right price. Some things about it were sketchy, like the fuse box completely devoid of fuses and the interior that may or may not have sported it’s own ecosystem, but the entire reason for adopting the W-body was the L67 3.8L V6 engine.
High 14-second timeslips out of the box are common, and a few tweaks here and there can have a healthy Regal in full weight into the 13s. With the entire interior resting comfortably inside of a dumpster, his drag-racing knowledge at work, and possibly some mechanical tomfoolery, how much further can Pringle go? Check out the build thread and see for yourself!
If you are interested in more information about Thunder Valley’s “Junkyard Wars”, CLICK HERE!
BangShift Project Thread: Junkyard Wars Buick Regal GS Build
Ha!
That was the exact same car my friend and I had decided would make a great LeMons racer! Stout V6, supercharger, options for stiffer suspension, it’s got decent potential.
My one mod I’d do for this would be to wire a toggle into the footwell that controls TC lockup for direct drive and engine braking when needed.
The real question is: will it hold a candle to my awesome 2000 Kia Sephia ChumpCar? What races are you guys doing in 2016? I’d love to help with a story!
WIN!
Does the climate control deck still light up (the screen) i will give you 20 bucks for it if it does.
I’d mail you one for $50. I have several with fully working screens.
Can’t take all the credit, JWS4621 is neck deep in the this thing with me!! Can’t wait for the race!!