I’ve had the chance this year to hang out a few times at tracks within an hour drive of my house. Since Project Rehab isn’t fully operational yet I haven’t made a pass myself this season. Over the course of the year I’ve rediscovered an old principle still rings true. That is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on your car to enjoy it at the track.

High dollar machines dominate the car culture. This is for good reason as everyone wants to see the latest equipment, displayed beautifully, or in a car that rips ETs that defy belief. Whether you’re racing your car at the strip, showing it, or just trying to hang with your buddies, the entire hobby can become a glorified urination challenge (pissing contest).

Every week Project Rehab inches closer to returning to the track.

I’ve seen this type of build escalation happen on a variety of scales and even am guilty of it myself at times. It’s easy to get pulled into trying to outmatch or outshine our friends or competitors; everyone wants to be the best. Sometimes however, being the fastest, shiniest, or sporting the latest modifications isn’t the best way to enjoy our cars. Sometimes it’s the simplest combinations, thrown together on a budget that remind us how much fun we can really have with this hobby.

Tom’s ’86 GT

On a recent trip to my home track, Ohio Valley Dragway, I spent some time with a few friends who’s combinations were brutally simple, but you’d have thought they were wheeling cars worth ten-times the cost of the builds. There was my friend Tom, who I’ve known since high school. Tom recently got back into the Mustang scene after about a five year hiatus. He’s bought an ’86 GT. It’s not much to look at, but like many of us he sees the potential inside and out. The car is stock, except for some weight reduction and a set of ET street tires on the rear. Tom mentioned to me a few weeks ago “I’d forgot how much fun drag racing is.” He mortally wounded the T5 in his ’86 on the first pass. Before the end of the night however he’d already worked out a trade to get a fresh one from another friend. In spite of his troubles Tom still had a good time on a low budget racing his car at the track.

Wayne Edens was another friend I saw having a very good time. His Fox body coupe was a recent score from a Craigslist ad in Ohio. Wayne bought the car, and with the help of his brother-in-law Michael hauled it home. They managed to get it up and running in short order. The combination is rather simple, a tubular K-member up front cradles a stock cammed 302 wearing GT40 P heads and intake manifold. Backing it up is a stock AOD with a stall converter, and some 3.73 gears. “I just get on the interstate, put it in overdrive and off we go. On the track, put it in drive and put my foot down, that’s it.” Wayne was having a blast making test ‘n tune passes. Another car that wasn’t setting any record ETs, but that the owner was having more fun than many of the guys in the pits struggling with higher horsepower more complex combinations.

Then there was Michael Edds, Wayne’s brother-in-law.. You’ll see a full feature on Michael’s car in the very near future. Michael’s combination revolves around a stock short block, ported GT40P heads, a catalog cam, and a Vortech S-trim. His hatchback only lacks AC in terms of factory equipment that’s missing.

Michael’s Hatchback

Michael entered his car in the street car shootout, a monthly series at Ohio Valley. Cars compete in index classes and race each other headsup. Depending on the class you can win a trophy or enough cash to cover your trip to the track and then some. On this particular night Michael took home first place in the 7.60 (1/8 mile) index. Cash in his pocket, a smile on his face, Edds hopped in the car and drove it home, no trailer needed.

I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with building a high dollar, expensive car. I’ve had my share of them, and I’m sure I will again. Those cars come with trade offs however and sometimes it seems to me that the low-buck crowd are the ones smiling when it’s time to go home at the end of a night at the track. The high dollar crowd is often scratching their heads trying to figure out what to do next.

The simplest solution is often the one that will yield the best results. We often lose sight of this in our battle to dominate our competition rather than remembering what really got us into this hobby, and these cars; it was the grin and giggles from matting the loud pedal and hanging on for dear life.