09-11-2007, 10:05 AM
Some of the guys over at TurboDodge.com were asked to get together a bunch of turbo minis for a piece in the paper after a writer saw Paul Smith laying waste in his turbo mini at a dragstrip. Running a 12.9 at 109mph...and that was "running weird."
It's not your mom's mini-van
With rust and wood paneling concealing the menacing turbo-power hiding under the hood, no one would expect that old Dodge Caravan to rule the drag strip
By Ted Gregory | Tribune staff reporter
July 28, 2007
Sporting bib overalls, gnarly beard and grimy baseball cap, Paul Smith looks nothing like a champion of the thoroughly domesticated.
But he becomes their hero every time he works his stout frame behind the steering wheel of his dragster: a 1989 mini-van with rust bubbles on the fender, faux wood grain on the sides, 185,000 miles on the odometer and a turbocharged engine that rockets the van down the track at 106 m.p.h.
"A lot of dads walk up to me after a race," said Smith, 43, of Seneca in north central Illinois. "They're just shaking their heads. They can't believe it. They shake my hand and say 'thanks.'"
A husband and father of three with a trailer sales business, Smith drag-races mini-vans.
He's part of a curious corner of the auto racing subculture in which avengers of the sensible deliberately keep their mini-vans as frumpy and suburban-vanilla as possible. But menacing horsepower lurks under the hoods, and sitting in the captain's chairs are steely-eyed veterans.
"I think deep down, we all want to see a victory go to the humble underdog," said Dave Tekampe of Lake Villa, who owns a racy 1990 Plymouth Voyager and is vice president of the Chicagoland Chapter of the Shelby Dodge Club.
"As far as mainstream society goes, this is one step away from full castration," added Tekampe, 31, who works in medical-device quality control. "But at the drag strip, the crowd loves watching a mini-van trounce a Mustang, Camaro or Corvette."
And that's routine.
On Tuesday, Smith made an appearance at "Test and Tune" night at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, the equivalent of open mike night at a bar. A couple hundred drivers -- from pros who can reach over 200 m.p.h. to guys with restored Buick Electras -- show up to race.
"My wife looked at the van and said, 'What is that guy doing here?'" recalled Sean Kaveney, 30, of Plainfield. He was driving a restored, muscular 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger. "I said, 'He must not know what he's doing.' We were kind of laughing at him."
It took 13.4 seconds for Smith to convert ridicule to respect. His frost-blue van with cat hair on the driver's seat reached 102.1 m.p.h. in the quarter-mile run. Kaveney was in the next lane, watching from behind. He finished more than 10 m.p.h. slower. He declined to concede he was embarrassed.
"I've got a bad cylinder so it's not running as fast as it can," Kaveney said. Later that night, Smith hit 102 m.p.h. again, roasting a beefed-up, sleek black 1996 Chevy Impala driven by a 16-year-old.
Three young race fans approached.
"Dude, I saw this van on a Web site, like five years ago, when I was in high school," said Kyle Eunson of Newark, Ill. "I thought it was the coolest thing. I can't believe this. This thing is the coolest car here."
Would he trade his shadow-blue 1989 Mustang for one?
"Man," he said, sighing. "I'm 21 years old. Maybe when I'm older."
Mini-van racers relish their Clark Kent status and admit being an offbeat group. But it turns out the mechanical conversion is relatively simple. Chrysler Corp. did the hard work almost two decades ago in the middle of the mini-van boom.
Facing complaints that the vans lacked power, the automaker responded in 1989 by offering typically high-performance turbocharged, 4-cylinder engines in Caravans and Voyagers - for two years only, 1989 and '90.
The turbo, short for turbocharger, is a compressor that pushes more air into the combustion chamber, which prompts sensors to increase the amount of fuel entering the engine. When the sparks fly, the result is the release of a bigger bang, or significantly more power.
By adding a few affordable pieces, such as an improved exhaust system, intercooler and adjustable fuel pressure regulator, the reasonably competent shade tree mechanic could create a competitive street racer.
A wedding photographer and Mustang-driving street racer named Gus Mahon from Thompson, Conn., figured that out after his wife gave birth to a daughter in 1988. Mahon bought a new 1989 steel-blue Dodge Caravan and started tinkering.
A cult movement was born, one with a few dozen disciples across the U.S.
Terry Ryan, 46, of Cascade Locks, Ore., is perhaps the epitome of the movement. His white 1989 Dodge Caravan holds the street van dragster record, a spark over 111 m.p.h. in the quarter mile. That bested Smith's previous mark of 106.
"It's just a bunch of floor sweepings," said Ryan, a native of Belleville, Ill. "I'm leaning on it pretty hard, and I tune it pretty well. It's right in all the right places."
A father of three and husband who runs an adult foster home for the developmentally disabled, Ryan bought the van for $150 a few years ago. He said he has invested about $5,000 and hundreds of labor hours in the vehicle.
"People were coming up to the van all night long," Ryan recalled of the June night he set the record. "They had to see what's under the hood and they couldn't believe it."
Mahon died in a motorcycle crash in 2002, but his wife, Delores Vargas Mahon, said she keeps the van that started it all in a carport in her home. Van-racing aficionado Chuck Green of Ravenna, Ohio, has a standing offer to buy the van when she's ready to part with it.
``I've been drag racing for over 30 years," said Green, ``and I've never had anything that attracted so much attention. I don't want to lose that piece of history."
He has passed on that appreciation to his son, Bryan, 19, a college student from Kent, Ohio. Bryan's Dodge Spirit was destroyed in a fire and he decided to replace it with a 1990 Dodge Caravan in December that has been clocked at 102 m.p.h.
"I want people to think that it's a big crap box," Bryan Green said. "A lot of people look at me and say, 'Man, you're 19 and you're driving a mini-van around?'" I have to tell them, 'Hey, it's not for hauling the kids and groceries around.'"
Dempsey Bowling of Lehi, Utah, considered the ambassador of the movement, has written extensively about it on the Web and contends most of the mini-van drag racers have grown out of street racing.
"When you're young and stupid, you do that kind of stuff," Bowling said. "I've made sure not to do that for a while now." He does have words of caution for street racers.
"If you're next to a van and the guy next to you looks like he's taking you seriously, he might be," Bowling said. "Just never judge a book by its cover. Let's leave it at that."
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<!-- e --><a href="mailto:tgregory@tribune.com">tgregory@tribune.com</a><!-- e -->
It's not your mom's mini-van
With rust and wood paneling concealing the menacing turbo-power hiding under the hood, no one would expect that old Dodge Caravan to rule the drag strip
By Ted Gregory | Tribune staff reporter
July 28, 2007
Sporting bib overalls, gnarly beard and grimy baseball cap, Paul Smith looks nothing like a champion of the thoroughly domesticated.
But he becomes their hero every time he works his stout frame behind the steering wheel of his dragster: a 1989 mini-van with rust bubbles on the fender, faux wood grain on the sides, 185,000 miles on the odometer and a turbocharged engine that rockets the van down the track at 106 m.p.h.
"A lot of dads walk up to me after a race," said Smith, 43, of Seneca in north central Illinois. "They're just shaking their heads. They can't believe it. They shake my hand and say 'thanks.'"
A husband and father of three with a trailer sales business, Smith drag-races mini-vans.
He's part of a curious corner of the auto racing subculture in which avengers of the sensible deliberately keep their mini-vans as frumpy and suburban-vanilla as possible. But menacing horsepower lurks under the hoods, and sitting in the captain's chairs are steely-eyed veterans.
"I think deep down, we all want to see a victory go to the humble underdog," said Dave Tekampe of Lake Villa, who owns a racy 1990 Plymouth Voyager and is vice president of the Chicagoland Chapter of the Shelby Dodge Club.
"As far as mainstream society goes, this is one step away from full castration," added Tekampe, 31, who works in medical-device quality control. "But at the drag strip, the crowd loves watching a mini-van trounce a Mustang, Camaro or Corvette."
And that's routine.
On Tuesday, Smith made an appearance at "Test and Tune" night at Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, the equivalent of open mike night at a bar. A couple hundred drivers -- from pros who can reach over 200 m.p.h. to guys with restored Buick Electras -- show up to race.
"My wife looked at the van and said, 'What is that guy doing here?'" recalled Sean Kaveney, 30, of Plainfield. He was driving a restored, muscular 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger. "I said, 'He must not know what he's doing.' We were kind of laughing at him."
It took 13.4 seconds for Smith to convert ridicule to respect. His frost-blue van with cat hair on the driver's seat reached 102.1 m.p.h. in the quarter-mile run. Kaveney was in the next lane, watching from behind. He finished more than 10 m.p.h. slower. He declined to concede he was embarrassed.
"I've got a bad cylinder so it's not running as fast as it can," Kaveney said. Later that night, Smith hit 102 m.p.h. again, roasting a beefed-up, sleek black 1996 Chevy Impala driven by a 16-year-old.
Three young race fans approached.
"Dude, I saw this van on a Web site, like five years ago, when I was in high school," said Kyle Eunson of Newark, Ill. "I thought it was the coolest thing. I can't believe this. This thing is the coolest car here."
Would he trade his shadow-blue 1989 Mustang for one?
"Man," he said, sighing. "I'm 21 years old. Maybe when I'm older."
Mini-van racers relish their Clark Kent status and admit being an offbeat group. But it turns out the mechanical conversion is relatively simple. Chrysler Corp. did the hard work almost two decades ago in the middle of the mini-van boom.
Facing complaints that the vans lacked power, the automaker responded in 1989 by offering typically high-performance turbocharged, 4-cylinder engines in Caravans and Voyagers - for two years only, 1989 and '90.
The turbo, short for turbocharger, is a compressor that pushes more air into the combustion chamber, which prompts sensors to increase the amount of fuel entering the engine. When the sparks fly, the result is the release of a bigger bang, or significantly more power.
By adding a few affordable pieces, such as an improved exhaust system, intercooler and adjustable fuel pressure regulator, the reasonably competent shade tree mechanic could create a competitive street racer.
A wedding photographer and Mustang-driving street racer named Gus Mahon from Thompson, Conn., figured that out after his wife gave birth to a daughter in 1988. Mahon bought a new 1989 steel-blue Dodge Caravan and started tinkering.
A cult movement was born, one with a few dozen disciples across the U.S.
Terry Ryan, 46, of Cascade Locks, Ore., is perhaps the epitome of the movement. His white 1989 Dodge Caravan holds the street van dragster record, a spark over 111 m.p.h. in the quarter mile. That bested Smith's previous mark of 106.
"It's just a bunch of floor sweepings," said Ryan, a native of Belleville, Ill. "I'm leaning on it pretty hard, and I tune it pretty well. It's right in all the right places."
A father of three and husband who runs an adult foster home for the developmentally disabled, Ryan bought the van for $150 a few years ago. He said he has invested about $5,000 and hundreds of labor hours in the vehicle.
"People were coming up to the van all night long," Ryan recalled of the June night he set the record. "They had to see what's under the hood and they couldn't believe it."
Mahon died in a motorcycle crash in 2002, but his wife, Delores Vargas Mahon, said she keeps the van that started it all in a carport in her home. Van-racing aficionado Chuck Green of Ravenna, Ohio, has a standing offer to buy the van when she's ready to part with it.
``I've been drag racing for over 30 years," said Green, ``and I've never had anything that attracted so much attention. I don't want to lose that piece of history."
He has passed on that appreciation to his son, Bryan, 19, a college student from Kent, Ohio. Bryan's Dodge Spirit was destroyed in a fire and he decided to replace it with a 1990 Dodge Caravan in December that has been clocked at 102 m.p.h.
"I want people to think that it's a big crap box," Bryan Green said. "A lot of people look at me and say, 'Man, you're 19 and you're driving a mini-van around?'" I have to tell them, 'Hey, it's not for hauling the kids and groceries around.'"
Dempsey Bowling of Lehi, Utah, considered the ambassador of the movement, has written extensively about it on the Web and contends most of the mini-van drag racers have grown out of street racing.
"When you're young and stupid, you do that kind of stuff," Bowling said. "I've made sure not to do that for a while now." He does have words of caution for street racers.
"If you're next to a van and the guy next to you looks like he's taking you seriously, he might be," Bowling said. "Just never judge a book by its cover. Let's leave it at that."
----------
<!-- e --><a href="mailto:tgregory@tribune.com">tgregory@tribune.com</a><!-- e -->
Jeff Morrison - Used Car Manager
Woodstock Garage, Inc.
Chrysler - Dodge - Jeep - RAM
Current Stable of Mopar Junk
57 Chrysler Windsor 4drHT - 67 Dodge D100 Short Bed Step Side - 71 Dodge Challenger - 91 Chrysler Lebaron LX 33k mile Survivor - 91 Dodge Dakota V8 - 05 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster - 08 Ram 2500 Cummins
Woodstock Garage, Inc.
Chrysler - Dodge - Jeep - RAM
Current Stable of Mopar Junk
57 Chrysler Windsor 4drHT - 67 Dodge D100 Short Bed Step Side - 71 Dodge Challenger - 91 Chrysler Lebaron LX 33k mile Survivor - 91 Dodge Dakota V8 - 05 Chrysler Crossfire Roadster - 08 Ram 2500 Cummins
