Bryant Goldstone’s AMC Javelin Coming to Sick Week to Blast 6-Second Runs and Claim Sixth Drag-and-Drive Title
Bryant Goldstone, a consistent name for over a decade at drag-and-drive events, will start his 2023 season by participating at Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive with the only Ultimate Iron / Unlimited Iron class car to average in the 6-second zone, a 1973 American Motors Corporation (AMC) Javelin.
Goldstone got his start at the 2010 edition of the Hot Rod Drag Week, participating in a small-tire 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle with a ProCharger-fed big block. He returned to Hot Rod Drag Week three more times in that Chevelle, collecting a Modified Power Adder class win in 2012 and a runner-up in the same class in 2013.
In 2014, Goldstone switched to the unique AMC Javelin, a much different ride with big tires out back, and twin-turbochargers provided the boost to the big block Chevrolet engine between the frame rails up front.
Unfortunately, the debut of the AMC at Hot Rod Drag Week was cut short, as Goldstone didn’t survive the first day.
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One year later, the new Ultimate Iron class debuted, and Goldstone produced the first 6-second class average with a 6.95 and denied the potent ’56 Chevrolet of Joe Barry for the first class title.
In 2016, Goldstone lowered the Ultimate Iron class record to a 6.85 average, based on a 6.74 at 213 mph best pass, to earn his second-straight class win.
Goldstone skipped the 2017 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week, but returned in 2018 to once again top the Ultimate Iron class over Joe Barry. In 2019, Goldstone moved up to the Unlimited class, finishing second to Tom Bailey’s 6.29 average.
When the Hot Rod Drag Week returned after a one-year absence in 2020, Goldstone once again ran the top-tier Unlimited class at Hot Rod Drag Week, producing a pair of 6-second runs to sit second to David Schroeder’s nitrous’d Corvette entering the final day. That final day at US 131 Motorsports Park had Goldstone lined up on a single pass, when tragedy struck the Javelin.
The car started to get loose just before the eighth-mile mark, and while Goldstone put forth a valiant effort to save the swerving car, the fight was lost when the Javelin hit the wall just past the finish line, and the car would end up on its roof.
Goldstone came out of the wreck okay, but the AMC’s future was in serious doubt with the extent of the damage.
Although some would think the Javelin had written its final chapter, Goldstone went through an extensive rebuild, and was able to get the storied car done in time for the 2022 edition of Hot Rod Drag Week.
With the AMC now featuring a black exterior with red graphics, flipped from the paint job the car debuted with in 2014, Goldstone was looking to claim his fourth Ultimate Iron class title. But a personal-best 6.63 at 217 mph on day two also included ripping the driver’s side door skin off during the pass. Goldstone and Adam Podell got everything fixed up, and Goldstone would once again stay at the top of the Ultimate Iron class, claiming his fifth overall Hot Rod Drag Week win with a 6.94 average.
As the 2023 season gets underway, Goldstone is preparing for his thirteenth year in drag-and-drive competition, and his first appearance on Sick Week.
Looking to remain the top choice to win the Unlimited Iron class at Sick Week, the Javelin now packs a 565 cubic inch big block Chevrolet with twin 94-millimeter turbos. A Rossler Turbo 400 transmission and a Gear Vendors Overdrive back it up, and Goldstone will look for his fifth class win in 2023, sixth win overall, as well as remaining the only Ultimate Iron / Unlimited Iron class car to average in the sixes.
- Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Bryant Goldstone, Motion Raceworks and 1320 Video.