Derek Beiri and Vice Grip Garage Will Return to Sick Week with Last Year’s Monte Carlo and a New Chevelle
2022 marked Derek Bieri’s first ever visit to a drag-and-drive event in one of his own cars when he and his crew participated on Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.
One year later, Derek has a new show on the MotorTrend channel called Roadworthy Rescues, and he continues to post new videos on his Vice Grip Garage page.
Derek brought a pair of classic Chevrolets to the 2022 Sick Week event, including the ‘Independence’ 1971 Chevelle with a ProCharger-fed big block that clocked low 10-second times.
His second ride was a 1974 Monte Carlo, themed to replicate what a NASCAR stock car would look like from that time.
Derek plans to return a Chevelle and Monte Carlo to Sick Week once again, but with some changes for 2023.
The Monte Carlo has received a change in the drivetrain, as the 400 cubic inch small block Chevrolet and Turbo 350 3-speed transmission has been replaced with a LS1 from a C5 Corvette and a Hughes Turbo 400 transmission.
But the 1971 Chevelle will get an even bigger change, as Derek located a different 1971 Chevelle in Ohio. “It’s a 10-second car that was built in the 1980s,” said Derek. “It sat abandoned for at least 32 years. I got it running and drove it home, and we’re going to run it as it was last campaigned.”
The 1971 Chevelle sports a 406 cubic inch small block with factory Chevrolet ‘double-hump’ cylinder heads, an Edelbrock single plane intake, and Holley carburetor. A Turbo 350 transmission and 4.88 gears in the factory 12-bolt rear end transfer the power.
The Chevelle wears Cragar Super Trick wheels on all four corners, and the suspension is mostly stock with the addition of ladder bars on the back.
The interior is mostly stock with a 6-point roll bar, a wiring job Derek describes as “old school breakers, like what might have been used on the Apollo mission,” and a 5-point set of racing belts dated August 1988.
Derek will upgrade safety and maintenance items, but wants to campaign the Chevelle as closely to as it was last raced.
“We’re on Sick Week as rednecks having fun,” said Derek. “We can show people you can have fun without a lot of money, or a laptop for tuning. It’s a throwback to how things used to be, and the comradery with fellow competitors.”
See Derek’s rescue of the new 1971 Chevelle he calls ‘Liberty':
- Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Motion Raceworks and Vice Grip Garage.