Drag-and-Drive Competitors Richard Flint and Robbie Dowdy Score Victories at Street Car Takeover zMax in North Carolina
The eighth stop on the Street Car Takeover event tour of 2024 took place at one of the two 4-lane drag strips in the United States, zMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Always a well-attended event in multiple classes, a couple of Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive competitors found themselves as the top ride in the popular Street Racer class.
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Depending on turnout, the Street Car Takeover team will split the class into two to three sections to keep competition close between qualified rides.
Over 40 participants showed up to Charlotte, so three separate fields were constructed based on qualifying. 7-second rides would rule the day in the Street Racer Wild class, including the LS-swapped Honda of Richard Flint.
His weekend started with an eye-opening discovery when he gave the car a once-over before his first run. “I found a handful of needle bearings in the bottom of the pan,” said Richard. “Knowing there was only one place in the motor where needle bearings would be, I pulled the valve covers to check the rocker arms. I found 2 rocker arm trunnions had exploded. Unfortunately, they also took out the two rocker arm shafts.”
Thankfully for Richard, the team from BTR was on site, getting him the parts he needed to be in the lanes for the first qualifying session. “BTR and the absolute badass Paul Thornton came in clutch getting me an entire shaft rocker kit, allowing me to get the car ready for round 1 qualifier,” said Richard.
The LS-swapped Honda S2000 made it way in the 7-second range to qualify second in the Street Racer class with typical 7-second performance, and Richard would work his way through near 150-degree track temperatures to the final round to face the top qualifier, Ted Timmerman and his 2011 Corvette.
“Saturday eliminations were tough again with the track prep,” said Richard. “I put the best A-B tune up in her to make sure we got down. Playing it safe definitely worked in our favor, and with the help of a scramble button, allowed us to bring home the win.”
In the 9-second and 10-second dominated Street Racer Daily section of the Street Racer class, a wide variety of rides took their shot in hopes to secure the trophy. But at the end of the night, the coveted hardware and cash would go home with Robbie Dowdy, in his debut for the 2002 Pontiac Trans Am Firehawk known as ‘Plan B.’
Originally slated to debut at this year’s Sick Week as a replacement for his 9-second Trailblazer, we covered the build-up of the car here in Sick the Magazine late last year. Built to run in the 8.50-capped Sick Street Race class as he constructs a more serious Corvette build, Robbie once again employed a nitrous-based combo to get the car into the low 9-second range during qualifying.
“If the weather was in my favor, the car will run 8.70s,” said Robbie. “I had the first 2 seconds of the run progressed down some, and it was printing 1.33 60 foots all through eliminations.” Currently the 370 cubic inch mill from Race Flow Development wears a pair of stock LS3 cylinder heads and a plate-style nitrous system, but changes are in the works for later this year.
“RFD has their own LS3 head we’re switching to and I’m taking off the plate and putting a fogger on it to up the spray,” said Robbie. “I’m hoping to have all that done by FL2K so we can get it all sorted out for Sick Week 2025.”
“Winning in the very first race with this car; The biggest street racer field in SCT history, and we came home with the win in our class,” Robbie exclaimed. “And best of all, we got the win with my family, wife, and kids there. Couldn’t have been a better weekend.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of 1320 Video, Wes Taylor / Lock It In Productions, Richard Flint, Robbie Dowdy and Ted Timmerman.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com