From An $800 Project, This Mitsubishi Overcame a List of Problems to Complete Its First Drag-and-Drive at Sick Summer
Some people might see a potential project in a field surrounded by weeds and high grass, or covered in dust and boxes in a garage and not give it a second thought to giving it another chance.
But some see the potential, the glass half full, or a ride begging to roam the street and battle on the tracks once again.
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This 1997 Mitsubishi caught our eye at this year’s Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, but it wasn’t until owner Ryan Spurlin visited me in the tower on day four at Great Lakes Dragaway asking for a cylinder head in a parts call.
I thought about the dedication and no quit attitude, but also realized the odds were long about finding something to fix a car that unique. Turns out Ryan is used to facing the odds and pushing onwards.
“I saved the car eight years ago from a friend of a friend,” said Ryan. “It was sitting for twelve years not running. Bought it for $800, and started to build the car from there.” Little did Ryan know he would encounter a big project with more problems than first expected.
“I've owned it for eight years, and it's been running for maybe a year total,” Ryan said. “The rest of the years it has been broken. I started building it, and had problem after problem. Then started from scratch and built an engine for it and got all the good parts.”
After spending four years to get the build done with quality parts, Ryan wanted to run an event with it, and followed a friend’s advice to attend Sick Summer. “I've wanted to enter other events, but car was never ready,” said Ryan. “My friend was in Sick Summer 2023 and loved it, so he told me to get in this year.
Racing the Mitsubishi brings a unique set of challenges. “The car is front-wheel-drive and a manual transmission, so it's hard to get a good launch, let alone get it to hook,” Ryan said. “That was the first thing that I started to learn.” He started with a 13.99 pass at Byron Dragway, and followed it with a 13.74 at Cordova Dragway.
But the day two drive would be an eye opener for Ryan. “Driving to Tri State Raceway on day two checkpoints, we had some issues,” he said. After doing a burnout at a non-official checkpoint, Ryan rolled on to the second checkpoint at Motion Raceworks.
“I tried to do another burnout for the people, and the clutch pedal locked at half engaged,” Ryan said. “I thought it was doing a burnout, until I didn't notice any smoke (the car was roasting the clutch). When I realized it, I tried to pull it out of gear, and I had to use 2 hands to pull it out. After it was out, I had no clutch pedal.”
After a little cool down time, Ryan managed to limp the car to the final checkpoint, Hot Rods by Havliks. “It was okay driving there, and a friend of mine lives 10 mins from Tri State Raceway, and said I could use his shop and lift. He also had parts for my car I could use.”
Starting the clutch swap at 7 pm that evening, Ryan discovered a melted clutch and warped flywheel, but go the new parts installed. Somewhere along the way, he fell asleep under the car around 4 am!
Ryan woke back up at 8 am, finished the repairs, and got to the track at 12:30 pm, just as his group was getting called to the lanes. “First pass was good with a 13.48 at 109 mph,” said Ryan. “Fastest one we have made yet. Had to let the new clutch cool down, and waited for all class call. Made another pass, and got a 13.00 at 111 mph. We turned that one in, and loaded everything up to head to Great Lakes Dragaway.”
After making the drive without issue, Ryan was starting to gain some confidence in the Mitsubishi on day four. “That morning, the D group was first up, and I was very confident we were going to make a 12 second pass,” Ryan said. “Got to the burnout box, got the tires warm and sticky. Got to the beams, launched great, went to grab 2nd gear and boom; car broke and shut off.”
After a fellow competitor towed him back to the pit area, Ryan was able to discover the problem. “The engine mount broke, and slammed into the exhaust cam gear,” he said. “With my cam gears being adjustable, it actually advanced the exhaust timing 3 degrees and bent all the exhaust valves in the cylinder head. The car had no compression.”
At this point, Ryan made a Facebook post and went to the tower to put out a parts call, and the car community answered! “I had a few come over to help, and even call people they knew,” Ryan said. “One of them offered to drive to get me parts to fix my car. I called Boostin Performance in Chicago, and they had everything I needed to get the car fixed. One guy drove all the way to Boostin Performance, picked up all the parts and headed back to me. Meanwhile I was tearing the car down to be ready for them when they got back to install the new valves.”
Starting the tear down at 11 am, Ryan managed to pull off the fix and get the car back together. “Kyle and Doug Gordon even pulled their grill out, and made us all burgers while we worked,” said Ryan. “I got the car back together at 11 pm.”
“Once I started the car, it had a misfire at idle and didn't like to stay running. But I revved it up and it didn't misfire, so I turned the idle up and said let's go we need to get to the checkpoints. Kyle and Doug followed me the whole time to make sure I made it to Byron Dragway okay.”
The final day was up, and Ryan made the call to just finish the week. “Friday morning I was so tired,” he said. “I just wanted to break the beams and finish the week. Car was hurt, and I didn't want to make it any worse, so I skipped the burnout and went to the beams. Drove it to the finish line and turned in my slip. I made it and finished the week.”
“I just want to thank the spectators and a lot of the racers who offered to help and called people who might be able to help. I couldn't have finished the week without Kyle and Doug Gordon. They were definitely my savior.”
“Just because you aren't the fastest or known by a lot of people, others are still willing to help you. The racers and community at Sick Summer were amazing, and that alone was an amazing experience to be a part of.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, BME Photography and Ryan Spurlin.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com