Living the Dream in a 1972 Mercury Wagon
Some believe that mom knows best when it comes to decisions and advice. In the case of the 1972 Mercury Marquis station wagon owned by Robbie Price, mom was not a fan. “My mom absolutely hated the car when my dad and I first brought it home,” said Robbie. “So of course, we had to name it ‘Sheila's Dream.’” Over time as the wagon build commenced, Sheila grew to like the car. “She now loves it, and none of us can imagine life without the car,” said Robbie.
To get the wagon from track to track a little quicker, as well as down each track a little quicker, the original driveline was removed in favor of a 6-liter LS engine. It packs two stages of nitrous, and although Robbie has only used 100 horsepower shot so far, he has another 100 in reserve. A Performabuilt 4L60E overdrive transmission backs it up, and a Haltech Nexus R5 controls all the functions. To make more room and make the suspension a little better, “we cut the front end off from the firewall forward, and made our own frame rails to use 2003 Crown Victoria front suspension with dual adjustable Afco coil overs,” said Robbie.
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For Robbie, Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes will be his second drag-and-drive event he’s participated in. “The only drag-and-drive event we have done thus far, is One Guy's Garage drag weekend in 2022,” said Robbie. “It was actually the first time my car had ever been down the track. It was an incredible experience; we met a lot of new people and we were able to improve the car all 3 days of the event. Being my first drag-and-drive event, it got me hooked to say the least.”
Being that Robbie grew up around racing with his father and brother, plus the room of a wagon, he will have a decent-sized crew rolling with him on Sick Summer. “My co-pilot is Jeremy Well; Jeremy has helped us out huge throughout this entire build, he has wired my car from scratch,” said Robbie. “We will also have great friend Richard Nelson from Haltech. Ricky has tuned the car from the beginning and he is a wizard. Last but absolutely not least in the car with be my dad, Howy Price. I can’t say enough about my dad; He is why we are where we are today with the car.”
Robbie is eagerly counting the days until Sick Summer. “I love the idea of drag-and-drive events because its different from your traditional drag racing,” said Robbie. “I love how strategic you have to be about everything; packing your car and trailer, where and when to get your type of fuel, building your car to make it easier to work on, and just planning your trip. It’s not just pull your car to the track, race, and go home.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Robbie Price.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com