One Day After Initial Shakedown Runs, the First Factory X Challenger Completed Crashes in Testing
The first completed car in the new National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Factory X class, Geoff Turk’s Blackbird X Challenger, has crashed in testing at Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky. In Turk’s own words, “I’m a bit beat up and slightly limping, but mostly okay.”
The new Factory X class, designed to bridge the gap between the NHRA’s current Factory Stock Showdown class and the Pro Stock class, has generated a lot of interest.
That interest included Geoff Turk, who contracted B & B Race Cars to put the bigger, better and faster version of the original Blackbird Challenger together, the first Factory Stock Showdown car to clock a 7-second pass in competition.
Although not 100% ready for competition, the Blackbird X Dodge Challenger would be the first car in the class shown to the public, debuting at the PRI show last December in the NHRA booth.
After the initial work at B & B Race Cars, Turk turned the reins over to Dave Zientara and crew at ET Tuning to get everything buttoned up, which included a Whipple-supercharger modern HEMI from BES Racing Engines, and a Liberty manual transmission behind the powerplant.
Sick The Mag keeps its web articles ad-free thanks to merch sales and magazine subscriptions. Thank you to all of you who wear our stuff and read our books!
Fast forward about four months from PRI, Blackbird X is ready, and Turk had begun to make test laps, including a pair of them on Thursday, April 13th, the best being a 7.66 at 176 mph (slightly quicker and faster than his original Blackbird Factory Stock Showdown ride has run).
Turk returned for more testing on Friday at Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky, and although an improved 7.24 at 195 mph pass was made, the shutdown area would be a wild ride for Turk.
“When I first touched the carbon brakes, which I had been warned about, not much response so I pressed harder,” said Turk. “They locked up in the front, then frantically I searched for the chute button (something I had no problem finding the first full pass, but this time under duress and sliding) and didn’t hit it. Should of, would of, could of, hit the handle or perhaps mounted the button in an easier place as most do, now sliding and trying to correct, I hit one wall hard, flipped over, slid on my roof to the end of the track, where I was unceremoniously, and deservedly so for my driver errors, flipped back over onto the tires.”
As we previously noted, Turk came out of the car okay with minimal injuries, and although Turk believes the car can be repaired, he stated he likely will miss the rest of the Factory X events this year.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Geoff Turk.