Sean Smyth Sells 9-Second Lexus for A Sinister 7-Second Capable Trans Am, Plans to Debut at Sick Summer 2024
Drag-and-drive events can bring out a variety of cool cars and trucks, but there was only one Lexus at the inaugural Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes.
Sean Smyth had three goals for his second drag-and-drive event, and Sick Summer resulted in two of the three accomplished: Finish the week, and average 9.99 or better (his average was 9.97).
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“Ultimately I got the car down to a 9.6-second pass at 141 miles per hour,” said Sean. “The car got a ton of passes and street miles. Couldn’t have been any happier with how it all went.”
Sean has a new game plan for the 2024 edition of Sick Summer Presented by Motion Raceworks, and it’s a Trans Am that he has a good bit of history with.
“The new car is a 1998 Pontiac Trans Am,” said Sean. “I have a very long history with the car. My friend bought it stock in 2007, and him and I built it through many iterations into close to what it is now.”
The car was then sold, and the next owner painted it, and installed the engine and transmission. “I have been after him to sell it to me for eight years, and we were finally able to make it work,” said Sean. “This all came up right around Sick Summer this year actually.”
The Trans Am is a 25.5-spec chassis, sporting a full Midwest Chassis suspension with a fabricated 9-inch rear end at the back. The four corners are supported by Menscer shocks and struts, Strange brakes and Weld wheels.
To make the Pontiac move with a purpose, a 427 cubic inch LS-based engine sits up front. ET Performance LS7 cylinder heads with Jesel shaft mount rockers, and a Beck sheet metal intake complement the LSX block, fed by a Garret GT5533R 94-millimeter single turbo. A Holley Dominator controls all the important functions and collects the valuable data.
The transmission is a FTI Performance Level 5 Powerglide with a ProTorque converter, and the connection between the tail shaft and the 9-inch rear end is made with a PST carbon driveshaft.
“I hope to have everything ready to go by Sick Summer 2024,” said Sean, who is registered for a return to the site where he clocked his first single-digit pass.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Sean Smyth.
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