The Schroeder Ens Team Scores Peak Street Car Shootout Victory at Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway
After four days of fun with drag-and-drive rides, including some road miles on Thursday, a pair of time runs Friday, and eliminations on Saturday and Sunday, a winner has been crowned in the second annual PEAK Street Car Shootout Presented by Sick the Magazine as part of Gerber Collision and Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals presented by PEAK Performance at Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway.
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Defending champion Bryant Goldstone would lead a solid list of eight contestants in Joliet, Illinois ready to compete for the title of Street Car Shootout champion.
At the top of that list are proven 6-second runners Tom Bailey and his ‘69 Chevrolet Camaro, Alex Taylor and the patina’d ‘55 Chevy, and David Schroeder and the Schroeder Ens team C7 Corvette.
But the field also included Craig ‘Grubby’ Groebner and ’71 Chevy Nova, Tom McGilton and the ‘WhyNot’ 2013 Camaro ZL-1, Nick Taylor’s third-generation Camaro, and finally Earl Schexnayder and his 2000 Ford Mustang, all ready to battle it out in Joliet.
The entire group got to prove the roadworthiness of their rides on Thursday with cruising Joliet streets, and made a total of three checkpoint stops along the way on the famous Route 66 road.
They even got the chance to visit the Joliet Correctional Center, featured in the popular movie The Blues Brothers. Then the group returned to the track, dealing with a little rain along the way, and getting ready for a couple test and tune runs on Friday
Bailey would post the best results from the pair of runs down Route 66 Raceway on Friday, as the ‘Sick Seconds 2.0’ Camaro clocked in at 6.45 at 205 mph on his second lap. Goldstone wasn’t too far behind, with the second quickest elapsed time and the best speed from time runs, thanks to a 6.65 at 221 mph blast.
Alex Taylor delivered a 6.76 at 216 mph from her ‘Shoebox Chevy’ to sit third, and although the team didn’t make a complete pass, the Schroeder Ens Corvette put up the best 60 foot times on both time shots, with a best of 1.02 on his second run, an early shut off 4.33 at 145 mph at the eighth-mile.
The first year of the PEAK Street Car Shootout Presented by Sick the Magazine, elimination rounds were done in a shootout-style format, with a total of three rounds available to every competitor over Friday and Saturday action based on a random chip draw to determine the pairings in every round. This time, the three rounds of competition would narrow the field by half each time.
Round one of eliminations took place on Saturday, and with McGilton and Groebner experiencing problems during time runs on Friday, six cars would take to the track. Alex Taylor got a single pass, and she clocked a 6.85 at 215 mph. Schroder also got a single run, and after a 1.05 60 foot time, he coasted to a 10.49 pass to earn a semifinal round berth.
The first of two pairs would be Nick Taylor opposite Schexnayder’s Ford, and Nick led wire-to-wire for an early shutoff 8.39 at 134 mph win. That left Bailey and Goldstone to determine the last ride to go the semifinal round, and at the drop of green on the Christmas Tree, Goldstone was out first. Bailey had problems that slowed him to a 9.77 pass, while Goldstone produced the best run of the round, a 6.58 at 221 mph, to close out Saturday action.
Sunday dawned with four competitors left to figure out who would hold the trophy, but first the group would be introduced to the crowd during the morning track walk with NHRA announcer Joe Castello. Castello also joined a few of the competitors in the pits to discuss the drag-and-drive concept and their vehicles here:
Round two of eliminations would pit the recently-engaged Nick Taylor versus Alex Taylor, and knowing that Alex had put down the better numbers during the event, Nick took a shot at the Christmas Tree for a holeshot advantage.
Instead, it came up with a red light on his side, giving Alex a free shot to the final round, and she posted a 6.87 at 216 mph. The other pair was Schroeder and Goldstone, and Schroeder would take the Corvette to the final with an early shutoff 7.72 at 137 mph pass when Goldstone had problems.
Before the final round, the NHRA hosted a Q & A session featuring Tom Bailey and Alex Taylor, and the two discussed some of the great moments they’ve experienced in drag-and-drive, as well as reflections on the weekend in Joliet.
The final round would be a turbocharger versus nitrous battle, and as the Christmas Tree flashed for the final time, Alex Taylor got off the mark first via a .015 to .053 reaction time advantage.
But Schroeder was already ahead by the 60 foot mark with a 1.02 to 1.20 difference. By the eighth-mile mark, Schroder had stretched the advantage to nearly a quarter of-a-second.
The second half of the track found the turbo ’55 Chevy starting to reel in the nitrous Corvette, but the 6.76 at 217 mph from Alex Taylor would come up a little over a car length short, as Schroeder’s 6.57 at 208 mph would stay in front and earn the final win light and the NHRA trophy in an all-Team Isky Cams final.
“After struggling with the new car for a few days, we got it to go A-B when it counted and while running our friends Alex and Dennis Taylor and family,” said Schroeder in reflecting on the win. “We could not street drive this soon to be beast of a car without the great products from Gear Vendors Overdrive, Delta PAG, Isky Cams, QA1 and Strange Engineering.
I have to thank Chris Bell from Kinetic Engineering for guidance and advice, Nolan Jamora for designing a cam and lifters that allowed us to turn 8500 (rpm) through the lights when we had to use our last not quarter-mile friendly gear set.
Rick Johnson at Gear Vendors Overdrive for designing and supporting one of the best additions to any hot rod a Gear Vendors Overdrive. Our QA1 carbon driveshaft put up with a disgusting amount of tire shake during testing while delivering sub 1 second 60 foots.
Last but definitely not least is John from Delta PAG who designed and manufactured the rad and fan setup that allows our 872 to drive through low-speed traffic making multiple short stops while touring Joliet and run at a paltry 150-ish degrees.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine, Megan Taylor and Dennis Taylor.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com