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Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semitrucks — email fjolley@ksl.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.WEST POINT — Scott Stanger, aside from being the only owner of a Nostalgia Funny Car in the state of Utah, has raced cars as a hobby since he was a young man.
It started with his father, Lawrence Stanger, racing his 1956 Chevy on an airstrip in Arizona. Scott Stanger was 14 years old at the time, and now his drag-racing hobby has progressed into six-second quarter miles, nitro-methane fuel and the smell of burnt rubber on every pass.
The body of his racecar is a fiberglass 1973 Plymouth Barracuda. The chassis is a custom-made tubular chromoly design for strength and weight savings. The power plant consists of a hemispherical 413 cubic inch V8 engine that is connected to a planetary two-speed Lenco transmission and triple disc clutch system. The class rules put a cap on the supercharger size to a 6-71, as well as limits to other parts of the car including the weight of the car, tire size, displacement of the engine and even the size of the fuel pump.
With everything being limited, this car manages to produce a staggering 3000 horsepower, and the fastest pass in the quarter-mile the car has made to date is 6.09 seconds at 229 miles per hour.
Even with all of the excitement that comes with driving a car over 200 miles per hour, there is another motivator that keeps Stanger so involved in the sport.
“We always go out of our way to make sure the fans have a great experience at the track,” Scott Stanger said. “It’s really fun for the kids and that makes it really fun for us.”
Scott Stanger also said the crew that helps him with the car is all volunteer and most of them even pay their own way. Their entire operation is predicated upon a certain budget, and any new sponsors they can attract and any money they can save means more racing.
“People don’t realize how much it costs to run this car,” Lawrence Stanger said. “We have to cut corners wherever we can to make it work.”
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Ken Fredrickson’s 1947 Chevrolet pickup has been in his family since 1949. His father’s brothers bought it used in 1949. Fredrickson’s dad ended up with it, and Ken started driving it on the family farm when he was 12 years old.The car costs about $300 to start up and roughly $800 for every run down the track, Scott Stanger said.
The car can be seen at its next racing event at Firebird Raceway in Boise, Idaho, on August 11 for the annual Nightfire Nationals. Scott Stanger said they plan to make a sub-six second quarter-mile pass before this season is over.
The car is sponsored by CB Rods, Powder Works, Extreme Engines, Clean Boost, and HD Machine.
