Rick Mariano’s F-Body Race Cars
Well, I got into F-bodys because I really didn’t know any better. What started
out as a search for a clean restorable A-body to make into a bracket racer,
became a education on some popular automotive terms like” good restoration
project”, “complete, but disassembled"," just needs finishing”, and “great potential”.
Most of them looked like the aftermath of an A-10 attack. The last straw was a
Demon “complete roller” that was sitting on its frame rails in some clowns back
yard with the rest of its supposed parts scattered at three other buddies
abodes. On the way home I grabbed a Greensheet at a local burger joint and there in
bold print “ ’79 Dodge 2-dr V-8, auto, runs and drives, needs tune-up $250”
The next day with the help of my son we nursed a chugging silver Dodge Aspen
from Arlington to North Richland Hills for $150 and a clear title. It dieseled
when I shut it off and pitched the timing chain right there. The next day we
started do strip the car at 8 am and by 8 pm you could look through the radiator
support right out through the back of the trunk. Well I knew a B-body 8 ¾ would
fit in what I now had learned was Mopar’s much maligned F-body series “ not an
A-body, huh? “. But with careful reading and research I found that the rear
suspension could be swapped with tougher B-body components, the cage kits for
A-bodys fit like a glove, and the front ends, well…………if it was easy everybody
would’ve had one.
I stripped out every bit of weight I could, had an 8-point Comp Engineering
cage installed ( Bill Moody ), had the body fixed, repaired, smoothed and painted
Viper red ( Eddie Stephens ) and learned how to rebuild a small block Mopar (
Thanks Kim ! ) It had 9:1 flat tops, stock 360 heads, a Comp Cam .501, a Holley
Strip Dominator, and a 750 Holley on pump gas. It went through a low gear 904
T-flite with a 3500 GER ( never again ) into a 742 case with a Strange spool
with Richmond 4.57’s and stock axles out to 28 X 10 X15 Goodyears. It’s best was a
12.02 at 112. In its first race at one of the muscle car challenges I got down
to three cars only to lose to a dead battery in the staging lanes. But I did
runner-up at the NSCA muscle car race in Baton Rouge, my day ending with a
self-inflicted wound at the starting line ( I fouled! ). I nailed the motor at the
Houston Mopar Show and I am now in the process of putting together a slightly
fancier bullet that I hope will put the car into the low 11’s.
The wagon was purchased as a drivers training vehicle when I had a trio of
teenagers all come up on driving age one right after the other. I saw the car
parked out in front of the old Western Auto store on Rufe Snow with a for sale sign
in it. It was a V-8 auto car with a straight body. It had current tags and
inspection, and leaked from anything that held liquid. The owner was asking $2200.
I told him I’d give him 500 bucks and went home. Three weeks later there was a
message on my machine that said “well, you were the only one to even make an
offer so I’ll take $500”. We ( mostly me ) drove it for two years while I endured
constant insults from my teenagers about owning the most butt ugly, smelly,
ghetto rig in all of north Texas. I thought it was beautiful. One day one son
asked me if we were ever gonna get rid of that eyesore. I told him I liked that old
granny car. “whatcha gonna do dad, make a race car out of it.” After staring at
it for an hour it suddenly seemed like a heckuva idea. The idea was to build it
on a strict budget after watching car magazines spend a fortune on cars that
were real sleds. I wanted a somewhat faster sled.
I spent that summer buying swap meet parts and wheeling and dealing for
unloved Mopar parts. I found a complete 360 shortblock when I purchased another car
and it had a receipt for a complete shortblock, balanced and assembled with
“paid” stamped on it. I called the place and was berated with “ are you EVER gonna
pick that thing up!!!” I was there in twenty minutes. I installed a set of
J-heads a .484 Purpleshaft, an Offy dual plane 360 intake and a Holley 4 barrel. It
was a dish piston motor with low compression so it runs on just about anything.
Bill Moody did the 8-point cage again, Eddie Stephens and his shop handled the
paint and body work again too. The motor runs thru a low gear 999 T-flite out
to another 742 case 8 ¾ with an Auburn mini spool Richmond 4.57’s stock axles to
9 inch Hoosiers with classic Cragar Super Tricks all around. While it will
never be the fastest car at the track, it’s deadly consistent and will hook on
marginal tracks. The favorite thing I’ll say about my wagon is that it proves two
important things: It does not take a lot of money to go drag racing and you can
build a competitive Mopar for the same price or even cheaper than a Chevy. Its
best pass has been a 13.75 at 102.
In addition to the above mention craftsmen, I want to thank Kim Humphrey, Big
Brian Carpenter, “Doctor” Jimmy Carney, the “Ragin’ Cajin” Butch Burbank, the
late, great Tommy Craig, the Hentz’s, the Casteel racing tribe, Marc Foster at
Mike Smith Machine, Larry Mac, Big Rich Smith, the Brothers Bradshaw, and the
host of great friends in the club who always seem to be close when help or advice
is needed.
RICK