Dirt
“Nothing’s more expensive than all the little things
required to put it all together, though, and the
time. I have to walk away from my machines
that I make money on long enough to put my
car together, and that’s tough.”
With the new 3,000-plus horsepower Cavalier
ready to roll, Wolfe intended to come out strong
for Donald “Duck” Long’s “Lights Out 7” race in
February at South Georgia Motorsports Park.
Unfortunately, those plans were derailed.
“The car itself is flawless,” asserted Wolfe, who
struggled throughout the weekend to make a
solid run. “It has some electrical issues that we’re
working through. It keeps going out there and
hurting itself for no friggin’ reason. The car is
straight and fast, and the suspension is perfect –
you could put a ten year old in it, it drives so nice.
We just need to keep it running.”
Thanks to help from his crew guys Philip, John,
and Alex, as well as racer Joe DeSilva, Wolfe qualified thirty-third in the huge Radial vs the World
field with a best pass of 4.144 at 190.32 mph in
the eighth-mile, although he had run a top speed
of 191.81 mph and was not able to make any test
passes prior to the start of the race. Given how
turbo cars tend to run out the back door, Wolfe’s
numbers hint that there is definitely a lot left in
the little Cavalier’s repertoire.
“That race was insane. You couldn’t even take a
golf cart and drive around the pits because there
were so many people. I haven’t ever seen a race
like that,” Wolfe shared. Despite going out in the
first round of eliminations with a 4.186 at 159.85
mph run to Jason Michalak’s 3.943 at 193.65
mph trip, Wolfe still had a great time and feels
confident in his Cavalier’s potential.
The following month, Wolfe tried his luck in
the Pro Drag Radial class at the RTRA “Texas
Radial Round Up” event at North Star Dragway
in Denton, Texas. There, despite running a new
best elapsed time with the car of 4.001 at 194.38
mph, he still had problems and was out before
the end of qualifying.
“We’re going to go back through the car and
redo everything electrically,” Wolfe said, expertly
masking the frustration he undoubtedly feels.
“Even being down on speed, it still ran the number. I just need to get the same car twice. I can’t
keep working at it if it’s a moving target and does
something different each time out. It makes it
that much harder.”
Admittedly, Wolfe’s plans for his epic comeback
didn’t include so much breakage.
“With these motors, and the power they make,
if you do anything wrong at all, you break ‘em.
We’ll get it back together and do some private
testing to make sure we’ve got everything ironed
out,” he detailed of his plans to get his season
back on track.
With no specific series or race as his target goal,
Wolfe simply wants to be able to get his Cavalier
running like he knows it can – and should. “Instead of having fun with the car, we’re patching
it back together. I think everyone’s had these
kinds of problems at one time or another. We’re
not above it, either.”
It’s that quiet confidence that Wolfe has honed
to perfection over the years and helps him from
being deterred. He’s been around the radial tire
game for years, and knows that there’s (usually)
an end to the struggles.
Times have changed a lot since his former outlaw drag radial days, and Wolfe feels that the most
significant advancement during his time off has
been in track prep technology.
“We’ve had the ability to make this power for
a long time, but we couldn’t apply it like we can
now. Track prep has come so far. Cars are still
relatively the same, the same guys are on ‘em, but
everyone’s hooking now because the tracks will
hold it,” he stated. Mickey Thompson’s advancements in tire compounds have played a big role
in seeing such huge increases in elapsed times
and trap speeds, Wolfe believes. “The tires are
simply incredible,” Wolfe added.
With plenty of troubleshooting slated for the
Cavalier in his immediate future, Wolfe’s focus
has pivoted from racing to simply running.
“We’re making changes to the car now that we
should have made earlier, but I can’t talk about
what will fix it, because that’s ultimately going
to hurt someone and I don’t want to effect their
ability to make a living,” he stated, showcasing
the attitude and integrity that has made him such
a well-respected figurehead in the drag racing
community.
“We have a really fast car, but no one knows it
yet,” Wolfe revealed, and that’s a very good secret
DI DI DI
to have.
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
40 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 109
PHOTO: ANDREW WOLF
DAVID WOLFE