PHOTOS: DRAG ILLUSTRATED ARCHIVES

Inspired by his father, Mike, Medeisis wanted to follow in his role model’ s footsteps. He raced Junior Dragsters from ages eight to eighteen, and, in his late teens, he moved into his grandfather’ s’ 68 Camaro and started bracket racing.“ I bought my’ 94 Chevy S-10 in January of 2014, and it was just some junk that I wanted to turn into something,” he recounted of the early day that lead to his current success. Having been a longtime follower of HOT ROD Drag Week, Medeisis thought“ it’ d be cool to do” and set out on a mission.

Working at Modern Carriage Werks, a body shop in Illinois, Medeisis was able to do all of his own paint and body work. Working under the guidance of NHRA Pro Stock driver Kevin Lawrence, Medeisis moved forward with the rest of the build himself. A 387 ci LS Next-based engine was built, Greg Risk Racecraft fabricated the roll cage and turbo plumbing for the 76mm Precision turbocharger, Dave Vahanic supplied a bulletproof Turbo 400 transmission, and Gee at Race Trans set up the bolt-together Neal Chance torque converter. Next up, Eric Miller of Next Generation Race Cars helped Medeisis get the Penske shocks from Drzayich Motorsports and other suspension components dialed in. Further assistance in getting the project buttoned up was received from Aaron Brooks from Proflow Australia, Jeff Paradise at Dice Converters, Drag Race Performance Parts, and RacePak.

With a Haltech engine management system and Hyperaktive boost controller on board, Medeisis had come a long way since he first purchased the truck, but still had quite a long list left to do in March of 2016. As he was planning to run in HOT ROD Drag Week, he kicked the build into high gear and got the S-10 running just one month before the event began.“ I was thrashing pretty good, but we pulled together and got it done,” he noted.

His efforts were not for naught, and Medeisis was able to make it to Drag Week to race in the“ SS Small Block – Power Adder” class as planned but the journey was not without last-minute hiccups.“ The night before I had to leave, I found I had some broken parts in the motor,” he said of the unwelcomed discovery.“ That was around

2:00pm on Saturday, and we needed to be at the track Sunday morning or be disqualified.” Refusing to throw in the towel, Medeisis loaded up with the truck more or less in pieces. A few hours at the track got it running, he passed tech, caught a few hours of much-needed sleep at the hotel, and was ready for Monday morning.

On its first pass, the S-10 surprised Medeisis with a massive wheelie.“ It never did that in testing, and when it came down, it broke some stuff,” he stated. Once it was fixed up, Medeisis’ s first full pass yielded a 8.696 at 153.21 mph number. Trouble didn’ t end there, though, as his E85 fuel system was running dry as the predetermined race route between tracks didn’ t include any E85 stations. After some quick searching on his phone, Medeisis was up and running again, but hurt valve springs and other internals kept him working long into the night at the next race location.“ Just about every day I thought I was done and wouldn’ t be able to make it.”

On Wednesday, while racing at US 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, another crash-landing after a wheelie resulted in loosened DZUS fasteners and Medeisis’ s hood flying off at speed. Finally, the bad luck wore off, and Medeisis finished out the week without further issues.

For his perseverance, he was rewarded with a truly impressive fourth place finish at his very first HOT ROD Drag Week thanks to an 8.8518-second average, and that achievement was done behind the wheel of a car he built on his own from fab to paint. And yes, he will be back again next year. – AINSLEY JACOBS DI

November 2016 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 97