On the second day, they pair comparable assembly line faithful vehicles in a best of three muscle car shootout. On the first day of the event, PSMCDR holds qualifying runs on 100 plus muscle cars. In order to qualify, each muscle car that’s racing needs to be verifiably stock with only a minimum of modifications being allowed. The Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race is a two day event held every September at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, MI. Haven’t heard of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race? While I usually cover the fastest muscle cars using data recorded by magazines back in the day, it’s refreshing to cover quarter-mile times using modern gas, tires, and oil. Well, thanks to Cars and Zebras and the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race, we get to find out who’s fastest between a 1969 GTO 400 RAIII and a 1968 Plymouth GTX 440. Melnick has been working with Barnhill to make sure the GTO is perfect for Hartman and he appreciates the opportunity to work on such an incredible machine.If there is one thing muscle car lovers want to know is what muscle cars would win in a side by side drag race. The team took the car to the 2021 Gatornationals where it won the Best Appearing Car award, thanks to his fabrication skills and the stunning paint job from The Art Of Design. ![]() Melnick’s hard work on the GTO has paid off. We brought on Patrick Barnhill from PTP Racing to help with the Haltech and make sure the car would spool quickly,” Melnick states. Your turbo system has to be well thought out when it comes to the size of the turbos, the design of the turbo system, the ECU you use, and the converter. You have to stage the car at idle and build boost right away. “NHRA doesn’t allow Top Sportsman cars to bump in when they’re spooling up turbos like they do in other organizations. The final step for Melnick was to fabricate a custom turbo system for the GTO that would help the twin Precision 76mm turbos spool up quickly. Melnick got to work updating the chassis, made room for the 400 cubic-inch LS engine from John Lahone, bolted the M&M Transmissions torque converter to the Rossler TH400 transmission, and wired up the Haltech Nexus R5 ECU. Top Sportsman cars are no joke and I wanted to be sure this car was going to be safe before we returned it to Lee,” Melnick explains. We stripped the car totally down and rebuilt it from a bare chassis. “Lee reached out to me in 2019 about the project since he knew I raced Top Sportsman. Hartman knew Melnick’s father from earlier in his racing career, so he contacted him to see if Jeff could prepare the GTO for the track once again. Hartman put a cover on the Pontiac and it sat for a decade before he touched it again, that’s where Melnick came into the picture. ![]() The GTO was brought home and Hartman started to work on the car before life got in the way. ![]() Hartman found the GTO at an auction being held by the FBI and he purchased the car for a fraction of its build cost. The story of Hartman’s GTO begins with the previous owner going to jail and the U.S. Thankfully, Hartman was able to have the Goat resurrected by Jeff Melnick at Exotic Fabrication and turned into a truly amazing car. ![]() Lee Hartman scored a great deal on a Top Sportsman style 2006 GTO, but never got a chance to bring the car to the track in a timely fashion. Fast race cars don’t necessarily age well like fine wine, they need plenty of maintenance and updates to stay competitive.
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