The latest news about HOT ROD Drag Week racers comes from Rick “Stink” Steinke, the fastest son of Holland, Pennsylvania. Rick owns and drives “Honk if Parts Fall Off,” a low-key, twin-turbocharged 1967 Chevy Malibu with four doors in Drag Week for four years. Rick and Dave Schroeder played this year’s MotorTrend Presents Roadkill Nights event. The Dodge sponsored event will be a low-key warm-up for HOT ROD Drag Week, Presented by Gear Vendors 2023, five days of technical chaos. Read on to discover what’s happening with Rick’s ordinary Malibu as HOT ROD Drag Week gets closer. What’s up with the “Bu”? This year, one of the most significant changes to Rick’s program is that the tires on the back of his “Bu” are now 275/60R15 Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials instead of the 26×8.5-inch radials he used in other sanctioning’s Limited Street and drag-and-drive classes. “The vehicle’s condition makes me happy.” We reached two semifinals and one quarterfinal in three 8.50 Index competitions this year. We’ve worked very hard to cut. Because of this, we haven’t raced the car much, but what we have done is very good. Rick spent much of his summer helping his son Troy train to race junior dragsters. HOT ROD Drag Week is put on by people who sell gear. Even though 2023 Street Race classes are run heads-up, they are demanding because drivers must drive to an 8.50 et. Index and not go slower or faster than that. Rick says, “We can’t just line up the car for the best and fastest pass; let it fly, pack up, and move on.” The goal for everyone in this room is 8.50. Most of the time, we don’t have to worry about a specific race. We only want to do better than the next competitor for ourselves and the timing system. The 1967 Chevrolet Rick, Inside the Malibu, there is a 10-point roll cage, the original steering wheel, and a bench seat that has been reupholstered. A Holley EFI display and a trans brake button are modern equipment that is easy to see. Given that the car has a wood dash, striped door cards, and green paint inside, we wonder if it is from Minnesota or somewhere else where an outdoors person might have a car like this. You can see a clutch button in the driver’s footwell. The place where the gear selector used to be on the steering column is now empty. A Malibu with four doors and a three-speed manual engine called “three-on-the-tree.” Rick says that he is driven by the relationships and friends he has made since his first Drag Week and his desire “to show I have a badass street car.” In 2019 and 2021, both cars came second in the Street Race Small Block Power Adder and won the award for Fastest Sealed Engine. Rick is excited about this year’s Drag Week schedule, which includes stops at dragstrips in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The middle of September is a great time to visit the Carolinas, and I hope to see some gorgeous landscapes while driving. Zach and Ray are my copilots. They are two very skilled drivers with a lot of energy. Knock on wood, but something should stay in our way at the track or on the trip. The four-door 1967 Chevy Malibu: 23° heads on a 414ci Chevy small-block engine. Twin 71mm BorgWarner turbochargers give the car a speed boost. A Holley Dominator EFI is in charge of the engine. A Pro Torque bolt-on converter and a Steinke Turbo 400 transmission with all the bells and whistles. Remember: Strange Engineering 9.25-inch gears with a ratio of 3.25:1. 275/50R16 tires for the street; Mickey Thompson is a man. The dog-dish hubcaps and rotating Weld Alumastar wheels are made of GM steel. The chassis and suspension comprise tubular control arms, front and back rests resembling stock, and Menscer Motorsports shocks. Rick adds, “I put on a new Mickey Thompson ER Street Rs set and filled the crankcase with Maxima oil. The Holley EFI is always ready to go.” We should move on Rick’s main goal now that RoadKill Nights is over is to get extra parts for the Malibu and do some maintenance on it. Rick says that RKN is a “checkpoint” for us in the race schedule. He says, “RKN has become a sign that it’s time to get our rear ends in gear and get ready.” Of course, none of this could happen without the help of amazing people. Rick thanks his wife Jacki and son Troy for their use, as well as Uncle Ron, Bob, Tony, Uncle Roggie, Ray, Zach, Mark, Big Steve, John, Ray from RAZ Propulsion Systems, The Precision Transmission Guy, Steve John from Maxima Oil, Rick from Firecore, Monty and Maria from VP, Monty from Holley EFI, Doug F from Holley EFI, Joe from Pro Torque, and Dave O from VP Yellow Bullet, 1320 Video, the whole staff from Sick the Magazine, Bullet Racing Cams, Fuel Injection. He says that they all help in he expressed his wish that “hopefully we can bring home a win to show how much we appreciate all of them.”
