The following article was provided by The News Standard, Brandenburg, KY. It was written by Shaun T. Cox. Thanks guys.
"Life in fast lane for local"
Brandenburg - One of the fastest cars in Kentucky can be found in Meade County.
Pat Wheatley, of Wheatley Motor Co., is the proud owner of a 3,000-pound 1967 Camaro, which he has modified -- to say the least -- into an ultra-competitive street racer. "It's what we call a back-half car," said Wheatley, 55. "The car was built by K & B Race Cars down in Bowling Green, KY, by Billy Webb, and he builds the best Outlaw 10.5 cars." Ten-point-five is a reference to the tire size, which are actually almost a foot wide. "It's the newest thing going," Wheatley said. "It started down south and it's a fast class. The engine is a Fulton 706 cubic-inch motor and it has four stages of nitrous. It's got what we call a Bruno Lenco transmission setup in it." The car also has an on-board computer, which relays vital race statistics, such as the driveshaft speed, engine RPM's, nitrous pressure and exhaust temperatures. It's a family affair at Wheatley Motor and Wheatley's son, Patrick, 30, is also on the racintg team. According to him, the Camaro is the fastest of its kind in the state, "so far as I know." Fuel efficiency goes out the window with a car like this. "We'll use two or three gallons in one eighth-mile pass," Pat Wheatley said. "We'll also use about six pounds of nitrous -- which is a lot. Part of the trick is to know when to fire the nitrous. Every track is different and the person who can figure it out will win." For those of you scoring at home, that's between 16 and 24 gallons per mile, whereas most people probably get between 16 and 24 miles per gallon. When asked how much he had invested in the car, Pat Wheatley replied, "We don't need to discuss that, it's a very scary thought." "But every weekend there will be a race that pays a minimum of $5,000," he said. "There's a race in March of next year that pays $100,000 to the winner. Last year they paid $50,000 and it went over so well, they're doubling it this year. There will be alot of fast cars there." Wheatley said he wants to get in the race because he things his car is fast enough to be there. Pat Wheatley began racing many years ago and then gave it up. He said his son's interest in racing rekindled his own. "I've been doing this since the mid- to late-'70s, got out of racing and didn't get back in until five years ago," Pat Wheatley said "I turned 50 years old and I wanted to race again and decided if I didn't do it now, it was going to be too late." Getting a car in racing condition is a time-consuming process, sometimes taking years. "It took us these last five years just to get the car competitive," Pat Wheatley said. "This has been a great year for us. We won the OSCA Championship." Since 1999, the Outlaw Street Car Association has organized eighth-mile street car drag races at tracks in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. The home track is located at U.S. 60 Raceway in Hardinsburg, KY. Throughout the series, drivers accumulate points for the season championship -- similar to NASCAR -- which was decided after the race on Oct. 8. The Wheatleys were this season's points champion. "It's heads up racing, there's no spot," Pat Wheatley said. "Both cars leave at the same time and the first one there wins. That's my kind of racing. When you go an eighth of a mile at 160 mph, there's a lot of things happening, and they happen quick. It's real racing." Patrick Wheatley said it takes a lot of work between passes to keep the car in racing shape, but he enjoys spending time with his father. When asked if Dad was ever going to let Patrick drive the car, he said, "No, but I've got one of my own." It is in a different class than what the elder Wheatley drives, so the two won't race each other. That way, they can be there for each other when the other is racing. "We've come a long way with the car this year, and it's been a struggle,?" Pat Wheatley said. "But it's been fun." |
