Five days after attending FL2K, I attended a Street Car Take Over event in Arizona, held at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Street Car Take Over is known for its no prep surface and attracting the fastest cars in the area. Races are an eight mile, heads up, and without qualifying.

Racers go on an instant green and the time isn’t posted on the board. Participants can compete in the Big Tire class, Small Tire, Street Racer, or TRUE Street class.

To be considered to run in the Big Tire class, the car must have doors, no aftermarket complete fiber glass or carbon fiber bodies, but any tire is ok. Meanwhile, the Small Tire class maintains the same rules but stipulates  a 28×10.5 non W or smaller tire and 275 or smaller radial is required.

To be eligible for the Street Racer class, the car must run a DOT stamped rear tire, any tire for front is ok. Additionally, the rules stipple the car have a VIN tag, and current registration, working lights, windows and complete non-gutted interior.

Finally, the TRUE Street class requires a  true street car. Tagged, insured with all glass windows, exhaust passed the front doors, DOT tires only and it must have full interior.

Here are 5 things I learned at Street Car Take Over Phoenix: 

People are modifying cars straight off the dealership lot

Leading up to the main race event, the SCT organizers held a small car show at Twin Peaks in Scottsdale. The meet was open to all makes and models and featured a mobile dyne so anyone could get strapped down and show off their horsepower numbers. 

 I saw plenty of cars with slicks and exhaust that still had paper plates. One of the cars that stuck out to me was a new 2018 Cadillac CTS-V already equipped with three-piece Weld wheels and Mickey Thompson rubber.

Weld Wheels are the Standard

This was my first time witnessing roll racing at a drag strip instead of on a freeway. It was highly enjoyable to guess who would win, and more importantly, hearing the noises that some of these animals produced. I noticed many of the significant cars wore Weld Wheels.

There are alternative wheel companies out there that offer lower price drag setups, but all the best racers are running three-piece Welds. Not only do they look amazing, the wheel offers a beadlock ring that helps keep the slick in place.

The Gen 3 Coyote 5.0 Engine is FAST

I enjoyed seeing the new third generation 5.0-liter Coyote engine in action. Its incredibly powerful and when boost is added and mated to the new 10-speed automatic from Ford, the Mustang is set to kill at all times.

Precision Turbo is on every winning car

At the track, I met up with Martin Stan Lee and some of the fastest street cars in Arizona, named ‘Team Havoc.’ I was able to park with them in the pits which  gave me the chance to check out what these guys had to bring to the table. The slowest car in the group makes around 700 horsepower while the others in the group sport over 1,500 horsepower.

The more I attend these events, the more I notice Precision Turbo is on every winning car. 

Street Car Take over has Street Cars

An interesting and unexpected aspect of the event is that all “street car” classes must partake in a 20 mile cruise to prove they are a real street car. Personally, I think this is pretty awesome. The event is after all named “Street Car Takeover”.

I still have A LOT to learn about drag racing and I think the best and only to do that is to do it myself. Stay tuned for my latest articles on my drag racing experiences.