Klondike Car: 8-Second Street/Strip ’67 4-4-2 From The Yukon

There may be cleaner, prettier ’67 Oldsmobile 4-4-2s on this planet, but few make the visual or performance impact of the car you see here. Drag & drive hero Rajveer Ahuja has been doing Sick Week for years with this Olds-powered freak, but equally cool is that he is from Whitehorse, the territorial capital of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Every pass he makes in this rugged machine is a triumph.

Whitehorse is about 4,100 miles from Bradenton, Florida, where we met Raj. His nitrous-swilling ‘67 4-4-2 was parked next to Richard Guido’s insane 8-second ‘65 Pontiac GTO and we just couldn’t resist a photo shoot, even though it was still drizzling. 

Oldsmobile was known as General Motors’ technology division, as its list of “firsts” kept it at the forefront of the buying public. From the speedometer in 1901 to the first fully automatic transmission in 1940 and the first high-compression modern overhead valve V8, Olds pioneered innovations that helped make our cars what they are today.

We happy to report that there is no big-block, small-block or LS/LT Chevy engine under the hood of Raj’s hot rod.

Pure Rocket Oldsmobile Power!

In the spirit of Ransom Ely Oldsmobile, there is 560 cubic inches of Rocket V8 under the hood of this ’67 4-4-2. Built by BTR Performance of Rochester, New York (not to be confused with Kentucky’s Brian Tooley Racing), the engine uses Bill Private-massaged Edelbrock cylinder heads and an Edelbrock intake topped by a CFM Dominator carb. It makes enough horsepower (with the spray) to run 8.70s. The day before our photo shoot, the yellow 4-4-2 went a healthy 8.90 at 152 mph. 

There must be something about the track in Gainesville, Florida, the 4-4-2 likes. On the last passes there last month, the car ran an 8.817 at 149.48 and 8.786 at 150.41.

Backing the 560 is a column-shifted Turbo 400 with a Gear Vendors overdrive on the tail, sending the Rocket power to a GM 12-bolt with 3.08 gears. This numerically low ratio means seamless highway cruising. This car still utilizes the factory column shifter and Raj launches off the footbrake. 

The interior, like that in many drag and drive entries, eschews luxury accoutrements. Air conditioning consists of rolling down the windows by hand and turning on a fan mounted to the dash. The stock three-spoke steering wheels still looks great after all these years, and an ET-appropriate roll cage with swing-out bars keeps him safe on track — just in case. Aftermarket gauges abound.

We have to hand it to Raj. His Saffron-colored ‘67 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 is scruffy enough to look mean, like an escapee from a real street race, yet it runs well enough to complete all the requisite parts of Sick Week journey. Thousands of miles and unlimited smiles — that sounds like a winning formula.