Drag and drive racing will put a vehicle to the test. You want to be able to perform well at the track, but you also need an elevated level of reliability to finish the event. To accomplish both of these goals, you’ll need to make some strategic upgrades to your ride.

Andy Warren is a well-known name in drag racing. He’s an 11-time former NMCA World Champion with titles in the Nostalgia Muscle Car and Stock/Super Stock classes. Famed Danish drag and drive competitor Christian Damgaard got to know Warren through YouTube. After speaking with Warren, Christian shipped his 600+ cubic-inch Chevy big-block B-body Impala to the United States to run Drag Week in the Summer of 2017.

Damgaard’s current drag and drive ride is a Malibu. “We named the car ‘Buuhoo’ because people cry when it beats them since we’re taking the sleeper approach,” Warren says.

Drag And Drive Ready: Buuhoo Breakdown And What Needed Upgraded

The Malibu is fitted with a turbocharged 5.3-liter LS that features Callies rods, JE pistons, Trick Flow heads, Brian Tooley Racing cam, Edelbrock Pro-Flo intake, FUELAB fuel system, and a Holley HP ECU managing it all. Buuhoo is laying down 770 horsepower on 110 octane fuel through a Bilbrey Automotive TH400 transmission and a QP 9-inch rearend with 3.55 gears. Holding up the rear is a full TRZ suspension, including control arms and anti-roll bar.

Drag and drive events are a grueling challenge, especially when you’re trying to be competitive and win. This style of racing takes the right mixture of parts that can perform, but are also durable.

“I took the car to a couple of drag and drive style no prep races in our area and couldn’t get it to hook. With a sluggish 1.78-second 60-foot time, the car went 6.54 seconds at 113 mph in the 1/8th. I also had a hard time getting it to stop as well. I knew it needed some upgrades to not only finish an event, but run towards the front,” Andy confesses.

Drag and drive has evolved competitively over the past several years. It’s not uncommon to see street legal cars running in the sub-seven-second zone. With plenty of power under the hood, drivers also need to turn their attention to braking and traction with the proper suspension.

Just how important is braking in a drag and drive car? Consider the weight. “The car has the capability to run deep in the nine-second zone at a very high mph, probably on the edge of needing a parachute. We need a brake system that will have the stopping power for 140+mph passes in a 3,600-pound street car,” Andy says.

Driveline components, such as axles, also come into question.

“The axles that were in the car were questionable for the power we were making. The situation with drag and drive is that the axles must be strong to transfer high power, yet flexible enough to bend and absorb unexpected loads, like potholes on the street. Given all that was needed, that’s when I reached out to JC Cascio at Strange Engineering to come up with a plan to upgrade a lot of parts on the car,” Andy concludes.

Cascio and Warren assembled a complete package for Christian’s Malibu to help it hook, improve its braking, and improve reliability while it’s on the road. Shedding some weight off the car with the improved parts would be an added bonus that would help it across the board.

Strange Shocks For More Traction 

Everyone loves a wheel stand, but controlling weight transfer when a car launches matters for traction, handling, and improved 60-foot times. Adjusting the rate of rebound, or extension, of the front shocks provides a smoother weight transfer to the rear for better traction.

With the new set of shocks, Damgaard can dial up 10 different rebound settings by way of an easy-to-reach adjustable knob. The lightweight aluminum body single adjustable front shocks feature a full 13.38-inch extended length and 9-inches compressed. “For street driving, Damagaard can stiffen the front suspension back up with just a few clicks,” Cascio mentions.

The rear tires need to hook and stay planted when you launch off the line. Double adjustable shocks give you a lot of tuning options to make that happen. Both adjustable compression and rebound rates are needed to accomplish this.  

Warren explains how he approaches shock tuning for this application. 

“With the tuneability of the rear shocks, we are hoping to be able to leave on 5-6 psi and keep the tires planted once the power comes in. The goal is to keep the compression softer to plant the tire early and use a stiffer compression setting to keep the rear tire planted throughout the boost curve.”

Traction is critical for any type of drag racing, but you need the car to still drive decently for a drag and drive event. The double adjustable shocks give you the best of both worlds.

“For drag racing, much of the shock tuning is in the rear. Double adjustable shocks control how hard you plant the rear. If the track is a little loose, you can fine-tune the rear shocks to help with traction right at the hit,” Cascio says.

Strange Double Adjustable Rear Shocks shave off a few more pounds with their lightweight aluminum body too. Both compression and rebound can be set through a range of 10 settings each by easily accessible adjustable knobs. Full extension is 20.53inches while compressed is 13.32inches. Cascio noted that these shocks are just as easy to set back to street mode as the front single adjustable shocks.

Strange Spline Alloy Axles Handle Power And Potholes

As mentioned earlier, drag and drive events can really push axle reliability. They have to transfer high torque on the strip, and absorb abuse as the vehicle is traveling down the road, like potholes. Therefore, you need axles with both high tensile strength (the amount of force it can take before breaking), and high ductility (the ability to bend under load without snapping).

A good set of axles are going to really increase your vehicle’s reliability. In a drag and drive event, that reliability is worth its weight in gold.

Strange has the solution with the Spline Alloy Axle Package. The alloy axles are forged from modified 1550 premium steel, then machined before heat treating to provide consistent hardness. After machining, the axle undergoes induction hardening to increase torsional strength while remaining ductile.

“During the proprietary process, the spline and outside of the axle shaft are hardened more for durability, while the core, flange, and bearing area remain flexible. Race-only axles are through-hardened and are not recommended for the street,” JC explains.

Strange Brake Conversion For Increased Stopping And Weight Savings

The Malibu’s brake upgrade required a bit of planning. The car came originally equipped with a vacuum brake booster, and the new Strange brakes are full hydraulic disc units. That meant that Warren would need to ditch the OEM booster and make the conversion to a hydraulic system. With the booster removed, a TRZ firewall adapter kit was installed and paired with the recommended Strange Dual Master Cylinder with a 1.125-inch bore for responsive braking force.

Front and rear brakes both feature two-piece slotted rotors and four-piston calipers. Slotting improves airflow to prevent warping, while the two-piece design isolates the rotor to stop cupping caused by pulling forces. Stopping power in each caliper comes from a pair of 1.625-inch and 1.750-inch corrosion-resistant stainless pistons designed to vary clamping pressure and decrease pad taper. In addition, aluminum caliper bodies further reduce weight. The entire brake conversion knocked approximately 75 pounds off the car.

Conclusion: Built For Drag and Drive

So, after all that work, how does the car perform? According to Warren, it’s a night-and-day difference compared to how Buuhoo used to work at the track and on the street.

“The car stops amazingly with the new brakes. The car had no trouble stopping with Ohio Valley Dragway’s somewhat short shutdown area. I’m excited to see what the car will do in the ¼ mile. The car went 6.54 at 113 mph, which is strong enough mph to get the car into the 6.0-6.10 range if we can leave on more boost and ramp the power in effectively. I would expect to knock a tenth of a second off the 60-foot with the same boost curve after the suspension upgrades. We have yet to test it. Making the switch with the shocks between street and race mode is super easy. The car drives better on the street, so that’s nice,” Warren says.

As you can see, making strategic adjustments to your drag and drive vehicle has its advantages. Not only will the vehicle perform better on the track, but you’ll also enjoy driving it more on the street, and it will have increased reliability.