NMRA's Hot Street class is a battle for naturally aspirated supremacy, where racers don't have the luxury of adding a smaller pulley or an extra dose of nitrous. As with a power-adder engine, airflow is still the name of the game, but there's no blower, turbo, or nitrous aiding the process. It's all about cubic inches, cylinder-head porting, camshaft design, and rpm. And those are just a few of the parameters racers must be well versed in to rise to the top of the naturally aspirated ranks.
One such racer proving he's up to the Hot Street task is Andy "The G-Man" Law of Batavia, Ohio. Taking a breath of fresh air into the Hot Street ranks with his '82 GT, Andy's ride wasn't nearly as nice as this when he received it in trade for labor on an engine and tranny swap. As a matter of fact, the car was a mere shell when he took it under his wing from a high school friend. Under Andy's ownership, the GT was put to use as a street racer and occasional bracket car with a 306, a Tremec, and an NOS Cheater kit.
When low 11s became a snooze, he summoned the services of BES Racing to build a 408 Windsor with World Castings heads in order to go Hot Street racing. As part owner of CPL Racing, Andy and partners Brian Campbell and Wade Pattison built a Powerglide and packed the 8.8 with 4.30 gears. With this combo, Andy finished runner-up at the NMRA opener in Orlando. Just one race later at Reynolds, Georgia, he found himself on the trailer after only one round of competition.
By the NMRA Columbus race, the grim realization that Andy wasn't competitive made him regroup and once again call upon BES to go back through his small-block in search of more power.
This time the Windsor received heavily ported Edelbrock Victor heads, a nasty Comp Cams grind, an offset-ground crank, and aluminum rods. Before the engine left BES, the 399ci mill cranked out 797 hp at 7,900 rpm-enough power to make Chuck Simons keep watch over his shoulder for the blue GT.
This engine made its debut at the WFC4, but due to engine problems, Andy was unable to qualify on Saturday. He had to get each Hot Streeter to sign a petition in order to get on the ladder for Sunday's eliminations. On Sunday, the program went full-tilt, with Andy blazing out of the gate with a 9.63 at 141 mph to get through the first round. In the second round, he ran his best time of the year with a 9.49 at 142 mph. His WFC4 experience would end in the third round thanks to Rob Galloway getting the jump on Andy out of the gate with a 0.505 light to Andy's 0.674 reaction time. His 9.60 couldn't overcome Rob's 9.69.
Andy spent the remainder of the '01 season trying to sort out the suspension and finding the right torque-converter application for optimum performance. Unfortunately, the engine let go before its full potential could be realized. Not to worry-Andy will be back next year in Hot Street. However, he may utilize a smaller engine with a shorter stroke to take advantage of a weight break.
Andy says Chuck Simons' 360ci engine makes just as much power as his own 399, which means the extra cubes Andy runs equals that much more weight he has to carry. Of course, Chuck has to carry extra weight because he likes shifting the five-speed.
For 2002, Andy is planning to add ladder bars for optimum traction off the line, along with finding the right torque converter-and not adding another nickname to his stable.
OK, you're probably wondering how Andy got the G-Man nickname. With a last name like Law, you'd think it was obvious, but it's not quite that simple. Andy wouldn't come off all the goings-on, but he said it involved the combination of way too much alcohol and a dare. We were eventually able to pry the secret out of him. Three years ago at WFC, he paraded onto the balcony of his hotel wearing nothing but a G-string! You know, Andy, you're our boy and everything, but that is way too much information.