The Coyote Racing team hails mostly from the Sacramento area and runs the 1970 Plymouth Superbird with a hemi under the hood punched out to 438 cubes over the stock 426. A specially built Barton intake manifold holds not one but two 1050 Dominators worked over by DaVinci Carburetors out of Texas. Drop spindles up front drop the big nose a few inches below the stock ride height, and factory Hemi springs out back give the car it's unique stance. The induction style hood is there to let enough air into the two stonking Dominators to make the hemi sing its favorite song out on the long course. Out back the factory adjustable wing is set to a five degree down angle to keep things grounded. The idea behind dropping the nose and downloading the wing was to make things a bit more slippery at speed yet keep the skins firmly on the salt at over 200+mph speeds
Mopete has also had extensive work to put it on a diet. Light is a tall order for the heavy-duty factory homologated NASCAR runner, and the philosophy of less is more goes against the conventional wisdom of land speed record rides.
"Most people have the philosophy up at Bonneville that weight is your friend. They add extra weight and ballast", said Don.
Not for Mopete. Other than the occasional unwelcome guest, all flotsam and jetsom has been thrown overboard. Since the class already requires a somewhat heavy as far as racing goes stock fuel tank and radiator, the only added mass in this mean green monster is for safety. The roll cage, belts, and fire bottles are items well worth the additional added weight.
Over the period of about four years the Mopete crew has taken the Superbird to the point where it is now, but it wasn't always easy - or pretty. The first year out on the salt the car literally arrived in pieces before the race. Don brought in the car and engine on a trailer, and parts came in on two more trailers from different locales. All told three trailers from three different places converged on the salt that first year.
"We brought it out here four years ago, and we literally put the car together in pieces out here. We have quite the reputation out here on the salt", said Don.
