Dale Kuehn and the Texas Big Bird.

Pulling fresh air means getting the intakes where they can work; twin K&N conical filters are mounted vertically in the front core support along the radiator,  where they pick up air from the street level spoiler.

Friends John Treeter (of Treeter’s Body Shop in Caldwell), Jake Meyers, and Al Lutz both helped with the replication/restoration project, which was completed just two days before the Big Bend Road Race in Texas began in April 2005. This event is 118 miles with 100 turns in it. With 440 cubes averaging seven miles per gallon at 135 mph, the ‘bird has kicked up to 160 mph at just 4140 rpm. At Big Bend, it ran in the 110-124 mph class in its debut, finishing .382 mph off the winning number. In October ’05 at the Road Runner Road race, Dale raced in the 120-140 mph class and took home two 1st place awards – one in the 120 mph division, and a first overall at +.002 mph (.0031 off a perfect time of .0000).

Oh, and one more thing. No race-only driver, this thing is completely street legal. When we shot our photos during the Lone Star Shootout in Houston, Dale took it out on some cruising miles. Of course, like any good Mopar guy, he never drives it too fast when the road race circuits are closed...

Dale stuck with some old school stuff as he did the car, including exhaust manifolds for heat dissipation and an older 2x4 intake; we have a feeling things will get a little boost once a Hemi is under the bonnet.