The reason I chose to start with a 426 Hemi, instead of the 392 is that I could build it faster, cheaper and make more power with less effort. I had a 426 block, heads and crank that were already machined, and just needed cleanup. 392 gen 1 hemi parts are harder to get, and it’s harder to find someone with torque plates and stuff like that. Start from scratch 392 builds take lots of time. And time was of the essence if I was going to have the car ready for Drag Week 2013!
So I got the block honed and cleaned up and primered, and cleaned up the heads and had the seats touched up, and loaded in some new springs and got a new cam with much bigger bumps on it than I used for F.A.S.T, and got it all mounted in the chassis.




But even with the progress I made, it became apparent that having this thing done for drag week 2013 was unrealistic. Thus I backslid from drag week driver to drag week trunk monkey to Jay again for 2013.
Then, in early 2014, I was talking to Keith Turk on the phone. He is the gentleman who runs tech at Drag Week. He said he didn’t think a 426 Hemi would be allowed in the Hot Rod class at Drag Week. What? How could that be? The rules say engine families that were available in 1962 or before are allowed. A 426 Hemi is a member of big block Mopar B/RB family that came out in 1958. Or so I thought. So Turk called Freiberger, Freiberger said NO.
That was kick in the gut.