Bullet Bob Reed at ESTA Drag Strip Sunday

This Sunday, September 25 we will host the Stock / Super Stock Race as well as the American Muscle Pro Stick Palooza Race. "Bullet" Bob Reed will be here with his Hemi powered 'Cuda as well as plenty more of the high winding wheels in the air cars. All of our Summit ET classes will be competeing as well to make this an action packed day of drag racing. The forecast looks great so come on out and enjoy the side by side racing.
www.estadrags.com/

It was a great day Sunday watching Bullet rip an 8.15 at 168 !

Details?

Great air...great track prep...go to Bob Reed Racing Facebook page

Wow.........must be a big motor, light or both, as that is way quicker than the AH record and about 6 mph faster. Bob has always been fast, but being mostly exhibition now, I doubt he stays right up with the latest and greatest AH improvements

^^^^^ agree

I know bob has pretty current stuff....I can't see him rinning something not legal....I don't know bob ,but he has been running these cars along time and I'm sure he would like to be legit fast..surely somebody has more info

Highly unlikely you show up at an exhibition and run 6 numbers quicker than the record and 6 mph faster and the car be 100% legal. 6mph is a LOT of power.

At 3210 which is legal AH weight, to go 8.16 or 168 mph, both require well over 1100hp

Light would still be respectable....and I'm sure he would like to be legal fast...so I can't see him running a big motor....but who knows

Charlie ran as quick as 8.22 163......

At legal weight, to go from 163 to 168 is another 100hp.

I too want to know some more info and see video of this

I would have to guess he was way light

There's not that much extra weight in those cars

There's got to be someone out there that talks to bob and ask him about his current combo maybe he has all of Charlie's old engine combos now that he is focusing on his ps program you never know till you ask

Yea there isn't a lot of lightening to be done on those cars, nowhere near to pick up the way he did

That's my home track but I haven't been since my car broke in july.
I'll ask around to see if anyone has video of it.

Our car is around 2730 less me

The Barracuda mostly associated with Reed is the former Bob Lambeck car; identifiable by its long, kinda squared off rear wheel openings.
Lambeck once told me that Reed's 2nd Barracuda was bounced in NHRA Tech back in the day and was "better than legal" concerning weight & something about the floor.
Cool that he's still at it.

Used to see Bob sleeping in the back of his trailer, alone at the races, and wake up just in time to run.

Always made time to chat with a nobody like me and I thought it was a great thing he did for Ronnie before Ronnie's passing.

Glad to see him run a great number and enjoying himself.

After the 8.15 pass I asked Bob how close the car was to being NHRA legal he said everything but the intake would pass tech. He also said if it had a 4.86 rear gear instead of the 5.00 that was in it that would have been a 7 second pass at over 170..said it was hitting the chip before the traps. Bob backed this up with an 8.22 at 166 even being late on the 1-2 shift

That is crazy, would've loved to see that run. Bet he has his chassis setup alot better than in the past to run like that to.

12 years ago I saw him and his car and pointed out some illegal things and I asked how he got away with them and he said that he'd been racing for so long that they didn't check him in division 2

What could be illegal about an intake?....maybe carbs inline?....
And even that would hardly make a difference

Lets face some facts here. If he had THAT much power and knew it.......he would have been at INDY collecting the check and prestige that goes along with winning the shootout. So something is not legal with the setup as far as AH rules are concerned. I am still saying it was likely 300-400 pounds light. You can make one of those cars weigh in the 2800 range race ready with some work

You're funny....there are no facts here......ask around and see how many cars have 400 pounds of lead in them
......

I don't have to ask around. I know how light cars can be. My own GTX, all steel other than hood, factory glass and chrome bumpers, weighed 3000 with my 190lb body in it with a B-1 headed mega-block. You telling me a back halved early Cuda with corning glass and the other light parts they can run can't get lighter than that? Plus, its a match race car. Who knows what has been done to it. Why would it be AH legal if he didn't plan to run it there? There is a picture of one of the Cudas on their facebook page with no motor. You can see it does not have the factory column and it appears to have a rack on it. Who knows what else has been done

But regardless, do YOU have an explanation for where the extra 6mph came from. As stated that takes an extra 100 hp. You think Bob has a 100 extra hp on the fastest AH cars on the planet? Gaining 20 on the best of the best is unheard of....100? Now who is being funny

I'll stand by what I said about the weight...now on the horsepower thing I have no idea...lord knows I've never seen Any....
I guess it's just wishful thinkin that he would run that fast.....

I agree Monte, just dont care really. Is Bob being slippery? I can promise you he has more than an intake manifold up his sleeve. I have wondered for a long time what would happen if these cars threw away the rule book a little. Would love to see an AH car run a 7, even if its NOT legit by AH rules, it would be cool IMO. Are there any Outlaw SS cars anywhere in the 7's?

Okay guys, okay guys, I couldn't hold my tongue and Bob may come after me for this, but here goes.
The fact is, Bob came over to my grotto in Brooklyn with the car a few months back and we kinda shaved a few scale pounds off the old fish.
On his way out the door, I gave him a copy of my race oriented pocket size book "How to cheat and stay married" LOL.

I'm guessing what is on top of the manifold, is what isn't SS/AH legal, and is helping in the HP department.

I just think it's cool Bob is still out there having fun and going fast. Would be cool to sit and talk with him. A lot of great stories I'm sure.

Like you said earlier, there are no facts and we don't really KNOW...........BUT, what it is safe to assume is that Bob does NOT have a 100hp or more on the quickest AH cars on the planet in legal trim. He also had the car in "match race" trim. Now what that means, who knows, but if he isn't running in AH at a race, why should it be 100% legal. Maybe he has a big motor, maybe not. Maybe the car is light, maybe not. But the simple fact remains, to be that much faster and claim it SHOULD go in the 7s, common sense tells you he has one or the other or both.

Now if you want to argue the ballast fact, that's fine, but I know what these cars CAN weigh. Really trick new cars are built to be as light as possible and put weight where you need it. I know two chassis guys who have built big window Cudas in the last few years for this class. And THEY have told me what they are capable of weighing with no ballast and it is surprisingly light, even with the stock type front suspension and steering box. Now you factor in possibly a rack and some coilovers, that's probably another 50lbs. Now the picture I alluded to on his page, also has no shock stub sticking through ANYwhere in the inner fender. So Something is modified on the front of the car.

We have a stock bodied G-body, steel roof and quarters, factory door jambs, stock type front and rear suspension, factory firewall, etc. The car has a 5" bore center 765 with a dry sump. With a 165lb driver and 50lbs worth of nitrous bottles on board, the car weighs 2625 ready to make a hit. So you won't tell ME that steel, factory bodied cars can't get light with work. Ours even has a 6.0 cert cage, so it has a FC cage and other required bracing that even a 7.50 cert AH type car would not have. So that is even less weight.

Well there's our answer boys, some weight savings and obviously bigger carbs makes sense. Same mods on one of Westcotts cars would be 7.8 ride

When I built our car way back when it weighed 2985 with me in it...I can't remember what I weighed but it was somewhere around 250-275.....it is built light....dipped doors,bumpers,interior panels,etc....and that was with a old block and heads switch are lighter....I suspect a new car would be heavier not lighter

Lets not forget DC had the SS/AA cars at 2800lbs in the 70's, 002/003 springs are for a "2800" lb car. With all the billet and cf stuff out there today, I wouldnt be surprised if 200 lbs could be removed just in hardware.

Well then your own car could be 2900 with a 200lb driver and 2850 with a 150lb beanpole driver. That is 300lbs light for the class.Is your car all moly. 9" with an alum center, lightened ring gear, etc. Carbon fiber driveshaft. Alum body shocks. Titanium wheel studs and every ounce of uneeded weight from it? Light cars are a state of mind. I have had countless people tell me "I can't get it lighter" and I can look at the same car and see 100lbs in about 30 seconds. First question is do I NEED this part. Next question if the answer is yes, is how do I make this part lighter. Not an extra wire, not an extra thread sticking out of a nut. Alum bolts, titanium bolts, plastic bolts. We took 5 lbs out of the stock deck lid of my dads super stocker with a hole saw on the inner trunk lid structure. EVERY piece on my GTX was lightened in some way.

There is a member on the board that has a 65 Coronet street car that looks stone stock that is likely lighter than AH class weight by a fair amount.

So by your own admission, YOUR car can be 300lbs light, yet you doubted it when I said that one could be 400lbs lighter than AH weight with some maybe no so class legal changes. In fact it would be easy

Ours has moly cage, alum center,steel shaft,alum bolts etc...I spent some serious time lightning bolts,brackets..I'm sure there's a few more things I could do but it has old motor and heads....small cam...no fc cage...and I'm sure those things would offset that..like I said b4...ask around and I'll bet Noone has 400 lbs lead in their car...


Like ialsaid b4 .wishful thinkin on my part....bobs been at it along time and it would b cool to see one of the old guys get it done

As I'm @ ESTA every Sunday.......I was standing on the starting line when he left

He hit the 1-2 shift in the with the front end in the air, almost as if the front end was juuuust starting to come down and the 1-2 shift helped to carry the front end out further before it settled....smooth steady and straight launch

Did sound like I heard three more gear changes down track

Car truly is a "bullet".....Looked effortless down track

That ProStick event @ ESTA always draws extra people and some damn cool racing

I would have got more pic's ( got one pic of it in the staging lanes ) and seen the car close up but I was double class bracket racing so I was keeping busy

Michael

Now yoye thinkin like Jennie Craig,,,,,,,lol

The first photo is of Bob's car from 2013. I was wondering on the shifter, and it looks like he is using a G Force 5 speed in the car.

Boom goes the dynamite.

GF2400, clutch less 4 speed. Not a 5 speed. Gate on shifter and only 4 rods.

Years ago Bob would show up at a few of the old Chrysler Classic Events. At one event he had a tenth on all of us, and we were running some big motors, as the rules allowed. I walked down to his trailer and bought one of his T-shirts and asked him how big a motor he was running that weekend. He just laughed and wouldn't answer me.

We are putting together the YOU DAT HEMI SHOOTOUT at the NHRA National Open Nov. 18-19 at No Problem Raceway. Record runs will be during qualifying. I just spent all day at Reher Morrison making our plans for upgrades to attempt setting the AH record but we are WAY out of our league. 168 with a 5.0 gear is a whopping 8.5k rpm. We need to rethink our 10.5k rpm program.....I have never met Mr. Reed but certainly have heard a lot about him and that is a VERY impressive run. Perhaps someone will let him know about NPR in November. Should be a good race if weather permits. Phish

PS the raw weight of my car is CLASSIFIED. "Need to know" type deal.LOL

I would of thought around 9 ..but 8500 is more like it...

According to my "Garage Buddy" phone app....
33" tire
5.0 rear
1.1 trans
168mph
8552.728 RPM

Ole Bob sure has sure stepped it up from the last time I saw him run then. If Lenny Melton ever came on here anymore he might shed some light on this...him and Bob are real tight.

I would bet that "Ol Bob" is the only one who knows for sure.........and I would also bet he ain't tellin............LOL!!!!