If you go too fast at the dragstrip, you're gonna get booted. We've been racing the CC/Rambler for a couple of years now with that notion in the back of our minds, tiptoeing on the brake pedal or simply lifting in the lights to stay above the e.t. cutoff. Ya see, the '09 NHRA rules say you must have a rollbar if your car runs faster than 11.49 (or 135 mph) and the CC/Rambler without a rollbar ran a string of 11.60s on the motor. With the extra 2 seconds on tap from our NOS Fogger, a 10-second run was definite if we opened the big blue bottle. There is no way we'd get away with that without a rollbar and proper safety gear, and we really wouldn't want to.
To catch you up, the CC/Rambler is about five years old as a CC project car. It was built originally using parts from a wrecked AMC Gremlin and an '85 Jeep Cherokee. With a mild JMS Racing-built 360 with Edelbrock heads, a Richmond five-speed, and 3.55:1 gears in a Moser-prepped M20, the car runs consistantly at the strip and is completely streetable, even for long road trips. After we realized the car was getting too fast, we took it to Westside Performance in Los Angeles, California to get a rollbar installed. Watch and learn.
Parts Description PN Source Price* Swing-out door bar kit 018900 Applied Racing Technologies $65.95*** Safety harness 11094A Crow Safety Gear $82.95** Boots 22100BK Crow Safety Gear $66.98** Standard gloves 11724 Crow Safety Gear $42.95** Battery-disconnect switch 74102 Moroso $61.88 Battery cable kit 74055 Moroso $104.25 Battery box 74050 Moroso $96.25 Driveshaft safety loop SUM-G7900 Summit Racing $23.95 Bandit helmet SIM-1200032 Summit Racing $424.95 16-gallon fuel cell RCI-1162C Summit Racing $195.95 02 Gasser alloy wheels 02-54212218 Wheel Vintiques $365.95 each *All prices quoted from Summit Racing unless otherwise noted **Price quoted from Crow Enterprizes ***Price quoted from Applied Racing Technologies