Paolo Castellano
Enthusiast
Hello all, I just rolled in this morning @ 7:30 am from the Sport Compact Car’s Ultimate Street Car Challenge:
I am sure you all know I have been up day and night for the last month or so putting the finishing touches on the car for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge.
I would like to thank all the my true friends, whose selfless help sometimes until 3-5:00 am is the only reason I was able to get the car ready in time in the condition it was to be a serious and worthy competitor for the parameters and scope of Sport Compact Car’s Ultimate Street Car Challenge:
I would like to thank Dave Blankenbaker, Viper Road Racer extraordinaire and friend, for taking a week off work and letting me use his enclosed trailer for the trip out to California. Dave is THE MAN for sure as he has been road racing the Viper as long
as any of the big guns have.
Dave was the perfect person for the job as he knows just about anything there is to know about the Viper in respect to road racing and mechanically speaking as well.
We were supposed to leave Sunday morning sometime but ended up leaving Monday morning @ 3:00 am. Since I had very little sleep leading up to the departure, Dave did most of the driving on the way out there.
Dave has a GPS that came in very handy for a couple of guys that, like most guys, are not the best with directions. The woman’s voice describing the directions was very **** to say the least!
Dave was a godsend as most other competitors had a few more guys in the crew. Dave did whatever I needed to get the job done whether it was helping me remove the factory cats and go to the cat-bypass tubes for the performance day, or going to get me this or that tool, towel and just about anything else I needed when I needed it. He is also the one who mounted the center lights into the front fascia that turned out looking so good.
Dave’s professional and perfectionist nature were a tremendous part of why we accomplished what we did.
Now I would like to thank the other guys in the Chicago crew who were up until 2-4:00 am for just about every night helping me put the car back together after the differential and various other driveline parts that broke at the dragstrip in Md.
Dennis Dy and Edwin Dacumos were out with me in my garage till all hours of the morning helping me do all the little dis/reassembly, help run the lift up and down, get tools, hold parts, brace/etc… Dennis also put the final cleaning detail and polish on the CCW wheels that were machine polished by TOOOFST. They hung around and helped me with whatever they could. Edwin also displayed his phenomenal car cleaning and detailing skills. I did not know someone could/would take so much time to do each little part of the car. Edwin and Dennis cleaned my car from top to bottom and inside and out. I never knew the engine compartment could look so good.
Geoff Paul has been a friend of mine for the last few years:
Geoff knows enough about EVERYTHING to be a tuner! He is amazing to say the least. He has taught me quite a lot about every aspect of cars since I have known him.
He has helped me pull whole engines out of my Mercedes turbo diesel(Actually, I helped him). Geoff is the best and is the only one who has ever scared the [******] out of me as he drives me in the passenger seat of my own car!
TOOOFST has always given me his best help and advice. He is the one who told me to go to Jason Heffner after meeting him at the drag race in KY.
Scotty found me a set of full factory cats and welded on the 3” ends. He machine polished the CCW wheels that were pitted.
Scott called me at least ten times a day leading up to the contest to se if I needed anything.  Thank you TOOOFST!
I would also like to thank Tom Burek @ Finish Line Dodge for supplying a differential cover when mine broke and giving me a spare tranny to use for the contest in case I needed it. Tom UPS shipped the cover to Heffner after the diff cover shattered at the dragstrip slightly before the Ultimate Street Car Challenge. Thanks Tom!
I would like to thank my wife for being supportive and for cleaning out my truck and doing all the little things to help me get ready for the trip!
I would also like to Jason Heffner for building the baddest ass supercharged Viper that ran flawlessly and very powerfully throughout the competition from spinning out the car 360 degrees off the road onto the sand and gravel and doing Back to the Future burnouts with 6 feet of rubber streaks on fire for the photographer, to the dyno, to the fuel economy up and down the mountain, to the Gross display of HP, the car never missed a beat.
 I will post more details about each part of the competition later on tonight.
 Now I will go to respond to some questions people have on the thread going here for the last few days:
I am sure you all know I have been up day and night for the last month or so putting the finishing touches on the car for the Ultimate Street Car Challenge.
I would like to thank all the my true friends, whose selfless help sometimes until 3-5:00 am is the only reason I was able to get the car ready in time in the condition it was to be a serious and worthy competitor for the parameters and scope of Sport Compact Car’s Ultimate Street Car Challenge:
I would like to thank Dave Blankenbaker, Viper Road Racer extraordinaire and friend, for taking a week off work and letting me use his enclosed trailer for the trip out to California. Dave is THE MAN for sure as he has been road racing the Viper as long
as any of the big guns have.
Dave was the perfect person for the job as he knows just about anything there is to know about the Viper in respect to road racing and mechanically speaking as well.
We were supposed to leave Sunday morning sometime but ended up leaving Monday morning @ 3:00 am. Since I had very little sleep leading up to the departure, Dave did most of the driving on the way out there.
Dave has a GPS that came in very handy for a couple of guys that, like most guys, are not the best with directions. The woman’s voice describing the directions was very **** to say the least!
Dave was a godsend as most other competitors had a few more guys in the crew. Dave did whatever I needed to get the job done whether it was helping me remove the factory cats and go to the cat-bypass tubes for the performance day, or going to get me this or that tool, towel and just about anything else I needed when I needed it. He is also the one who mounted the center lights into the front fascia that turned out looking so good.
Dave’s professional and perfectionist nature were a tremendous part of why we accomplished what we did.
Now I would like to thank the other guys in the Chicago crew who were up until 2-4:00 am for just about every night helping me put the car back together after the differential and various other driveline parts that broke at the dragstrip in Md.
Dennis Dy and Edwin Dacumos were out with me in my garage till all hours of the morning helping me do all the little dis/reassembly, help run the lift up and down, get tools, hold parts, brace/etc… Dennis also put the final cleaning detail and polish on the CCW wheels that were machine polished by TOOOFST. They hung around and helped me with whatever they could. Edwin also displayed his phenomenal car cleaning and detailing skills. I did not know someone could/would take so much time to do each little part of the car. Edwin and Dennis cleaned my car from top to bottom and inside and out. I never knew the engine compartment could look so good.
Geoff Paul has been a friend of mine for the last few years:
Geoff knows enough about EVERYTHING to be a tuner! He is amazing to say the least. He has taught me quite a lot about every aspect of cars since I have known him.
He has helped me pull whole engines out of my Mercedes turbo diesel(Actually, I helped him). Geoff is the best and is the only one who has ever scared the [******] out of me as he drives me in the passenger seat of my own car!
TOOOFST has always given me his best help and advice. He is the one who told me to go to Jason Heffner after meeting him at the drag race in KY.
Scotty found me a set of full factory cats and welded on the 3” ends. He machine polished the CCW wheels that were pitted.
Scott called me at least ten times a day leading up to the contest to se if I needed anything.  Thank you TOOOFST!
I would also like to thank Tom Burek @ Finish Line Dodge for supplying a differential cover when mine broke and giving me a spare tranny to use for the contest in case I needed it. Tom UPS shipped the cover to Heffner after the diff cover shattered at the dragstrip slightly before the Ultimate Street Car Challenge. Thanks Tom!
I would like to thank my wife for being supportive and for cleaning out my truck and doing all the little things to help me get ready for the trip!
I would also like to Jason Heffner for building the baddest ass supercharged Viper that ran flawlessly and very powerfully throughout the competition from spinning out the car 360 degrees off the road onto the sand and gravel and doing Back to the Future burnouts with 6 feet of rubber streaks on fire for the photographer, to the dyno, to the fuel economy up and down the mountain, to the Gross display of HP, the car never missed a beat.
 I will post more details about each part of the competition later on tonight.
 Now I will go to respond to some questions people have on the thread going here for the last few days:
