Radford Racing School in Chandler, Arizona is the official High Performance Driving School of Dodge//SRT plus a whole lot more. “R-A-D defines the school,” raves Willie. “It’s a playground with four tires,” extols Kevin. With 85 Dodge vehicles on campus – everything from Demons to Hellcats to Vipers – plus Lotus Evora GT and Formula 4 cars – GM Mike Kessler has one of the best jobs in the business. He’s also got amazing stories to share, including the incredible tale of Hellcat Granny that you’ve got to hear to believe!
Skrape is up for anything and everything. The former co-founder of Tapout is known to pick up normal family-style cars on the cheap and transform them into horsepower heroes. His quirky fascination with wagons is well-known…as is his company. Black Widow Exhaust offers a unique line of mufflers with names like Venom, Widowmaker, Neighborhater and Angry Housewife. “It’s all a marketing thing,” he explains to Willie and Kevin, “but you have to have a good product to back it up, which we do.”
SVTPerformance.com is THE go-to online forum for anything performance-related in the Ford world. Launched by Travis Hill in late 2000, today it numbers nearly 200,000 members and counting. “It is just a massive community of Ford enthusiasts who share a passion for just going fast,” Hill tells the guys, compelling even lifelong Mopar fan Willie B to take notice. “Make it, break it, build it better; get out there and have some fun!”
Of the legendary Ken Lingenfelter, Willie says, “I bet more hours of his life have been dedicated to speeding up our rides and our cars and our events than probably anything else in his world.” And a most remarkable world it is! Noting that “there’s so much passion and enthusiasm with this whole car enthusiast side of things,” Ken engages the guys in a lively discussion touching on some of the top VIP moments over the course of his illustrious career, as well as the best, worst and most underrated Corvettes of all time.
Reggie Wynn returns to the podcast for the first time since our inaugural episode and suffice it to say, there’ve been some pretty big developments in turbo tech since then. Turbonetics and Precision Turbo are now making units capable of producing up to 3000 horsepower, and their parent company is the only aftermarket manufacturer offering class-specific turbochargers. “This is the Golden Age of four-digit horsepower,” Kevin excitedly notes. “We are drug addicted with this stuff!”
“Diesel’s here to stay, there’s no question about it now that diesel’s gotten so clean,” says Clint Cannon, and he would know. Willie and Kevin welcome the President of ATS Diesel Performance to the podcast to dissect the popular misconception that EPA-mandated emissions technology is somehow killing performance, instead making the case that OE trucks delivering 500+ hp and 1000+ lb-ft of torque is a clear indication that one is not at the expense of the other.
Believe it or not, there’s another Willie B in the world – his mirrored identical twin, Billy. They’re two chips off the old engine block, each having inherited the car bug gene from their dad. Despite Willie’s well-known affinity for Mopar and Billy’s for GM, the brothers are otherwise symbiotic best friends, competitors, and passionate car guys. Kevin is anything but the third wheel in today’s conversation, chatting with the brothers about all things automotive, including Billy’s new venture in the tuning and dyno business.
Today Kevin and Willie set out to shed some light on the inherent mystery of, and awesome tools available for, tuning your vehicle. Noting that 1000 hp is the new 350, they enlist Jay Payson of HP Tuners to address both the ease and complexity of a successful tune. “We make the tools to tune with and our customers are doing the tuning,” says Jay. “And it’s absolutely remarkable what these guys are able to accomplish.”
Kevin’s buddy of 25 years, Doug DeLong, left the frozen tundra of Detroit for the great outdoors of Colorado, where he founded Well Sorted Automotive to celebrate the wide world of overlanding. As he tells the guys, “Most of what we’re doing is kind of that lifestyle of living the off-grid camp life,” largely by converting vintage trucks for off-roading, adventuring, and camping. Putting modern power in some of these old school platforms and bringing them back to life combines nostalgia with a cool factor that Willie and Kevin absolutely love.
“Horsepower is like a drug; you race somebody and beat ‘em, you can’t wait to race the next guy.” So says John Meaney, the man behind the powerhouse that is Big Stuff 3. A trained engineer and passionate hot rodder, he makes some of the biggest power you’ve ever seen. According to Kevin, “it’s like a whole vehicle management rocket ship computer,” something Willie knows all about firsthand from running the products on his own cars. So, strap in for this one, it’s going to be a very fast ride!
