For this repeat $2000 Challenge winner, patience paid off | Articles

1st: Derek Penner, 1970 Volkswagen Beetle

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 45.759 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 11.899 sec.
• Concours Score: 23.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1743.03

Sometimes it’s okay to explain the mission–and why you need a good deal. Derek Penner, last year’s overall winner, wanted wider rear wheels for the return engagement of his Beetle/turbo Miata mashup.

“Could you meet me in the middle at $300?” the seller asked.

“$250 is all I got left for wheels in the budget,” Derek explained. 

Then he found another $20.

“Okay let’s do it,” the seller replied. 

Derek then widened those 15-inch alloys to 14 inches across using Bassett wide-five outers: $149.99 each brand-new from Speedway Motors. 

Behind the wheels, and also new for this year, is a custom pushrod bellcrank rear suspension based around some QA1 coil-overs purchased for $200. The nose was new, too, repurposing a Beetle deck lid. The graphics, a nod to the postwar hotrod scene, were also new. 

Derek hasn’t been building rods for years. Before building this Bug, he admits, he had never even done an oil change. He grew up in his grandfather’s cabinet shop, though, learning that details matter. 

The body comes from a 1970 Beetle. It’s perched atop an early Miata suspension. There are some tubes involved, too. He started the build a decade ago. 

Last year, Derek and his team rolled in from Texas. They were the new guys. This time, they headed home as back-to-back champions.

Awards:

• 1st Overall (Biggest trophy and a $1000 Tire Rack gift card) 
• GTU$ Winner (Trophy and a $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store gift card) 
• Fastest Dynamic Time (Trophy and a Tier 1 Membership from AutoBidMaster)
• GTU$ 1st Place Autocross ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
• GTU$ 1st Place Concours (Trophy and a CRC SmartWasher BenchtopPRO Kit from CRC Industries)

2nd: Wreck Racing, 1986 Dodge Conquest TSI

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 48.532 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 12.979 sec.
• Concours Score: 22.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1876.62

Name: Wreck Racing

Age: 22 

That’s how the Georgia Tech team filled out its entry form.

The team hasn’t missed a year, either, and past creations have included a Subaru-powered Honda Insight, a Miata fitted with a Lexus V8 and a Chevy S10 with a rocker arm suspension. They also have a motorized couch that used to be a regular couch but is now self-propelled. 

This project is more than just building a car (or furniture) for an event. It’s been a place to learn, to engineer and to develop skills for later careers. There’s lots of networking, too, as current team partners include companies like Chevron, General Motors, Ford, Cat and 3M.

Last year, Wreck Racing debuted their latest, a Dodge Conquest fitted with an Audi V8 along with its all-wheel-drive system. How do you purchase an Audi V8 for just $1500? The S4’s tire blew so violently that it took out the wiring harness. 

New for this year? Lots of refinements, including new splitter mounts, a hood that fully covers the engine, and separate wings for both the drags and autocross. They even redid the livery–all while staying under budget.

Seriously, hire these kids: wreckracing.gatech.edu.

Awards:

• 2nd Overall (Bigger trophy and a $500 Tire Rack gift card)
• Fastest Student Team (Trophy and a stocked tool cart from Carlyle Tools valued at over $5,500)
• GTU$ 2nd Place Autocross (Trophy)
• GTU$ 2nd Place Concours (Trophy and a $100 Gas Card from CRC Industries)

3rd: Bent Rod Bros, 2001 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 50.005 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 11.390 sec.
• Concours Score: 21.25 pts.
• Budget spent: $1974.52

How to get these seemingly unbelieve deals? Patience–and friends who get you. 

Jonathan Whitaker built this one Camaro from two Camaros, with the leads for both coming from a fellow competitor: “Well, the first one was free because his brother abandoned it at his house and his brother’s wife was like, ‘Get this thing out of my life.’”

 It wasn’t a complete 2001 Camaro, though, but it still had a tube-frame front end, drag racing rear wheels, a nitrous kit, BMR torque arm and more. This Camaro also had T-tops. 

The second Camaro, a 1998 model, didn’t have T-tops–a plus. It also had a T-56 transmission, another plus. He split the $1500 price with Dale Wagner’s team–Dale’s the competitor who found the cars–as they wanted the engine. 

Jonathan’s replacement: “So it has a Gen 3 4.8 LS motor from a truck. And it’s completely stock with the exception of an unknown-brand cam–which we had to measure to figure out what the lift was–and some valve springs.” Jonathan traded a $40 Powerglide for it. The turbo setup was one of the many, many deals found at Daytona International Speedway’s Turkey Run, the gigantic Thanksgiving swap meet.

Justin Taylor, one of Jonathan’s teammates, spent a week tuning everything using the stock ECU. He has a backyard dyno. The setup eventually made 572 horsepower at 10 psi. At our event, it ran an 11.390.

So, about that patience: “It took us a year to build this car,” Jonathan notes.

Awards:

• 3rd Overall (Big trophy and $250 Tire Rack gift card)
• GTU$ 3rd Place Autocross (Trophy)
• GTU$ 3rd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

4th: Car Girl Capital Competition, 2002 Ford Mustang NASA Edition

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 51.741 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 9.678 sec.
• Concours Score: 18.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $2000.00

Not an actual Space Shuttle but nearly as quick: It ran a 9.678 down the drag strip, so about on par with a Tesla Plaid. Team member Dale Wagner says to credit an LS fed by an 88 mm turbo–bought for 50% off during a Black Friday sale–for that thrust. 

Last year, though, the car was a bit of one-trick pony, hanging an inside-rear tire some 6 inches off the pavement. The team worked to fix that in the offseason. 

The team also worked to make the Mustang look good. The tired paint? Gone. In its place, a space theme–teammate Matt Maulfair works at NASA. The team even wore space suits and had genuine Artemis launch debris on display.

“So if you look closely,” Matt says of the NASA logos, “this is done on a Cricut with a 10×10 envelope. So this blue sticker is actually four stickers.” Each star was then cut and placed by hand. The work was done by Dale’s fiancée. The tiles were all drawn with a silver paint pen.

Awards:

• Challengers’ Choice (Trophy and a $500 Tire Rack gift card)
• GTU$ 2nd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

5th: Rob Rabenstein, 2004 Mazda RX-8

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 49.060 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 14.603 sec.
• Concours Score: 18.25 pts.
• Budget spent: $1951.05

“So the quick story is that I wanted a cheap RX-8 because I love them and I wanted to make it cheap,” Rob explains. “RX-8s have a 9000 rpm redline and a 4.44 rear gear.” So, he continues, a swap requires a close-ratio transmission with a super-high overdrive for freeway cruising.

His solution for repowering his RX-8: a Tremec T-5 from a fourth-generation Camaro that pairs with a wide range of 60° V6 engines. He built his own mounts for the swap. “It fits, and they’re cheap,” he adds. “You can buy them for like $100, $150 all day long.” This was the car’s fourth appearance at the $2000 Challenge, with the Mazda showing off some new Mustang Tri-bars this time.

Awards:

• GTW$ Winner (Trophy and a $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store gift card)
• GTW$ 1st Place Autocross ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
• GTW$ 2nd Place Concours (Trophy and a $100 Gas Card from CRC Industries)

6th: Patrick Caherty, 1965 Chevrolet Corvair Monza

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 51.490 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 14.898 sec.
• Concours Score: 21.75 pts.
• Budget spent: $1998.04

It’s 7 p.m. the night before the car goes onto the trailer for the trip down from Michigan. The lower half of the front fender is missing. Patrick still needs to weld it all back together. Welcome to the $2000 Challenge. 

Why the late start on a car that’s been to the event before? During its 2024 appearance, the engine of Patrick’s Corvette-powered Corvair came apart, so he had to replace the short block. 

He came out of retirement to teach high school auto shop, he adds, and that took up way more time than he expected. “Also, because I’m a terrible planner.”

The big news for this year: a swap to C4 Corvette ZR1 wheels wrapped with giant Hoosiers. The rear setup featured 17×11-inch wheels wrapped with 335/35R17 rubber. 

To make those tires fit, custom box flares of a sort were made by first slicing apart the stock sheet metal. “Then I slipped a 36-inch length of steel into the slot, traced the body line onto it, and marked the desired width from that line every 4 inches. Now I just connect the dots and cut it out on the band saw. Boom, skip the CAD and go straight to manufacturing.”

Awards:

• GTU$ 3rd Place Concours (Trophy and a case of assorted products from CRC Industries)

7th: Daniel Cummings, 2006 Mazda5

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 52.538 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.481 sec.
• Concours Score: 21.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1932.38

“So it’s a 2006 Mazda5, stock drivetrain untouched,” Daniel starts explaining nonchalantly. After a brief pause, he moves to the action sitting behind the front seats: a V8 engine from a Chevy Avalanche paired with the automatic gearbox and rear subframe from a C5 Corvette. He built a 12-cylinder minivan. 

The reasoning, though, is sound–at least to those who, like Daniel, are regulars at the event. His LMP360, a homebuilt, Subaru-powered, sports racer-type creation that almost looked like a scaled-down IMSA racer, took top honors at the $2000 Challenge in 2022. Since then, it has become a Gridlife Time Attack car.

“I got kind of tired of blowing Subaru engines because they’re a little bit expensive to rebuild,” he explains. He decided to convert the diminutive racer to LS power but needed a street-legal platform for durability testing. 

“I started buying parts and realized, ‘I’m going to only be into this for like two grand. I can bring it as a Challenge car.’ The first time we touched the Mazda was February 7. And so, 60 days later, this is what we have.”

Why does he regularly make the rather long trip in from Illinois? “The people,” he says. “You know, there’s got to be something wrong with you to put 12 cylinders in a minivan, but there are five people here that would do the same thing.”

Awards:

• GTW$ 1st Place Concours (Trophy and a CRC SmartWasher BENCHTOPPRO Kit from CRC Industries)

8th: Budget Bearcat Motorsports, 2004 Mazda RX-8

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 51.867 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.328 sec.
• Concours Score: 18.25
• Budget spent: $1358.96

They were advised to keep it simple. They decided not to. For their senior project, five University of Cincinnati engineering students decided to build a car for the $2000 Challenge. 

For $400, they became the owners of a “stripped-out, Bondo-filled RX-8 with an uninstalled engine.” And, the seller added, that engine might need apex seals. Spoiler alert: It did.

What to put in its place? An LS swap was old news, the team figured, but what about a BMW inline-six? They found an M54B25–this one came from a 2004 325i–for $300. After negotiations, they bought it for $220.

Now to make it fit. “We didn’t fully understand the size of the engine before picking it up off Facebook,” they wrote in their build book. “The markerspace at our school has a 3D scanner, and becoming certified to use the equipment was free, so we decided to scan the BMW engine and the RX-8 engine bay.” 

To make the engine fit, they moved the steering rack and anti-roll bar mounts down and fabricated new engine mounts. Adding hood vents created clearance, too. They also had to design an adapter to retain the original manual box. Despite the advice to keep it simple, recent grads Caiden Roos, Isaac White, Collin Huff, Colin Sorensen and Anthony Fultz completed their own complex plan.

Awards:

• GTN$ Winner (Trophy and a $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store gift card)
• GTN$ 1st Place Autocross ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
• GTN$ 1st Place Concours (Trophy and a CRC SmartWasher BenchtopPRO Kit from CRC Industries)

9th: Michelle Tootle, 2000 Chevrolet S10

Photograph by Colin Wood

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 54.672 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 11.734 sec.
• Concours Score: 16.625
• Budget spent: $1989.95

What brings them back to the $2000 Challenge? The people. Chris and Michelle Toole–along with their children–have been regulars at the event for a decade. “Like, we don’t even care if the car breaks down anymore,” Chris says. “It’s just coming to hang out.”

Their turbocharged, LS-powered truck tried to break down, though, as a battery cable caught fire during a run. The Gainesville Raceway safety crew extinguished it–very quickly, Michelle adds. 

The truck has been at the $2000 Challenge before, but new for this year, it now sports Volvo power steering and a warrantied turbo to replace the one that blew up last year. Where they ran a 13.7 last year, this time they clicked off an 11.7-second pass.

10th: Michael Crawford, 2014 Ford Fiesta ST

Photograph by Colin Wood

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 52.095 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.445 sec.
• Concours Score: 18 pts.
• Budget spent: $654.45

“He was done with it,” Michael says. “It was making what sounded like a rod knock when I picked it up. Turned out to be a collapsed driver-side motor mount making valvetrain noises.” And it still makes those noises, Michael reports: “Still not sure it’s not going to blow up.” 

Nearly all of the mods done by the previous owner needed to be redone–missing hardware, stuff like that–but the car achieved its main goal: It got Michael back into motorsports. “And I couldn’t remember why I quit,” he adds. He ran four autocrosses with the car before the $2000 Challenge: “And I found the joy in motorsports again. And it’s mostly the people.”

Awards:

• Highest-Scoring $1000 Budget Car (Trophy and $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store Gift Card)
• GTN$ 3rd Place Autocross (Trophy)
• GTN$ 2nd Place Concours (Trophy and a $100 Gas Card from CRC Industries)

11th: Night Owl Racing, 1959 Autobianchi Bianchina Trasformabile

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 56.811 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 13.730 sec.
• Concours Score: 19.75 pts.
• Budget spent: $1896.77

Everyone needs a bad influence. In this case, blame the Georgia Tech team.  

The year was 2023, and Ethan Foster and Joseph Riggs were students at nearby Kennesaw State University. They loved cars and couldn’t find what they wanted on campus, so they borrowed a page from Georgia Tech and started their own $2000 Challenge team. They made their debut the following year in a box-flared, V6-powered Ford Fiesta.  

The team now counts some 30 members and built something new for this year. The shell is a gifted Autobianchi Trasformabile, an Italian microcar unveiled in 1957. This one, the team figures, has been sitting since about that time.  

Power came from a wrecked Suzuki GSX-R1000–yes, it was loud–with a 1999 Miata donating its subframes. To make everything fit, the team had to lengthen the Autobianchi body. Now to go full circle: Testing and tuning was done with Georgia Tech. And like Georgia Tech, more future engineers await your call.

Awards:

• Editors’ Choice (Trophy and a $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store gift card)

12th: Andrew Grannis, 2002 Nissan Sentra

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 52.399 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 14.119 sec.
• Concours Score: 14 pts.
• Budget spent: $1722.46

Before factory-authorized, homologated race cars dominated today’s professional ranks, teams had to build their own. Archangel Motorsports and Multimatic Motorsports–both big winners at Daytona and elsewhere at the highest ranks of sports car racing–developed a pair of factory-supported Nissan Sentras for the Grand-Am Cup, the predecessor of today’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge.  

Chatter on Bring a Trailer figures $200,000 in development costs for the two-car program. The Sentras ran for just part of two seasons, though, with the transmissions being weak links. Andrew found one of the cars via the GRM forum, its glory days long ago and its built inline-four replaced with a V6 from a Maxima. Selling price for the car was $1300.  

Andrew’s initial inspection revealed good and bad news: “Lots of high-quality AN lines/fittings, remote-reservoir Multimatic shocks, an incredible stainless-steel exhaust system, a plywood bumper mount and a hacked-up subframe!”

13th: John Sommersdorf, 1998 Ford Mustang

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 52.298 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 13.247 sec.
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $1235.28

A dog chewed the wiring harness, and someone misplaced the title. That’s how John got this Mustang for free. 

The V6 had fresh heads, so he sold them. Next came a replacement: A QA1 tubular crossmember and lower control arms–$150 at a swap meet–allowed him to fit an LS grabbed from a 300,000-mile Tahoe. The headers, wiring harness, line lock and accessory brackets came from today’s home of bargains too good to be true, Temu.

Awards:

• GTW$ 3rd Place Autocross (Trophy)
• GTW$ 2nd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

14th: Motorsports At UAH, 1999 Nissan Sentra

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 51.943 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.234 sec.
• Concours Score: 14 pts.
• Budget spent: $1962.25

Government auction, oval track racing and then autocross as an engineering tool for students attending the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The school team bought the car for $300. It had already lived a busy life. 

Then, while at Petit Le Mans, some of those students ran into part of Georgia Tech’s team. You should totally come down to the $2000 Challenge, they were told. So they did–and they learned stuff while finishing second in class on the autocross course. 

 “Our local autocross has a habit of producing some national champions,” the team’s Sarah Mulligan explains. “So when we’re running local autocrosses and we’re going against these guys, we’re like, ‘Ow, we gotta make the car better.’”

The revelation? “It tends to do really well when you have a bunch of people with the same constraints.”

And, as the team’s Connor Bingle notes, the team learned how to better work under those constraints: “We went and looked around at everybody’s build books, and it was very, very informative about what we can do and where we should go to get parts and stuff.”

Awards:

• GTN$ 2nd Place Autocross (Trophy)
• GTN$ 2nd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

15th: Mech Motorsports; Bay Area Insurance Shop, 2002 Volkswagen GTI VR6 24V

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 53.615 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.688 sec.
• Concours Score: 14.25 pts.
• Budget spent: $1986.71

Ron Horwitz used this GTI to get back into motorsports. Last year was his first $2000 Challenge; this was his second. In between, he shared the car at events with his wife and their sons. 

He also replaced an aftermarket intake with the stock airbox. That immediately solved some drivability issues. 

What brought him back for a second appearance? “The people,” he says. “Last year [we] had a mechanical problem. The number of people who jumped in and were able to solve it was absolutely incredible.”

16th: Anthony Vallancourt, 1993 Nissan 240SX

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 54.591 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 14.246 sec.
• Concours Score: 13.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1819.89

“As I was a grocery store bagger,” Tony recalls of his prepubescent days, “I made my way to the parking lot on a regular basis to collect grocery carts and noticed this beautiful Aztec Red 1993 240SX. Because of my low-ranking position at the store, I could stand in the parking lot and admire this mechanical Pegasus for long periods of time without anyone curious of my whereabouts.” 

Many years later, he picked up this one. Its stock KA24DE had already been turbocharged. He found the Nissan, a parking lot anchor, he explains, neglected and looking sad. Its repair bill had not been paid. 

Tony bought the car for $500–he knew the shop owner just wanted it gone–and got it running again. Most parts came from eBay, with Tony, Shaun Hammitt and the 240SX being regular fixtures at our event since 2019. Between events, the car sits. “We charge the battery once a year,” Shaun says. “Every time you turn the key, it starts right up,” Tony adds.

Awards:

• GTW$ 3rd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

17th: Chris Rodrigues, 2004 Chrysler Crossfire

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTU$
• Autocross Time: 52.508 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.423 sec.
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $1000.00

Rinse and repeat: Chris returned with the same car he purchased from longtime $2000 Challenge participant Jonathan Whitaker for an even grand. All Chris did was remove some weight.

18th: William Sommersdorf, 1998 BMW Z3

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 53.250 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.060 sec.
• Concours Score: 12 pts. 
• Budget spent: $1095.00

“When we arrived to look at it, the car was rough,” William recalls. “Passenger floor had 6 inches of standing water. Driver’s side had a watermark indicating that it also had standing water in the past.” 

The car hadn’t run in three years, either, but at least it had a manual transmission. Asking price: $1000. He purchased a used alternator via eBay, and the car came back to life. William put the top down after buying the car, but now it won’t go back up.

19th: Lake Tech Racing, 2007 Nissan 350Z

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 55.383 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.008 sec.
• Concours Score: 14 pts.
• Budget spent: $1913.94

Peter Brock’s BRE team didn’t just dominate SCCA pro and amateur racing. The effort took Datsun to Mexico, too, with Brock personally driving a then-new 240Z in the 1970 Baja 1000. Ray Ferreira and Gary Savage built more than a tribute out of a 350Z convertible; the creation is officially licensed by BRE. 

They didn’t build this car alone, though, as the bodywork on the former Lemons racer was done by students from Central Florida’s Lake Tech. The finish, they note, was done with tractor paint.

Awards:

• GTW$ 3rd Place Concours (Trophy and a case of assorted products from CRC Industries)

20th: Scuderia Carpa-n-Cur, 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 56.045 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 16.515 sec.
• Concours Score: 14.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1559.00

Couldn’t sleep and started browsing Facebook Marketplace. We’ve all been there, right? That’s how Alan Lani came across this PT Cruiser, a former Lemons racer. He bought it for $930. That’s when he realized he could also enter it in the $2000 Challenge.

He had a few small hurdles to overcome–like a rear suspension locked down with seat belts–but the biggest was the car’s appearance. Previously, he explains, it resembled a creamsicle: orange on top, white on the bottom. He planned to cover those sins with an all-black paint job, but the base finish was just too rough. The fix: bedliner topped with Army green.

Awards:

• GTN$ 3rd Place Concours (Trophy and a case of assorted products from CRC Industries)

21st: Christine F.A.R.T. (Family Auto Racing Team), 2004 Ford Mustang GT

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTW$
• Autocross Time: 54.250 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.232 sec.
• Concours Score: 10.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1831.01

Was it a complex build? No, not really.

Did it get a family involved? Yep. 

Matthew (son), Scott (dad) and Freddie (mom) Christine purchased a Mustang that was hurt: a blown-out spark plug, a somewhat common occurrence with these Ford mod motors. They paid $1800 for the car–it was originally listed at $2000–before retapping the cylinder head.

22nd: Sunshine Racing, 2003 Ford Focus SVT

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 55.455 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 16.682 sec.
• Concours Score: 13.5 pts.
• Budget spent: $1997.92

He just wanted a car for grad school. Instead, he got an adventure. This started just two weeks before the $2000 Challenge.

“During my drive north to Michigan from Atlanta,” Kyle Socha says of the trip home with his $1500 purchase, “the car overheated due to a cracked thermostat housing.” He now had a cylinder head to resurface. 

The Thursday before the competition, he could finally start the engine–but the timing was off. “I felt defeated,” he says. Dad helped and, to the best of their ability, they retimed the engine. Kyle’s reward? A 16-hour drive to Gainesville, Florida, for the $2000 Challenge.

23rd: Charles Graham, 1997 Lincoln Mark VIII

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 57.020 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 15.239 sec.
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $1737.23

“I thought the Lincoln, with rack-and-pinion steering, IRS and more horsepower, would make a better, more interesting RallyCross car,” Charles tells us. He had previously been running a Crown Vic. The Lincoln had been sitting at a small Southern California dealer for years: no battery, no brakes and a massive oil leak.  

Charles dragged the car back home to Las Vegas, fixed the issues and took it RallyCrossing. He ran the car at Bonneville, too, reaching 124.6 mph. 

“After the Bonneville event, I have taken the Mark to numerous RallyCrosses, but I have wanted to attend the $2000 Challenge for some time. I figured a road trip in the Lincoln to Gainesville would be a worthy challenge for the old car.”

Awards:

• GTN$ 3rd Place Drag Racing (Trophy)

24th: Chris Tootle, 2000 Mazda Miata

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 56.546 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 17.227 sec.
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $500.00

Sometimes the fix is easy. Chris bought this Miata for $500. It wouldn’t start. Because he and his wife track Miatas, he knew that he had some spare drivelines in case the situation was that dire. 

The problem here? Crank angle sensor incorrectly installed. Chris only cleaned up the interior but has a turbo waiting for next year.

25th: Leg Up Racing, 1994 Honda EX Coupe

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 56.793 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 17.546 sec.
• Concours Score: 11 pts.
• Budget spent: $1750.56

The ad sought $2000 followed by those all-important letters: OBO. As an EX model, the Civic coupe came with the single-cam VTEC engine–one with some headwork already completed and backed by a Stage 2 clutch. The ad also mentioned the mileage: 245,000. “This could be great for my 16-year-old son,” Jonathan Pruden told the seller. “Does he know how to drive manual?” the seller replied. Sold for $1600.

26th: Racekor Stuff, 1994 BMW 325ish

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 58.646 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 19.307
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $1805.30

This should have been easy. It wasn’t. But at least lessons were learned. 

Austin Cannon, the New Guy at the GRM office, attended his first $2000 Challenge last year. I gotta build a car, he proclaimed: “In less than a week, I found a rusty 1994 BMW 325i that didn’t run and didn’t have a title, and I impulsively purchased it for $1000 when I certainly should not have.”

Narrator: He was right.

Austin eventually got the BMW running, but it was still rusty–way too rusty for someone who’s never fixed rust. So he picked up a cleaner E36 for just $400. Just swap the good engine into the good chassis and go, right?

Not so fast. The new car had a four-cylinder engine. The original one had the inline-six. Austin’s one-day engine swap involving the entire GRM editorial staff became a six-day affair. Bolts were broken, plugs didn’t want to plug and a security system had to be bypassed. 

After overstaying its welcome on the GRM lift, the BMW finally came to life. But it was (still) ugly. A buddy offered to paint it: Friends helping friends, Austin says.

“We wanted to model the car after Randy Pobst’s Super Touring E36,” Austin explains, “but the color turned out much darker than expected–so we rush-ordered some silver flake to try to brighten it up a bit.”

Austin and his BMW, now wearing fresh Falkens, made it to the big day, but between work duties and one cylinder not home, he was happy to just post times in both dynamic events. 

His big lesson learned: “Go with what you know and be patient. I had intentions of buying a 350Z for the Challenge–a car I already own–but had cash burning a hole in my pocket and bought a car I shouldn’t have.”

27th: BAR Racing, 1994 Acura Integra

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 57.350 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 16.889 sec.
• Concours Score: 0 pts.
• Budget spent: $28.47

“There is a long-running joke about Tony never wearing pants in his house,” Britt Mann explains. “I can confirm this. I used to live with him, and if you need further proof, call or text my wife.”

So one day, Britt made a bet: Catch Tony wearing pants in the house, and Brittain could have Tony’s Integra for a buck. 

“I recall the day,” Britt continues. “It was a Tuesday. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping. There was a rainbow with a pot of gold at the end.”

And that was the day Britt caught Tony wearing pants in the house. They were jorts. “This counts as pants,” our new Integra owner proclaims. “He knew he had lost, so here I am with a 1994 Integra that I bought for $1, and someday I will get the actual paper title.”

28th: Brett Murphy, 2005 Subaru WRX

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 58.425 sec.
• Drag E.T.: 29.545 sec.
• Concours Score: 9 pts.
• Budget spent: $932.53

Someone drew a little skull and crossbones on the hood scoop. “When I turn the key–you know that awful noise when an electric motor tries to spin and can’t do it? That’s what it’s doing.” Based on the bolt head found in the oil filter, he thinks the oil pickup tube came loose.

“But we met our goal competing in the half-budget class,” Brett notes, “and it made it all the way through the events.” He found the 270,000-mile Subaru on a farm, but the transmission was dead. Fortunately, the WRX that he ran at last year’s $2000 Challenge came with a spare.

29th: Lisa Bundy, 2002 Saab 9-3

Photograph by Dave Green

• Class: GTN$
• Autocross Time: 57.908 sec.
• Drag E.T.: n/a
• Concours Score: 12 pts.
• Budget spent: $600.00

The Saab came with a special feature: an engine that went tick, tick, tick. It was a birthday present for Randy Pobst, our event’s special guest.

New rod bearings? It still went tick, tick, tick.

Super-thick oil? It still went tick, tick, tick.

Thinner oil? It still went tick, tick, tick.

Marvel Mystery Oil? You can guess.

The $2000 Challenge was coming up, so Randy figured he’d enter the automatic convertible–the Kelley Blue Book website says it has a trade-in value of $600. “And a great way to get ladyfriend Lisa into performance driving, too,” adds the much-loved racer. 

Prep? He bled the brakes (for safety) and that’s it.

And throughout the entire race weekend, the Saab still went tick, tick, tick.

Over Budget? Come Anyway!

The more, the merrier, right? So we opened up the grid to all comers, not just cars built for $2000. We welcomed former national champs, modern supercars and even Howard Duncan, the man who ran SCCA’s national autocross program for some 30 years. 

The fastest car around the cones, though, was built by students–specifically those at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a giant in the world of aviation and aerospace. And the fastest thing with fenders to make a run was Oscar, the green Miata owned by Nick and Caitlin Dunlap that’s been a fixture on the national scene for years.

Over-Budget Results

Photograph by Dave Green

Autocross

1. Dene Schulze-Alva, 2013 Mazda Miata Club ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
2. Gabriel Londres, 2008 Volkswagen GTI (Trophy)
3. Robbie Cutcliffe, 1981 Fiat X1/9 (Trophy)

1. Dan Simionescu, 2008 Mazda MX-5 Miata ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
2. Brad Alderman, 2020 Mazda Miata (trophy)
3. Beau Beery, 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata (trophy)

1. Nick Dunlap, Oscar ($500 Tire Rack gift card)
2. Caitlin Dunlap, Oscar (trophy)
3. Aaron Politsky, 2008 Chevrolet Z06 (trophy)

Photograph by Colin Wood

Drag Racing

1. Max Tannenbaum, 1990 Hyundai Sonata (trophy)

1. Dante Dimenichi, 1985 Buick Regal (trophy)

1. Kyle Cox, 2021 Ford Mustang GT500 (trophy)

• Quickest car competing in an over-budget class: Kyle Cox, 2021 Ford Mustang GT500 – 8.859 (trophy and a prize from BendPak)

Photograph by Colin Wood

FSAE 

• Fastest FSAE Team: ERAU Motorsports, 2026 FSAE ER-X (trophy and a $250 Grassroots Motorsports Store gift card)