Drag Illustrated Issue 143, April 2019 | Page 100

INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT LEAD SLED LEA LEVELS UP HER POWERGLIDE B ringing a driver and their car back from a devastating crash is not some- thing everyone can do. The new name of Lea Ochs’ iconic Ford Fairmont wag- on — Lead Sled Resurrection — says it all. After her original car wrecked on the wall at a 2017 Redemption No Prep series event, she and husband Gary Ochs decided not only to keep racing, but to go big- ger and better in every way. Her new car was built from scratch with help from some of the top names in drag racing, including one who happened to be trackside the day of the crash: custom transmission builder Wendell Dunaway of Mr. Wendell’s Motorsports. Wendell is one of the busiest guys in the busi- ness. Famed for Powerglide and 400 builds in some of the world’s fastest cars and his work with Street Outlaws celebrities like Monza, Domina- tor and Chuck Seitsinger, he’s equally as proud to build for bracket racers on tight budgets. Transforming Lea’s old Powerglide into a sleek, high-horsepower titan that would have her back on any surface, at any venue, was right up his alley. Wendell was following Lea’s success on social media long before he met her in person. “She works so hard at everything she does, there was no doubt in my mind that Lea was an up-and- comer,” Wendell said. “Here she was investing in a new build and a big new engine with twice the horsepower…and there’s that saying you hear so many transmission specialists complain about: ‘The budget stops at the flywheel.’ You also need to think about upgrading the transmission and work with a reputable builder to get that match- ing piece of the puzzle. I wanted to be part of her program.” Like any good builder, Wendell has a deep re- spect for his customers and typically never talks in detail about their specific setup. Lea is proud of her custom build, though, and makes no bones about the fact that she wants the world to know she is a serious — and capable — competitor. “We don’t want to just be No Prep people,” Lea said. “Our goal was to make the Lead Sled better than the last one, every single piece of the car, and show off what we can do: Ultra Street, Limited 275, Small Tire, Outlaw Street, True Street, Drag Week. The Powerglide’s perfect because of the flexibility it gives us, and — thanks to Wendell — I’ve got the best of the best. I don’t have to think about the transmission or worry about it at all.” While some racers have made the switch to the 400, especially since the No Prep scene exploded, Wendell emphasized that the Powerglide’s effi- cient design, customizable performance and un- 100 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com The Lead Sled Resurrection’s cutting-edge Powerglide gets two big thumbs up from driver Lea Ochs and custom transmission builder Wendell Dunaway of Mr. Wendell’s Motorsports fame. The Sonnax Edge: Lea’s Custom Powerglide Build Learn more about Mr. Wendell’s approach to revamping Lea’s transmission at www.sonnax.com/lead-sled-lea. 1.58 Extreme Planetary Assembly: Lower-ratio gear set track-proven to 3,000HP gets the power to the ground. Advanced manufacturing and precision engineering guarantee maximum durability from every component. Ring Gear Stabilizer: Reduces stress on gear teeth when staging and prevents vibration so the planetary runs true for less friction and drag. Extreme Strength Output Shaft & Ringless Input Shaft: Guides power safely through the transmission thanks to innovative design and ultra-high-strength materials to stop spline twist and breakage. Smart-Tech® 10-Clutch Drum: The original 10-clutch drum system invented by Sonnax packed with a larger piston for 35% more clutch holding power, essential for keeping the gears applied in a high-power vehicle. Smart-Tech® Ratio-Style Servo: Revolutionary servo keeps the clutch applied in even the most extreme applications to guard against band failure, broken shafts and staging issues. rivaled consistency makes it ideal for drag racing. “High-horsepower cars and heavy cars…peo- ple have a tendency to want to put a 400 in it,” Wendell said. “I argue with them all the time: I’ve got Powerglides in mud trucks, in monster trucks where the wheels are 1,100 pounds apiece, and you’re telling me a Powerglide can’t handle your 3,500-pound car? Plus, the cost to build a Powerglide is significantly less than what it would cost to build the 400 and get the same consistency.” Lea’s old transmission had only one significant upgrade: the Sonnax 1.58 planetary gear set. She switched to this unique ratio from a 1.80 several years before and was happy to keep it with Wen- dell’s blessing. “You can always feel when you pick up horse- power,” Lea said. “We picked up like two tenths just swapping the build with the 1.58 because the shift is quicker and easier to handle, much less vi- olent. The lower ratio has been like night and day.” “She’s running a small-block, LSX motor that Gary built, so the 1.58 is perfect,” Wendell said. “It’s predominantly used in classes that allow ni- trous, turbos and prochargers. You need to slow that driveshaft speed down to allow the car to work, and the 1.58 ratio does that, then all of a sudden you’re putting more power to the launch than you normally would with the other gear ra- tios that are out there.” The 1.58 gear set really put Sonnax on the map with the Powerglide about eight years ago, Wen- dell said. The company had decades of experience developing innovative repairs for transmissions and torque converters, and it took that same ap- proach to Powerglide upgrades: Go after the root cause of the problem. In drag racing, the problem is POWER. Just like Lea, nobody is making less of it, and old-school Powerglide builds can’t handle modern engine output. Today, the 1.58 gear set is only one among dozens of Sonnax upgrades that Issue 143