Drag Illustrated Issue 162, November 2020 | Page 46

Special Section
GROWING UP IN MICHIGAN JUST OUTSIDE DETROIT , IT ’ S NOT HARD TO GAIN AN APPRECIATION FOR COOL , FAST CARS AT AN EARLY AGE . FOR PDRA $ HAMELESS RACING PRO OUTLAW 632 RACER WES DISTEFANO , IT WAS THE STRIKING IMAGE OF A ’ 67 CAMARO LAUNCHING ON THE COVER OF HOT ROD THAT INSPIRED HIM TO BUILD PROGRESSIVELY COOLER , FASTER CARS . EVENTUALLY , HE HAD TO START TAKING THEM TO THE RACETRACK . ¶ “ I ’ VE ALWAYS LOVED CARS ,” DISTEFANO SAYS . “ AS I STARTED BUILDING FASTER AND FASTER CARS , PRIMARILY FOR THE STREET , THEY STARTED GETTING A LITTLE TOO FAST FOR THE STREET . AS A KID , I WENT TO A LOT OF RACES – DRAG RACING , CIRCLE TRACK RACING – SO I WAS ALWAYS INTERESTED IN RACING . THE TWO KIND OF JUST CAME TOGETHER : THE INTEREST IN RACING AND THE INTEREST
in cars and the cars getting too fast for the street . That brought me to the track .”
He eventually found his dream car , a ’ 67 Camaro , that ran low 9s in the quarter-mile with a 509ci engine with one kit of nitrous on 295 drag radials . After a couple seasons and various upgrades , Distefano had the car running high 4.90s in the eighth-mile in Outlaw 632 competition . He even dipped into the 4.70s , but it was a handful to drive . He wanted more .
Through some mutual connections , Distefano linked up with engine builder Pat Musi . Distefano was
looking for a newer , purpose-built car to step up his game in Outlaw 632 , but he wanted an engine first .
“ Again , I wanted to be ridiculous with the power ,” Distefano says . “ I wanted everything I could get out of it . I told Pat I want the baddest 632 on the planet . Can you build it for me ? Of course , he accepted the challenge .”
Musi also helped Distefano find the right car for the engine . After a few conversations , Distefano purchased Henry Dogay ’ s “ Cajun Nightmare ” ’ 68 Camaro , which was one of the quickest cars in PDRA Top Sportsman at the time . “ We knew it was a good
car , but we didn ’ t know how good of a car it was ,” Distefano admits .
Distefano and the Camaro , now known as “$ hameless ,” came out swinging in 2019 . He went to two finals in his first three races in PDRA Pro Outlaw 632 competition . He earned his first low qualifier award and event victory at Darlington late in the season . He had some fierce battles with two-time world champion Johnny Pluchino , ultimately coming up just a few rounds behind him in the championship chase .
“ At the end of the day , I just feel I ’ m a competitor ,” Distefano says . “ I like to
compete . That ’ s one thing that I didn ’ t really know going in , but [ the level of competition ] kind of sucked me in with the PDRA . I had quite a few close races that were separated by less than two thousandths of a second . It ’ s about the challenge for me .”
Coming that close to a championship in his first PDRA season motivated Distefano and his $ hameless Racing team for the 2020 season . He went to the finals at the seasonopening East Coast Nationals at GALOT , then added another runnerup finish at Darlington . Then another at Virginia . Yet again , a runner-up finish followed at the second Virginia
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