RPM built the car for one of their longtime customers, Gerry Kerna, who was interested in competing in the autocross, as well as adding to her show car collection.

The Runt may have a funny name, but the car is no joke! With custom fabricated chassis, LS7, Tremec 6-Speed and all kinds of custom body modifications, this cherry beast will definitely have the last laugh at anyone who dares to challenge Kerna on the track.

The Runt not only won Goodguys Muscle Machine of the Year award for 2011, but it also was invited to join the elite at OUSCI this year.

Anyone who takes the time to  peek under the hood of the Runt will definitely appreciate the quality and hard work that went into building this car.  Of course, we’re especially delighted by the  awesome custom Spectre intake.  Not only did RPM add their own unique coating to the aluminum tubes, they utilized the inline filter option we have, making a lot of people question where the filter went. Ooh, a mystery!

We will be working closely with RPM in the future and hope they will continue to use Spectre’s parts to build custom intakes for their one off cars.  We also will have a special surprise that we are working with RPM which will debut mid March.  Stay tuned for sneak peeks.

Recently though, we started thinking about all the great rookies we meet. When we go to shows, we meet whole families building cars together, and we really think it’s cool to talk with kids who are just getting their driving permits about their car interests and driving goals. We guess you could call them “new shoe” drivers, but we think of them as SPIs…Spectre People of Interest.

We decided that our new shoe drivers deserve as much attention as the hot shoes, so with no further ado, we’d like to introduce Sam Farrington, our very first “SPI” highlight.

Name: Sam Farrington
Age: 15 1/2

We first met Sam at the Good Guys Nashville show in May, 2011. Sam had been working his way through the passenger seat of all the vendor cars and when he ended up next to Brandy in the Carbon Camaro, she had a chance to chat with him while they prepared to run.

Sam was a pro at these Goodguys Shows. He and his family have been attending car shows and pro-touring races longer than many of us have been in the industry!

Sam’s parents Tom and Debbie are active car people. Tom has a ’66 Chevelle he races and Debbie has a ’64 Chevelle Wagon. Sam told us that both his parents encouraged him to get involved in building and working on the cars. If something on one of the cars needs to be checked, Sam is there alongside his dad looking under the hood of the car.

We ran in to Sam and his family at many more events this summer, including Run to Music City, Midwest Musclecar Challenge and Goodguys Indy. Sam was known as the “professional passenger.” He had more seat time as a passenger at the Goodguys Nashville Show than any one person did as a driver; and Brian Finch drove a lot of cars that weekend!

We spoke with Sam’s parents about his car adventures. They had been working with him on basic skills such as parking and even some autocrossing. Sam had also spent some time one summer with Detroit Speed. Kyle and Stacy had taken him in and he helped them around the shop.

Give or take a year… this kid will be kicking everyone’s butt and by the time he is 18 and allowed on a Goodguys track, all of us old timers won’t be able to keep up with Sam.

Sam impressed us because he quickly saw that you do not need a car to learn to drive and be competitive. Sam already has the experience years beyond his age. His seat time as a passenger has already helped him become a better driver. Even more so, his seat time with multiple drivers has taught him several different driving styles that he can apply to his own when he finally gets to switch seats and get behind the wheel. He’s already giving his mom and dad pointers when they take out their Chevelles. We know he’s eager to challenge his sister Kaytlin on the autocross and the skills that both Farrington kids learn on the race track will make them safer drivers on the street as well.

Keep an eye out for Spectre parts on the Farrington’s wagon and hopefully a custom install on Sam’s car when it is ready.

“Ryan Matthews from DSE brought intense competition to the table while driving the DSE 1963 Nova Friday and Saturday.  He and I played a game of cat and mouse for two straight days.  As I pulled ahead a tenth of a second, Ryan would catch up and bump me down to second place.  Next round I would come back and knock him down pulling ahead another tenth of a second.  This game went on for multiples laps- finally resulting in Trent from Goodguys (the coordinator of the autocross) refusing to update the score board until the end of the day for Ryan and my scores.

Phil Gerber from the Roadster Shop was a close third while driving Chris and Linda’s 1966 Chevelle.  The chevelle has given everyone quite a run for their money including myself.  Chris, who took first in the Street Machine class, is one phenomenal driver and is only getting better each time he comes out to an autocross event.  It was also nice to see his wife Linda who was racing her Chevelle out there improving on her own times and having fun.

Saturday afternoon called for big storms.  I was able to stay in first throughout the day, though Ryan ran his fastest run Saturday falling just 9/100’s of a second behind my quickest time.  We would like to thank Ryan and all of DSE team for all their support for the Spectre team.  If Ryan had beaten me it would have been a well deserved win, but luckily I was able to stay ahead of him by that nine-hundredths of a second.  Ryan and I both agreed that the next autocross is always a new day with new competition.  He is a fantastic role model to watch and learn from.  Ryan has been great help throughout the year offering advice and making sure I am doing all right throughout the day.  In a way it’s like having a big brother out there.  He wants to help me but also wants to kick my butt! Haha.”

Congrats on holding the victory, Brandy! We’re proud of you!

BATTLE OF THE CHEVY AVEO – by Brandy Morrow

Sunday came and the weekend was finally coming to an end  at the Goodguys Show at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL.  The vendors participating in the autocross were pretty tired after two full days of racing, and that often leads to “creative” racing.

Chad Reynolds from Bangshift.com who is also the MC for most Goodguys Autocross Events had rented a Chevy Aveo for the weekend.  This car was a bright yellow bare-bones rental car.  Now I am not quite sure who had the brilliant idea to take it around the autocross, but next thing I know, that poor car is packed with 5 people and is sitting at the starting line of the autocross waiting for the green light.  Sure enough the battle of the Chevy Aveo had begun.

It ended with 5 different drivers battling on who could drive the Chevy Aveo around the autocross course with the quickest time.   Chad hopped in around midday on Sunday to prove to everyone that he was the best Chevy Aveo driver of them all.  Surprisingly the Aveo held up; though it looked like it wanted to tip over half the time.  The other Aveo drivers finally gave up and let Chad have his victory.  Besides being badly outgunned by Chad’s amazing Aveo driving skills, I think most of the passengers (especially those in the back seat) were getting pretty car sick.

On one of the final runs, Jason Childress from Gateway Classic Mustangs decided to run the Aveo backwards.  After  successfully going all the way through to the finish line backwards, the Chevy Aveo was the most popular car in the pits for the rest of the day.  This is serious racing, folks.

Thanks to Bangshift and Bob Chiluk for the photo!

Spectre may have a “take no prisoners” attitude on the track, but we’re still going to shows to make friends, and Joliet, IL was no exception. Despite a dire weather forecast, we met up with some old friends and made some new ones at the Chicagoland Nationals.

Our show weekend started out with the now traditional  Good Guys vendor karting challenge Thursday night before the show. We’d like to congratulate Keith Mac Donald from Detroit Speed for winning the Vendor Karting race Thursday night.  This time, Keith took first with Ed Capen from Goodguys taking a close second.  Nice Job Keith!!!

Since Joliet is hometown to many vendors including Roadster Shop and Peak Performance, the autocross track was packed.  Vendors including RideTech, DSE, Gateway Classic Mustangs, RPM, Roadster Shop, Heidt’s, and many more all showing and competing. Brandy certainly had her work cut out for her on the track!

Keeping the Carbon Camaro company on the autocross course this weekend was RPM’s “Runt,” which is a 1962 Chevy Nova custom build.  RPM built the car  for Gerry Kerna.  Curt and his crew had done some testing with “The Runt” before coming to Chicagoland Speedway, but this would be the car’s first official full weekend on a Goodguys’ autocross track.  Curt ran the car Friday and Saturday, working out all the kinks and seeing how it would handle around the tight corners of the autocross.  Gerry ran the car Sunday for her first official Goodguys autocross.  Gerry was an autocross newbie, but she had a great line on the course and did very well.  Gerry will be some great competition in the very near future.

On Sunday, Goodguys opened the car show to all American cars.  We had several Camaros, a couple of Mustangs and an 1993 Nissan 240sz with an LS swap and slicks. It was good to see all years allowed into the show.

In the Spectre booth we  had one of our customers, Rich Bryant, with his ’65 Chevelle featuring a Spectre Make/ Model Specific Bolt on cold air intake.  The car a great addition to our booth and it  received a lot of attention. Big thanks to Rich for displaying in the Spectre Booth.

At the end of the weekend came awards.  Throughout the weekend Curt Ukasik, owner of RPM Hot Rods, had his daughter out at the show.  Ashley rode as passenger while Curt drove the Runt around the autocross track.  She also made a great motivational coach, cheering her dad and Gerry on along with all the other autocross competitors.  At the end of the weekend, Brandy asked Ashley if she would help present awards.   Ashley did a fantastic job, helping carry awards to the participants and even presenting Brandy with the 1^st place Vendor at the Autocross.  Ashley is a fantastic kid who we all hope to see behind the wheel alongside the rest of us someday.  She has 8 more years before she gets her driver’s license  and then she has to convince her father to build her a car.  The second one shouldn’t be too hard, right?

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