Thunder Racing Blog

Happy Birthday Camaro: Celebrating 45 Years of Muscle!

Thunder Racing — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:04:01 +0000

Forty-five years ago today, on September 29th, 1966, Chevrolet’s new pony car the Camaro went on sale in dealerships all across the country. Designed to rival Ford’s success with the Mustang, the Camaro immediately became an iconic part of Chevrolet’s history.

From the 1967 Z/28s, to the monster all aluminum 427 c.i. ZL1s, to the upcoming modern supercharged ZL1 Camaro, Chevrolet has constantly been pushing the envelope in pony car performance. While the Camaro certainly missed a few model years, no one could ever claim that it was ever forgotten. Even the Mustang guys have to give a nod to the car whose competition helped push Ford to up the horsepower on the Mustang.

Thunder Racing’s success has been in no small part due to the success of the Camaro. So here’s to the Camaro! We hope to have you around for another forty-five!

P.S. What’s your favorite Camaro model/memory? Let us know in the comments!

Streetcar Shootout Success! Thunder Racing takes Top Awards!

Thunder Racing — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 23:22:35 +0000

This past weekend’s Streetcar Shootout at State Capitol Raceway was once again a success! The weather was beautiful and everyone seemed to have a great time.

For the second time in a row, Thunder Racing took “Top Shop” honors with the most cars represented at the event. Our own tech, Donald, also took first place in the late model naturally aspirated class, running consistent 10.90 passes all day.

Enjoy the pictures and we hope to see you there next time!

Southern Street Machine Shootout II, Saturday March 12th at State Capitol Raceway: Sponsored in-part by Thunder Racing

Thunder Racing — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:28:53 +0000

State Capitol Raceway and Thunder Racing bring you the Southern Street Machine Shootout II, the ultimate in street-legal only drag racing. The race is scheduled for Saturday, March 12th, with gates opening at 8 am. Thunder Racing will have a tent set up at the track, so stop by for a visit, and be sure to pick up your contingency sticker if you’re racing. We will have free swag, plus prizes for Thunder Racing customers that win their classes. So come on out and race, or just watch. It’s an event not to be missed!

Participants must be fully street legal and complete a 30 mile cruise
Tires must be DOT street legal
Win light only — No times to be shown!
Classes for late model cars, classic cars and trucks, both power-adder and naturally aspirated

8 am – Gates Open

10 am – Test-n-Tune Begins

12 Noon – 30 Mile Cruise Begins

Countdown to Christmas with Discounts from Thunder Racing

Thunder Racing — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:39:45 +0000

Thunder Racing invites you to join us in the countdown to Christmas! Starting the night of December 15^th, 2010, we will be offering a daily countdown discount on nearly everything we sell*. The discount will begin at 10% and count down by 1% each day until Christmas.

So hurry now to get the best deals on the hottest high performance gifts, just in time for Christmas.

Dec 15-16^th	Dec 17^th	Dec 18^th	Dec 19^th	Dec 20^th	Dec 21^st	Dec 22^nd	Dec 23^rd	Dec 24^th	Dec 25^th
10%	9%	8%	7%	6%	5%	4%	3%	2%	1%

Thunder Racing would also like to remind you that we will be closed for Christmas on 12/24/2010 and 12/25/2010, and closed for New Years on 12/31/2010 through 01/01/2011. Orders may be placed online during those dates for processing and shipment on the following Mondays when Thunder Racing reopens for normal business operation.

* As usual, some items are exempt from the sale due to existing discount pricing or manufacturer’s minimum advertised pricing policies.

Is it still considered a “Vanity Plate” if it’s true?

Thunder Racing — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:28:27 +0000

Over the years, one of the interesting things that we have observed is the large number of vanity plates on our customer’s cars. It’s not surprising considering the nature of our business, but it got us thinking about all the different variations of “smack down” you can fit into 7 letters or less. Here are a few examples of our customers’ and employees’ vanity tags. We’d love to see yours, too! If you’d like to share your vanity plates, email webmaster@thunderracing.com, or post them on our Facebook wall.

Same Old Dog Redux

Thunder Racing — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:33:35 +0000

Many of you have seen our t-shirts sporting a bulldog posed over a 2010 Camaro and the catch phrase, “Same old dog, all new TRicks!” Imagine our delight when we received this image from a customer named Bob and his bulldog Thunder posed in front of his gorgeous 1968 Camaro, while his 2010 Camaro rests snug in the garage in the background. We loved this photo so much we just had to share it with everyone else. Many thanks to Bob and Thunder for taking the time to set this up and allowing us to post it up for everyone to see!

Southern Street Machine Shootout 11/14/2010 at State Capitol Raceway Sponsored in-part by Thunder Racing

Thunder Racing — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:21:58 +0000

TODAY’s RACE HAS BEEN

RESCHEDULED UNTIL SUNDAY 11/21/10

State Capitol Raceway presents street-legal drag racing with the first Southern Street Machine Shootout on Sunday November 14, 2010! Come out and race or just hang out with the Thunder Racing staff! We’ll have some special swag for anyone who stops by and some big Thunder Racing gift certificates for Thunder Racing customers that win in their classes! Make sure to stop by our tent before racing to pick up your contingency sticker.

Participants must be fully street legal and complete a 30 mile cruise
Tires must be DOT street legal
Win light only — No times to be shown!
Classes for late model cars, classic cars and trucks, both power-adder and naturally aspirated

8 am – Gates Open

10 am – Test-n-Tune Begins

12 Noon – 30 Mile Cruise Begins

Thunder Racing Celebrates 15 Years of Power!

Thunder Racing — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:59:32 +0000

Thunder Racing Celebrates 15 Years of Power!

Since 1995, Thunder Racing has been providing you with the performance parts that you want at great prices and unmatched customer service. To celebrate our 15th year in business, Thunder Racing is offering you 10% off almost everything we sell*, all weekend long. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all of our customers who have put their faith in us over the years. Your business means everything to us!

THANK YOU from the entire Thunder Racing crew!

Angie, Shane, Gene, John, Richard, Sylvia, Bleachers, Tater, and Bradley

* Certain restrictions apply. Please call us toll-free at 877.516.RACE with any questions.

From 1995 ...

... to 2010!

Thunder Racing Ponies-Up a Mustang GT500KR

Thunder Racing — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:15:49 +0000

Recently Thunder Racing had a customer bring us his 2008 GT500KR to do some upgrades on an already impressive machine. The Mustang GT500KR is the special “King of the Road” edition of the famous Shelby GT500, featuring a 540 horsepower 5.4L supercharged V8 with Ford Racing Power Pack upgrade, 3.73:1 rear axle ratio, short throw shifter and a beefed up suspension. Exterior cues include a unique Carbon composite hood, 18-inch wheels and special 40th Anniversary badging along with GT500 KR striping. This rare steed has been immaculately kept with only 800 miles on the odometer.

Installed were a set of Kooks 1-3/4″ headers, X-Pipe w/ Cats and Kooks 2-1/2” catback. We also installed a Metco Auxiliary Idler Kit for added boost (about 3-4 more psi). After a custom tune, 525 rwhp and 539 rwtq were easily achieved on a Mustang Dyno!

Engine makeover for LT1 TransAm

Thunder Racing — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:39:56 +0000

Recently we had the pleasure of having one of our very first customers come back for some work on his car. We first worked on this 1995 TransAm back in…well, 1995…when both the car and Thunder Racing were brand new! The customer has put many miles on the car with the bolt-on parts that we installed back then, but after 15 years, he figured it was time to make a few changes and give the car a complete check-up.

The first thing the customer wanted to do was a cam swap. On a car this age, we opted to go a little farther with it and do a complete tear-down and inspection, and re-gasket the engine. We dropped the engine out and took that opportunity to clean up some battery acid damage on the frame, and give the engine bay a good scrubbing!

Once on the stand, the engine was brought down to a short-block, then completely cleaned before replacing all of the seals and gaskets and adding a new set of LS7 Lifters. It was then buttoned up with a Melling oil pump and a Canton road-race oil pan.

For the valvetrain, Shane spec’d a custom camshaft with 224/230 duation and .573/.568 lift to give the customer just the right amount of “bump.” We added Patriot Extreme valve springs and hardened pushrods, along with a set of Comp Cams 1.6 ratio Ultra-Pro Magnum Rocker arms. The rocker arm studs were upgraded to 7/16″ for added strength.

The original plan was to re-use the customer’s Arizona Speed & Marine mid-length headers, but they were quite corroded after so many years. After checking them over, the customer decided to go with a set of Kooks stainless steel long-tube headers with dual-cat y-pipe. We replaced the old “factory location” Taylor plug wires, with a new set of wires using our Over-the-valve-cover wire kit. To keep with the customer’s red theme, we used matching red Taylor fire sleeves. A Powerbond balancer replaced his factory one that was in poor shape.

We kept the customer’s original Vigilante torque converter, but added a B&M Transmission Cooler to help keep the temps down. To finish things off, the rear end was torn down, inspected and sealed back up with fresh bearings, gasket and fluids. The TA also got the full treatment of Red Line fluids in the engine and transmission.

The end result: A very, very happy customer! We took his 15 year old car, increased the fuel economy, drivability, and horsepower, and did a lot of extra clean-up and general maintenance to add the finishing touches. The customer has done such a good job keeping the interior and exterior of the car up over the years, we were happy to help him get the rest of the car back into shape. It’s our belief that it’s the little details that keep customers like this one coming back to Thunder Racing year after year.