The Goodridge USA Open House was held on Thursday before the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals and hosted some of the neatest machines across various motorsports disciplines and custom-built hot rods.
Goodridge (https://goodridge.com), a leading manufacturer of performance fluid transfer systems, had Clay Millican’s Top Fuel dragster, as well as the Pro Modified of Derrick Brown. Still, it was the odd-looking race car in the front corner of the parking lot, which drew the attention of those who dropped by the Mooresville, NC.-based facility.
The oddness of Brad McBride’s PDRA Pro Streeter, which runs Goodrich products, quickly grabs the attention of show attendees. It’s no showpiece with primered body panels and front-end but once one realizes what they are looking at, cosmetics become the least important part of the equation.
McBride’s 1963 Volkswagen Fastback, a predecessor to the Karman Gia, is powered by a turbocharged, 1200-horse, 183-cid Volkswagen VR6 powerplant capable of running eighth-mile 4.60s at 150 mph, and if he ran quarter-mile, it would likely be in the mid-seven-second range.
That’s hauling the mail for Volkswagen.
“My wife and I built a Volkswagen Golf 2001 and would take it to shows,” McBride said. “We built it to drag race, but it turned out so good, we showed it a little bit before we started scratching it up. But in that process, I saw how durable these engines are from the Volkswagen company. They come forged crank, HP style rods, from the factory.”
McBride then convinced his wife to let him build another VW, and while it might have been interpreted as another show car, he was planning to build this one for go, not show.
“It’s just been an ongoing process of research development, just trying to get it to go faster and faster, and now we’re in a PDRA, trying to race for the best of them,” McBride added.
McBride’s venture off the beaten path and into VW drag racing comes as a suprise for a kid who grew up working on an alcohol Funny Car.
His father, Larry McBride (not Spiderman McBride) fielded the Starrider Funny Car, formerly driven by Rickie Bowie in IHRA competition. The second-generation McBride could often be found deep inside of the Funny Car doing whatever needed to be done.
“It’s all I ever want to do is drag race, and this is just the way I can afford to do it,” McBride explained, pointing to his VW combination.
“These guys are spending [in PDRA Pro Street] $60 000 – $100,000 on engines, and I’m going out to the junkyard, and getting a $200 junkyard engine, and putting a couple of pieces in it, and going out and racing. And what’s cool about it is, I’m racing these guys with these big budgets, on the very minimal cost. It’s a lot for me, but in comparison to who I’m running, it just makes it easier on me.”
McBride smiles when he points out he’s pushed the classic VW to 4.65-second elapsed time, best at 150 mph. Now that PDRA has relaxed their turbocharged rules for his combination to allow him to run an 80 MM Bog-Worner turbo, he’s looking for the next level.
“We’re hoping to run in the mid-fifties next week as we return to Virginia,” McBride said. “They adjusted the rules a little bit for me. They were just being sticklers with us and making us run a smaller turbo than everybody else, and they let me step up to an 80. So, that’s where we are this week.”
Additionally, McBride has the engine coupled to a Reid Powerglide, which he won in a raffle from the Pro Tree Racers Association.
“Of course, everybody wanted it because, at the time, it’s a Reid transmission,” McBride said. “At that time, it was the best of the best, can hold about 2,500 horsepower. And I was like, ‘No, I believe I’ll save this and put it in something.”
At the time he won it, McBride was running a dragster, and for some reason, he never put it in the dragster, believing one day he’d have something more special for it. As he sees it, this V-Dub is as special as it gets.
McBride has his own belief as to why it was the star of the Goodrich USA show.
“I guess they’re afraid not to scratch it because it looks so rough,” McBride suggested.
Or, maybe because it looks bad to the bone.
“Yeah, that might be it,” McBride surmised.
