SYDNEY bloke Dominic Pelle campaigns one of the stealthiest rides on Drag Challenge 2017. His unassuming HK Kingswood is powered by a six-litre LS engine with a sizeable turbo, and it’s far quicker than it looks.

Dom has owned the car for 20 years, and it served as his faithful daily for years with a red motor and a Powerglide auto. He gave it a birthday in 2000, and since then it’s been fitted with a variety of engine combos, including a small-block Chev, an RB30 turbo and a 5.7-litre LS with a T04Z turbocharger, which yielded an 11.1-second pass at Drag Challenge 2016.

The 6.0-litre LS was fitted during the year but it’s still a budget-minded combo, boosted by a Chinese turbo. It ran 10.20@135mph in the lead-up to Drag Challenge, and while the heat has knocked the car around on Day One and Day Two, Dom hopes that cooler conditions and a bit more boost might see the car dip into the nines towards the pointy end of the week.

“The most enjoyable part for us is driving; I’ve done 25,000km in this car in the past 18 months,” said Dom. “The drag racing is a massive part of it, but 70 per cent of it is the driving and the touring around and getting photos in places you’ve never seen before.”