David Gallimore from Durham, North Carolina is at Hot Rod Drag Week 2023 campaigning a turbo Barra-powered 1971 Chevelle. “It’s a green top FG motor with Kelford 218-B cams and a Precision 7576 turbo,” said David when we caught up with him on day two.

“I only had about 40 miles on the motor before this week, but it’s going good. In terms of power, we called it at 512rwhp at 15psi. I ordered the wrong plugs and on anything more than 15psi we’re getting spark blowout, so we’re going to play it safe and leave it as is to survive the week and so I can get used to how the car acts at the track. Big thanks to the Haltech masters Barely Able Racing and Ben Neal for getting me set up and on the road.”

“The first day I ran an 11.29, and today I improved with an 11.10. It’s only on a safe tune for now but after Drag Week I’m going to get Empire Mechanical from Sydney to do a remote tune for it and really push it and hopefully get it run the nines,” he said.

The Chevelle was previously running a 572ci big block before David decided to give the Barra swap a go. And he’s used plenty of Aussie aftermarket parts to smooth the way, including a Castlemaine Rod Shop adaptor for the 4L80 auto ‘box, a set of Tuff Mounts, 6Boost pipes and Haltech Elite 2500 ECU.

David is a bit of a fan of Australia and he and his wife even honeymooned in Oz. Not only that, but Dave has bought a Falcon in Australia and is planning to take in Street Machine Drag Challenge in 2024. We’d love to see that!

In the meantime, keep up with Dave’s antics at @dirtydavesaltygoosegarage on Instagram.