Becoming competitive in the world of drag racing can often turn into one big game of follow the leader. When a racer proves that a car or engine combination provides a distinct advantage, creations very similar to it begin to multiply. Walk through the staging lanes of any outlaw drag radial event, and you will be enveloped in a sea of late model Ford Mustangs and GM F-bodies. And while other makes and models do indeed compete and compete well, more often than not, those at the forefront run that which is tried and true.

However, every now and then someone comes along who dares to be different and step outside the box: To break up the monotony at the top of a given class’ leaderboard; To give the fans in the stands something to get excited about. Because who doesn’t like to see a big, heavy car that they didn’t expect to haul the mail and take names actually do it?

Enter veteran Heads Up racer Randy Lambert.

Lambert has a very accomplished resume in the world of street car drag racing, with five top-five points finishes in the NMCA and NSCA between 2001 and 2005, a spot in Flowmaster’s exclusive 7-Second Super Street Club, and a Super Street world championship in the now-defunct NSCA in 2005. After a brief hiatus from competition, Randy is currently in the final stages of preparing a 1965 Chevelle for the wildly popular outlaw drag radial class, and his goals, while lofty, shouldn’t be doubted.

Photos courtesy of Randy Lambert.

Built by Chris Acors Race Craft, the classic 25.2 chassised Chevy sports a conventional headed, 580 cubic inch big block Chevy built by Merkel Racing Engines, utilizing twin 88mm Turbonetics turbochargers, fed through a PT4000 liquid-to-air intercooler. The power will be transferred to the Mickey Thompson 315 Drag Radials through anAbruzzi Powerglide transmission and Dynamic torque converter. Weight of the car race-ready is estimated to be in the area of 3,550 pounds.

“We were able to get into the 7-second Super Street Club, and when they [during the Shakedown at E’town] announced the 6-second Club for radial cars, we decided to build a car to try to be a part of that,” stated Lambert.

Lambert, along with his brother and tuner Rodney, are looking to put the new car into the six-second zone in the coming weeks to place themselves right in the mix of the hotly contested radial class. “The car has definitely got the power to do it, but it’s a big old brick, so we’ll see what happens,” says Lambert.

The team plans to test every weekend before hitting the much anticipated east coast swing that includes the Shakedown at E’town Oct 17-18, the Outlaw Radial Tire Championships at Bradenton, Florida 3Oct 23-25, the World Street Nationals in Orlando Oct 29-Nov 1, and the World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway Nov 7-8.

In addition to those previously mentioned, J&E Performance, Billy at StainlessWorks, Dan at Hyperformance, Andy at PHD, Ev at Eb3, Firecore50, and Competitive Wiring helped the Lamberts along the way with the new car. “It’ll be interesting to see what it does,” Randy tells us. For fans of outlaw radial racing, it certainly will.