This year’s Hot Rod Drag Week took place in the middle of September. But its echoes still linger on, tiny as they may be. Both literally and figuratively, thanks to an eight-second Miata nicknamed “Turtle.”
The cool competition involving street-legal racers that run the quarter miles every day for five straight days crowned a 2019 Corvette manhandled by Dave Schroeder as the fastest street car in America. It ran an average time of fewer than seven seconds (6.793s). Even though just like everyone else they had to drive on public roads between four different tracks.
For a road trip of more than 1,000 miles (over 1,600 km). Without help from assistance vehicles! Which is kind of crazy, considering the wide variety of vehicles involved. No need to imagine them, as we can easily tell you the runner-up was a derelict 1987 Volvo 240 wagon which had an average time of 7.259s!
Even better, it was an event where the tiny underdogs had ample time and all the chances to impress. The videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff account on YouTube still recalls the excellent 2021 Hot Rod Drag Week event weeks after the craziness is over. And does so with a focus on “The Turtle Miata,” the event’s SSSBPA champion.
Unfortunately, we are not getting every single encounter. Instead, we are presented with the battles that occurred at Lucas Oil Raceway (Brownsburg, Indiana), Summit Motorsports Park (Norwalk, Ohio), and Byron Dragway, in Byron, Illinois. Once there, though, it had ample time to shine with its turbocharged 5.3-liter SBE (stock bottom end) LS-swapped V8 engine.
The first skirmish saw the little Miata that could go up against the classic Chevy Camaro foe (a second-generation, if we are not mistaken) from the 0:32 mark. Everything was over faster than one could count to nine, though, at least for the Mazda. Victory, with an 8.64s ET against a rather “shameful” 11.09s for its opponent (which is still a great result, overall).
Next up, a fourth-generation (non-New Edge) Ford Mustang represented a way better challenge from the 1:03 mark, nailing a 9.06s run. Still, that wasn’t enough, as the MX-5 improved on the initial ET and secured a flawless victory with an 8.52s pass. The last run, though, was a solo one – but the Miata still lived up to its reputation (8.53s).
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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