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Chevrolet Express Prison Bus Hits the Drag Strip, Runs Painfully Slow

The Hot Rod Drag Week is a cool event to follow for many reasons, one being the impressively quick dragsters that are also (somewhat) road-legal. But the fact that it also draws unlikely vehicles to the drag strip also sets it apart from other events. What's an unlikely drag racer, you ask? Well, is a prison bus weird enough for you?
Chevrolet Express prison bus at the drag strip 6 photos
Photo: Race Your Ride/YouTube
Chevrolet Express prison bus at the drag stripChevrolet Express prison bus at the drag stripChevrolet Express prison bus at the drag stripChevrolet Express prison bus at the drag stripChevrolet Express prison bus at the drag strip
Arguably one of the most creative entries in the 2021 Hot Rod Drag Week, this Chevrolet Express is not a dragster camouflaged as a prison bus. It's exactly what it says, a full-blown prison bus that transports prisoners for a living. There's no supercharging, no turbocharging, and no fat rear tires to spin into smokey burnouts.

What's under the hood, you ask? Just the good ole 293-cubic-inch (4.8-liter) small-block LS. Also known as the Vortec 4800, it was offered in the Chevy Express from 2003 to 2009 and delivered up to 295 horsepower and 305 pound-feet (414 Nm) of torque.

Yup, that's not a lot of oomph to showcase at the drag strip, so the prison bus is far from fast down the quarter-mile. It lines up next to a beefed-up Chevrolet Nova that wastes no time taking off at the green light, but the bus driver is in no rush. He couldn't be anyway, because the heavy Express covers the distance in 19.79 seconds at almost 70 mph (113 kph).

It was by far the slowest entry at Byron Dragway that day, but let's face it, the driver deserves a hand for bringing such a contraption to the drag strip. Especially at an event packed with sub-10-second cars.

This prison bus is based on the long-running Chevrolet Express. And by "long-running" I mean "this thing is still in production even though it's been around since 1996." I'm not kidding. Both the van and the cutaway versions are still available on Chevrolet's website.

As is its GMC sibling, the Savana, which unlike the Express is also available as a passenger van. But we're not here to discuss dated-yet-still-practical haulers. Hit the play button below to a prison bus push its 9,900-pound (4,491-kg) curb weight over the quarter-mile.

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About the author: Ciprian Florea
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Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
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