{"id":42103,"date":"2020-08-28T06:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T10:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=42103"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:19","slug":"dan-zrusts-dodge-challenger-scat-pak-1320-takes-drag-racing-to-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2020\/08\/dan-zrusts-dodge-challenger-scat-pak-1320-takes-drag-racing-to-school.html","title":{"rendered":"Dan Zrust\u2019s Dodge Challenger R\/T Scat Pack 1320 Takes Drag Racing to School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It takes a learned man to buy a flood car at auction and turn it\ninto a drag racing finalist. And that\u2019s what retired school teacher Dan Zrust\nis: learned in the way of performance cars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And why wouldn\u2019t he be? He was getting a driver\u2019s license during\nthe peak\nof the muscle car era, and those cars made a big – and lifelong – impact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zrust\nexplained, \u201cIn the late \u201860s, my older brother, Tom, was a Dodge new car salesman.\nHe would bring home demo cars \u2013 Chargers, Darts, Challengers \u2013 heavy\nperformance cars. I was instantly in love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s\na love that\u2019s spanned 46 years \u2013 exactly how long Dan\u2019s been drag racing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Challenger
Dan Zrust and his Scat Pack 1320 Photo credit: Eagle Eye Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Dan rounded a new corner <\/strong>when he found a flooded out 2019 Scat Pack 1320 at auction. He wasted no time assembling a group of experts to get the car up to NHRA standards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I got the car, my first call was to Mike Rossey, an SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Engineer in Auburn Hills, Michigan. I brought the car to him and together we came up with a plan. We sent the specs into NHRA to apply for acceptance in the class,\u201d said Zrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, it was \u201cget your hands dirty\u201d time. And Zrust and his son, Taylor, did just that. They stripped it down to a body in white and trailered it to Mike Pustelny at MPR Race Cars<\/a> in Almont, Michigan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Challenger
Smoke ’em if you got ’em (Photo credit: Dan Williams Design)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMike was the guy who designed the original Drag Pak. He constructed\nthem in his shop. He was the right guy for the job. On my car, he built the\nchassis, front engine cradle, roll cage and did all the legal NHRA specs to get\nit ready to race. The NHRA visited his shop, checked out the car and gave us the\nOK to keep moving,\u201d said Zrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that thumbs up, they brought the car back home, reassembled it, wired it, plumbed it and put the engine back together, this time with help through Park Jeep in Burnsville, MN, who ordered all the performance engine parts, from the block to the valve covers. “The parts guy, John, really worked hard helping me get the pages of the correct parts I needed.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had BBK<\/a> do the throttle body,\u201d said Zrust. \u201cIt\u2019s a duplicate of the O.E. throttle body, but it\u2019s cable driven, and it performs really well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final step before Zrust hit the strip was to power the metal. Zrust had the crew at Total Engine Service<\/a> – Bruce, Ken and Jason – in Bloomington, Minnesota, do the machine work and motor assembly. \u201cThey were the key to making it go, and they did a great job,\u201d said Zrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Challenger
Lift-off at the line (Photo credit: Dan Williams Design)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, Zrust, in his Dodge Scat Pack 1320, hit the straightway.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zrust finally raced the completed Scat Pack 1320 at the divisional race in Topeka. He qualified 11th out of 93 cars and was awarded Best Engineered Vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Challenger
Photo credit: Dan Williams Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only had the car out three weekends before races started getting canceled. But really, we\u2019ve only scratched the surface with this car. As we learn the adjustability and settings to get the most out of it, I think we have a 9-sec potential in cooler weather,\u201d said Zrust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is definitely a car to watch.<\/strong> And DodgeGarage is doing just that. Stay tuned for updates, more results and a part two, where we\u2019ll give you the inside track on Zrust\u2019s other racer, a 1968 Barracuda SS\/AH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"1968
Photo credit: Dan Williams Design<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It takes a learned man to buy a flood car at auction and turn it into a drag racing finalist. And that\u2019s what retired school teacher Dan Zrust is: learned in the way of performance cars. And why wouldn\u2019t he be? He was getting a driver\u2019s license during the peak of the muscle car era, and those cars made a big – and lifelong – impact. Zrust explained, \u201cIn the late \u201860s, my older brother, Tom, was a Dodge new car salesman. He would bring home demo cars \u2013 Chargers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":42120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2624],"tags":[526,1910,2227],"class_list":["post-42103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-owners-clubs","tag-challenger","tag-grassroots-racing","tag-mods"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/danzrust.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42103"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42250,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42103\/revisions\/42250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}