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ARTICLES AND STORIES
MY 1989 FORMULA
350
by Shane Van Focsani
this is an excerpt from the articles appearing in the EAGLE
 I am twenty years old and a college student.
Besides the NFTAC, I am also a member of the Clinton Car Club in Clinton,
Illinois. I own a red 1989 Formula 350. I purchased the car two years ago at a
prestigious dealership. So I thought! The second week I had the car everything
went wrong with it. I put around three thousand dollars into the motor, tires
and exhaust. This was very steep being that I only work part time due to school.
After the car came out of the shop it ran
great. This is when the modifications took place. I installed an ADS Super Chip,
March Pulleys, KandN Air Filter, TPIS airfoil, Electronic Super Coil and
Flowmaster exhaust. I found a considerable gain from all of these parts, but
soon realized that money was slim and I decided to stop modifying; however, I
decided to put taillight covers and a solar wing on the car and had the back
window tinted.
In September of 1996 I finally had the
guts to take the car to the drag strip. So my girlfriend, father and I made the
three hour trek to Byron, Illinois. Byron Dragway is a quarter-mile track and is
approximately twenty miles from Rockford. It was the Pontiac Redskin Nationals.
There were several Firebirds with all different types of people. From basically
stock cars like mine, to fully tubbed nitrous burning pro-streeters. I was by
far the youngest in the street class. I was very nervous and could barely eat
anything, because this was my first time at any track. I made several qualifying
runs to select my dial-in. Finally after a few hours, eliminations began.
Throughout the course of the day I beat five cars and claimed my first place
trophy. Some of my friends stated that this is luck, but it was the car that was
so consistent. I ran my dial-in every race but one and cut a .505 light in the
last round. The track officials could not believe I had never raced at a track
before. I think I was still in shock a week later.
Now my car is no top fueler, but I still
had fun doing it. I met several people at the track and had a great time.
I am now looking for a pro or super pro
car, but for right now here is a picture of myself with my car after the final
race. My license plates read BORN USA.
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