Blown, Flamed Steam Roller

John Lynam and the Lil’ Red Corvette

By Brian Lohnes

Photos by Roger Richards and Brian Wood

Photos by Roger Richards and Brian Wood

In the world of outlaw Pro Mods a few cars and teams stand above the crowd. This season John Lynam and his team have the wickedly powerful Lil’ Red Corvette laying down big numbers and racking up big wins. The reasons for their success are many, but at the top of the list are power, teamwork, and experience.

Lynam and team owner John McGrady have been racing together for a long time. Nearly twenty years, in fact. It is rare for a partnership to last that long in any kind of business, especially in the high-stakes, high-pressure world of drag racing. "I think our secret is the freedom we have to argue," said Lynam. "I don’t mean that we are always yelling at each other, but we both hear each other out when we want to make changes to the car. If I want to add more clutch I have to explain why I want to do it and show evidence of why I think it will work. It’s the same for John. We talk it out to see if it is the best decision for the next round. It’s a system that works well for us. Our team has always worked that way and it has brought us a lot of success over the years. We are both working toward the same goal."

Before he began racing Pro Modified cars on concrete and asphalt, Lynam could be found racing on a much different surface, mud. In addition to Lynam, several other high-profile Pro Mod racers have come over from the mud ranks, including Steve Bareman and Steve Salvadore.

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John’s experience in racing on mud came mostly from running in the Pro Stock class in both the NMRA and NMRO sanctioning bodies. "The trucks we were running in the mud were not allowed to have a blower and had to use factory frame rails," Lynam said. "We ran a yellow Ford Ranger called the "Low Country Mud Slinger." Our trucks ran well for their class and we were able to set some records that stood for a fair amount of time."

At this point in his career Lynam was not yet teamed with McGrady. "I convinced John to come out to the mud races and we ended up teaming up together for the rest of our mud racing career," said Lynam. "We had gone to watch some Pro Mod races while we were running the mud truck and we were always interested in what they were doing. We kicked the idea of trying it for ourselves around, and while it took us a while to make a decision, we eventually ended up moving over to the asphalt."

When asked what his favorite part of asphalt racing was, Lynam’s answer was quick and simple. "The power - I really love to experience the power," he said. "All of my life I have had fun, powerful toys. I had a 1999 Hyabusa motorcycle that would twist the speedometer needle right off of the end. I have had tuned-up motorcross bikes and high-performance cars. When we sold the mud truck and were trying to find a car to run on asphalt with, John, I and one of our crew guys made a dollar bet with each other who could build the quickest pickup truck. I was the only one who finished the project, but I built a 1956 Ford pickup that would do 102 mph in the 1/8 mile. After we fooled around with that for a while we picked up a 1970 El Camino that was in Top Sportsman trim. That car had a nitrous motor and was able to run 4.50’s in the eighth-mile. We made it to the final of a Pro Mod race with that car several years ago. We were killing them with consistency."

After their time with the El Camino, the team picked up a 1968 Camaro that had a 698 cubic-inch Sonny Leonard nitrous motor under the hood. John called that car their "trainer." It educated him on how to handle the unpredictable nature of these high-horsepower, short wheel-base cars. The team only used this car for a short time and then moved into a Tommy Mauney-built nitrous-injected Corvette. This was the first "Lil’ Red Corvette."

Lynam has a lot of respect for Mauney, a man he considers one of his drag racing heroes. "That first car was great. It was absolutely beautiful and I really believed that we could to do things with a Mauney car that we weren’t able to do with any other car," he said. "We qualified that car for a Don Plemmons Quick 8 race in Mooresville, NC, and we were naturally very excited, as the competition at those events is very tough. Well, at the end of a pass that weekend, just as I hit top gear, I brought my hand up to deploy the chutes and the car in the other lane came across and clipped me in the rear. The car rolled six times on the guard rail. My bell was rung pretty good but other than that I was ok."

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The current "Lil Red Corvette" was obtained from Joey Moore towards the end of the 2001 season. The car has undergone extensive alteration in the years since, the most significant change being the switch from a nitrous to a blower combination. When asked how difficult it was to make the transition from the bottle to a huffer, Lynam had this to say: "There are really two words to describe our transition, Chuck Ford. He has been just the best in helping us learn about supercharged engines. A lot of our success is in part due to him and his ability to make horsepower. He has given us lots of input and really taken us under his wing. He is working with Mike Ashley and Troy Coughlin full time now, but he still finds time to help us. He is really a great asset to our team."

When it comes to success, Lynam and his team have had it in spades. After qualifying No. 1 and running in the 3-second, eighth-mile zone at the Dragstock event in South Carolina last October, the team has not looked back. They currently lead the point standings in the ADRL Pro Extreme class and recently recorded two No. 1 qualifiers, an event win and an event runner-up in one race at Valdosta, Georgia.

"Man, what a weekend that was," said Lynam. "We were able to be number one qualifier two times and nearly win twice in one weekend; how often does that happen? We had a minor ignition issue creep up on us in the finals and the car hiccupped a couple of times. I almost lifted because that kind of stuff can be really bad for a blown motor, but it was the final round so I kept the pedal mashed down. I left on time, but Bil Clanton was able to out-run us. They deserved the win - they beat us fair and square. Three things have to happen to win a drag race. You need to get to the starting line, leave well and the car has to run right all the way to the finish. We were missing one of those pieces."

About that points lead. We asked Lynam if he is losing sleep thinking of ways to hold off the hard-charging Clanton. "We are very excited to be number one in points now," he said. "Every day we are in the top spot is a great day and it really does mean something for everyone on our team. It is definitely not something we trivialize one bit."

Although he admitted that the competition is very stiff, one of the things that Lynam, McGrady and crew love about Pro Mod racing is the willingness of teams to help each other. "If someone needs something, we give it to them. We want to race, that’s what we are here to do. The best team should win. We are all for lining our car up and running against our competitor," Lynam said.

Lynam was very adamant about the fact that during competition he and his team run the track and their lane, not necessarily the car in the other lane. There are enough variables with the track, the weather and everything else without having to worry about who’s in the other lane.

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The team has been running very well over the last couple of seasons and loves the Outlaw Pro Mod circuit down in the Southeast. When asked if the team was interested in running at IHRA or NHRA events, Lynam said, "Maybe if we were all retired and had a way to support our families we would think about that. Right now we all have jobs. John has a heavy equipment business, I work for the South Carolina Electric and Gas Company and my whole crew works. The other thing is that our class is not limited. It has to pass the safety inspection and after that it is run what you brung. That is one of the reasons that we love it because it is basically impossible to cheat."

Like many drag racers, Lynam is a family man. Wife Leslie and 18-year-old daughter Michelle travel to races that are not too far away from their South Carolina home. Lynam wanted to give big thanks to his crew, Jeff Dowling, Norris Fennel, Bill Kirby, Richard Harriot and Ed Lyons. He was also very high in his praise of partner John McGrady, who is the car’s official crew chief. This team has really been running strong the last couple of seasons, recording 15 three-second passes at tracks all over the southeastern states. With only a couple of races left on the ADRL schedule this season, the team will look to hold onto its slim points lead over Bil Clanton and capture the Pro Extreme title.