With painter Grant Smith coming up with a unique blue hue he
dubbed "Hostile Blue," McIntyre said the overall ideas
went from wild and zany, to understated and cool. "When
Grant came to me, we were thinking all these funky ideas at
the start," McIntyre said of his unique paint job by Grant
Smith of Goldi's Body & Paint. "But I always had this
idea in my head, and we went with that."
The 'Hostile' exterior is equally matched under the hood
by the 400 small block Chevrolet engine. Naturally aspirated
and dyno tested to rip out 468 HP at the wheels, McIntyre
pounds the quarter mile in 11.04 seconds at 122 mph. A shot
of NOS bumps up the speed to 126mph and ticks down the time
to 10.69 seconds.
McIntyre said the progression from casual observer to hardcore
enthusiast took root in his blood, where several relatives
to him have burned the rubber in the past, sparking the desire
for his own ride.
"I didn't go to the race track until I was 18,"
he said of his late introduction to the scene. "I saw
my cousin and my uncle racing, and after that, I had to have
a car. After that, I was a die-hard."
Although the spark was lit, McIntyre said an early lack of
know-how stalled his progress. However, that problem was quickly
overcome with a strong desire to improve his newly bought
Chevelle.
"I bought this 12 years ago. Back then I didn't even
know how to do an oil change, but I've learned most of what
I know through my car and just being around the hobby,"
he said. Since then, he's taken his passion from pure fantasy
to pure results, with a Rookie of the Year win in 2000, and
the Heavy Street Class championship in 2002.
While he credits many others with the help and guidance he's
had in creating his car, he gives a substantial amount of
credit to his family. In fact, without them, McIntyre said
he might not even be where he is today.
"If you want the real story, it's about my family,"
he said of the two great ladies in his life, Sue and Sarah-Lynne.
"If it wasn't for Sue's encouragement, I'd have probably
petered out by now."
McIntyre said that he can usually be caught cruising with
Sue in the Hostile Blue, and if it's before 8 P.M., daughter
Sarah-Lynne would be in tow. And judging by the family connections
in McIntyre's racing career, the junior edition is soaking
in the necessary lessons for her future career.
"My daughter from the day she was born would never bat
an eye at the noise in the race-track," McIntyre said.
"She'll definitely be a good junior dragster."
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