The farthest Beam has dived into the engine was popping off the valve covers to replace the valvesprings and rocker arms. "The intake manifold and oil pan have never been off," Beam told us. "It runs great and has never missed a beat. The best e.t. so far is 10.914 at almost 122 mph." The Formula is an in-house project for his brother Bob's tuning shop, Brute Speed, in Roanoke, Indiana, and it is regularly flogged at Muncie Dragway. Here's one more amazing fact: the engine is barely broken in. Despite its repeated flights down the track, this silver 'bird has covered only about 5,700 miles since new. "I bought the car in 1995," says Beam. "I got a great deal on it, but it was slow. It was an automatic car with a 2.73 rearend." He got to work on the basic bolt-ons, including the typical mods of the day, such as a MAF-which cost horsepower rather than enhance it-underdrive pulleys, colder thermostat, larger throttle body, etc. The culmination of the parts raised the rear-wheel output from a lethargic 190 horsepower to about 240. Keep in mind that the LT1 was rated at 275 horsepower, which was stellar in its day, but the 4L60E slushbox absorbed horsepower like a fresh sponge. Nevertheless, Beam was able to coax some high-13-second runs out the car.

Strong performance from a reliable transmission has helped ensure consistency, too. And despite the lackluster performance of the car's original automatic, Beam stuck with an auto for racing. It's a Rossler-built Turbo 400 with all the drag racing basics: reverse manual valvebody, trans brake, and a Neil Chance 9.5-inch converter with a 4,000-stall speed. The factory transmission crossmember was modified to accept the Turbo 400. A Mark Williams 3.5-inch Duralcan MMC aluminum driveshaft channels torque between the trans and the 12-bolt, where it ultimately meets the pavement via Moser axles and a set of Weld Stars shod with 28x12.5-inch Mickey Thompson ET Street tires.