Mike Finnegan Sets Record in Blasphemi at Hot Rod Drag Week 2019

via Finnegan’s Garage…

This is the story of how Mike Finnegan and his friends rebuilt his 1955 Chevy Bel Air Gasser in his home garage and then showed up to Hot Rod Drag Week 2019 and won their class.

They overcame extreme sleep deprivation, tons of broken parts, and a grueling 760-mile drive to win the A/Gas class.

They couldn’t have done it without a lot of help, and the best part is the in addition to this video about the trip, there will also be a special extended episode of Roadkill airing on the MotorTrend.

Hot Rod Drag Week is a five-day road trip with drag racing every day. The rules state that you must follow a specific route each day to four different tracks. At each track, you can make as many 1/4 mile passes as you like but you can only turn in a single time slip.

At the end of five days, the five time slips you submit are added together and then averaged and the lowest average in each class is determined to be the winner.

In 2018, Mike came in Second Place in the A/Gas class, which is for nostalgic ’60s-era Gasser style cars. Since that time, Blasphemi, his Bel Air, has been broken and rebuilt several times.

It spent most of 2019 inside his garage instead of on the street. He finally changed engine builders and a few other key components on the car and found the reliability that has eluded me the past two years.

Blasphemi ran a record-setting 8.52-second pass at 161 mph at Drag Week and finished the event in one piece. It’s still running and is back home in the garage, which means he can finally turn his attention to other projects…

Blasphemi Runs 8.52 at Drag Week 2019

Bro Hugs

Impound Survival Sticker

Celebrate the Win with an Official “The Party at Drag Week” T-Shirt

Mike Finnegan Speed and Marine Official “The Party at Drag Week” T-Shirt ~ Get yours at fsmgarage.com

From Mike:

I built Blasphemi, my 1955 Chevy Bel Air for a couple of reasons; first, I wanted to drive cross-country in a hot rod just like James Taylor and Dennis Wilson did in the movie, Two-Lane Blacktop. Second, I wanted to compete in Hot Rod Drag Week and win the A/Gas class. It’s taken 7 years of building, learning, and refining this Hemi-powered beast and three years of competing, but on Friday the 13th, 2019, Blasphemi pulled the biggest wheelie ever and officially became the quickest Gasser in the 15-year history of Drag Week.

On Day 1 of the event, we crushed the existing Gasser record with an 8.52 run at 161 mph in the 1/4 mile. By Day 5, Tony Angelo and I had blown up every spare part I had in the trailer and rebuilt the transmission in the pits of the dragstrip in order to keep Blasphemi in competition. We finished the event with an 8.91-second average ET, also a record. Perhaps the best part of Drag Week 2019 was that even with all of the carnage we experienced during the 800-mile racing road trip, the car came home in one piece and the Hemi is still healthy, which is also a personal record.

To celebrate this monumental achievement I’m releasing this very special shirt, which was designed by artist and musician Chris Hosner because I wanted you all to be a part of the party. Your words of encouragement in-person and online motivated me to keep going more than you’ll ever know, especially when sleeping wasn’t an option during Drag Week. Thanks and enjoy this super soft and ultra-cool commemorative Party Pulley shirt.