1980 Jeep CJ-7 - The World's Quickest Jeep

Body And Interior
On the inside, a pair of Jaz bucket seats provide a place for the M&R harnesses to rest. Aaron Stapleton of Fast Forward Race Cars did the 10-point Funny Car cage out of chromoly and installed a parachute (not seen in photos above). The driver's seating position gives a full view of the Auto Meter Silver Light Sport Comp gauges and puts the controls within easy reach.

Outside, the factory steel tub and grille were on the $800 Jeep when Greg's dad gave it to him over 15 years ago. The body was cherried out, fitted with the fiberglass fenders and 5-inch cowl hood from glasstek.com, and a pair of '95 Wrangler doors were hung before the Standox teal green paint was sprayed by Eric Pasternak in Island Lake, Illinois. The graphics and tribal flames were then added by Greg's company, Sicker Dude Designs in Lake Zurich, Illinois.

Good, Bad, & What's It For
Although it's a bullet on the track, Greg does drive the CJ-7 on the street around his hometown. Granted, with only an 8-gallon capacity in the Triangle Engineering fuel cell, he's not going far, but it's nice to know he can cruise to the ice cream shop if the desire arises.

Although the 8.87-second e.t. at 151 mph Greg cites is impressive, keep in mind those are old numbers. Over the long, Midwest winter, Greg addressed some fuel-starvation issues he was experiencing that held the horsepower output to only 770 at the rear wheels.

With the installation of the aforementioned ProStar 500 boost-reference fuel pump and larger CSU carburetor, right off the bat, the Jeep dyno'd at 750 rear-wheel horsepower. Adding larger jets to the carb brought the power up to 777 rwhp. Even more carb jetting brought the power up to 798 rwhp. With the fuel-delivery issues apparently cured, the crew threw some timing into the ignition. Advancing the timing brought it up to 813 rwhp. If some is good, more should be better, so even more timing was dialed in for a final total of 870 rwhp. With 100 hp more than last year and more consistent performance, Greg fully expects to break into the 8.60s with a big jump in his trap speeds. We'll just have to wait and see.

Why I Featured It
As a former car guy and drag race aficionado, I know how difficult it is to turn in a fast quarter-mile time. Keep in mind that a really fast production car like a Corvette or Viper will probably hit low 12s or high 11s with a lot of aftermarket massaging and a really good set of tires. If you've ever watched a car that runs in the 10s launch off the line, it's just violent. It looks like it's being slung out of an aircraft carrier's catapult. Back even 10 years ago, it was pretty uncommon for a streetable car to dip into the 9s. The fact that Greg's Jeep is surpassing those numbers with zero aerodynamics, very little use of weight-saving materials, factory leaf springs at all four corners, and with only 400 ci is just plain astounding. I'm all for it. Go get 'em, Greg.-Christian Hazel