This page is dedicated the track car design, built, and campaigned by the Head Ball, Ken Grulich. The inspiration came from many people and experiences. The design happened largely in 2007, and the build was completed from 2007-2008. The Track Monster made its debut at Grattan Raceway on October 25, 2008.
Maiden Voyage October 25, 2008
The Inspiration
Many people talk about being gear heads, or car people. What’s not always clear is what that means. Are you a cars and coffee addict; into cruising the Woodward Avenues of the world; are you a built not bought person? Most car people are probably some combination of several of these. For me, I was destined for the building and driving aspects. The picture on the left is my dad with the dune buggy he built over 50 years ago. He is doing a dyno pull on a dynamometer he and friends made from a semi truck rear axle and a fabricated car trailer. In the configuration you see here, the dune buggy is powered by a Subaru XT6 with an added turbocharger; all controlled by an ECU he designed and built. He added the multi link rear suspension when I was in college studying vehicle design. It served as a practical example of the suspension I used on my senior design project. (Also note the placement of the radiator.)
While I had plenty of inspiration from my youth and college, it turns out I needed a bit more of a nudge. That came in the form of James Kinsler’s awesome ride. I actually saw this car as I was finishing up a round of golf. It was sitting in the parking lot, and I was dumbfounded. I stared at it long enough to be worried someone was going to call the cops. (It probably would have been my wife to get me moving.) I left a copy of my 3 Balls Racing business car in the seat asking the owner to call me. James was kind enough to reach out and we talked about his build. I know that “Vette karts” seem to be the rage now, but this car is really nothing of the sort. It does use C5 Corvette suspension and torque tube, but that’s where the similarities end. The chassis is completely custom from the ground up, including the suspension mounting. The torque tube was substantially shorted to make this what many would call a front mid-engine layout. Seeing this car in person got me into action. (Thanks James for the pictures. Taken from his build logs on LS1Tech and LocostUSA forums. For the younger fans, have AI tell you all about the glory years of forums.)
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