NOVEMBER 2019 CARCRAFT.COM 59The car’s exterior—a nondescript flat blue—came out of a
spray can and is arguably the Malibu’s most memorable fea-
ture. “This was just a cheap option,” Scotty says. “I had
checked into some vinyl wraps, and a guy was supposed to
come wrap it, then he never showed up. We figured out
something cheap, and it just worked out, you know, for less
than $500 you can do the whole car. It’s just a flat color,
there’s no shine to it, but it works.”
While Scotty’s Malibu spends 100 percent of its time on
the racetrack running deep into the 5s in the eighth-mile
(approximately high 8s in the quarter), the bracket machine
is not particularly stripped down for the track. All the lights
and accessories work, and the full interior (sans passenger
seating) could easily be returned to street duty in a day’s
time, should the need arise. “It’s got steel doors and roll-up
windows. It’s nothin’ fancy, but it works for me.”
Scotty reports he has only about $15K in the car, and
much of that is due to the simple combination under the
hood. Keeping the cost of racing down is a 434ci small-block
Chevy with conventional 23-degree heads, a 950-cfm alco-
hol carburetor, and 12:1 pistons. “It’s nothin’ exotic. It’s got
20-year-old parts, but it’s a good combination that makes
good power.” Running methanol fuel, Scotty reports a best
eighth-mile e.t. of 5.53 at 120 mph. “I bought it with this
engine, but it didn’t run very well. I changed a bunch of stuff,
took weight off here and there, and got it faster and faster
just tinkering with it. It’s about maxed out now. To go any
faster, we’ll have to spend about $5,000.”