2003 Honda Civic Coupe - Reloaded

May 3, 2003. Thousands of fans sprawl over Raceway Park in Englishtown, New Jersey. It's the biggest NHRA race of the year. Hidden behind a stockyard of pro trailers and rigs sprayed with logos 20-feet wide and tall is Angela Proudfoot's modest pit slot. It's nothing more than a small E-Z Up. She's playing it casual in a black tank top. Her day is over. She says the car isn't running straight. On top of that, the front driver-side tire seems to be rubbing. Her new car's debut hasn't been the most successful. Twelves all day.

Two weeks later in Gainesville, Florida, Proudfoot and her team have the tire problem figured out, and they've straightened the chassis. The new car still hasn't made a pass on nitrous or run glitch-free, but Angela has the car dialed down to low 10s. She even shows off her Superfriends power in her first round loss to Kenny Tran. After clearing the lights at the end of the quarter-mile, Tran loses control of his Civic. The hatchback racer whirls into Angela's lane. At 140 mph, there's no time to think, and Angela swaps lanes, steering clear of a near catastrophe.

At the end of last season, Angela made the decision to upgrade her car for the competitive Hot Rod class, which features a full roster of 8-second clubbers such as Tran, Jojo Callos, Mike Crawford, Marty Ladwig, and Gary Gardella. Being nearly 2 seconds off the winning pace may sound dramatic, but it's only a matter of time before Angela joins the party. The engine is pushing more than 850 hp and quakes like the Hulk under the fiberglass front end. Like the rest of the cars in the class, Angela's runs on meth. "I'm really surprised that we haven't had any major problems," she says about the switch from gasoline, something that continues to give even the most well-funded teams fits. "This sounds stupid, but I'm surprised we haven't blown a motor. I expected to have more problems with the methanol. And we haven't really had any. The motor is working great. It's perfect. It's producing power, and everything is working great. It's just the other things-it's the charge pipes blowing off, lines busting because there's so much power. There are certain things that we didn't take into consideration when we were building the car. Things that didn't happen with the other car because it just wasn't as powerful."

No surprise about the motor. It's a custom NHRA Hot Rod class race motor based around a 1.8L DOHC VTEC that's been stroked to 2.0L. The B18 block has been machined and sleeved by AEBS. But that's just the beginning. Chris Neidemire, Angela Proudfoot Racing's crew chief, built the monster engine, which features a balanced crank, custom Crane cams, Eagle GSR rods, custom JE pistons, Total Seal rings, and a ported and polished head. The cylinder head has had all surfaces milled to go with a five-angle valve job. Compression has been lowered to a turbo-friendly 9.0:1 ratio.

Like most of the Hondas in the class, the turbocharger is center-mounted in front of the engine block. Neidemire went with a Turbonetics Y2K turbocharger, equipped with a Turbonetics velocity stack intake, a Godzilla blow-off valve, and a New Gen wastegate. The Kooks stainless steel header and exhaust system is a custom setup, with a side-slinging exhaust pipe. "I wanted something that looked really nice," Angela says. "And the Scrantons' car is where I got that from. Their car is just gorgeous. They inspire me."

And Angela's car just may inspire others (though hopefully not for evil). The chassis and interior are flawless-not a paint chip in sight. Based on an '03 Honda Civic coupe silhouette, the rolling chassis features lightweight fiberglass doors, trunk, and sunroof, all painted with the latest Angela Proudfoot Racing scheme. Inside, things are just as sweet, with a custom fiberglass dash (painted purple), an eight-point Funny Car rollcage, custom tinwork, and a complete Sparco racing setup (seat, steering wheel, shift knob, pedals).