UMTR Racer - Greg Changet

2023 SEASON

G Force Performance Products sponsors veteran racer, Greg Changet on the 2022 UMTR Circuit.

Greg describes his car as a 1985 Ford Mustang with a 405 cubic inch small block Ford naturally aspirated engine featuring—

- 14.7:1 compression with Diamon pistons
- Mid .800” lift Bullet custom grind cam
- GRP aluminum connection rods
- Billet crank and Dart Iron Eagle 9.2 deck Block
- Trick Flow 250cc High Port Heads
- T&D shaft 1.8 ratio Rockers
- CHI intake with an 1100 CFM Prosystems Carb.
- 5R 5 speed clutchless transmission with a McLeod Soft Lok clutch

The rear-end is a Ford 8.8 braced and narrowed with Moser 35 spline axles and 4.88 gears. Additionally, the chassis has been mini tubbed and uses a full UPR front and rear suspension. Also, the factory 4-link has been upgraded with multiple adjustment mounts to move the upper and lower bars to make the suspension work. AFCO rear double adjustable shocks and Strange single adjustable front struts complete the suspension platform. The car weighs 2,970 pounds at full race weight with the driver. With only eleven passes on the new engine, the best pass early in the season was 9.07 at 147 mph. Greg's team expects the car to run in the low 8.90’s later in the year.

Follow the ups and downs of his season and discover his team reaches their goal. See the full Press Release for more details.

Good Luck, Greg!

Tuesday, January 10

Here is the tentative schedule for 2023.

I am ready! So, as soon as the tracks open in April I will be out testing.

This is going to be a good year!

Greg Changet Race Car at UMTR Fall Nationals Sept 4, 2021

2022 SEASON

October 26

Other than going over the entire car checking bolts, we are all set and ready for spring.

The engine is good, and the transmission/clutch are good to go as well.

Looking forward to the 2023 Season!

Friday, October 14

The new wrap is completed, and I am very happy with it. The color is fantastic, and I can’t wait to see it out in the sun.

The last of the changes are in process. I am powder coating the wheels gloss block and the wing will also get re-coated gloss black.

I will be starting the winter maintenance next week which consist of checking valve spring pressures, removing the rocker arms for winter storage and a good deep cleaning/ rebuild on the carburetor.

The oil filter will get removed and inspected to make sure that the engine is still happy and ready for next year. New rear tires will also be mounted once the wheels are coated.

The rear wheels are currently on the way to Mac-Fab performance to get beadlocks installed.

Saturday, September, 17

It’s getting close.

I made some really good progress over the weekend. The bumper proved once again to be challenging with all the different contours and I’m sure the same will be said with the hood.

I am very happy with the outcome so far.

Thursday, September 15

I started on the new wrap last night.

The new color is a satin blue pearl, and it looks nice. While both vinyl wraps I've tried are the same brand, the satin finish seems to allow for more stretch without distorting the color making it a lot easier for me to work with it. The results are looking much, much better than the my last attempt with the gray wrap earlier this year.

Greg Changet test run for 2022 season in newly wrapped car.

Tuesday, September 13

Since my season is over, it is time to start the winter maintenance and prepare for next year. I am not one to wait until the last minute.

The transmission is already apart for inspection, clean up, and maintenance. Since the engine was just freshened up about 20 runs ago, I will just pull the oil filter inspect it and remove the rocker arms off the springs for the winter. New valve springs will be installed in the spring before the first event.

My first attempt at wrapping the car was somewhat successful, but I am picky, and I like my car to look nice. It’s not a show car but I try to get close with it. So, it’s getting a new wrap. The old wrap is already removed, and I will be starting on the new one this weekend.

The color this time will be a satin blue and all the decals will be in black again. I’m undecided, but the wheels may also get black powder coated.

Watch for photos and updates as I continue prepping for next season.

Saturday, September 3

Well didn’t go as planned due to the weather, but we did get the UMTR race in on Saturday.

Friday nignot the case on Saturday. The track was good and hooking hard.

Which was okay because that means I could throw more power at it. This is when we found out that the tires are just worn out.

Although the indicators on the tires still show plenty of tread life left— these stick shift cars beat up the sidewalls and the 60ft times suffer. We went out to test and play with the suspension to try and get the car to 60ft better. With a couple of adjustments to the shocks we found our setting but discovered that the tires are just worn out.

However, we did get the car to consistently run a 9.17 and 9.16 which is what really matters.

Since the track was not that good Friday night, Saturday morning I decided to take a little bit of clutch out of the car . Well, that was .

No matter what we did the car would not improve. It was once again very consistent. The one issue I had was the transmission would not go into 5th gear consistently and I was fighting it.

I’m assuming, since I have not torn it apart yet, that the slider for 5th gear is worn and needs to be replaced. I battled the tree and 5th gear all day. We did make it to the 3rd round, but I lost due to a red light.

In our series we only have 5 rounds per race so overall it was a good day! It's always a good race day when you win your entry fees back and you load up a car running under its own power with nothing broken.

Unfortunately, that was my last race for the season. Due to some breakage and missing some events, I will finish the season out of the top 10, which was a goal this year.

We will try again next year. As with every winter I am always looking for ways to improve my car and I will keep you updated with and changes I make.

As of now the list starts with fresh tires and possibly redoing the wrap.

Look for more details in the coming weeks.

Sunday, August 14

Race cancelled due to rain that never came.

Next race coming up this weekend at Quaker Motorsports Park.

Saturday, August 6

I had another good outing last weekend at Quaker Motorsports Park until a loose ground wire on the batteries ended the day.

It was another hot miserable day with crummy air, but we were making it work and the car was consistent. In the first round I won due to the opponent red lighting.

The second round I beat the opponent with an issue and on to the 3rd round we went. All was good and it was a rematch from the last outing with my friend Tim. We had the car all set or so we thought. I pulled it down into the lanes waiting for our turn to race. After 20 minutes of waiting, it was time to go.

Tim started his car, and I went to start mine and the batteries were to low to fire the ignition. Since I could not make the call, I had to forfeit the race.

Not the way I wanted the day to end as I believe we had the car to beat for sure.

After getting home and the car in the garage on Sunday I began looking for the issue. Were the batteries too old, too small, or was there another issue? It was the latter.

I found that one of the negative cables had shaken just loose enough that the batteries would not take a good charge in between the rounds. I fixed that problem, so it doesn’t happen again.

We will see what I can do this coming weekend at Magnolia Dragway. If I can keep doing my job as the drive, I feel that I have a car that is hard to beat!

Greg Changet August 6 race at the starting line

Saturday, July 23

Rough day at Thompson.

It was hot, humid and the car did not like it. The first-time trial the throttle cable was binding up, so I aborted the pass and went back to the trailer to fix it, which is not good when you are trying to dial the car in for the day.

The second time trial I went 9.15 at 146 MPH. It was obvious that it was going to be a slow day due to the weather killing horsepower. So, moving into first round of eliminations I dialed a 9.08 thinking the car may pick up if the driver did his job and hit his shift points. 😊

At the chip draw I pulled a guy that I have never raced before, and I knew nothing about the car or the driver as he came to this event from Pennsylvania to race with us for the day.

He was dialed 10.95 to my 9.08 so he got to leave first, and I had to run him down. I did just that by cutting an awesome .008 reaction time on the light and passed him early enough to coast through the finish line for the win with a 9.22 @ 136 MPH.Moving onto the second round. Second round I get paired with another good friend of mine with a fast car and I knew I had to be on my game because he would be chasing me this time, which means I had to cut another good light.

Unfortunately, when I was staging the car, I went into the beams deeper than I wanted to and went .007 red on the light loosing again in the second round. The worst part was he never ended up leaving the line. His car stalled before his light turned green. Since I was leaving first, I didn’t know this had happened. If I could have just cut a decent green light, I would have easily moved to the third round.

Saturday, July 16

Friday night the plan was to get to Dragway 42 early and get some test passes in on the rebuild. That did not go as planned. We left the house and down the road the turbo went out on my motor home. After spending quite a bit of time on the side of the road trying to find the problem we ending up limping back home.

Once back home we loaded up the truck and headed to the track. We got to the track just in time to get a nice easy pass on the car. We wanted an easy pass so we could double check the valve train before making a full hit on it. We hurried to adjust everything to make another pass but they called the night due to rain.

Saturday was a good day even though I ended up going out 2nd round to a good friend of mine due to a red light.

The car ran fantastic all day. The first time trial I went 9.11 @ 148 mph which wasn’t bad considering it has a totally different cam in the engine from the last outing.

Second time trial I went 9.03 @147 mph. I was extremely happy with that as that is just about where it was running when the lifter failed. We knew we had more in it with some suspension changes but now we were entering eliminations.

The first round of eliminations I went 9.03 @ 147 mph winning due to the competitor red lighting, The second round of eliminations I knew I had to cut a good light as I was racing a very good friend of mine that is a very seasoned and excellent racer. With that being said, I went red on the light giving him the win.

Overall I am happy that the car is back to running great and we will try again this coming weekend.

Thursday, July 7

Fired up and almost race ready!

Tuesday, July 5

Back on the ground and all together.

Waiting on a single pushrod for the engine so we can fire it up.

We worked constantly all weekend to make this happen.

Excited to race on the 16th!

Thursday, June 30

Going back together and we will be race ready for the July 16th race at Dragway 42!

Thursday, June 2

Well it looks like no more racing for this year. The lifter that went bad ate up the cam.

It’s going to be a pricey fix.

I need a new cam, machine the block for the bigger lifters that I already have and since metal went through everything I need to re-ring it and put new bearings in it.

Wednesday, June 1

Started the tear down process.

So far I know that I have 8 lifters that are bent and they are stuck in the bores.

We are going to start trying to get them out. There is some bearing material in the oil but I don’t know how much wear is on the bearing as of yet.

What I do know is that the engine will be completely torn down and the lifter bores will be honed for the bigger diameter lifters for strength. We are probably looking at new piston rings and bearings while it’s apart.

Unfortunately this is a time consuming and costly parts failure so I’m not sure how long I will be down. I will take pictures along the way and provide updates.

Memorial Day Weekend 2022

Well, the weekend started out fantastic. We had a very consistent race car during testing, running 8.98, 8.99 and 8.99. Looking at the data we needed a little less clutch, so we made the adjustment and put it in the trailer for the night.

Sunday morning the first time trial run it went 9.07. I factored that could be due to the weather and track conditions being different from Saturday.

The second time run it slowed down to a 9.09. Once again it was extremely hot out and the track was not the best, so it did not cross my mind that something was wrong with the car.

It was running well and no noise to indicate an issue. With that being said, I went to go up for the first round of eliminations and when I pulled into my lane the engine started making a loud squealing sound.

At that point I am not going to run and potentially damage my engine, so I forfeit the round and go back to the trailer to find out I have a lifter that is not moving on number 1 exhaust.

Yesterday after getting home, I pulled the engine to find out that 10 lifters are seizing up in the bores. We have yet to get them out and see what the next step is or what the issue is. At this point we are thinking the cam is too aggressive and it’s beating up the valvetrain.

The engine builder is coming over Thursday night and we will be putting a game plan together. As of right now I am not sure how long I will be down. We may need to bore the lifter bores out for a bigger diameter lifter, and I will probably need a new camshaft.

I am very disappointed about the parts failure because we have made so much head way with this car this year and we had a race car that was very competitive.

Sunday, May 15

First race of the 2022 Season

Great race day! The car was on point and ran fantastic.

The first round I ran right on my dial, and I won due to the competitor breaking out by running under his dial.

Unfortunately, I lost in the 2nd round due to a slower reaction time even though I ran right on my dial.

When racing a seasoned racer like I was--- there is little room for error, and he got me. Running UMTR is tough, we have a lot of great racers and the races are normally won by small margins.

Sunday, April 22

I’ve been out testing the past couple Friday’s and the car is running fantastic.

I do need to make a small clutch adjustment before the first race on May 7th, but other than that I am ready to go.

I’m excited for the season and we are going to try like hell to get into the winner’s circle a couple times this year!

Wednesday, March 16

That's a wrap!

Now that the repairs are done I decided to change the color of the car to dark gray. The wrap with the new color is done. I'm really pleased with the results and ready to race!

Greg Changet getting started on car wrap

Thursday, March 3

The race care is almost done and ready for the season. There are a few small things to finish but it’s close!

Saturday, January 29

The new front end has been delivered!

I can finally complete the repairs from the accident earlier this year. While I'm at it, I'm making the profile a little lower to make it easier to see.

Plus, I'm cleaning up the back seat delete to make the interior look nicer.

It's good to be back in the garage. It reminds me Spring is coming regardless of the ice and snow outside.

2021 Season

Saturday, December 11

Doing some winter clean up work and making a new transmission tunnel. More to come once the new front end pieces are delivered.

Saturday, November 20

The engine is out and the bearings have been checked.

Everything looks good for next year!

Friday, November 12

Now that the season is over the winter repairs and inspection process has begun. Every winter I pull the transmission and engine out and tear them down to inspect them. I check the gears and sliders in the transmission and tear down the engine to check the bearing for wear.

Saturday, November 6

It was a great finish to the season at Dragway 42 with our best time of the year—8.87 at 149.6 mph!

Saturday, October 23

Race day at Dragway 42 in West Salem.
The first race of the year with Q16 fuel.
We have a winner! The first 8 second pass of the season.
See below for priming the oil pump, warming up, and winning!

Wednesday, October 20

Cooler weather is here!

It's time to switch from C12 to Q16 fuel for increased horsepower. This change requires replacing the size 100 jets to 106 to accomodate for the differences in the fuel and the cooler temperatures.

Fuel jet switch complete. Ready for Q16 fuel.

Sunday, September 19

We decided to hit the local track (Magnolia) for a nice Sunday. The car probably ran the best it has all year, but the driver sucked - LOL!

I red lit the first round and went home disappointed again. Sooner or later I will get my head straight and go some rounds

Looking forward to the next race in a couple of weeks.

Saturday, September 4

Looked good at the Sept 4 - UMTR Fall Nationals at Quaker City Motorsports Park. We worked really hard on finding the happy place for the clutch. The data logger showed we needed less clutch and more RPMs. We're really close to dead on now. The goal is to make the car as quick as possible, yet consistent.

We red lighted in the 2nd round to end our day, but we made great progress - 9.14 @ 145MPH. We're happy with our tweaks.

Sunday, August 8

It was a great weekend at Tad and Jims Dragway.

Saturday, July 31

Despite a little mishap we ran our best 60ft time ever in this car.

Sunday, July 18

Unloading for the race at Magnolia.

Sunday was not a good day. During the burnout for the first time trial something happened in the transmission where I lost reverse. In order not to risk major damage to the transmission I ended my day early.

This is the life racing a stick car. You get good at removing transmissions, fixing, and installing.