Due to advancements in the quality of chassis and suspension components for classic cars, we are seeing more and more old school Mopar_® muscle cars participating in races with turns – but few owners of a vintage muscle car use their machine in the same way as David Kruk. Kruk’s 1970 Dodge Super Bee is daily driven, rain or shine, and has been used to take David and his wife, Liz, on a few vacations, but it is far more than just a clean classic cruiser that sees high mileage. This car has been modified extensively, including the drivetrain out of a Challenger Scat Pack, allowing Kruk to run low-11-second quarter-mile times and dominate vintage road racing classes all over the country.

Super Bee in Black Spray Paint

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When David Kruk found this 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee back in 2010, he had been hunting for a parts car for a 1968 Super Bee that was already in progress. The ’70 Super Bee was near stock, with black spray paint over the factory yellow and a 440 in place of the factory 383. Although he purchased the car for parts, when he got it home, he primed the oil system, added some fuel and the 440 roared to life. In addition to running, everything in this Super Bee worked, so Kruk decided to fix it up rather than stripping it for parts.

The body was solid, with the only rust being a small spot in the trunk floor. As a result, it didn’t require any body or paint work to serve as a fun cruiser, sporting the “barn find” look. After three years of driving the car in black spray paint, this 1970 Super Bee was delivered to the Modern Muscle Car Factory Inc. in Elkhart, Indiana, for some body work and a fresh coat of paint. Rather than going with a factory color, they went with Pearl Yellow, borrowed from the 2012 Lexus LFA supercar.

Big Block Power

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As for the powerplant, his first move was to install a Holley Terminator EFI with a custom small cap HEI distributor setup to improve drivability, but he wanted more power. Using parts from 440 Source, the 440 was transformed into a 512-cubic-inch stroker and backed by a built transmission with a manual valve body from A and A Transmissions. He also added a Gear Vendor overdrive system to help improve on the fuel economy for the daily drive, as 7 miles per gallon was less than ideal for a street car.

Chassis and Suspension Upgrades

Once this 1970 Dodge Coronet Super Bee looked great and provided more power than the tired 440, Kruk turned his attention to the handling capabilities. He installed a complete QA1 suspension system featuring double adjustable shocks, Hotchkis torsion bars, Hotchkis leaf springs and a universal sway bar. This allowed the 1970 Dodge Super Bee to handle better and offer better ride quality for the daily drive, but it was still more or less built to shine brightest in a straight line.

That all changed in 2018, when Kruk’s friend, Scott Wahlstrom of Motor State Distributing, introduced him to pro touring cars at the Motor State Challenge. Immediately drawn to the idea of racing on a track with turns, Kruk replaced the drag slicks with a set of BFGoodrich Sport Comp tires along with adding Wilwood disc brakes at all four corners, a US Car Tool chassis stiffening kit and Borgeson quick ratio steering gear box.

Hitting the Track

His first time racing on a curved course came at the South Bend SCCA at Tire Rack in Indiana. While the car was “very slow” and Kruk’s lack of experience was clear, he was hooked on this form of motorsports, bolstered by the help of the staff at that first SCCA event who provided tips on how to handle a big, heavy muscle car on a tight track. It was around that time when Kruk realized that the factory bucket seats were a liability, so he installed a Pro Car driver’s race seat, getting more seat time at go kart tracks and in his own car at SCCA events.

In 2020, David Kruk entered his 1970 Super Bee in the Motor State Challenge at Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, Michigan. He found that on long sessions, the engine would overheat and the engine bay got so hot that it was melting spark plug wires, so he added cooling system components from Derale and always kept extra spark plug wires on hand. However, even with the overheating issues, Kruk won the QA1 Go Drive It Vintage class and the Todd Gartshore Memorial Award that year. He also competed in the first-ever autocross portion of the Holley MoParty event later in 2020.

Scat Pack Power

Aside from some cooling issues, David Kruk’s daily driven 1970 Super Bee proved to be a pretty solid racecar with the stroked big block, but he wanted to improve all-around performance and daily driving manners. In the winter of 2020, he came across an ad for a 2018 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack that was being parted-out after being crushed by a tree. Kruk purchased the 392-cubic-inch HEMI^® engine and the 8-speed transmission, leading to a three-month project of getting the modern drivetrain parts to work in his classic Dodge.

To make the engine bolt up in the 1970 Super Bee, Kruk used Holley headers, engine mounts, power steering pump, support brackets and EFI fuel tank while a Holley Terminator Max X engine management system makes everything run smoothly.

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In order to get the ZF 8HP70 transmission from the Challenger Scat Pack to fit, Kruk had to trim the torsion bar crossmember, but the Holley mounts provided added support where the factory components had been cut. Once it was in place in the 1970 Super Bee, Kruk reached out to Russell at Sound German Automotive for a plug-and-play standalone transmission control module, complete with the modern style shifter that has been expertly nestled into the center console.

Kruk got the Scat Pack HEMI engine and transmission installed just in time for the 2021 Motor State Challenge, and although he had no seat time with the new setup, he once again won the QA1 Go Drive It Vintage class. Later in 2021, he once again attended Holley MoParty, entering the Grand Champion class that includes both drag racing and road racing portions. He finished third in the Vintage group and while doing so, he ran an 11.2 quarter-mile – his quickest to date. That is a mighty impressive number for a 3,700-pound, daily driven classic muscle car that has been modified to go road racing. Oh, and for those wondering, when Kruk drives around the country to racing events, he gets around 24 miles per gallon when cruising at 80 miles per hour. Fuel economy numbers like that made the 2021 Power Tour a breeze, allowing him to score the “Long Hauler” title. He and his wife also drove the car to the Gridlife Midwest Festival and they camped out of the car for a few days, and as mentioned above, the car has gotten the couple to many vacations and events around the country.

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During the winter of 2021-2022, Kruk installed modern Scat Pack Challenger front seats for more comfort, along with 275/40/17 Goodyear Supercar tires at all four corners, new transmission and power steering coolers and a 12.3-inch Holley digital gauge cluster. With those new components in place, he and his 1970 Super Bee won the 2022 Motor State Challenge QA1 Go Drive It vintage class for a 3rd straight year and while doing so, he turned in his best lap time at Gingerman.

It should also be noted that during the 2022 Motor State Challenge, he lost power steering due to the fluid getting so hot that it melted some components. Far from home, he drove to Mancini Racing in Metro Detroit to buy the necessary parts and the next day, he won his autocross class at the event. Few things scream “real street car” than breaking something, driving the racecar to buy parts and driving back to the track to do more racing – and winning.

David Kruk plans to install the QA1 coilover suspension setup before this year’s Holley MoParty and other planned improvements in the near future include an upgraded roll cage. He is also looking into options for an independent rear suspension setup to further improve cornering ability. Those are the items needed to be more competitive at events like the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenger, Cam Challenger, FM3 Cars and Cones, Drag Week and the other racing events that he hopes to attend in the future.

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Kruk points out that he and his wife, Liz, have done almost all of the work to this car, with the exception of the paint and some final body work. He also points out that in addition to helping work on the car, Liz is fully supportive of his muscle car adventures, so this daily driven, road race-ready, 11-second muscle car is a family affair for this young couple.

Upgrades

• Gen3 HEMI 6.4 (392) engine from 2018 Scat Pack Challenger. Stock engine
• 8HP70 transmission (8 speed) controlled by Sound German Automotive
• Modern Scat Pack seats
• RaceQuip seat belts
• U.S. Car Tool Stiffening System
• US Mag wheels with Goodyear tires
• QA1 front suspension, currently torsion bars, soon to be coilovers
• Hotchkis torsion bars and leaf springs
• Holley EFI fuel tank, Terminator Max X, Holley engine and transmission mounts, Holley brackets and power steering pump, Holley digital dash
• Power Master alternator
• Derale oil, transmission and power steering coolers
• Borgeson gearbox
• Allstar performance fuel lines and brake lines
• Wilwood brakes
• Hawk brake pads
• Moser axle shafts

Author: Patrick Rall