The Mighty L98: Don't dismiss it...

[Ken]

The inside back cover of the March issue of Hot Rod Magazine carries an image of a 1989 Firebird Formula 350 pulling a giant wheelstand:

The caption reads:

STILL TICKING

Remember our Aug. '02 cover car? This is it: Nick Fusco's '89 Firebird Formula 350 from Long Island, New York. The hook then and now is that Nick bought this thing new and started racing it with just 500 miles on the odo. Now, 17 racing seasons after he first flogged it on the quarter mile, the car still runs its bone-stock short-block that has never been out of the car. Quite a testament to the L98 Tuned Port 350, an engine that has been largely dismissed in the face of the Gen III small-blocks. Almost makes us want to build our '91.

Nick's car is now in the mid 10s with bit_chin' 1.32-second foot times on reliable buttloads of nitrous.