Steve Lisk Hemi Challenger

Lisk Challenger

As the person who rode in the passenger seat and turned the wrenches as often as Steve, I find it unbelievable how much attention is being paid to the Challenger. Yes it was a cool car. It was big, bad and shook the ground and scared everybody away. In 4 years only 2 people were willing to race the car on the street. Joe Rugirello raced us 4 times over the years and we were lined up to run a 55 big block Chevy at the Street Machine Nationals when the oil pump broke and we were unable to repair the motor in time for the run. For the record, Joe beat us the first time we raced and we took the last 3. I got a good laugh remembering the earlier post where my ex-brother-in-law Tom said we sprayed tranny fluid all over his car. It was the last race that we were ever going to have with Joe and our first attempt was from a roll. We beat Joe and he started thinking he might have a better chance from the hole since the Challenger could get unpredictable hooking up on the street. So from the hole we went. The Challenger was in the lead maxing out, the Mustang II about a car behind and the rear seal on the Lenco blew off.Tranny fluid everywhere. We pulled over and Joe pulled in right behind us with his car billowing clouds of steam from over heating. Everyone thought the two cars had had it. We let them cool off, pounded the rear seal back in, and went back to the restaurant where we would all meet and bench race..

Steve and I got tired of seeing cars on the street that we know were running with a few tenths of our times and still would not race the Challenger. So we decided to sell the Challenger to build my '70 340 Cuda and build a house. We were asking $10,000 turn key operation for the car and had no buyers.
Steve Mair bought the motor and trans, supercharged the motor and placed it in a modified production Volare. And the Challengers rolling chassis went to Ohio, it broke our hearts to part it out but that's the only way it would sell. We were already moving on to our next projects.
 

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Karana...did you ever see Joe's Car run with the twin turbos? I'm curious if he ever got it "right" running them? There was no boost control, so it must have been a handful. It seems he didn't have it long after adding the turbos.

I'm the current owner of Joe's Mustang II and am currently getting a restoration under way on the car.

Thanks!
 
SuddenDeath said:
Karana...did you ever see Joe's Car run with the twin turbos? I'm curious if he ever got it "right" running them? There was no boost control, so it must have been a handful. It seems he didn't have it long after adding the turbos.

I'm the current owner of Joe's Mustang II and am currently getting a restoration under way on the car.

Thanks!
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Congrats !!!! I was trying to buy her but she was way out of my price range !
 
I told my wife "this is something I have to do after searching for the car for over 15 years".

I saw it back in 1995 at Gainesville Raceway here for sale. Couldn't find anyone to talk to all day, turned around at the end of the day and it had disappeared like a ghost!
 
SuddenDeath said:
I told my wife "this is something I have to do after searching for the car for over 15 years".

I saw it back in 1995 at Gainesville Raceway here for sale. Couldn't find anyone to talk to all day, turned around at the end of the day and it had disappeared like a ghost!
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Badass ! I found it 11 years ago and the wanted 13k for her had the money to buy her and my Wife at the time shot me down on it, I had been talking to Pete after he listed it on E-Bay back in January
 
I'm hoping in a couple of years to get it back up to Detroit for the woodward cruise.

As it sits, it needs completely restored before it can even think about going fast.

I had to drain the fuel system after getting it into the garage with multiple leaks on the floor. Brake system is shot, no pedal. Dry rotted tires.

It could have been much worse, if not for Pete putting it into storage like he did.
 
SuddenDeath said:
Karana...did you ever see Joe's Car run with the twin turbos? I'm curious if he ever got it "right" running them? There was no boost control, so it must have been a handful. It seems he didn't have it long after adding the turbos.

I'm the current owner of Joe's Mustang II and am currently getting a restoration under way on the car.

Thanks!
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Never got the chance to see that motor run. My understanding was that Andy Manarino blew up the motor during a test drive. But then again that might have only been a rumor.
 
Karana said:
Never got the chance to see that motor run. My understanding was that Andy Manarino blew up the motor during a test drive. But then again that might have only been a rumor.
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It still has the twin turbo motor in it, but no telling if the short block is original. It does still have a roller cam in it. Motor appears to have been in there a very long time based on the condition of everything.

Other than ignition system pieces and the intercooler, it looks exactly as it did in 1995 when I saw it. Sure wish I could have aquired it then when it was in much better condition.

If it could only talk to me!

I hope to have it back on the road again sometime this month. Had the wheels restored back to their original machined finish, new tires, new fuel system, new brakes.

I'll get a couple of pics posted up once its out of the garage again.
 
Hotrodhawk said:
WOW was that one nasty machine and to this day I can not tell you which car was the baddest because you could not even pull yourself off the back off your seat as the power was insane.
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I've enjoyed this thread, but I have to laugh when people write stuff like this about some of these older cars... Most of these cars would get their azzes whipped by a lot of the stuff prowling Woodward on a Friday night these days! I'm not taking anything away from them at all. But to say you couldn't "pull yourself off the back of your seat" is an exaggeration, unless you were 6 yrs. old at the time... But, I guess that's why nostalgia is so great - like a fine wine the stories get better with time:gr_jest:
 
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Much awesomeness in this thread for sure. Although we had some quick cars running around
in North Oakland County as well. Just not as well known as the Woodward crew.
I knew a guy that drove his brown Pro Gas '68 Camaro up to Naum's on Dixie Hwy in Drayton Plains
( where the Kmart is basically ) in the late 70's and that car ran on the 9.80 index.
There was also a bright yellow '67 Fairlane with a 427 FE that was every bit as quick.
We had a red '70 396 Camaro SS 4 speed car at the time.
Those were good times for cruising for sure.
We built a low 10 second smallblock Vega to prowl the streets with but sadly it broke the cam in half
one night racing some kid in his dad's Corvette.
 
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dpmcghee said:
I've enjoyed this thread, but I have to laugh when people write stuff like this about some of these older cars... Most of these cars would get their azzes whipped by a lot of the stuff prowling Woodward on a Friday night these days! I'm not taking anything away from them at all. But to say you couldn't "pull yourself off the back of your seat" is an exaggeration, unless you were 6 yrs. old at the time... But, I guess that's why nostalgia is so great - like a fine wine the stories get better with time:gr_jest:
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You have to realize these cars were running 9's on the street 35 years ago when a fast street car was in the 12's for the most part. Not to mention it was done without nitrous, fuel injection, sophisticated suspensions or superchargers for the most part. Some of these cars just might get "their azzes whipped", but some would hold up just as well today as they did then. I think they've more than earned their deserved respect for laying the groundwork for those cars out there "on a Friday night these days" to be as good as they are today.
 
SuddenDeath said:
You have to realize these cars were running 9's on the street 35 years ago when a fast street car was in the 12's for the most part.
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Do you have any timeslips that show your car was running 9s all motor? How about the Challenger? Or is this more folklore from the good ole' days?

I'm not taking anything from them except this - they weren't as fast as most of the stories present them to be. That's all. And this is true of all the older musclecars. I know they seemed fast because they made all kinds of noise, had sucky suspension that caused the cars to buck and move all over the place, etc...which made them seem much faster than they in fact actually were. When the "fast" cars were running 12s as you put it a low 11sec car would seem like a rocketship.

Having said all that I love the old muscle and will have a few favorites in my stable some day. They certainly paved the way for what's out there today. But I'm not under any allusion as to the actual performance of these cars. For goodness sake, a new turbocharged Chevy Cobalt with minor mods would absolutely hand it to most of the big-inched, fabled musclecars of the by-gone era. But I'd still take the musclecar over the Cobalt any day:w00t:
 
I think people who claim stuff to be legend and folklore are just as wrong as those who exaggerate it. Due to unrefined engine management, cars were NOT consistent back then! Two identically optioned/configured cars would rarely run the same. It burns me when people say muscle cars were all legend. Sure some of them were, but my uncle had (still has) a stock '70 AAR cuda with nothing but M/Ts and headers on it, and he had it running consistent 12.70s documented on video. I would not consider a car with tires, headers, and a couple screwdriver turns to be highly modified, and that car is only a 340!
 
dpmcghee said:
Do you have any timeslips that show your car was running 9s all motor? How about the Challenger? Or is this more folklore from the good ole' days?

I'm not taking anything from them except this - they weren't as fast as most of the stories present them to be. That's all. And this is true of all the older musclecars. I know they seemed fast because they made all kinds of noise, had sucky suspension that caused the cars to buck and move all over the place, etc...which made them seem much faster than they in fact actually were. When the "fast" cars were running 12s as you put it a low 11sec car would seem like a rocketship.

Having said all that I love the old muscle and will have a few favorites in my stable some day. They certainly paved the way for what's out there today. But I'm not under any allusion as to the actual performance of these cars. For goodness sake, a new turbocharged Chevy Cobalt with minor mods would absolutely hand it to most of the big-inched, fabled musclecars of the by-gone era. But I'd still take the musclecar over the Cobalt any day:w00t:
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Well, if you live in Detroit, you could look up Joe Ruggirello, Jack Roush, Wayne Gapp, Andy Manarino, or others who were there when the car was running the streets. This car's history has been lost to time. Once it left Detroit, it seems to have disappeared for decades. Thats one reason I've posted on here, hoping someone might be able to fill in some of it for me. My intent certainly wasn't to start an arguement about who is faster yesterday or today. I wasn't there when it ran the streets with a 505" twin turbo motor, so I don't know what it was like and am not making that presumption. I can only go from what I've been told and what I've read. It will be a few months before I have this car reliable enough to run hard. When I got it here, it wasn't safe to leave in the garage without draining the fuel system due to rotten hose/leaks. I'm sure there are others who were there when the Challenger and others ran the streets who rode in them or drove them who know. I'd love to talk to them! These cars weren't built to run at the track for the most part and likely would not have passed tech inspection. This car never had a harness, cage (until many years after being built), stainless fuel lines, open lug nuts, trans blanket, etc. I'm not here to debate the car's performance as you do, but appreciate them for their part in street racing history and doing things with a car that had not been tried before on the street. It proved itself when some of those out there now were in diapers or not even born yet. I was only a kid looking at Hot Rod magazines when I saw this car. I never forgot it and searched for it for years before finding it. I have all the respect in the world for the new cars, the money it takes to build one now, the technology involved, the performance, etc. I've built a few myself over the years. I guess its a different viewpoint, since it seems these old cars aren't viewed in the same way by many. No one was trying to verbally attack anyone, before accusations were made. After 35 years since they were built, its about what it is and its significance, not what it can do.
 
SuddenDeath said:
Well, if you live in Detroit, you could look up Joe Ruggirello, Jack Roush, Wayne Gapp, Andy Manarino, or others who were there when the car was running the streets. This car's history has been lost to time. Once it left Detroit, it seems to have disappeared for decades. Thats one reason I've posted on here, hoping someone might be able to fill in some of it for me. My intent certainly wasn't to start an arguement about who is faster yesterday or today. I wasn't there when it ran the streets with a 505" twin turbo motor, so I don't know what it was like and am not making that presumption. I can only go from what I've been told and what I've read. It will be a few months before I have this car reliable enough to run hard. When I got it here, it wasn't safe to leave in the garage without draining the fuel system due to rotten hose/leaks. I'm sure there are others who were there when the Challenger and others ran the streets who rode in them or drove them who know. I'd love to talk to them! These cars weren't built to run at the track for the most part and likely would not have passed tech inspection. This car never had a harness, cage (until many years after being built), stainless fuel lines, open lug nuts, trans blanket, etc. I'm not here to debate the car's performance as you do, but appreciate them for their part in street racing history and doing things with a car that had not been tried before on the street. It proved itself when some of those out there now were in diapers or not even born yet. I was only a kid looking at Hot Rod magazines when I saw this car. I never forgot it and searched for it for years before finding it. I have all the respect in the world for the new cars, the money it takes to build one now, the technology involved, the performance, etc. I've built a few myself over the years. I guess its a different viewpoint, since it seems these old cars aren't viewed in the same way by many. No one was trying to verbally attack anyone, before accusations were made. After 35 years since they were built, its about what it is and its significance, not what it can do.
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:gr_jest: So much emotion... Take a deep breath. We like the same things. Don't take it so personally that i said these cars weren't as fast as the folklore stories make them out to be. Its my opinion that seems to be substantiated by the facts, not hear-say stories. Your car is apparently a nice piece of Detroit history. Best of luck to you as you restore it and enjoy it!

ps. 505 with twins, huh? So much for running in the 9s all motor and no nitrous!
 
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