Edgar Perez

In 1998 I met Bill Maloney, a fellow colleague, who was very into Corvettes.   A ZR-1 owner who drove his car regularly, drag raced and road raced it at driving event schools.   It is because of Bill showing me pictures and videos I started to get hooked.   In November of 1999, I was able to buy my first Corvette.   It was a 1994 Polo Green 6 spd.   It came with lots of goodies already in and on it.   It had AFS ZR-1 style wheels and tires, a raised hood and a rear wing.   It had quite a few engine mods including a K&N filter, bigger mass airflow meter, 53mm TB, SLP shorty headers, muffler eliminators and Flowmaster exhaust as well.   Some of these mods were removed for other parts.   I have a page on the car at The Corvette Forum.   I quickly took it to the track.  

I took it to Raceway Park Drag Strip in Englishtown, NJ and Summit Point Raceway in Summit Point West Virginia for road course fun.   I went to Englishtown, not knowing anybody at the track while still learning to drive a 300 HP car and trying to launch it correctly.   My best time that day was about 15.5.   It was the last day of the season for E-Town so I had to wait for next spring.   I went back next spring and had the same troubles,......... how to launch a six speed.   So on my first night at the track in Spring of 2000, I find a pack of Red Corvettes.   It is John Mackey, John Panuzzo, Frank Schear, Dave Tortolani and Dennis Kazimir.   I asked "Which one of you guys is gonna get me into the 13's?"  They all stood up!  Right away they went to work on my launch.   I got more advice from these guys than anyone could ever expect.   At the end of the season, I had the car where it could be with a personal best of 13.21 and an overall win in the Corvette Challenge Event 1 of 2000.  

This is why I am such a proponent of the Corvette Challenge Drag Racing Series.   I have volunteered too many hours to count creating these web pages to let all cyber-Corvette drivers know what we are doing so they can join in the fun.   It is truly a series in which anybody can win.   The excitement I felt that day was felt by 4 other winners in 2000.   In 2001 each of the 7 events was won by different drivers.  While I will never call myself a pro, it sure is a lot more fun now than in my first few tries.

On May 5th, 2001, I went out and bought a C5! It is a 1999 Torch Red Coupe.   The car was bone stock.   I have learned to drive an automatic transmission car at the track.   Everybody knows automatics are more consistent in bracket racing.   Yeah right, the Manuals have proven to be just as competitive in this series.   Oh well, I will keep chugging.   Take a look.
New pics of the new car posted 9/2/01.  

The car has undergone some serious transformation in to low 12 second beast.   I have added a ProFlow+ intake, Corsa Indy Pace Car exhaust with Pro Series tips, BFG drag radials, a line lock for the burnouts, 3.45 Z06 rear end, Pro Torque 2900 stall torque converter and custom Vette Doctors tuning.  The next mod will be long tube headers and some dyno tuning.

What did the modifications do for me you ask? I don't know but I won the first Corvette Challenge of 2002 for my second career eliminator win on Saturday April 6, 2002. See all the details about this event by visiting 2002 Event 1 results.

Video of the winning run: Click here

On May 3, 2002, I won my third eliminator. It was the Lakes Corvette Club annual fun & run at Atco Raceway. I participated in two eliminators. In the first, I lost in the third round. In the second eliminator, a club challenge event, I raced with a club and win four rounds to be crowned the club champion. This has caused me to want to join a club. Below is a picture of the car, driver and trophy.

Guess what, I did it again. On Saturday July 13, 2002 I captured my 4th career eliminator win at Raceway Park in Englishtown NJ, in the Cartek Corvette Challenge Event 4. I am having and awesome year.

Runs 11.41 and 122 MPH

Click for video

Check back for future updates and pictures of my car and myself.   In the meantime, feel free to drop me an email at edgarperez@corvettechallenge.info.