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A very unique member family, John and Cindy Shea are truly up to their neck in cars.  With John as the builder of fine cars and race cars that border on perfection and Cindy as the “lady of the lights” they make a great pair of racers and car lovers.

The Shea’s latest hot rod is a 230” wheelbase rear motor dragster.  It has a 372 cubic inch Chevrolet small block that cranks out over 600 horses. With quarter mile times of the low 8 second range and trap speeds of 170+, it is a car to be reckoned with Cindy is in the driver’s seat. This now makes Cindy the fastest member of the family.  She has just gotten her Top Dragster License at Orangeburg Drag strip. Her first real race will be on March 29th, unfortunately the same day as this years Spring Fling. So we wish her well and look forward to seeing her car at one of the cruise-ins.  

The dragster was recently painted by Steve Biggs of Carolina collision and the graphics were just done by Communigraphics.  Check out Carolina Thunder #3.

Their last race car was a 1962 Nova also dubbed “Carolina Thunder” that ran 9.90’s in the 1/4. This was the second Carolina Thunder race car and they went to the finals 3 times in the second year, winning 2 of the 3 finals. They also finished in IHRA Pro-Am Hot Rod series in the top ten 2006, 2007.  This car would run 6.24 @ 111 MPH in the 1/8th mile, and 9.90 @ 140 MPH in the 1/4 mile. At this time John was still the fastest driver in the family at 144 MPH. Last year they went to Pinks All Out in Rockingham but did not make the final 16.  Cindy got interviewed twice because they really liked the car. As a result of the interview it has been aired about 20 times on Speed Channel in the past year.  

The first “Carolina Thunder” was a 1975 Nova that would run 1/8 mile times of 7.00 @ 100 MPH. Cindy went bracket racing with this car and she went to the World Bracket Finals twice in it, and finished 4th at the Super Chevy Show in Atlanta GA.  

John started drag racing in the early 60's with a 62 Nova A-Gasser.  This car would run in the 10's @ 150 MPH. By the end of the 60's he had transitioned to the sportsman division of NASCAR (which today is the Busch Series) where he ran tracks like Savannah, Myrtle Beach, Columbia Downtown, and Greenville-Pickens.  In those days he ran with people such as Tiny Lund, Leroy Yarborough, Cale Yarborough, both Allison brothers, David Pearson, and Jack Ingram. By the late 1980's he left racing "he thought" because of the high expenses.  In the 1990's he got back into racing when he and Mike Saye (3 time world champion) built a 1969 black Camaro. The Camaro ran C Automatic Super Stock in NHRA. This car was a 427 CU Chevy, had to weigh 3515 lbs. This car would run 9.90 @ 144 MPH.  

This past September Cindy went to Lowes Motor Speedway in Charlotte North Carolina to attend the Richard Petty driving school. She drove 18 laps and the last 10 laps was at 140 MPH which was the fastest she was allowed to go. This made her the fastest driver in the family in NASCAR.

John is also building a 34 Ford Coupe Street Beast.  The chassis is now rolling complete and at the point where he is ready to fit the body. He never gets a chance to work on his '34 because he is always working on Cindy’s race car. I would guess would rather get the new dragster ready to race.