Slobalt

[Ellis V Buth]

Alright, I probably won't get rolling full steam on the documentation of this build until this winter but I figured I'd go ahead and get it started now while some of the early details are still fresh in my mind.

Ever since I met my wife in 2015, she had a 2005 Cobalt. Manual windows, manual seats, electric locks. 4 door. Nothing special, just a fuel efficient work beater with low miles and very little rust. I had joked with her about turning it into a racecar since the first time she came to the track and she always laughed at me. At the time, I hadn't researched the combination for stock eliminator.

In 2019, a buddy needed something to race and the Cobalt happened to be sitting at the track so I told him to get in it and run sportsman. Car ran 10.99 best and 11.05 worst that day. That got my wheels turning and I came home and researched the combination. At that time, DF/S was a 19 lb class (I think) and EF/S was a 25 lb class so at the end of the day I didn't think it was a viable solution to try with the ET's it ran on the 1/8th mile and the car being a natural 20 lb car. I ended up purchasing my Ranger a few weeks later and spent the time and money making it better.

Fast forward to this spring, the car now has 150,000 miles on it and we are starting to consider replacing it as a daily driver. I took it to the track on June 24 and ran between 11.00 and 11.06 the whole day. 4 years later, same ETs. That got my wheels spinning. CF/S is now 19 lbs and DF/S is now 22 lbs which means I can add a little weight to the car and it'll have a 16.50 index. I take it to the local elevator and weigh it to get an idea...it's roughly 100 lbs light with 1/4 tank of fuel. Awesome...those runs are viable data and 16.50 isn't too far from reach.

Another buddy is starting a stocker build but dealing with parts on back order and can't seem to make any headway. He had to take my brothers street car to Norwalk to tech and get a grade point...but that car isn't remotely close to the index. My brother, Travis, mentions that we've been talking about the Cobalt and think it should be about 5 tenths above the index as it sits in street trim. It's somewhere around the 1st of July, and we decide its worth going down this path. Let's get the car to a 1/4 mile track and test it before Columbus and try to get that .5 out of it!

July 3rd, 2023 the car is loaded on a trailer and headed to Indiana to start its stock eliminator journey. Here is the picture from that evening and the beginning of the build I'm calling "SLOBALT"