the legend of voodoo childe
there is a funny thing that has come about in this day and age: the internet celebrity. everything from the star wars kid to maddox to the icy hot stuntaz. some are universally known, some only in certain circles. i run around in the portions of the interent serving mostly automotive and firearm related content, and as a result have come to enjoy some of the more obscure or niche internet celebrities, like the mall ninja.
one other such internet celebrity (probably more accurately described as a legend) is voodoo childe. a quick google search will turn up his user profile and posts on a few automotive forums as well as whisperings about the car and its accomplishments on several other forums. anyway, presented here for posterity is the original kill story posted on ls1.com:
The last couple of weeks there has been this young kid in a Supra that has been killing just about everything in town. The kid is from Austin, and I will give him this: that car is very fast. Anyhow, a buddy of mine has a 427 LS1 with a small shot of nitrous and this kid wanted a money race so they set it up. Anyhow, before they get to race last night, a 96 supercharged Mustang GT challenges him. The ‘Vette has already beat the Mustang pretty good out at Idalou. The Mustang is running mid to high 11′s so my buddy figures that they can line up to see what he is going up against because rumor is that this Supra is high to mid 9′s in Austin. Well, they line up and the Mustang gets its doors completely ripped off. Not even a race. This got my buddy worried, because he had $500 dollars on the bet with the Supra that he might lose. So the Supra and the Vette line up and my buddy hangs with him to about 60 and then the kid just flat walks him by about 4 car’s. They did it again from a rolling start and it just got worse from there. Well, my buddy hands over the money while this kid is mouthing off about how Supra’s are so great and that he will beat any domestic car. We were all standing in a group looking at the Supra’s engine and listening to this kid run his mouth when I hear the most wonderful sound I have ever heard…..a black dark-ass-tinted 70 Dart rolls up with a huge blower sticking out of the hood and a rumble that was shaking the ground. The kid looks at the car and I think about this time he realized he may be in trouble, but he can’t back down now. I hear some kind of click and this Dart starts slowly heating up the huge meats on the back of the car. Not fast mind you, just slowly gathering speed as if he could have destroyed them at will, but was just playing around. About this time, I look and I realize who this is (I should have known) due to the smoking skulls on the side of it: Mr. Voodoo Childe himself. You talk about putting a smile on my face. Anyhow, so this kid walks over to the car and they agree to run the two for $1000. They line up and the kid starts to due a burnout. I tell my buddy, with a smile, watch this becasue you may never get to see it again. By this time the Mustang guys and him are wondering what the hell is in this car and how I know about it. The kid does a pretty long burnout and backs up. I hear that ominous click again, he purges and all hell breaks loose. That Dart annihalated what looked like about 16 or 17 inch-wide tires on the back of it. I am thinking yeah now your all mighty Supra is getting ready to be destroyed. They line up and I guess they agreed to let the Supra honk to start. Well, the kid leaves before the 3rd honk and pulls about 1 and half car lengths on the Dart. That lasted about a half a second because when that Dart left (Putting about 12 inches of air under the front tires) he blew by that Supra like it was sitting still. I bet he had him by 15 to 20 car lengths when they shutdown. I guess that is why he has AZZKIKR on the license plates. They stopped and the kid handed him the money and they drove off. I would have loved to talk to him about how he knew we were going to be there? All in all, a bad ass kill
i came across the legend for the first time over at supra forums where someone suggested that the saying “there’s always someone faster” was referring to someone named voodoo childe. so i started to do a little digging, found the kill story along with some pictures you’ll find below. i also learned the voodoo childe made an open challenge to the supra community and to this day not one person has stepped up. in june of 2004, i finally tracked down voodoo childe on an automotive message board and sent him an email asking about the car. here’s what i got back:
The Dart originally started out as a street car and has remained one to this day. If we had to sacrifice streetability for performance, we found another part or made one. It is an ongoing project that has been going for 7 years. It took us 4 just to get it to run right without overheating. The original setup was a 636 CI all aluminum KB motor, 12-71 Littlefield blower, and a 400 HP custom NOS Kit. It ran a best et of 6.98 and a best mph of 199 on that motor. (My memory is a little fuzzy on this, but I will check when I get home.) We then changed to a 700 CI KB motor, 14-71 blower, and the same NOS kit. This is the one that is most likely what you have heard about. It ran a best et of a 6.66 and best mph 211. However, we never could get it to hook. Basically skated down the quarter. Anyhow, all these runs were on either MT or Hoosier street slicks. We used to run periodically in the Hot Rod Fastest Street Car competition. We are currently running, shh don’t tell anyone, a Jon Kase 800 CI with a 14-71 blower and a 400 shot.
As far as internet legends are concerned, I have garnered somewhat of a rep. The main reason I don’t go to forums anymore is simply, I don’t have the time to answer the 200 e-mails I was getting a day. Plus, the one guy who threatened me, and finally every indidvidual who knows someone who has a fast car. One of the first large threads on LS2 was a guy setting up a race between me and a mystery racer in Dallas that never materialized. The Supra race did happen and was posted by someone that I did not know at the time. He had seen me race at Atlanta.
