{"id":6529,"date":"2017-07-06T07:00:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-06T12:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/?p=6529"},"modified":"2017-07-05T12:41:10","modified_gmt":"2017-07-05T17:41:10","slug":"on-a-mission-from-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2017\/07\/06\/on-a-mission-from-god\/","title":{"rendered":"On A Mission From God"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Hebert\u00a0Is Driving His\u00a0Bluesmobile In The\u00a0Great American Race<\/em><\/p>\n

Story By Brad Goins<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll –\u00a0<\/em>monsoursphotography.net<\/em><\/p>\n

Special Thanks To Port Aggregates<\/em><\/p>\n

Stephen Hebert retired young. Today he lives with his family in his rural Westlake home. Family and friends often accompany Hebert as he strolls around the grounds with his little dog.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But it\u2019s not a quiet life. Not by a long shot. The country calm is often broken by the explosive roar of a car engine that runs well in excess of 500 horsepower; by the screech of tires that peel out on the driveway as a vehicle accelerates to lightning speed in a few seconds.<\/p>\n

Hebert is a lifelong auto mechanic. Today, his big retirement project is taking vintage muscle cars and working on them until they become formidable drag racers. And when he\u2019s made the car right for the track, he drives it in national races.<\/p>\n

The fruit of Hebert\u2019s labor is a group of retooled muscle cars. Like many muscle car enthusiasts, Hebert is a big fan of the Hemi engine.<\/p>\n

He says the 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi was the first vehicle that offered the car-buying public the option of getting a car with a Hemi engine. Because the Hemi engine had such power, cars that had one came with only a 90-day warranty. This limited warranty and the challenges of maintenance ensured that the buying public lost its taste for the souped-up car pretty quickly, and it was soon taken out of production.<\/p>\n

Today, Hebert owns two of these rare cars. One is the 1966 Dodge Hemi Coronet Hebert calls the Green Machine. An automatic, it was one of only 18 made.<\/p>\n

Hebert also owns a 1966 Dodge Hemi Coronet 4-speed trans car \u2014 one of just 31 made. These cars could be sold as a matching set one day. Even one of the cars can easily sell for well over $100,000.<\/p>\n

The Hemi engine was developed in the early 1960s by Tom Hoover, a physicist and automotive engineer who\u2019d been hired by Chrysler. It was he who assembled the world\u2019s first 426 Hemi V-8 engine.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hoover\u2019s Hemi engine was so good for stock car racing that in 1964, Richard Petty drove his Plymouth Hemis to nine victories. Chevrolet threatened to sue its racing rival, arguing that the technology being used on the track was inappropriate because it wasn\u2019t available to the general public.<\/p>\n

For one year \u2014 1965 \u2014 no one could drive a Hemi engine in stock car racing. So in 1966, as was noted above, Dodge offered the Hemi to the public, and Hemi stock car racing was back on the menu. As usual, the new set of rules and regulations didn\u2019t make a whole lot of difference. In 1967, Petty came back with his Plymouth Hemis and won an astonishing 27 races in a single year.<\/p>\n

After 1966, the public could get a Hemi, but it came at a price. One of Hebert\u2019s old muscle cars still has the original price sheet attached to its window. The base price was $2,397. With the Hemi engine, the car\u2019s cost shot up by $1,113.<\/p>\n

As the movie the Blues Brothers makes clear, old Dodges had a distinct connection with U.S. law enforcement. Hebert notes that the FBI requested two of the 1966 Dodge Hemis, asking that the vehicles be outfitted with trailer hitches so that they could tow crime scene trailers.<\/p>\n

The Bluesmobile<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebert\u2019s refurbished and rebuilt many cars so that they\u2019re race track-ready. Not long ago, he finished building his version of the car used in the movie The Blues Brothers. When he was done, he told his brother-in-law Dennis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI built the FBI car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we ought to be the Blues Brothers,\u201d was the response.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With that, the brother-in-law began his transformation into Dennis \u201cElwood\u201d O\u2019Connell. (One of the film\u2019s two protagonists, Elwood Blues, was portrayed by Dan Akroyd.) When the two men take this vehicle to the upcoming Great American Race, Hebert will sit in the passenger seat as Stephen \u201cJoliet Jake\u201d Hebert (the complement of Jake Blues, as played by John Belushi in the film). By the time race day arrives, both men will have done their best to look the part of the two movie characters.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connell \u2014 once an F-4 fighter pilot in Vietnam \u2014 makes a good, assertive driver. Hebert, who will be the navigator for the car in this year\u2019s Great American Race, has a big cup of underliners he uses to keep the numbers from running together in his head. (In a minute, I\u2019ll explain just what it is that makes it such a challenge to navigate one of these races.)<\/p>\n

Like any good police car\/drag racer hybrid, Hebert\u2019s Bluesmobile features a 400-watt siren. That\u2019s 400 watts of amplification for whatever sounds Hebert puts into the vehicle\u2019s police radio. He has a machine that generates a variety of audio clips from the Blues Brothers movie. So racers may soon hear John Belushi\u2019s angry voice screaming full tilt from a giant speaker.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Won\u2019t racing officials be irked by these extremely \u2014 and I mean extremely \u2014 loud sounds? \u201cAt times, we\u2019ll be able to use it,\u201d says a smiling Hebert.<\/p>\n

Just as on the exterior of the vehicle in the movie, a police star on each front door of the original car is clumsily covered with black paint. The car bears the handwritten slogan \u201cTO SERVE AND PROTECT.\u201d A large decal on the back reads, \u201cOur Lady of Blessed Acceleration, Don\u2019t Fail Me Now.\u201d The license is a faithful BDR 529, with BDR standing for \u201cBlack Diamond Rider.\u201d<\/p>\n

The car contains a black briefcase with handcuffs on the handle just like in the movie. The top of the dash is cluttered with old packs of Chesterfields and watched over by a Holy Mary figurine. Hebert\u2019s Bluesmobile also has an 8-track player (which was playing an Olivia Newton John tape on the day I interviewed Hebert).<\/p>\n

The vehicle is a 1974 Dodge Monaco, but it\u2019s not a Hemi. This edition had a 440 wedge motor. It was a \u201cpolice package\u201d \u2014 designed specifically for law enforcement \u2014 and was plenty powerful.<\/p>\n

In the film The Blues Brothers, when Jake is astonished by the speed of the car, Elwood tells him it\u2019s the fastest car around because \u201cit\u2019s got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant. It\u2019s got cop tires, cop suspension, cop shocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1974, Dodge released its Monaco Police Pursuit vehicle. It had a 440 High Performance Magnum engine. Obviously, the car was designed for law enforcement agents who were eager to get an edge on criminals who were reckless drivers, speed freaks or unusually talented at getaway driving.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hebert shows me the car\u2019s original speedometer, which went up to 140. He also notes the word \u201cCERTIFIED\u201d that appears over the speedometer. The word \u201ccertified\u201d was a tacit contract with law enforcement that they could get the vehicle to travel as fast as 140 mph.<\/p>\n

Producers and directors used 12 of these cars in the filming of The Blues Brothers. Over 100 cars of other makes were wrecked during the filming.<\/p>\n

On top of the Bluesmobile in the movie, and the one in Hebert\u2019s garage, is an addition found on no standard issue police car \u2014 a giant CLM air raid siren. Hebert readily admits the siren is just a prop. \u201cA real one would crush the car,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

When I rather sheepishly ask whether the huge contraption creates much wind resistance, Hebert immediately admits it does. It\u2019s important to keep in mind that this car, for Hebert, is more about fun than winning. \u201cIt\u2019s the cheapest and slowest car we\u2019ve got. But style and attitude is our theme\u201d at this year\u2019s Great American Race. \u201cIt\u2019s probably going to be the most fun we\u2019ll have this year … I can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Great American Race<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Great American Race is a timed event. Each racer must take off at a time calculated down to the second. A total of 120 racers compete, with a new racer taking off every minute.<\/p>\n

Each racer is given an exact starting time. Suppose Hebert is the 71st racer on the list. That means he must add 71 minutes to the starting time he is given.<\/p>\n

He must also start from the exact starting location he is given. Hebert showed me the instructions for a single day\u2019s race \u2014 pages of instructions that tell him which locations he must go to and in what order. In the course he showed me, he was obliged to start at a traffic sign shaped a certain way.<\/p>\n

And just finding the right sign isn\u2019t the end of it. As navigator, Hebert is constantly crunching numbers. For instance, he shows me a chart that lets him know that if he wants to get up to 50 mph at the moment he starts, he\u2019ll need to accelerate the Bluesmobile for 8.2 seconds. It\u2019s not just careful navigation, says Hebert; \u201cIt\u2019s a math quiz.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessarily a race for super-fast cars. Some like to drive very old antique cars. Why? Such cars get a great handicap.<\/p>\n

Hebert mentions the 1916 American LaFrance, which gets a 50-percent handicap in the race. His Bluesmobile will receive no handicap due to its youth.<\/p>\n

The Great American Race is limited to cars manufactured in 1972 and earlier. Hebert had to get special permission to drive his 1974 issue Bluesmobile.<\/p>\n

The race changes its route each year. The first year Hebert participated, the route ran along Route 66. Last year, it corresponded to the Lincoln Highway, and this year it will follow the Dixie Highway. \u201cFor the most part, we\u2019re running the old highways,\u201d says Hebert.<\/p>\n

This year, the race\u2019s grand master will be \u201cBig Daddy\u201d Don Garlets, whom Hebert calls the \u201cgodfather of drag racing.\u201d (Garlets is considered the inventor of both the slingshot drag racer and the top fuel car.)<\/p>\n

At each day\u2019s stop, there will be two hours of public viewing of the cars. These viewings have long been celebratory events that draw large, enthusiastic crowds.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Great American Race will begin in late June in Jacksonville, Fla., and end in early July in Michigan. It\u2019s a 2,300-mile route.<\/p>\n

Racing Career<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebert won the NHRA SPORTSNational drag race in 2009 with the 1968 Barracuda Hemi that he calls Secretariat. He\u2019s continued to compete in the race, which in recent years has often been held in Bowling Green, Ky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hebert\u2019s Barracuda race cars<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, it\u2019s not easy to win a race. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of ways to lose,\u201d says Hebert. One way is with fouls. No driver in any stock car race can accelerate before the starting light turns green. One year Hebert was disqualified for starting 3\/100 of a second before the light changed color.<\/p>\n

Driving Secretariat, Hebert has won at two national drag racing events and been runner-up at two others. He says, \u201cI am the only reason the car does not win every event.\u201d<\/p>\n

All sorts of things have been done to keep down the weight and wind resistance of this good-looking bright blue racer. The car has fiberglass fenders; Hebert explains, \u201cif they did it at the factory, we can do it …\u00a0 Anything that was done at the factory, a drag racer can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Hebert\u2019s vintage Coronets<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Secretariat\u2019s seat belts come up through the roll cage; the glass is much thinner than that of standard-issue windows. The car must come in at the NHRA\u2019s weight limit of 3,200 pounds.<\/p>\n

Hebert explains that it was only in 1968 that Hemi engines were offered in \u201cthe small A body cars.\u201d Only 70 Dodge Darts and 70 Plymouth Barracudas were made with the Hemis in this body in \u201868. The cars are now very rare.<\/p>\n

Hebert says he makes Secretariat a persistent winner by popping it up to 10,000 rpm.<\/p>\n

Green Machine<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of Hebert\u2019s racers is called the Green Machine. It\u2019s striking \u2014 a beautifully unrestored and well maintained vintage muscle car. And it has fierce power. Hebert calls it \u201cthe perfect race car.\u201d<\/p>\n

He last ran the Green Machine \u2014 a shiny, olive green 1966 Dodge Coronet Hemi 426 \u2014 at the Great American Race. It was the second time he\u2019d driven the car in the race. The splendid racing machine was performing just as it should until a wheel bearing broke.<\/p>\n

At the time this Coronet was available to the public, all Dodge coupes with Hemi engines were convertibles. It\u2019s clear that the top of the Green Machine has been welded at the spot where the convertible top once rose up. On the underside of the car, one can see the huge torque box that was once used to stabilize the structurally weak convertible top.<\/p>\n

At one point, Hebert shows me a recent bill of sale for a car of the same make. The price is $660,000.<\/p>\n

The Fastest Muscle Car Of All<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebert\u2019s 1968 Chrysler-Hurst Dart Hemi was a joint venture between Chrysler and Hurst. When Hurst was finished working on the basic vehicle produced by Chrysler, the car had the two rows of four cylinders that were standard for the Hemi engine. The horsepower announced to the public was 425. Many thought the actual HP was probably about 535. Street Muscle Magazine declares that the car is the \u201cfastest muscle car of all time.\u201d And Hebert says, \u201cthese things are engineering marvels.\u201d<\/p>\n

Its price (high for the time) was $5,000. Hebert says the vehicle is now \u201cstrictly a museum piece,\u201d and shows me the rot that is clearly visible on the original tires. The car still bears the black and grey primer with which it was first coated.<\/p>\n

What a person such as Hebert does with this vehicle is \u201ctake the skin off, build a chassis car, then put the skin back on.\u201d Look inside the passenger window and you\u2019ll see the huge roll bars and straps you typically associate with the interior of stock car racing coupes.<\/p>\n

Hebert\u2019s Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hebert recalls that in the early 1970s, his mother told him, \u201cYou\u2019re not going to amount to anything. You just work on cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hebert must have taken the message to heart; he learned to work on something else.<\/p>\n

The first thing he did was build his mother a new handicap-accessible home. Then, when he could, he went back to working on cars.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he learned enough to develop geospatial software and hardware that was able to map places on land as well as under water. He built up his company to the point that it had 174 employees and developed classified proprietary mapping techniques still in use today.<\/p>\n

By 2008, the U.S. Dept. of Defense had taken notice. Hebert sold his operation to Northrop Grumman and bought a big chunk of the company\u2019s stock. At the age of 52, he found himself retired and financially independent. He could go back to doing what he\u2019d wanted to do all along: working on cars.<\/p>\n

The Ugly Stick<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s wind up by taking a look at one more of Hebert\u2019s racers.<\/p>\n

As accustomed as driver and brother-in-law O\u2019Connell is at wrestling powerful race cars down the track, he declines to take the wheel of one of Hebert\u2019s cars: The Ugly Stick. O\u2019Connell thinks the car just has too much power to handle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos By Jason Carroll
monsoursphotography.net<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The car is a 1966 Dodge Coronet 426 Hemi. Hebert has seen to it that the bad boy is badder than ever, as it now houses a 650 horsepower engine. Hebert says he \u201cput overdrive in it\u201d to make it the power factory it is. Hebert can get the car up to 161.11 mph in 1,300 feet. \u201cIt is a bad boy street car,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

On the back is a decal that reads \u201cYou\u2019re beat with the ugly stick.\u201d And as far as exterior aesthetics go, the car does look ugly. There appears to have been little if any maintenance of the car\u2019s original paint job. Rust now plays a major part in its look. So do dents.<\/p>\n

But Hebert values this car for its speed and power; not its looks. He took me out for a brief ride in The Ugly Stick. I expected it to do a lot and it did even more.<\/p>\n

As Hebert rushed down deserted rural roads, I felt my back being pressed back hard against my seat. I\u2019d experienced a bit of this in a retooled GTO in high school.<\/p>\n

What was entirely new to me was the vibrations under my feet. They were powerful, steady, forceful, non-stop vibrations that produced a variety of loud rumbling sounds. At times, I felt as if my feet were jumping 3 or 4 inches off the floor. This was a first for me.<\/p>\n

I guessed that if this sort of vibration went on for long, it must have some sort of effect on human feet. I don\u2019t want to think what it must do to a human body to sit in one car seat and race for eight consecutive hours.<\/p>\n

I said a little about this to Hebert, and he conceded that such events as the Great American Race take a toll on the body.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s hard to gauge the value of the exhilaration one feels when a driver lets loose in a monster race car. Such exhilaration might be worth a fair amount of inconvenience and pain.<\/p>\n

Maybe that sort of exhilaration is important to Hebert. At any rate, it\u2019s clear that he derives a great deal of joy from doing what he does. As far as I can see, his cars keep him smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Hebert\u00a0Is Driving His\u00a0Bluesmobile In The\u00a0Great American Race Story By Brad Goins Photos By Jason Carroll –\u00a0monsoursphotography.net Special Thanks To Port Aggregates Stephen Hebert retired young. Today he lives with his family in his rural Westlake home. Family and friends often accompany Hebert as he strolls around the grounds with his little dog. But it\u2019s [&hellip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1504,1505,38,4,1174,1503,1506],"yoast_head":"\nOn A Mission From God - BestOfSwla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestofswla.com\/2017\/07\/06\/on-a-mission-from-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On A Mission From God - BestOfSwla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stephen Hebert\u00a0Is Driving His\u00a0Bluesmobile In The\u00a0Great American Race Story By Brad Goins Photos By Jason Carroll –\u00a0monsoursphotography.net Special Thanks To Port Aggregates Stephen Hebert retired young. Today he lives with his family in his rural Westlake home. Family and friends often accompany Hebert as he strolls around the grounds with his little dog. 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Today he lives with his family in his rural Westlake home. Family and friends often accompany Hebert as he strolls around the grounds with his little dog. 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