Project SALT Makes Its Debut at the High Performance Expo

Project SALT Makes Its Debut at the High Performance Expo

If you caught this article back in 2019, you may be wondering what happened to Project SALT. The answer is that it’s been patiently waiting for its turn to come back to life. Today, at the first High Performance Expo in Charlotte, NC marks the day many of us have been waiting 15 years to witness.

Vengeance Racing has been the builder of Justin Cesler’s 2001 Trans Am since he decided to embark on standing mile racing, and they are easily one of the most experienced in this arena with LS combinations. Owner Ron Mowen has proven himself extremely patient and also stubborn enough to not give up on this passion project of ours. Although he’d never admit it publicly, Cesler is extremely grateful (as am I) for it.

The Trans Am is the car that started it all for Cesler, as he told me today: “It’s the reason I am standing here today, it’s the reason I got on LS1Tech.com and saw an ad for the job at GM High-Tech. I bought this car back when I lived in Orlando, and I don’t even know how I paid for it. I drove it through college, started modifying it, and made so many friends [and a career] because of it.” He’s owned many others after it, but it’s the car that changed everything for him. 

Project Salt

Project SALT is sort of a time capsule of technology from 2013 when we started building it on the pages of a now-extinct print publication. It has a solid roller, 6.0L iron block with ½-inch head studs and cathedral port TFS heads along with a Turbonetics 88mm turbo, fed by a Vibrant aluminum hot-side with Jet Hot coating. Many leant a hand along the way – Jay Healy built the single turbo kit and engine, Jey Clegg built the roll cage…Ricky Best helped secure a Holley EFI system for it. Its home has been Vengeance for the majority of labor, so it’s only fitting that Mowen and company helped bring it home and finish off the project. Its standing mile debut will be at Shift Sector in Indy, Mowen told me, and in between now and then they will finalize the last 10% of the build.

Calibrator Howard Tanner uploaded a base tune just in time for the show, so that Justin could drive Project SALT into the show (and for the first time in probably nearly two decades since it was a roller before Vengeance got it). In fact, the injectors were so old, he told us, they didn’t even have injector data for the Holley EFI calibration.

 
 
 
 
 
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The crew at Vengeance has been hard at work on Project SALT for a few weeks to get it ready for HPX, and we’ll be catching you up very soon with several pieces of content to include:

  • Safety: we worked with Procar for a set of race seats, and we’ll talk about proper seat and harness mounting for any type of racing
  • Wheels and Tires: what tires and wheels are best for standing mile racing and why (hint: RC and Mickey Thompson)
  • Rearend and Rear Suspension: what gear ratios are best for a combination like this in standing mile racing as well as suspension and rearend selection
  • Dyno Tuning and Its First Test: will it exceed 200mph with 15yo technology? Only time will tell.

A special thank you goes to Taylor Norris, Sean Parker, Bert Ramos, and Bradley Berry for working so hard to get SALT ready for HPX. Stay tuned for more content on this standing mile Trans Am.

HPX 2025: The New Kid on the Block

There’s been just one major player in the industry trade show space for quite some time, and HPX has come in with a fresh attitude and a location just begging for it. High Performance Expo went right after the home of NASCAR with its selection of the Charlotte Convention Center as its home. And the area is rife with drag racers, dirt track racing, and many more as well. Many from the northeast have relocated to North Carolina including American Racing Headers, who displayed at HPX this year. More and more we are hearing that others are establishing an east coast location in the state, and of course its been home to many large companies (as has South Carolina) such as MAHLE and Continental Tire.

 

We used this as a good opportunity to check out the offerings of Engine Pro, BAM Lifters, Mantic Clutch USA, Scoggin-Dickey Parts Center, 6XD, and Melling to name a few that were among the inaugural exhibitors of HPX (June 3-5, 2025). Stay tuned to our Facebook and Instagram pages for coverage of the event.

HPX 2025 Charlotte NC

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About the author

Scott Parker

Scott dreamed of being in the automotive media in high school, growing up around car shows and just down the street from Atco Raceway. The technology, performance capability, and craftsmanship that goes into builds fuels his passion.
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