Thanks to its ever-increasing popularity, the LS platform has become so common, and so readily available, that its grandeur can sometimes get a bit watered down. Whether it’s a factory-equipped LSx car or a full-blown swap, the LS platform has become a household name synonymous with cheap, easy horsepower.
Of course, this is a testament to the engine design – it doesn’t take a lot of money (or expertise, for that matter) to get remarkable and consistent results. But as time has worn on and the proficiency of GM’s third- and fourth-gen small-blocks has become more and more familiar, it’s consequently become more difficult to find LSx builds that stand out.
While low-budget garage projects and creative, off-beat swaps are great for reflecting the LS platform’s simplicity and well-roundedness, sometimes we enthusiasts prefer the top-tier, high-performance side of things. The folks at Vengeance Racing happen to make a living off of this side of things, building some seriously badass Corvettes, Camaros and Cadillacs out of their shop in Cumming, Georgia.
We had the opportunity to talk with Ron Mowen, president of Vengeance Racing, about what it is they do. Mowen shared with us that Vengeance Racing had its humble beginning back in 2006 with no one but himself, a technician and a tuner.
Since day one, Mowen and his team’s goal was to provide a level of service and performance not found in the industry; all they had at their disposal to realize this goal was a toolbox, four jack stands and a laptop with an EFI Live tuner installed. In the 10 years they’ve been striving toward this goal, however, Vengeance Racing has come an incredibly long way – they now have a more than 12,000-square-foot, fully-loaded performance shop with which to service the five to seven different cars they build every week.From simple bolt-ons and installations to 2,000-horsepower twin-turbo builds, Ron and his team cover it all – and on a global scale, too. Ron told us that he and his team have world-record-holding CTS-Vs, Corvettes and Camaros all over the planet; they even have an 850-horsepower C7 which they custom built and had shipped overseas to a client in Dubai.
But while their reach is worldwide, Ron makes sure that Vengeance Racing maintains the same values they’ve embraced since the very beginning. He explained, “We opened Vengeance Racing to provide a level of service and performance not found in the industry. Since the beginning, our main focus was ensuring we exceed our customers’ expectations in every aspect possible.”He continued, “It’s no secret that a lot of shops can build a fast car, but building a fast car that looks as good as it performs is a different story. We pride ourselves on having a high level of attention to detail on every build. My guys know when they wire a nitrous system, for example, that the wires under the dash and center console need to be routed as neatly as the wires visible under the hood. I tell my guys to ‘build it as if it were going to another shop for disassembly and inspection’. We never want a customer to be less than satisfied with any work we perform on their vehicle.”Consequently, Vengeance Racing has put together some of the most formidable builds in the business – like their twin-turbo C6 Z06, which they’ve affectionately titled “Fatman”. With their custom-fabricated twin-turbo system – utilizing a pair of Precision Gen II 6870 snails – and a Nitrous Outlet direct-port system, “Fatman” caps out at 1,780 horsepower at the wheels. According to Ron, the ‘Vette holds the record in the U.S. for the fastest half-mile Corvette, running 204.5 mph – and it’s street driven.”
Ron told us that Vengeance Racing has always been strictly LS-based and focused mainly on high-performance street applications – the bread-and-butter of just about any gearhead. But while their focus has been on street cars, Vengeance Racing has dabbled in both quarter-mile and (more recently) half-mile racing.
One of the results of this “dabbling” is another insane car of theirs – a 744-RWHP C5 Z06 that races in the Naturally Aspirated class at half-mile events. With 474 cubic inches of naturally-aspirated, tall-deck motor and a PPG sequential gearbox, the ‘Vette is one of the coolest half-mile cars we’ve ever seen. A previous world-record holder, the all-motor C5Z runs 179.7 miles an hour in the half-mile.
Of course, the insane performance Vengeance Racing is able to achieve shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; Ron shared that both his tuner and himself had nearly a decade of experience working with the LS platform prior to opening doors at Vengeance Racing. He explained that they had worked for GMMG, a specialty shop offering high-performance vehicles for sale through GM dealerships, and had built cars for the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Dick Harrel and Fred Gibb.
Nowadays, Ron and his team cater to their customers, and do so in a way that truly stands them apart from other performance shops. Not only do they build some of the best GM performance cars around, the Vengeance Racing team also travels the country to race and support their machines in the WannaGOFAST series.
As Ron put it, “We spend these events testing our vehicles and ensuring our customers are successful. This is one of the most important things we do at these events and why we travel across the country to follow them. Any shop can build a fast car, but when people see a shop like us supporting 40 to 50 customers – all running well and dominating the event – it speaks volumes about what we do and why we do it.”Vengeance Racing is anything but your run-of-the-mill, neighborhood performance tuner. In a time when high-powered LSx cars are so common you’d think they grow on trees, Ron and his team are taking one of the greatest engine platforms in the world to the next level. We’re definitely eager to see what other crazy projects will roll out of their garage in the future; be sure to check out Vengeance Racing’s website and Facebook page to keep up with all of the work they have going on.