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Strange Parts, Close Races: Our S10 at the Fall Fling
2026 Fall Fling • Bristol, Tennessee • From the driver’s seat
Strange Engineering put our Chevrolet S10 in the spotlight at Bristol. We appreciated the feature—and the chance to show the parts and people behind our program. But the most honest recap of our racing is simple: the truck and dragster did their jobs. The driver left a few rounds on the table.
A Joplin truck in the Bristol staging lanes
Our 1996 Chevrolet S10 made the trip from Joplin, Missouri, to Bristol Motor Speedway for the 2026 Fall Fling. Strange Engineering’s feature introduced Matt Lee, a retired paramedic and a regular at the Fling races, and took a closer look at the combination under the truck.
The S10 is powered by a 602-cubic-inch SR20 big-block Chevrolet built by Sunset Performance. Speed & Custom Race Cars in Woodstock, Georgia, provides support for the program. It is a serious door truck built for the demands of bracket racing: repeated trips through the staging lanes, hard launches, and the need to produce a number the driver can trust.
MRCOOL DIY Direct and Freedom HVAC Supply are the truck’s primary sponsors. Their support helps us bring this program to the track, and we are proud to carry their names into the lanes.
Strange parts. Two different race cars. One standard.
We run Strange Engineering components in both our S10 door truck and our rear-engine dragster. The vehicles are very different, but what we ask of their parts is the same: reliability and repeatability, pass after pass.
Strange’s feature identified three key pieces in the S10: a Strange Quick Release coupler, 40-spline Pro Race axles, and an aluminum HD case. Those are part of the driveline combination we depend on when the truck leaves the starting line. Our use of Strange goes beyond this featured truck; it is also part of the equipment we trust in the dragster.
These things print time slips
Horsepower gets attention. In bracket racing, a car that repeats gives you something you can work with. You choose a dial-in—the elapsed time you expect the car to run—and then try to put together the right reaction time and finish-line decision without running quicker than that dial.
A dependable combination makes that job clearer. When the car keeps producing predictable passes, you can concentrate on your own performance instead of wondering what the equipment will do next. That is what we mean when we say these things print time slips. They give us a repeatable foundation; turning that foundation into round wins still belongs to the driver.
From our perspective, the truck and dragster were flawless. The parts were reliable, the cars repeated, and they gave us the opportunities we needed. We had good equipment underneath us. The results did not come down to a mechanical excuse.
The driver? Not bad. Just not perfect.
I wish I could say the same about every decision I made behind the wheel. My driving was a little lackluster compared with what the cars were capable of—not bad, just not perfect. At this level, “pretty good” can still put you on the wrong side of a very close race.
The majority of our losses were decided by less than eight thousandths of a second: 0.008. That is the margin I keep coming back to. It is not a claim that every run was identical or that every loss happened the same way. It is a reminder of how small the difference can be between another trip to the lanes and loading up.
These things print time slips. If I would let go of the button or drive the stripe a little better, we could have gone more rounds.
Matt Lee
Letting go of the button is the starting-line part of the job: timing the release that starts the run. Driving the stripe is the finish-line part: judging the other car, managing the margin, and deciding how much finish line to take while staying on the right side of the dial-in.
A slightly better release here, a better read at the stripe there—that is where the work is. The cars gave us chances. I did not turn enough of them into wins. There is frustration in that, but also a clear direction for the next race. We can go back to work on the driver knowing the equipment gave us a solid place to start.
The people behind the passes
We are grateful to MRCOOL DIY Direct and Freedom HVAC Supply, the primary sponsors of this truck. We also appreciate Sunset Performance, Speed & Custom Race Cars, Strange Engineering, and Fuel Factory for their respective roles in the program.
Lee Motorsports is also Fuel Factory 4 States, a stocking dealer in Joplin, Missouri. Our connection to race fuel comes from being racers ourselves. The same emphasis on a dependable combination that matters in our own program shapes how we help other racers prepare theirs. Explore Fuel Factory race fuel or contact us about local availability.
Why we support the Flings
Lee Motorsports is a supporter and sponsor of the Fling Racing Series—big-bucks bracket racing. We participate because we enjoy the competition, and we support it because this is the racing community we want to help grow.
There is a lot to appreciate about a field that makes you earn every round. It rewards preparation, dependable equipment, and precise driving. Sometimes it also hands you a time slip that says you were close, but close was not quite enough. We will keep showing up, supporting the series, and working to make better use of the cars we have.
The takeaway from Bristol is not a promise of a win next time. It is confidence in the program and an honest assessment of what needs improvement. The truck and dragster are ready to do their jobs. The driver has homework.
Original feature and photography: Strange Engineering’s Lee Motorsports S10 feature. Photographs used with permission granted to Lee Motorsports. This expanded story and driver assessment are by Lee Motorsports.