Article By JOSH HACHAT
Robert Mcatee isn’t racing on a budget, but the Edmond, Oklahoma-native isn’t about to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into a car, either.
As it is, Mcatee’s 2007 Corvette is doing just fine putting down 950-horsepower and 1,000-foot pounds of torque to the rear wheels. Its matte metallic look makes it a head-turner no matter the car’s performance – especially with the perfect angle in the sunlight – but going 168 mph on the strip is the enticing icing on the cake.
“The car is just a lot of fun,” Mcatee said. “It’s not necessarily a budget build, but I wanted to do it reasonably priced. I didn’t want to spend a fortune trying to build a full race car. It’s a fun car, a lot of fun and it’s scary fast.”
Truth be told, Mcatee is simply excited to be part of the street car scene and gets almost as much excitement watching the heavy-hitters perform as he does competing. But Mcatee also has big plans for his Corvette, which already has a 408-cubic inch LQ9 engine with a Precision Turbo 88mm turbo single up front, and a striking bumper-exit exhaust. After competing at the Texas Invitational and the Street Car Takeover in Oklahoma City – taking the runner-up in the series’ unlimited roll race category “King of the Bakery” – this fall, Mcatee is putting in plenty of work over the winter.
While he won’t be doing any extravagant spending, he does have plenty of goals for the 2017 season. Mcatee spoke with us about a number of topics, including those goals, competing without spending a fortune and what he enjoys most about the street car scene.
STREET/RACE MAGAZINE: Obviously you’ve put money into your car, but you’ve put together an impressive package without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. Is that something you take pride in?
ROBERT MCATEE: That’s a huge thing to me. I bought the car with a bad motor in it for $16,000. I obviously got a deal on it, but I took the motor out and we just started over. To me, it’s cool because when people think of a 1,000-horsepower car that can compete in those big name events, this might not be the first thing they think of.
Going from (the Texas Invitational) to runner-up at King of the Bakery (at Street Car Takeover) the next weekend, to me it’s awesome. People think that guy’s got $100,000 in that car and I don’t – and I won’t. It’s really cool to be at the point we’re at speed-wise and everything else, and not be just super in the hole. There’s cars there that were trapping the same as me, and the car costs more than what I have in the entire build. I do take a little bit of pride in that.
SRM: Do you feel like that’s something becoming more prevalent in this sport, where you can come and compete, and do well without a massive budget?
RM: When we were at TI my car got a lot of attention, and the reason I think it got attention was because it’s relatable. It’s something that the average person could afford to own and you don’t have to be a millionaire to own that car. I think that’s really cool because it’s competing with some of those cars that do cost several hundred thousand dollars. That’s awesome and to be even at the same event with some of those guys is huge for us. Somebody with a $20,000 car can go out and race, and play with the guys that have $50-100,000 cars and I think that’s huge to keep the general population involved. If it goes to the point that you have to have a $250,000 car, you just dwindle down the number of people who can actually afford to do it, and then it’s not a hobby anymore. To me, several hundred thousand dollars wouldn’t be a hobby. It may be to some of those guys, but to me it wouldn’t be.
SRM: It’s certainly a thrill to be racing and competing at this level. But as a fan of the cars out there, how exciting is it just to see some of these performances?
RM: Sebastian Robles bustin’ out 220 (mph at the Texas Invitational) – that car is just insanely fast. I went to Runway Rivalry two years ago, which is TI’s little brother basically, and I went there with a Camaro I had that made 700 horsepower. I had so much fun there, that’s why I sold the Camaro and bought the Corvette. I knew I wanted to go to the Texas Invitational, not only to race in it, but I wanted to go see it more than anything. I wanted to see those cars go 200 mph. That was the biggest thing to me. It’s crazy to see them. They are just absolutely, insanely fast. It’s exciting to see somebody break the record and go 220 mph. It’s incredible.
SRM: With a solid season behind you, what’s next on the agenda during the off-season?
RM: I think the biggest thing we’re going to do for the winter is get the car sorted out. The car has been a lot of fun, but we got the car back and three weeks later we were at TI. We went from there to the Street Car Takeover and that’s real tough on the car. We haven’t had any downtime to sort the car out 100-percent where it was right. The biggest thing we’re going to do is take some time and go through all the little things and just get it sorted out and straightened out. We’re going to put nitrous on it, so that will help. My goal is to be able to compete heavily, if not win the 175 Trap class at TI in the spring. I think we trapped 168 (mph) on one run. The car was running good and was getting close, but it just didn’t have enough out of the hole to beat those GTRs. We’re going to freshen up the motor, put new bearings in it and get some spray on it, see if we can get it out of the hole quicker.
SRM: With all that on deck, what’s the expectation for your car in 2017?
RM: I want an 8-second pass. I want an 8.9 or an 8.8. I just have to get my 60-foot down, which is one of the big things we’re going to work on. I at least want an 8.99 this next season and I would really love to win the 175 class (at the Texas Invitational). But it’s going to take some doing to beat those GTRs.
SRM: Lastly, what do you enjoy most about having a car like this?
RM: It’s always fun competing, especially when you have a car that’s fast. But you know what I enjoy the absolute most? I enjoy taking that thing and driving it to dinner, I really do. With a parachute hanging off the back on your way to dinner, the look on people’s faces when they see the car and they hear the car, it’s great. They’ll wave or give you the thumbs up and that’s pretty cool. It’s a 2007 Corvette that’s 10 years old, so that’s my favorite thing. I love pulling that thing up to the restaurant. People are just like, “Holy Cow!” It’s relatable and something that somebody else could actually afford. It’s pretty neat. I definitely enjoy any car driving down the street with a parachute hanging off it, that’s for sure.
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