South Mountain Raceway – Young fans of drag racing may not be aware that the ancestors of top fuel dragsters were once called rails. They earned that name because early hot rodders, looking for more speed, stripped their cars down until there wasn’t much left but the drive train and frame rails. With Halloween quickly coming up, it’s easy to imagine Mad Scientist, Jeff Bressler, rummaging through scrap piles at midnight to scavenge parts to resurrect one of those old rails. Well, that’s really not what happened here (as least I think it didn’t), but it’s fun to think of it that way.

Earlier this year, we covered Jeff Bressler’s outrageous altered ( https://dfmotormag.com/2026/05/07/jeff-bresslers-outrageous-altered/ ). At that time, it was looked at as an incredibly ingenious and creative use of parts to create a hot rod. Something that we were convinced we’d never see anything like again. Well, that was wrong. Mad Scientist, Jeff Bressler, has emerged from his laboratory…uh…shop once again with yet another magnificently creative masterpiece of hot rodding ingenuity. One overheard to be described as “the Wheelbarrow Express” at the track (look at the pictures and you’ll understand). You could literally make a guessing game out of this car by looking at the pictures and guessing where each part came from.

The frame of this beast will remain unidentified, because the reality might go further than your imagination. The engine is a powerful 472 cu. In. big block Chevy engine, although Bressler will admit, “It does have some stuff in it, but we lowered everything down, double-gasketed the head gasket, turned the blower back, just cause we don’t need the horsepower it can make, 8 to-900 horsepower easily. For a tractor we try to get 12-1400 hp out of it.” Of course, you need a transmission behind all that horsepower, and this hot rod uses a turbo 400 transmission which Bressler adds is, “converted to lock in each gear so you run whatever you want whenever you pick it.” Behind all that is a rather stout rear axle out of an F250, making sure the power makes it to the ground. The front suspension, as well as the wheels have been scavenged from a Dodge van and brought back to life.

It’s hard to imagine one, let alone two, hot rods like this being brought to life. They’re both about as radical and creative as you can imagine. Then you talk to Bressler and learn there’s something even more radical kicking around in the corners of his mind. Stay tuned and keep visiting South Mountain Raceway where you might catch a glimpse of this radical hot rod or maybe the one to follow.

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