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Costello Pro-Stock Powerhouse
The Very Fast, German Auto Pro-Stock Beetle

By VW Trends Staff
Photography: Henry DeKuyper

Since 1984, when brother Tom and John Ercse got him involved, Andy has been one of the major players in the West Coast VW drag racing scene. His old German Auto sponsored, all steel, pan-based Super Street car was the scourge of the Super Street ranks for many, many years.

While most other Super Street cars rely on high-tech, light weight, state-of-the-art, pieces and parts, Andy did it a different way, by building horsepower. I can personally remember a P.R.A. drag race at the old Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and some Super Street racers were standing around talking, and I remember one of them looking up abruptly and remarking, "Oh, ****, it's Andy." Sure enough, it was Andy, and sure enough, he went out and got Top Qualifier for the event and won the Super Street class at that event.

Some of you may remember the horrific crash that Andy had in November 1997 at Speedworld, in Wittman, Ariz., when the Performance Technology Pro Stock Fastback, due to some rather sketchy track conditions, flipped five times in the lights at a speed of over 130mph. Andy came out of the wreck relatively unharmed and ready to race again. The Performance Tech Fastback, however, sustained major damage and has not seen the starting line since. Rumor has it, though, that the car is being rebuilt by Performance Technology owner Fred Simpson and will have some rather unusual modifications upon completion.

Andy's new car is a combination effort, between himself and car owner Ben Pada. The actual car belongs to Ben, but the engine, wheels, braking system, ignition, electrical and other parts are Andy's.

Starting with a Ron Lummus 921/2in.-inch wheelbase frame, the chassis was constructed out of Chromoly, with 15/8in. (.087 wall), 11/4 in. (.065 wall), and 11/2in. (.045 wall) tubing. RLR also supplied the strut front end, with RLR rack and pinion steering, with Frame Works struts and spindles smoothing out the top-end bumps. The rear suspension consists of 32-inch ladder bars, SAW five-inch narrower axles, Spax coil-over shocks and Wilwood disc brakes with Wilwood dual-piston calipers.

All hoses and lines used on the braking system are braided stainless. The wheelie bars are another RLR item and are chromed (so Andy's competition will have something pretty to look at, no doubt). The chassis rolls on Mitchell 15x31/2 wheels in front, and Erco 15x7.5s in back, and are shod with M&H 3.5/22x15s and Mickey Thompson 81/2 x 26 x 15 slicks, respectively. A JAZ polyethylene one-gallon fuel cell provides just enough fuel to get Andy 1320 feet and back to the pits.

A number of pieces and parts were dipped in the shiny stuff, including the aforementioned wheelie bars and, as well, the CNC pedal assembly, rack and pinion steering, front trailing arms, steering column and shift rod.

The heartbeat of this Pro-Stock pavement pounder is, of course, the engine. Starting with a Scat case, Andy stuffed in an 86mm SCAT crank with Chevrolet rod journals, and Type IV center mains, all wedgemated to a 10-pound flywheel. When asked about the case modifications, Andy simply said "yes." Hmm...

Connecting the pistons to the crank is a set of Pauter steel rods. The pistons are custom - made 97mm Venolia units, with Childs and Albert rings, and handle a stout 17-to-1 compression. That makes the displacement of this engine a whopping 2540cc of Pro Stock power. The oiling chores are handled by a Pauter four-stage dry-sump pump, and a custom Costello Racing oil sump. A 16-volt turbo start battery, and Product Engineering 16-volt alternator keep the high-compression motor cranking over and charging The cam is a Pauter Roller unit, but that is all Andy really wants to say about that. (another "Hmm").

For breathing, Andy relied on Fred Simpson and Mike DiGiulio, of Performance Technology, in Anaheim, Calif., for a set of Perf Tech SHO-4 heads. Manley titanium valves, 53mm intake and 38mm exhaust, reside in silicon bronze guides, and are held against the seats by K-Motion 950 springs. These in turn are held in place by 10-degree titanium retainers, and Berg 1.45 rocker arms keep things swinging. Holding all this together is a set of Autocraft head studs, and sucking the race gas through is a set of Gene Berg 58mm IDA carburetors, sitting atop Performance Technology manifolds and operated by Tayco linkage.

Ignition chores are handled by a four-inch Costello Racing crank trigger pulley, MSD distributor, Digital-7 programmable ignition, MSD Pro Power HVC coil, 8.5mm Super Conductor Wires, and NGK spark plugs.

Andy teamed up with Berg to make a custom, one-off exhaust for this Pro-Stock powerhouse, and it utilizes two-inch and 21/8-inch tubing to exit the spent air/fuel mixture.

Putting all this power to the ground is an Autocraft trans, using a Kennedy four-puck disc, J&G floater pressure plate, and a Scat shifter. The gears in this box consist of a 3:88 ring and pinion, a 3.78 first, 2.21 second, 1.56 third and a 1.21 fourth. A Dave Folts spool is used, along with a heavy duty pinion gear retaining plate, 9130 clutch hubs and a slick-shift third and fourth gear. All trans modifications were handled by Dave Folts Transmissions in La Habra.

Starting with a 1956 Oval-Window body that was too far gone for any type of restoration effort, car owner Ben Pada took the car to fellow P.R.A. racer Rafael Vasquez of Moreno Valley, Calif. About the only 1956 parts still left are the actual roof clip and the rear quarter panels; all the rest has been replaced with fiberglass.

Once the body was straightened by Rafael, it was painted with 1980 G.M. orange, 1998 Ford yellow and 1990 Ford white. Rafael then laid on the flames in Oxford white, yellow and tangerine orange. The results are spectacular, to say the least.

The lettering on the car was handled by Artistic Impressions, of Santa Maria, Calif. All window glass was replaced with Lexan in the interest of safety and weight reduction.

This Pro-Stock Powerhouse held the World Record, set at the Sacramento Bugorama in May 2000, with an elapsed time of 9.71sec., and a speed of 137.75mph. The current record is held by Chris Bubetz, with a 9.68 e.t. and a speed of 138.01mph, set the next Labor Day Bugorama.

As you can see, this car is more than just a contender for the PRA Pro Stock crown, it is a mere three-hundredths of a second and one-quarter of a mile-per-hour away from being the record holder. And folks, that's close.

Andy would like to acknowledge all the people who have helped him with this car. First of all, he would like to thank Ben Pada for building the car, his brother Tom Costello for all the help over the years in and out of the pits, German Auto for the main sponsorship, Performance Technology, Gene Berg Enterprises, Artistic Impressions, Dave Folts Transmissions, Erik Zandvliet, "Dyno Don" Chamberlin (yes, that Dyno Don) for the detailing of the car and Andy's dad, Jerrold "Pops" Costello.

We at VW Trends would like to thank you, Andy, for all the years of spectacular racing action you have given us and we are looking forward to seeing the "Pro Stock Powerhouse" getting the world's record.