When walking through the pits during HOT ROD Drag Week, presented by Gear Vendors, you come across some incredible cars – from a six second to even a 22 second ET — and put real deal street miles on while cruising the streets of Middle America. Camaros, Mustangs, Mopars, and the ever-popular Monte Carlos line the pits. Beautiful paint, big horsepower, turbo chargers, nitrous, and blowers everywhere you look. Then you lay your eyes upon a small Geo Tracker – yes you read that right, a Geo Tracker. The first thought that comes to mind is, “Why is this here? This is the pits not spectator parking!”
Looking over the Geo, you’ll notice the stretched wheel base and the 454ci Blueprint Engines small-block Chevy before you realize it is more than just a Tracker, it’s Project Samsquatch. Vinnie Barbone, who jokes he’s been racing since his parents’ first date, wanted to build something different. The typical fox body just wasn’t going to cut it, and this Geo Tracker is what followed.
Vinnie started building the Geo in January of 2016 with a steep goal of being at Drag Week in September. He dropped the body off with Dennis at Chassisfab Performance in Ohio. When Dennis had finished the necessary chassis modifications and cage, Vinnie picked up his new monster and began the process of finishing the small SUV with the help of his father and his Uncle Billy.
Under the guidance of his friend, Jeff Oppenheim, they were able to finish the little Tracker the day of tech inspection at National Trail Raceway in Hebron Ohio. Having the stretched wheel base four inches, he was registered for the Unlimited Class. The untested and never before run Project Samsquatch not only completed the event, but also finished in a respectable 8th place.
In 2017 Project Samsquatch will be taken to the next level with a pair of turbos under the hood. Vinnie hopes to finish again, while running faster and taking the undisputed world’s fastest Geo Tracker crown. He is looking to the future and with the support of his family, friends, sponsors; and of course, his girlfriend and kid, aswithout their support he wouldn’t be able to be doing any of this.
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