Welcome to the exorcism, Friends! Today we are officially sending the demon living within my 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air down the road. It’ll be like both of ours but we’ll keep it at your house, OK? I have spent 12 years building, racing, breaking, rebuilding, rinsing and repeating the cycle again and again in the quest for more speed and reliabilty from my favorite car. It has been tiresome, expensive, stressful and probably frustrating to watch for you guys and gals. This rollercoaster is tougher than a two dollar steak and yet here we are, still wrenching and still racing cause we don’t quit.

We do learn, though, and all of these broken parts have remained in my shop as a constant reminder of the mistakes I’ve made. Well, I’m done making them. The PTSD will make sure I don’t install parts backward, upside down or inside out again. My car hauls ass and cashes checks now so these busted pieces no longer need to darken my doorstep in an effort to keep me on the straight and narrow. These things can haunt your crib now! Theres a story behind every one of these implements of speed and I want everyone to have a shot at putting one on the shelf, in yo mama’s bathroom or on the coffee table in the den. Good luck! lol.

Bet ya didn’t know you needed a domed 4.5-inch diameter Hemi piston in your life now did ya? How about one that’s caved in from extreme heat, pressure and violence that could have only occured in the infamous 528ci Blasphemi Hemi? I’ve got a bunch of forged CP-Carrillo pistons that are no longer safe to make horsepower but they’ll be plenty safe on yo nightstand, a tv stand or maybe even a kickstand.

I’m also giving away my shattered transmission main shaft, clutch disc, Tremec T56 transmission case, as well as Hemi connecting rods, wrist pins etc. I’ve got 35 individually autographed and very cool speed parts taken directly off my 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air and they could be yours!

The lessons I learn do not come from the wins but from the losses, the moments that sting forever. This broken connecting rod was the result of installing 1 of three shift levers upside down on my Gforce GF5R transmission. The transmisssion didnt’ come with instructions or photos to assemble it and in the heat of the moment I didnt notice that the First gear level had flipped over. It went right onto the shift selector shaft in the side of th transmssion. The problem was that when I pushed the shifter forward into what would normally be First gear, the transmission actually went into Second gear. I thought there was a flat spot in my tune when the car bogged off the line and then wouldnt go into Second gear at 7,000 rpm. Three times in a row I tweaked the tune on the Holley Dominator ECU and missed the 1-2 shift, sending the Hemi to 10,000 rpm before I finally switched the shift lever around. By then it was too late. On my fourth hit during test-n-tune at Rocky Mountain Raceweek 2.0 in 2020, the engine broke a rod at 140 mph, dented the oil pan, and took Newbern, myself and Brandon Wise out of competition. I’ll never forget how that felt and I’ll also never make that mistake again. That means that whoever wins this piston and rod combo has a very special paperweight. Lol

In 2023 I decided to make Blasphemi a bit less race and upgrade its street car manners by replacing the Gforce GF5R five-speed transmission with a Tremec T56 magnum six-speed, also built by GForce. This meant going from a 1:1 high gear in the old transmission to a 0.63 overdrive gear in the new one. I was finally going to have a cruising gear for the highway, making the Hemi rev less and also reducing the decibels of the side pipes at highway speeds. Unfortunately, the first dragstrip test for that transmission lasted about 0.2 seconds. It was a cold December morning in Steele, Alabama and the Hemi sounded great and the air was perfect for making horsepower. The track was prepped like the Gorilla Glue dude sneezed all over the starting line. The track surface was stickiest I had ever encountered and as soon as I dumped the clutch it was pure mayhem. The car barely moved, the Hemi banged off the rev limiter and smoke filled the cabin of Blasphemi. I thought I had simply broken the driveshaft but, No, the damage was far worse. The slicks had “dead hooked” on the sticky track surface, which meant that 900 lb-ft of torque went looking for the weak link in the drivetrain. That turned out to be the main shaft of the transmission. Once it broke, the pieces had to go somewhere so they left the chat right through the side of the transmission case. The starting line was covered in gear oil, driveshaft, aluminum casing, and chunks of the transission shaft. It was a mess! We didnt even get a test pass. Thankfully, Tick Performance came to the rescue and quickly took what was left of my T56 and turned it into an even better unit and I haven’t had an issue since then. However, I do have a kickass story and some sweet memorabilia for you, Friends.

I am not an engine tuner. I’ll beep boop my own stuff to get it down the road and I’ll listen to professionals and then beep boop my stuff at the dragstrip when I have to, but I’m not Him. These pistons are a direct result of not being Him, too. Most of the domes of this CP-Carrillo custom billet pistons are caved in from extreme heat. The heat came from an overly lean tune while using E85-based racing fuel. Every time I look at these babies I recall and important less, which is this: a 3 second pull on a hub dyno is not the same as an 8 second rip down a dragstrip. The spicy tune that spits out a big number on the dyno in California is the same tune that’s gonna cave in your pistons if you use it in Michigan during Hot Rod Drag Week. I have lots of these ashtrays and a bit of PTSD go to with them so I may as well send em on down the road to you guys. Lol

Although not as destructive as the rest of the parts in the sweepstakes, these trashed supercharger belts are part of a story that yields just as expensive a lesson. It took me a long time to figure out that the reason my blower belts kept coming loose, which caused me to waste a lot of dragstrip passes and dyno pulls, was because not all belts are created equal. The $132.00 belt is gonna stretch when you park the Hemi on the two-step at the starting line and then when you finally dump the clutch you’re gonna be down on boost and horsepower. However, the $275.00 belt won’t stretch nearly as much, which means you can make it through one pass with the pulleys and the belt playing nice because you have to readjust the belt tensioner. These days I keep a crappy rubber belt in the toolbox for use on the street and the super nice kevlar jobbie is reserved for the dragstrip. The rest of the chewed up and delaminated belts could be yours! They make a great necklace but be warned, you’re gonna have to wash your neck after wearing it, unless you like the rubber on skin look.

This gear from my transission is worn but not destroyed. It’s too worn from bangshifting Second gear to put back into service, but its REM-polished surface is so damn nice that I figure it will make someone a sweet paperweight. It reminds me of Hot Rod Drag Week 2019, an event Tony Angelo and I won in Blasphemi and set records that still stand to this day.

I’m only smiling because I was signing these parts on Cinco De Mayo and I just had multiple lunch time magaritas. The truth is I'm dying inside from the PTSD that came from destroying these parts. But, I’m a chef, my medium is grease and I always break the eggs before making the best Chorizo you’ve ever tasted on a Tuesday, at a dragstrip, while wearing green socks.

35 Speed Parts

Bet ya didn’t know you needed a domed 4.5-inch diameter Hemi piston in your life now did ya? How about one that’s caved in from extreme heat, pressure and violence that could have only occured in the infamous 528ci Blasphemi Hemi? I’ve got a bunch of forged CP-Carrillo pistons that are no longer safe to make horsepower but they’ll be plenty safe on yo nightstand, a tv stand or maybe even a kickstand.

I’m also giving away my shattered transmission main shaft, clutch disc, Tremec T56 transmission case, as well as Hemi connecting rods, wrist pins etc. I’ve got 35 individually autographed and very cool speed parts taken directly off my 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air and they could be yours!

15 Autographed Hats

While 35 lucky winners (or unlucky depending on your point of view, after all these are broken speed parts!) are going to recieve hardware taken right off of Blasphemi, another 15 winners will be recieving autographed Finnegan Speed and Marine trucker hats directly from me. For real, I’m signing these bad boys, boxing them up, and hand-delivering these UV-blockers straight to you. There’s so many places you can go with these hats. To keep it classy, I signed them on the bottom. That means they are totally appropriate for weddings, funerals, your best franz baby mama’s shower, her frenemy’s Bar Mitzvah, and yes, this hat totally works at a truck stop. Pro Tip: This hat will attract or repel lot lizards depending on its orientation on your head.

Check out the Official Rules for more info.

Here's the gist:
The Promotion begins 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time, May 23, 2025 and 11:59 p.m. PT, June 30, 2025.

Open to legal residents of the contiguous United States, District of Columbia (“D.C.”), and and Canada, who are eighteen (18) years of age or have reached the age of majority in their respective state/province of residence as at of the datetime of entry.

Items purchased during the time period count towards entry. There's also a Mail-In Entry Method (check the official rules for details).

Winners will be randomly selected.

35 - First Prize Winners - autographed engine part from Mike Finnegan’s 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air 528ci Hemi engine.

15 - Second Prize Winners - autographed FSM

That's fifty (50) total winners.

Check the Official Rules for more details.