Greg Zoetmulder's Supercharged Small-Block Jeep ​​​​​​​Runs 8S With Ease

As a 15-year-old gearhead growing up in the shadow of Chicago, Greg Zoetmulder set his sights on a 1967 RS/SS Camaro with the intentions of buying it and becoming the next local hero—until his dad pointed in the driveway at the 1980 Jeep CJ-7 you see here.

- Jason Reiss

“At the time, I was like OK, I’ll just do some bodywork, clean up the engine, put a quick paint job on it, and flip it. I wondered what I got myself into,” Zoetmulder says.

What he got himself into was a lifelong project, one that has seen many configurations, countless late-night “cruise” sessions, and maybe a wager or thirty-seven. You see, Zoetmulder wasn’t afraid to play—Chi Town and the surrounding areas have always been a hotbed of street and grudge racing—and he wanted a piece of the action. If you think you recognize his name, you might be right. He’s the proprietor of GregZ Designs; along with his brother, Luke, at Sticker Dude Designs, the pair are responsible for many of the high-profile vehicle wraps you see racing on the outlaw and professional drag-racing circuits.

When he first started working on the Jeep, it received a 350, a set of headers, and a few other odds and ends, which rendered it capable of 12.70s at more than 105 mph. Not-shabby numbers on the strip for a young kid cutting his teeth on the hot-rod game, and learning a bunch in the process. Zoetmulder subsequently stuffed a 406 between the fenders in 1996, broke solidly into the 11s, and then it was time for the sauce in the form of an NOS Cheater kit.

“We went up with no idea what it was going to do and popped off a 10.80 riding the brakes, then got kicked out due to a lack of safety equipment,” Zoetmulder says. “This thing would rip the left front tire and hang ’em 2 feet high at every light. I took a few people for surprise money. Everyone wanted to race it at the time. It was such a fooler.”