John Earl Lingenfelter (October 6, 1945 in East Freedom,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

– December 25, 2003 in Decatur,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

) was an

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

driver,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and tuner. Over his career, Lingenfelter won 13 career national event events in Competition Eliminator and was the first driver in the class to break the six-second quarter-mile barrier. He finished second in the Pro Stock Truck standings in 1998, which was the first year of competition for the now defunct class. His Cavalier had an E.T. of 7.08 seconds. In October of 1988, Lingenfelter also drove the Callaway Sledgehammer to attain the closed-course speed record for a street driven car at 254.76 mph; a record that stood for 25 years. He was the founder of

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) is an American automotive engineering company specializing in high-performance automobile modifications, specifically engines and induction systems. Now headquartered in Brighton, Michigan the company was ...

(LPE for short) in Decatur, Indiana. LPE is a shop specializing in the modification of GM vehicles such as the F-Bodies (

Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...

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), B Bodies (

Impala SS The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made automobiles in ...

Caprice Caprice, from the Italian ''capriccio'', may refer to: Art and entertainment * ''Caprice'' (1913 film), a film starring Mary Pickford * ''Caprices'' (film), a 1942 French comedy film * ''Caprice'' (1967 film), a film starring Richard Harris ...

, Roadmaster,

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

, CTS-V, GTO, Silverado,

Suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

, Tahoe,

Escalade {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare, ...

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, SSR,

Hummer H2 The Hummer H2 is a large SUV that was marketed by Hummer and built in the AM General facility under contract from General Motors from 2002 to 2009. It is based on a modified GMT820 GM three-quarter-ton pickup truck in the front and a half-ton 1 ...

, and Sierra. The shop also worked with tuning packages for the

Dodge Viper The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the two ...

and

Plymouth Prowler The Plymouth Prowler, later the Chrysler Prowler, is a retro-styled production sports car manufactured and marketed from 1997 to 2002 by DaimlerChrysler, based on the 1993 concept car of the same name. The Prowler was offered in a single g ...

. In the press, his tuned vehicles were reported to have as much civility as the stock vehicles upon which they were based in everyday driving. However, these vehicles were brutally fast. Motor Trend tested a Tahoe tuned by Lingenfelter and achieved a 5.1 second 0-60 time as well as a 0.95 g lateral acceleration figure. These numbers match the performance figures of the C4 Corvette and GMC Syclones/

Typhoons A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

of that era. This Tahoe had its 350in³ V8 bored and stroked to 396in³, making 500 hp and still retaining its 4WD drivetrain. Motor Trend also tested a Lingenfelter built Impala SS that had the same performance numbers as the last generation M5 (0-60 4.7 sec) due to its bored and stroked LT-1 (Displacement rose to 383in³ and horsepower rose to 44

Another vehicle built by Lingenfelter was also featured in the June 1996 issue of

Car and Driver ''Car and Driver'' (''CD'' or ''C/D'') is an American automotive enthusiast magazine. In 2006 its total circulation was 1.23 million. It is owned by Hearst Magazines, who purchased prior owner Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2011. It was fou ...

when they built a special C4 Corvette with a 427in³ engine that attained a top speed of 212 mph. Currently, the most powerful vehicle they have in their stable is a 2006 twin-turbo Corvette Z06 with 1,109 rear wheel horsepower worth $288,540. Lingenfelter built the engine for "Big Red", a 1969 Camaro that has achieved speeds in excess of 220 mph. He was critically injured during an NHRA Summit Sports Compact drag racing event at

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...

on October 27, 2002. He died Thursday December 25, 2003 at Adams County Memorial Hospital in Decatur, Indiana at age 58.

References

External links

Lingenfelter Performance Engineering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lingenfelter, John Dragster drivers 1945 births 2003 deaths

See also

References

External links