photos by: the author and Vengeance Racing
Anyone who’s involved in the late-model LS/GM racing scene knows the name, Vengeance Racing (VR), very well. Based in Cumming, Georgia, this shop is one of the largest of its type and well-known for building some of the fastest standing-mile and half-mile cars in the nation. Recently, owner Ron Mowen was kind of enough to give us a tour of the entire 12,250 sq. ft. facility, and we were nothing short of impressed.
VR’s in-house C7 Z06 is one of their latest projects. You might recognize it from the infamous burnout video from when Ron first picked it up.
We’ve actually been to this shop before, but it’s been so long that it was hardly recognizable when we saw it upon our most recent return. Ron has grown his business to the point that you can spot all of the customer cars awaiting the Vengeance treatment from a mile away. It was almost as if the facility was acting as a tractor beam to our LS1 Formula.
Other than the line of dream cars looking at home in the front lot, the shop looks very humble from the outside — there’s real no indication of the high performance work being done inside.
Walking in the door, the lobby gives you a pretty strong indication that this shop has done one or two things right. The walls are lined with magazine covers featuring their cars, the setup is swanky, and of course there’s a glass top, engine block table.
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- A parking lot full of Corvettes, Camaros, Firebirds, GTOs and CTS-Vs… we were definitely in the right place!
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- C7s and C7Zs are just not popping up in the Midwest, but here in Georgia, at Vengeance, you would think that almost everybody owned one.
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- Waiting in the lobby is more laid out than most “man-caves,” featuring checker flag flooring, classic magazine features, a TV, and last but not least, a Chevrolet Performance LSX block.
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- The plush couch is clean and comfy, and it compliments the rest of the lobby quite well.
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- Once you park your car outside with the rest of the hardware in the parking lot, you check in with the receptionist.
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- The engine build room is clean, organized and always ready for action!
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- Every nut, bolt, washer and fitting you can imagine is at the VR crew’s disposal. If it’s needed for an LS engine, they always have them in stock!
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- All of the shelves are stacked with only necessary hardware; no junk, no overstocked parts, and nothing out of place.
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- Here’s some LS engine component porn for you; hope you don’t mind.
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- …and here’s some from another angle. The work bench is always clean and organized – this is part of engine assembly, after all.
Vengeance Racing prides themselves on the fact that they are all hardcore racing enthusiasts; whether it be drag racing, standing-mile or road racing, Vengeance builds it all. Although Ron’s initial focus was drag racing, the popularity of standing-mile racing has taken off to the point that a large portion of their customers are in search of over four-digit level rear-wheel horsepower ratings and 200+ mph standing-mile trap speeds. He’s even recently sold his trademark Camaro SS recently, to focus on standing-mile racing.
Ron proudly tells us that all of the cars his techs touch are tuned on their in-house DynoJet 224X chassis dyno, using either EFILive, Haltech, BS3 or FAST XFI tuning software, depending on application. Their 12,250-square feet facility is jam-packed full of LSX performance, and features three separate workshops, a clean room, a dyno cell, indoor parking and a customer lounge.
Their main workshop features five Rotary 2-post lifts and ample workspace that Ron says is to ensure that every car leaves in the same condition that it arrived.
We left Vengeance knowing that it takes so many different elements to make a shop capable of churning out build after build of record-breaking, pavement-shaking cars as they have. It takes a high level of skill, but so many other considerations have to be made to even touch what this shop has achieved.
We have a feeling that you’ll be seeing more of Vengeance Racing from GM EFI Magazine in the coming months, as we’ll be working with them on plenty of tech stories and project builds in the future.
These are two record-setting Corvettes that the crew has built over the years. You may have seen them at recent WannaGoFast half-mile events in the past.
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- One of VR’s shop techs putting in wrench time on a ProCharger-equipped C6. Just another day on the job…
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- The main workshop is the side of Vengeance that most people will see as a customer or attendee at an event.
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- We tried not to stare too long at this trio of record-breaking GMs, just hanging out in the corner.
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- Vettes, Camaros, LS-equipped Pontiacs and CTS-Vs are no stranger to the VR shop.
VR’s in-house Dynojet is where big-power cars are born. Ron has tuned thousands over the years…
Elizabeth is a hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
