It's still a few months away, but International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) sportsman racers are already preparing for the Summit SuperSeries World Championship at Memphis International Raceway this October. Qualifiers for the Mod ET competition will be vying for part of a prize package worth $200,000, including a GPO-9 two-post lift made by Gemini Auto Lifts. Mitch Chance co-owns Gemini Auto Lifts, as a true child of the dragstrip, he understands the need filled by a quality lift or hoist.
Chance worked in the family business until the 1980s – "I realized I could either love or work with them, and I wanted to keep loving them," he said with a laugh – when he moved into the auto lift industry. At the time, lifts were almost exclusively for the relatively affluent in society, due to their cost and the limited size of residential garages. However, Chance and Gemini changed that with the development of a parking lift that could be mounted on casters. The lift, for which Chance holds a patent, allows people to not only raise and lower their cars, but to also move them around in their garage, thus further taking advantage of the space. Plus, its affordable price of $3,000 meant serious amateur racers and hobbyists could purchase them.
Cory Heckenlaible is exactly one of those typical racers Chance describes. Heckenlaible won the Mod ET world championship at last year's Summit SuperSeries. Winning the Gemini Lift prize has definitely eased his repairs and racing prep.
Heckenlaible, who is from Utica, South Dakota, previously used an old lift for any repairs or modifications, but it "squeaked and moaned." The new lift, obviously, is in much better shape to work with.
"On the first pass at [the Summit SuperSeries], I popped a wheelie and messed up my bumper, license plate and my engine a little bit," he said. "This winter, I had to put in new rear-end gears; an engine dyno. Raising and lowering the car, instead of having to get underneath it or on top of it, is a lot easier.