Illinois racer Donnie Peden is one of those hardcore hot rodders who combines his business and his pleasure. He is the CFO of Country Motors Trailer Sales and a deadly serious Super Gas/Super Comp/Top Sportsman racer. [Disclaimer: CMTS is also an advertiser in DRO and we did try to  convince Donnie to give us one of his $300,000 motor coaches in return for a feature, but he wouldn’t go for it.] As well as fielding and driving his own race team, he has backed Pro Mod racer Donnie Little, sponsored a Pro Mod series and is a sponsor for one of NHRA’s Top Sportsman division races. Donnie Peden puts his money where his heart lies.

Peden started his racing career back in the early Sixties driving an NHRA legal C/Gasser ‘Vette on a now-defunct quarter mile near Springfield, Illinois. Over the last 40-odd years he has wheeled a variety of Chevy doorslammers. Since 2002 has had a string of late model racecars starting with a couple of Cavaliers built for him by Rick Jones in Galesburg, Illinois. He just recently took delivery of a brand new Chevy Cobalt from Jerry Bickel’s Troy, Missouri race car shop.

Peden has enjoyed more than a little success in the Super Gas and Top Sportsman classes. He has won five NHRA Division 3 Super Gas titles and recently got a runner-up in Top Sportsman at an NHRA Division race in Stanton, MI.

He has the reputation as the fastest Super Gas racer in the country and regularly runs 9.90’s at over 186 mph. The same combination has gone as quick as 7.16/194 as a Top Sportsman.

DRO thought our readers might like a much closer look at "the Don’s" new Cobalt “Sportsman” doorslammer. It has Weld Wheels and Goodyear rubber on all four corners. According to Mr. Peden the turn-key Cobalt as you see it here cost him about $150,000 including the engine. That’s a Sportsman car?

The main reason that Peden's cars are so quick, fast and consistent may be the Reher-Morrison 622 inch Chevy. The engine is built using a Dart steel block with a 4.625 bore and an aftermarket crank with a 4.625 stroke.

The heads are Reher-Morrison’s Raptors. Peden has a pair of the RM bullets and either doesn’t know much about the engine’s internals or RM doesn’t want anyone to know, as he declined to supply that info to use. He did let us know that the engine has 16.5-1 compression and makes 1301 hp at 8500. An ATI balancer keeps the engine internals happy at 8000-plus rpm. The fuel delivery is by Aeromotive, the complete ignition system comes from MSD, and the sparkplugs are Autolite. Peden did let it slip that he is waiting on a 700-plus cubic inch engine from Reher-Morrison to replace the “little” 622 engine he’s now using.