Back In the Game – Jason Wall Returns to Racing at the 2026 Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive!
After over a decade away from the drag racing game, Jason Wall decided it was time to get back into it. There’s a ton of options for a street and strip capable ride, and although Jason had recently piloted his wife’s Hellcat Charger on Hot Rod Drag Week, he had a different target.
“I always liked these Collector’s Edition C4’s when I was a kid,” said Jason about the silver Corvette he acquired. “That never changed,” and he debuted this 1996 Corvette at this year’s Sick Week presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive.
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Purchased in 2024 with just under 78,000 miles, Jason started the work by pecking away at some of the small things that nearly 30 years could have aged out, including the A/C blower motor, repairing a crack in a fiberglass floor pan, and removing and cleaning the carpet and some interior pieces.
After some street time and a few drag strip runs, Jason discovered some oil leaks, and pulled the oil pan and timing cover off to diagnose it. “Once the oil pan was off, I found that it had new pistons (stock crank and rods), and a high-volume oil pump,” said Jason. But when he pulled the timing cover, the news took a turn for the worse.
“I found that the bolts were loose. With the front cover was off, I found that there was a rub mark on the back of the timing cover, which ended up being from the crankshaft reluctor. Whoever rebuilt the engine used a thicker timing set, causing interference between the crank reluctor and the timing cover.”
Despite the bad news on some of the engine, Jason was able to salvage it all with just new bearings. He did pull the engine apart to verify all parts, and this gave him the chance to upgrade more items.
“During the whole engine fiasco, I decided to do an Opti Spark Delete with the TorqHead Opti-Delete Sensor kit with a Holley Terminator X Max ECU, and LS1 coils,” said Jason. This would be a large workload, as he also removed the entire engine/chassis harness and removed all engine controls pin by pin for a clean install, and Jason got all the factory gauges to retain their functionality.
Jason also upgraded the roller rockers to 1.6 ratio, and a set of single beehive springs. “The car picked up a ton of power after the Holley,” Jason said. “The 96 Corvettes ECMs are basically worthless in the aftermarket world, so switching to a Holley seemed necessary.”
With the bump in power, the 4-speed automatic transmission decided it wanted to act up next. “Shifts were flaring on the 2-3 change, or just flat out not shifting on wide open throttle,” said Jason. “While I was researching upgrade parts for the 4L60E, I found a black label (stronger of the 2 variants for the C4 Corvette) ZF 6 speed manual transmission on Facebook Marketplace for $800, so I pulled the trigger on swapping to a manual transmission.”
Jason paired the transmission swap with a used Dana 44 rear end that he had previously acquired, and rebuilt all the internals in it, along with a swap to 4.10 gears. “Things definitely snowballed quickly. I did the differential, and manual swap after I signed up for Sick Week 2026, so I had a hard deadline,” said Jason. “When I left for Gainesville to tech in, the new drivetrain upgrades had about 220 miles on them. When I pulled into Gainesville, I had about 400 miles on everything, with only two or so street passes.”
Jason started the week with a 12.62 at 110 mph pass, but he whittled his average down to a 12.59 by the end of the week with improved performances, including a best of 12.32 at 114 mph. “My first pass on Day 0 at Sick Week was on brand new tires, brand new setup, and a driver that hasn’t made a pass at the track in a stick shift car on drag radials in over 15 years,” said Jason.
“I only had to check plugs and adjust tire pressure all week,” he continued. “No issues or major repairs necessary. Sure, it’s not ‘fast,’ but I had an unbelievable time. The car received a ton of positive feedback from nearly everyone I talked to; even with the blue wheels. I just wanted to show that you can have fun, even with a cheap car. C4’s are underappreciated and undervalued. The ‘fun to drive’ factor is 100-percent there in these cars.”
What’s in store for his next drag and drive? “Hopefully, I can secure a spot for Sick Week 2027 after a few upgrades this year,” Jason said. “I do plan on adding a 6-point roll bar, suspension upgrades, nitrous and a few other small things if I keep it around.”
Until that time, the Corvette will get plenty of cruiser miles on the streets of Tampa, Florida. “Motorsports run in my blood. I have tried out about every single hobby that uses a gas engine (UTVs, ATVs, SeaDoos, Jeeps, Cars, Trucks, etc.). I always end up back with ‘street cars.’ For now, I am still really enjoying the C4. I love showing how much fun you can have with an old cheap car. Parts are cheap, these cars are a dime a dozen, and they are an absolute blast to drive.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Jason Wall.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com