The Story of the Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ
With the right modifications and know-how, a Jeep can excel at just about anything. Here's the story of how a solid axle Jeep took on Miatas, Camaros, Mustangs, and BMWs on the race track.
1. The story of an underdog
The Petty Cash Jeep proves that virtually anything is possible with the right motivation and know-how. Petty Cash Racing took it upon themselves to reinvent an old XJ Jeep Cherokee into an endurance road race competitor. The tough durability of the XJ was the only positive the Cherokee brought to the table, but its on road handling and speed were not particularly suited to road racing. In the eyes of the Petty Cash team however, this was not so much an obstacle as it was a challenge.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
2. It began as a challenge
If someone had brought up the notion of a road racing Cherokee prior to 2009, people would have laughed... and many still do now; Petty Cash's Matt Adair reportedly found it difficult to sell people on the idea of a performance-oriented XJ. But the team was made up of Jeep obsessed off-road racers, who know their way around the chassis, so it was just a matter of applying their skills to a new discipline. In their first race, they managed to finish in 63rd out of 156 after 14 hours of racing. Considering that they had been going up against more experienced teams, with more conventional cars, they were already doing pretty well for themselves.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
3. Lemons -- not LeMans!
The Petty Cash Jeep participates in 24 Hours of Lemons races, which typically feature 14 hours of racing over 2 days. You may be more familiar with the French endurance race of similar name, but that's not a typo; Lemons is a play on the name, featuring cars of low value and poor qulity. A salvaged 20 year old XJ Jeep Cherokee was a perfect match for this event. Even if the series is a bit tongue-in-cheek, it doesn't mean the competition on the track is any less fierce.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
4. Jeeps endure
The Petty Cash Jeep has suffered some pretty significant mechanical failures while it's been racing, including an several thrown rods over the career of its AMC 4.0 liter six. During their first 2009 race, all they suffered was a harmonic-balancer failure, which is amazing for a first race. This race Cherokee gets its extra edge from a team that knows how to improvise and keep the car running, as you have to when way off-road. More often than not, the Petty Cash XJ has crossed the finish line under its own power, which considering the scrappy nature of LeMons vehicles, is saying something.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
5. Ever faster
With the Petty Cash Racing team and their blue Cherokee gaining notoriety, the team has been able to earn sponsorship from off roading suppliers. A good part of the Petty Cash Jeep's appeal isn't just its incongruous performance, but the way it pushes expectations without losing touch of its "rags to riches" origin. After years of chassis and driver improvements, the poor AMC motor had nothing else to give, so a GM Vortech 5300 was pulled out of a junkyard pickup truck, and the Jeep really started to fly.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
6. Team talent and organization is important
The amazing thing about the Petty Cash Jeep is the fact that a XJ Cherokee would even compete in a road racing environment, however, the big accolades go to Matt Adair and the team as well. What the Cherokee lacked in overall speed, the team made up for by minimizing black flags and pit stops. Even when they had the bad luck to blow two motors in one weekend, they took the checkered flag on Sunday under power. When they broke an axle at the rare full 24 hour race, they swapped out the entire rear differential and managed to finish in 14th place.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
7. A small-time legend
Who would have though a Jeep, and one designed while under an AMC/French alliance, would ever make a winning road race machine? Petty Cash has earned the coveted Index of Effluency, a top-rated prize in the Lemons series for making the most of the least, as well as class C, and class B wins. Since then, they've continued to push the Cherokee past all limits its original creators had imagined for it. Now with V8 power they compete with the fastest class A cars out there and eventually they will probably win that as well.
All of these pictures are by Murilee Martin, and you can read more about this Jeep in his Car and Driver piece.
>>Join the conversation about The Petty Cash Roadracing Jeep XJ right here in the JK-Forum!
For help with service of your Jeep, check out the how to section of JK-Forum.com