The results are in! And it turns out that the 4th Annual CrateEngineDepot.com Sport Compact Meet was a resounding success! As we all know, it’s the people that make up a community, and luckily we have tons of great people that make up the GM small car family – and apparently some that have a little bit too much free time and access to tons of blue painter’s tape! Hit the jump and check out the mischief and fun that went down at CED this past weekend.

The party started with some good ole fashion drag racing Friday night at the Great Lakes Dragway. This was the first time at a drag strip for quite a few Cobalt owners who were anxious to lay down the best passes possible to show they had the goods before Saturday’s beauty pageant. One of the most notable passes of the night was by a 70 year old veteran who had not raced in over 50 years. That fact surprised a lot of those in attendance though because he was able to pull off a .089 reaction time and hit 14.1 through the whole 1320. Quite impressive indeed for 50 years of dust to shake off! You can check out all of the great shots of Cobalts taking on some classic drag cars in our image gallery at the bottom.

On Saturday, the festivities made their way over to Rockenbach Chevrolet which was the official gathering point of the meet. One of the best things about a large meet like this is being able to check out all of the unique modifications each person has done to their cars, and boy was there ever an eclectic range of ideas on display at Rockenbach. Everything from a Batman-inspired HHR and a Cobalt with Italian Police livery to lambo doors and grand sport stripes. The customization didn’t stop there either as the blue painters tape was out in force and even completely covered a Cobalt’s hood, which was good because it served as a message board to display some very descriptive and seemingly very important information about a few owners at the show (you can check that image out in the gallery and see if you can spot all of the not-so-subtle notes).

Something really exciting about this year’s show was the vast distances that owners came from. There were Cobalts from as far away as California, Florida and New York that made an appearance which only means one thing… The ION, SKY, Solstice and HHR groups need to step it up for the fall show! For those that did make it out, there were special gifts and deals available from GM Performance Division and GM Performance Parts. Never one to miss an event, Bill Duncan from GMPD was on-site to answer questions and bounce ideas off of which he seemed to never stop doing all day long.

If you couldn’t make it out to Rockenbach Chevrolet for the event, don’t fret. We have almost 60 pictures documenting the weekend that you can thumb through in our gallery below. Do you see your car in the coverage shots? Give us a shout below and let us know who you are!

The wait is finally over as this weekend is the 4th Annual Midwest Sport Compact Meet! The shindig kicks off on Friday, June 25th with a drag night at Great Lakes Dragway so you can show off what you’re packing underhood. Immediately after the burnout parade is a night cruise to the windy city to cap things off and get ready for the following day’s big event. On Saturday, the meet officially gets down at Rockenbach Chevrolet from 9am-5pm. If you stick around until the end of the day, a second cruise to Jack’s Pizzeria closes out the event.

Of course there will be special event-exclusive deals for all in attendance. And fresh off the HOT ROD Power Tour is GM HPVO engineer, Bill Duncan, who is ripe with new stories from his adventures across America. He can also help you try and figure out that pesky problem your car is having that you can’t seem to figure out. It’s going to be a great time as usual as Tom at CED knows how exactly how to put together a great event.

Keep in mind that registration is mandatory and there will be no entries taken at the door. The lot is capped at 100 cars so get in now, if you still can. The entrance fee is set at $60.00 a car but group discounts do exist so if you’re planning on cruising in with your buds check in with Tom for more details.

Check out below to watch the promo video for the event as well as download the official flyer for the event that you can print out so you know what’s going on. For more information on the Sport Compact meet, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Back in August we reached out to all of you to submit the questions you’d like to have answered by the infamous John Heinricy. We got with John to get answers to your questions and posted the entire Q&A as a special treat to you, the GMTunerSource.com fan. Well after that feature was over and John had spent a little more seat time in the Stage 1-equipped Cobalt SS Turbo, we received some more questions from all of you and followed up with John to see what his long-term opinions and observations were of the kit. Mr. Heinricy was kind enough to give us his take, which we have exclusively after the break. 

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to upgrade your Cobalt SS Turbo up to Stage 1 status then this is it! For a limited time only CrateEngineDepot.com is holding a sale on the much ballyhooed Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1 kit. Tom over at CED is letting these kits goes for only $498 and no pennies! That price also includes shipping to anywhere in the contiguous US of A however if you live somewhere else, don’t fret, Tom will make sure he can get your kit to your doorstep in a jiffy. If the price isn’t enough to get you going, check out these comments by owners whose only complaint about the kit is that they’ll need new tires very soon.

It’s that time of the year again, that’s right, it’s time for the CrateEngineDepot.com Fall Car Show! Every year around this time Tom over at CED puts on the show with special deals and goings on for all who attend. This year’s special treat is GMPD Engineer Bill Duncan! He’s not coming alone either, as he will be rolling into the show in a Stage 1-equipped Cobalt SS Turbo that he’s going to let show attendees test drive for themselves. WARNING: After driving a Stage 1 Cobalt SS, you won’t be able to drive your factory Cobalt again! For more details on the event, check out the event flyer we have posted after the jump.