But Samuel picked himself up and dusted off the tire bits and is preparing to come back with this 2010 Dodge Challenger that will include sponsorship from his longtime supporters Dodge and BFGoodrich. Samuel will also campaign the car under his newly formed eponymous Samuel Hubinette Racing team. But Samuel won‘t be the only driver on Team SHR as veteran rally ace Andrew Comrie-Picard will drive the team’s iconic Dodge Viper SRT-10. Hit the jump to see more pictures and a rough video of this car, which is very much still a work in progress.

Samuel’s Challenger is currently is being assembled at ES Motorsports in Riverside, CA and the build is led by SHR’s crew chief, Brad Manka, who maintained the Nuformz Viper during the 2008 and 2009 FD campaigns. We shot these images and video on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 23. Clearly the car is a long way from being ready for prime time but Brad assured us that the car would be good to go for the FD tech inspection this coming Saturday, March 27. Samuel’s scheduled time to tech is at 2:30 pm and it looks like the team is going to need every available minute before then to make it on time. These guys need an energy drink sponsorship, STAT!

There’s a joke about a Hemi in here somewhere. Brad tells us the SHR Challenger will rock a 410ci Mopar USAC Sprint Car engine with an aluminum block and mechanical injection. On methanol the motor will produce 810hp with 690 ft-lbs of torque. Brad says he hasn’t decided if he’ll hang mufflers on the car yet. We’ll just go on record right now as NOT wanting to be paired up against Samuel with this car shooting unspent methanol from a pair of open headers. We like our eyesight and hearing just the way they are now, thank you.

The Eibach coilover hanging off the front suspension is all we can show you. Brad didn’t want to reveal the rear suspension just yet. While the car’s configuration should be fully legal according to the 2010 FD rules there is a lot of trick work done on the back end that Brad would just as soon keep secret for now. We should also point out that this is not the Challenger that Shaun Carlson and his Nuformz crew debuted at the 2008 SEMA Show. Unfortunately that car does not comply with this year’s rules.

This will be Samuel’s office for the 2010 season. But the man himself was not able to give us a tour of the car since he is currently in Japan getting ready to compete at a D1GP in Odaiba, Japan. Samuel will be driving Takahiro Ueno’s old D1 Soarer and his appearance will also mark the first time a top Formula Drift driver – and a two-time champion no less – will be driving in a D1GP round in Japan. Once he gets back we can’t wait to see this car rounding Turn 9 on April 10 at the FD opener. Drift Ya Later!

But Shaun was much more than a Pro Stock driver, he was a journalist and photographer cutting his teeth at Truckin’ magazine and later helping Turbo make it’s legendary mark on the dawn of the Sport Compact era. I always wanted to shoot like him, he could make a car look absolutely beautiful in a studio decades before Photoshop replaced raw talent. Then he revealed another side busting out a single cam CRX with Jason Whitfield. This car had an unparalleled amount of fabrication and paint job that screamed mid-nineties 909 mini-truckin’ style (and I say that with the utmost admiration).

Shaun soon outgrew the journo game (he actually had more to offer the world) and he took his Nuformz fabrication shop public. His B-series block guards were revolutionary. And then came Steph’s yellow EK Civic hatch that stood the FWD drag world on its steelies. Shaun essentially built the world’s first tube-chassis FF drag car with Steph Papadakis forever changing the game. Thinking back, I must admit to being honored to see that car make its first pass at Battle in Palmdale in ’98 I believe.

In 2000 Shaun dropped a Ford Focus on the SEMA Show that was quite possibly the pinnacle of his tuning and fabrication talents. The car was eventually reskinned as an SRT-4 and was the start of a long relationship Shaun had with Mopar Racing.

Shaun was never given a real shot in Pro Stock, which may have been a good thing since – while he was no slouch behind the wheel, always able to cut a great light – his true talents are on the fabrication side of things. This led to a team ownership of the Mopar drift team where he and driver Samuel Hubinette captured two FD Championships. After trying to polish a turd in the way too-long wheelbased Charger Shaun’s latest, greatest work, a Mopar drift Challenger has yet to smoke a tire in competition. I don’t know if that car will ever run or for that matter if Samuel will run the Viper at this season’s FD finals but hope both come to pass.

I’ll miss Shaun’s infectious grin, his style, which as of late included a Mohawk and his wild ways, which we had in common. But most of all, I’ll miss his work and the impact he had on this sport, which may never be duplicated. Here’s to you, Shaun Carlson.