Google says 7 hours 20 minutes to Wilmington, OH from here, which is definitely do-able. How long is the runway? a 1.5L diesel powered Rampage is not exactly going to be a dragster.
The swap-over to an '83 front end has always been interesting to me. I think that a hood swap and new "nose job" would complete the package. I haven't investigated deep enough into the rules to see what is needed. I know that guys have "changed" front ends on Camaro's, etc. and had them declared as different model years than their VIN's declare.
The '84 factory nose is allegedly more slippery than the previous nose, but I haven't seen any real wind tunnel testing to confirm that assertion. With the addition of a Shelby air dam and headlight covers, I suspect the '83 nose would be quite a bit better than a stock '84. I'm also not sure if an '83 style air dam will work directly on an '84.
So many questions....
I also thought there was some language in the rulebook (don't have it in front of me) about not being allowed to declare that a vehicle was a different model year than what it is originally declared to be, however. I'm really not up to speed on how this is done.
Steve.