Formula for Fast
In Sportsman level drag racing, NHRA’s Competition Eliminator is widely recognized as the most demanding category overall. Featuring some one hundred classes within it, Competition Eliminator is very closely monitored by rules makers. That ultra competitiveness requires that racers be in a constant pursuit for that little extra advantage in both performance and consistency. Within that chase, are a growing group of racers running what is basically Mopar® HEMI® Pro Stock motors within dragster frame rails.
Words and Photos: Bruce Biegler
The trend includes a number of prominent racing teams; including long-time Louisiana-based Mopar® brand proponents Southland Dodge/Teuton Racing. That group, which has a multi-car arsenal of door cars, added a dragster to their team equation last year. Driven by renown racer Craig Bourgeois, the team stuffed a 500 cid HEMI®—which was formerly raced by Larry Morgan—into a dragster chassis built by Chuck Haase. Running in B/DA the car has been a consistent 6-second performer.
“That was the first ever open-wheel car for our team,” confirmed Joe Teuton Jr. “We saw this dragster class as the top of the food chain for the type of motors we wanted to run. Every time out we have had a legitimate shot at doing well in the class. We also found the car is a lot easier to work on.”
Credit for the very first racer to try out the equation goes to Montana’s Clint Sallee. He installed a 500 cid Pro Stock HEMI in his dragster about five years ago.
“Yes, we were the first to do it—I guess we were guinea pigs of a sort,” Sallee said. “Over time we sorted out any of the issues we had, and Mopar’s new HEMI engine block and head castings were a big part of that. For us the attraction continues to be that the car has a very good power per cubic inch factor—about 2.75.”
Sallee, who now employs a 500 cid HEMI built by David Nickens, has enjoyed terrific success winning multiple NHRA national events and setting NHRA national records in both B/D and B/DA.
Other impact teams on the circuit include Arizona’s Matt Hartford and Colorado’s Kramer Racing Team.
Hartford—who is regarded as one of the most versatile drivers in all of drag racing and has driven a myriad of race cars, including Dodge Pro Stockers—drives a Mike Spitzer-built dragster that features a David Nickens 500 cid Pro Stock HEMI.
Matt initially built his car for A/D with a planetary 5-speed transmission but has since switched to an automatic transmission. That move really improved his car and has begun to pay significant dividends—evidenced this summer by very strong placing during NHRA’s Western Swing national events at Denver (semi finals) and Seattle (runner-up).
David Kramer and his son Derrick, who have been racing in Competition Eliminator since 1994, are more recent converts. They switched to Mopar power for their dragster this season putting one of V. Gaines’ powerful Mad Cap Racing HEMIs into their Jerry Fritz dragster chassis.
“With the new HEMI head design and using an automatic transmission, it’s a very good fit in our dragster,” Dave Kramer confirmed. “It makes very good power and it’s also very reliable.”
Expectations are that the Kramer car (Sterling, Colo.) will become even more of a factor in the future. The team has ordered up two more HEMI engines from Mad Cap Racing as well as an all-new dragster chassis for A/DA for the 2012 season.
