I recently met Team North Drag Radial member David Hance at the Radial Tire Outlaw Championships, though it was brief. Dave is the promoter of the Shakedown at E-Town, which has quickly grown to one of the best outlaw races of the year. Dave doesn’t just promote races though, he actually races a twin turbo Pro Modified and a twin turbo drag radial Mustang. He acquired the car in January of 2008 with a Procharged big block Chevy, made one pass in it and the engine gave up. The decision was made after that mishap to switch to the more familiar combination of twin turbos on gas with Big Stuff 3 EFI engine management.
For several months the radial car took a back seat to the Pro Mod project and in September the Mustang was again the top priority. Bell Chassis works did the work to convert to the twin turbo set up and a new 632 ci. short block was sourced from Pro Line and they also freshened and repaired the Big Chief cylinder heads. Dave’s good friend Woody helped get the car wired in a thrash to get the car done for the Shakedown.
The car was fired briefly Thursday night before the race and rolled into the trailer, though they would miss the first two qualifying shots due to a problem with the fuel system pressure fluctuating. Dave drew David Wolfe for his first round Sunday morning and they were working hard in the pit to trace the problem. Nappy Ron of Brooklyn dug deep and found a shop rag in the cell, problem solved. Wolfe was a no show and the first good hit resulted in a nice 7.64 @ 190 shutting down a bit early.
For round two Steve Petty tweaked the tune a little but 2.2 seconds into the run and just after the gear change the tires broke loose and sent Dave spinning and sliding towards the wall. Dave was uninjured in the crash but it made him sick to see the wrecked car so he had it towed off the grounds.
Another round of thrashing to repair the car for the Outlaw Radial Championships in Bradenton. They worked hard on the car for three weeks and it would not have been possible if not for the help of Crazy Don’s Chassis Shop in Island Park NY, Smooth Edge Jimmy, and Dave’s own new York Auto Body for the two day paint job. Testing was rained out in Bradenton Thursday and Friday so once again he had to qualify the car with no testing. After getting loose again on the gear change and nearly crashing a second time he was ready to call it quits on the spot. “After about an hour I had calmed down and decided to run again” Dave Said. He eventually qualified in the 42nd spot putting him in tenth spot for the second chance race.
Some changes to the tune were made for eliminations by raising the “dots” and running on low boost (18-21 PSI) netting consistent 5.0’s with a 4.99 in the semi’s and a 5 flat in the final for the win.
After Bradenton they took the car to Fordspeed Racing to have some work done on the car. Rob Wells and Joe Bonczek “treated us like family” according to Dave. They replaced “everything in the rear suspension” and made some other repairs. Next up was the Orlando World Street Nationals where they had 150 pounds putting them at 3,530 and started out running the same tune and went 7.57 and 7.58 @ 194 (5.06 1/8 mile) For the last qualifier they “turned it up” and went quicker to the 60’ and 330’ but broke something in number 6 ending the weekend. The car was then taken to Proline where Eric and Johnathan ripped the engine out and had it repaired and back in a week later and Dave was once again off to the races.
At the Snowbirds the first hit was a 7.52 then “we put some power in it and streaked to a 7.22 @ 207. Kevin Fiscus would take the number one spot with a 7.18, tying the radial record previously set by Dave Hinzman at the Shakedown. Dave was happy with the .22 though because he knew there was more in it. Dave was in the water box behind Kevin when he stood it up during Sunday eliminations while racing Archie Marasco. He “wanted out after seeing Kevin’s deal” but couldn’t find anyone to drive, so he took the tree and ran 7.15 @ 210 for a new MPH record. In the next round he had a bye and spun the tires after turning it up a bit, after that it was softened up early to keep from spinning again and won the race.
At the PRI show Dave’s mind was not on the trade show but on testing Saturday at Bradenton. On the first hit he went 7.13 @ 211 on a nice pass, but still far away from the 7.06 record of Kevin Fiscusand farther still from the 6.99 goal. After four other attempts Saturday and not getting down they decided to try again Sunday at the Need2Speed club event, Dead Hookers 8. The track was there early Sunday so they “hit it hard” on the first shot raising the launch RPM and turning the boost up some. It got “on the dot’s” early and was looking good but laid over 3.6 second into the run and Dave lifted still running 4.74 to the 1/8th , a full tenth quicker than Saturday’s 7.13 pass. To date the car holds the 1/8th and ¼ MPH speed records @ 169.87 and 211 respectively. Yes, it broke again. I was there testing out my own car and had the chance to film the run you see below.
http://video.streetlegaltv.com/video/7781
I took a ride up to Scotty’s today to document the happenings
Phil turn’s the engine over to get at the oil pan bolts.
Scotty and Phil.
A little bit of trash in the bearings, no biggie there.
Scotty looking things over.
Phil loosening the rod bolts.
After loading up “we went to our winter parking spot at Scotty’s Racing Technology”. Scotty did Dave’s first engine when he was 17 years old and they are like family since their days of hanging out together in Brooklyn. Scotty is working on repairing the engine to have Dave back out Sunday at Bradenton for Runday Sunday. There is always a bunch of grudge cars there for the last Sunday session of the year so be sure to come on out for the fun, and a chance to see history. I’ll let Dave’s words finish out the today’s installment…
The Quest for the first 6 second pass is something we thought about when first putting car together. To be honest I did not expect any of us to be close this year but Kevin's 7.06 at the Snowbird Nationals opened all of our eyes to the possibility of it happening. Since the Snowbirds we have pushed for a 6 second bonus program....why not??? It’s a mile stone and every other class has had a bonus for breaking a new mile stone. The quest for the first 6 second pass has generated some buzz and excitement for the drag radial class and that’s just great. Although teams from both the North and the South break each others chops, we all have something in common, and that’s getting it done on drag radials!
Dave
www.fordspeedracing.com www.scottysracingtechnology.com
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