With a powerful program and a plan, Andrew DeMarco and his crew set a course from Massachusetts to the 16th Annual NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem in early March at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida.

But just three hours into the trip, the engine in his toterhome blew, and that threatened to leave the longtime NMCA Vortech Street Outlaw and NMRA VP Racing Fuels Street Outlaw standout stranded, but he was resolute about racing and relentless in his search for a replacement rig.

When his friend, Angelo Tranquillo, got word of what happened, he offered DeMarco the use of his rig, and as a result, DeMarco and his crew were able to make it to the track, and for fans, it was well worth the wait when he rolled his Mustang out of the trailer and showcased the chassis, combination and color changes made in the off-season.

It was DMC Racing that got the party started with a new front half, anti-roll bar, rear suspension and oiling system for the car which rolls on Afco shocks and struts massaged by Menscer Motorsports.

“Dennis MacPherson and the guys at DMC gave us one hell of a hot rod, that’s for sure,” said DeMarco.

Then, John Kolivas and Jon Bennett partnered to design and build a very potent powerplant consisting of a small-block Ford on a Dart solid billet block with a Bryant billet crank, GRP rods and Wiseco pistons, and topped with Edelbrock SC1 heads massaged by Race Flow Development. A 112mm Vortech supercharger was positioned in front of the masterpiece.

Underneath the car wearing a new wicked white paintjob by Bruce Pinkham is a Proformance Racing Transmissions-built Turbo 400, Neal Chance converter and a set of Mickey Thompson radial tires, and in it, DeMarco went on to post a 4.50 to qualify in the fifth position. He may have exited competition early, but he’s not at all worried, as he and his tuners, Patrick Barnhill and Jason Lee of PTP Racing, used his Haltech engine management system to design what proved to be a dastardly tune-up in subsequent testing.

“We tried some new things, and we have definitely picked up some ponies,” said DeMarco. “Now that the dress rehearsal is over and we have a solid piece that we can run with, it’s time to throw the wrenches into the spokes and try not to go over the handlebars.”

Watch the ever-witty DeMarco wheel his wild race car and go for 4.20s at the 10th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by Mahle Motorsport, April 5-8 at Atlanta Dragway.

“It’s time to go for a championship,” said DeMarco, whose crew includes his wife, Melissa DeMarco, brother and fellow racer David DeMarco and Jason Sabo. “It’s going to be gangster.”

The event, the second in this year’s NMRA and NMCA series, will be broadcast RIGHT HERE on SpeedVideo, with support from presenting sponsor zMAx, along with BMR Suspension, Comp Cams, E3 Spark Plugs, ProCharger, Moser Engineering, Race Star Industries, Flying A Motorsports, Speedway Motors and Champion Cooling.

(Photos by NMCA, Andrew DeMarco and Mary Lendzion)