Those of you who are interested in small-tire racing, and naturally-aspirated racing at that might remember this news story from a few weeks ago, where we told you about how Brandon Alsept took home the first-ever Modular-powered heads-up class title in the NMCA’s history with his win in the B&B Race Cars Mean Street class.  Well, we’re back to tell you that Alsept has continued making history.

This past weekend he was out testing for the last weekend of the season at Edgewater Sports Park in Cleves, Ohio and managed to click off a 9.65 at 138.39 MPH – the quickest and fastest naturally-aspirated Two-Valve pass ever. Alsept’s Mustang has a Bischoff Engine Service 298 cubic-inch base topped off with a set of Trick Flow’s Two-Valve heads. He’s been refining the combination for a number of years now in both Mean Street and the NMRA’s now-defunct Pure Street class and is a past champion in both. He normally competes at 2,850 pounds in NMCA competition, but for this test session he pulled out around 100 pounds and made the switch to Q16 fuel. The NMCA World Record holder doesn’t rest on his laurels.

The Ford Modular powerplant has many fans and many detractors out there in the hot-rod world. Some racers will tell you that it’s too big and heavy and complex to be a durable drag-racing engine, and yet other well-known racers like John Mihovetz and Mark Luton have taken the viability of the Four-Valve Modular to new heights over the last couple of years. However, their combinations are boosted and run on a big tire with the Four-Valve cylinder head.

The Modular was also factory-equipped with the Two-Valve cylinder head in most of the Mustangs produced with the Modular engine, but has been written off by most racers as a non-performer. Alsept doesn’t believe that, however.  To see a racer using an engine with less than 300 cubic inches to click off passes deep into the nine-second zone is nothing short of amazing.

Alsept’s Dynojet-sponsored Mustang relies on support from many people to make his dreams reality, namely the support from the team at ACT Clutch for supplying the clutch he needs in order to perform at this level. The 9000+RPM small-block engine is a feat of wonder in this application.