I haven't posted here very much this past year, These guy's kept me very busy.
The '06 season ended this in Bowling Green, Kentucky. When i started playing around with Modular engines and the idea of building a 4V 5.4 in 2000 I had no idea it would come to this.
First, Factory stock.
Congratulations to Jeff Schmell and his 4V Mach 1 on his #2 finish.
Jeff ( as well as the other 4V racers)endured massive drivetrain breakage all season brought on by the NMRA 3.90 gear rule mandates. Collectively they could have filled a dump truck with shattered clutches, transmissions, driveshafts and rear ends. Jeff was going to park is several times this year due to the carnage.
Steve Gifford, 2V GT on his #4 finish in his rookie season.
Steve teamed up with the Modular depot guys and built a new 4v F/S car over '05 He was blind sided with the NMRA rule changes just before the start of the '06 season. He blew 2 clutches and shattered a G Force transmission in Bradenton. Then killed another clutch, explodes a ring and pinion and for good measure split the case on another transmission. All this was more than Steve could bear.
Then yet another rule change by the NMRA.
They allowed ported heads last year on the 2V. Then added any cams with stock lift, headers, 300 less pounds and no rear gear rule.
Brandon called me the same day as the rule change. We started building a 2V.
Steve struggled and then ran 11.55 at Atco.
Tuesday two weeks before the final event the engine blew on the dyno. Steve called tuesday afternoon and was on his way to florida with a dead soldier in the back of his truck.
Thursday morning he was camped out in the driveway of the shop.
The crank and rods were destroyed. This was a bit of a mystery, later the cause was found to be a couple of fuel injectors hosed down the engine with fuel diluting the oil with alot of gasoline.
Steve left Sunday morning heading for Ohio with a fresh engine.
Steve Qualified #1 and ran a stellar 11.42/118
He defeated the two time Champ Shawn Johnson it the semi.
Coming out of the burnout in the final a Power steering line blew dumping fluid on the starting line..ending his bid for his first win.
Brian Marr #7 in his 4V powered GT.
Brian is Jeff's team mate. Brian was also bitten all season with drivetrain breakage.
Pure street.
Victor Downs #4 in his 4V cobra.
Victor teamed up with the Modular depot team and had a great year racing his 9000 rpm Cobra. Victor had high MPH of eliminations at several events and made his first final round at columbus.
Victor had a best of 10.46/129.90
Brandon Alsept #9
Brandon suffered alot of breakage in his Dynojet /MD sponsored 4V GT.
Brandons best was 10.43/129
Renagade.
Bart Tobener runs a stunning '04 Cobra powered by a blown dohc navi 5.4
Bart's car made crazy power on the dyno but struggled with ignition problems all weekend.
Modular Muscle.
Justin Burcham runs a '05 GT Powered by a supercharged/nitrous injected 3V.
Justin ran 9.40's at 148 mph.
Dave Beyer
Dave runs a turbocharged 3V/C 4 '05 GT
Dave took all the marbles in Joliet.
Dave's car makes 722 hp and has run a best of 9.90/141
Peter Del Pino
Peter runs a supercharged 5 speed automatic 3V '05GT
Peter has run 10.60/135
My hot rod..
I have always run this car with a very soft tune in an attempt to keep the drivetrain alive. My N/A 5.4 was making over 580 rwhp (It's now around 600) before the Maple Grove race. Despite the soft tune it qualified with 9.87/137. Once again...I blew yet again another TKO tranny in the first round. I parked the car after the third race. Around the end of august i ordered a G Force GF G5-R clutchless transmission.
The G Force trans is a work of art. Rated for over 1300 hp. It was very popular in the Pro Stock trucks before NHRA Killed the class.
The transmission required huge changes in the Clutch/chassis tune. We spent the weekend trying to get it to 60' with out putting the car on the back bumper. The previous best was 1.26 at renolds Ga. This weekend the 60's were in the 1.38-1.40 range. I really saw no point in beating up the engine when the chassis is not right. shifting at 7100 it ran 9.55/140 hitting the limiter at 8600 40 feet before the finish line.
In two weeks the Ford power festival will be held at Moroso raceway.
Mark Mainero (UPR) is setting up a match race with my friend Multiple time FFW street Warrior champ Jeremy Martorella. Jeremy ( and all the UPR guys have been a major influence in this car from the beginning). Jeremy runs mid 9.40's/140. If time permits i will be doing some testing prior to the event. I'm turning up the shift lite for this one. Outlaw racing is getting big in the south. They run a 6.0 index (1/8 Mi.) heads up class. There are a bunch of races less than 7 hour drives and i'm going to race this series next year.
I would like to congradulate VT engines/ Scotty Cushman.
Scotty has been building a H/S 5.4 dohc car for about a year and a half. Scotty called me early on in the project. We built a set of Ford GT heads for Scotty and last weekend he ran 9.20's/148 the third time out. Building a car like this is a huge commitment both financially and mentally. Scotty has his work cut out for him next year trying to keep a 9000 rpm mod car together.
The Modular engines have gotten a bad rap for being difficult to work on and lack of aftermarket parts. They have proven time and again to do some remarkable things in the right hands.
My hats off to all of you for making the huge commitment to build a car, travel,race and maintain a difficult personal commitment to make it happen. It's awesome to have a part in it!
As often happens the behind the scenes guys seldom get noticed. These are the guys i piss off on a regular basis at the shop. Kris Starnes, Larry Hensley, Len Lechaford.... You guys Rock!
Al Papitto
P.S. Giant Thanks to Chris Johnson for the pics. It's no fun standing baking in the sun for three days.
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