Dave Flanders: Nmca Open Comp RacerProbably the biggest problem in street-car drag racing is that there's no class for average guys to run their junk competitively because the average street-race car doesn't meet all the rules. Bracket racing is one solution, Open Comp is another. It lacks the meat of heads-up racing, but allows for any car to participate. At NMCA races, the Superchips Open Comp class is for door-slammers that run an e.t. between 9.10 and 15.99. Cars qualify on Saturday; their dial-in for the rest of the race is their quickest qualifying time minus one tenth (we misstated this procedure in the Oct. '05 issue). There's no changing dial-in between rounds, but other than that, it's handicap starts just like a bracket race. And while brake-light racing abounds, the class is still packed, and often draws cool local cars that don't fit into any of the heads-up classes.
One Open Comp racer we caught up with was Dave Flanders in his '79 Mustang (with an '86 nose), a former 5.0 car that now has a wild 2.5L four-banger that's Car Craft deluxe with all its homebuilt turbo plumbing, mechanical fuel injection, nitrous plumbing, and header. Junkyard stuff includes the block, throttle body, and Festiva radiator and the rest is patched together with various new and used speed parts. The fuel injection combines Hilborne and Enderle parts. The turbo is a T-72 with a Q-trim exhaust wheel, spooled at the line with a homemade nitrous shot. The drivetrain includes a C4 with an 8-inch Coan converter and a 9-inch rear with 4.30s, and the Southside bars and 28x12.50 slicks hook it up. Punchline: 9.80s at 135-plus!
Have you got an oddball combo that can't race anywhere else? Check out the Superchips Open Comp rules at fasteststreetcar.com.-David Freiburger
9-Second Reads*NHRA.com has turned the big 1-0.
*Pontiac wants to make a rear-wheel-drive car available as a '10 model.
*Japan's Mainichi Daily News reports that illegal "hot rod" gangs have surpassed 200. They remodel vehicles from the late '80s then drive them like crazies. The gangs are called "kyushakai."
*"Smart" parking meters are possibly in your future. They would reset the time to zero when you pulled out of a parking space with time left, thereby screwing the person rolling in after you.
*A Pennsylvania state rep has submitted a proposal for a potential law that would require dogs to wear seatbelts.
*Chrysler will start using higher-tech robots for manufacturing, including fellas with increased load ranges.
*The new guy assuming the title of Chief Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security serves as Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the Department of Transportation.
One-Million Hemi Engines And Ten Random Hemi FactoidsThe month of August marked not only the Chinese Festival of Hungry Ghosts, but also production of the one-millionth Hemi engine. But don't nod off through this history lesson: The Hemi debuted in a '51 Chrysler (a 180hp V-8) and the most famous was the '64-'71 426 found in Dodges and Plymouths. Only 6,671 of 'em were built. And then the late-model Hemi popped up in the '03 Dodge Ram and now can be found in virtually every Chrysler product, including the Charger SRT8. Hankering for more Hemi info? Here are 10 Random Hemi Facts:
1.In 1939, Chrysler started designing the first Hemi, a V-16 for fighter aircraft.
2.A Dodge Hemi broke 196 Stock Car records at Bonneville Salt Flats in 1953.
3.The Original Ramchargers' "High & Mighty" C/Altered '49 Plymouth was Hemi-powered, and the first car to use a tunnel-ram
4.It was 1964 that Chrysler intro'd the 426ci Hemi to a life of competition. That same year, three Plymouths and a Dodge, all with 426 Hemi engines, swept Daytona 1-2-3.
5.Nascar restricted the Hemi in 1965 by setting minimum production levels for street use; the following year Chrysler built a "Street Hemi" and headed back to NASCAR.