Network
If you look any performance market, whether that is car or truck, gas or diesel, the vast majority of the market doesn’t race. In fact, a huge percent of people don’t really care about it, won’t watch it on TV, and will never attend an event.
So, why do we constantly cover racing vehicles? Racing provides the ultimate proving ground for new products. We are always watching for new trends, products, and ideas. While a dragster with a huge screw blower, probably won’t be seen on the street, you may start seeing a blower kit here and there if it proves to be a good combination.
These extreme parts or some variation of them, once proven will make their way into the mainstream marketplace where the majority of us can think about purchasing them.
On top of all of that, we here at Diesel Army love to showcase functional vehicles. We don’t care if the vehicle is a drag car, sled car, work truck, tow truck or semi-truck. If the vehicle is working and isn’t just a trailer queen that is transported from venue to venue, then we want to show it off. That is ultimately how we can let you know what is going on.
So, when the guys with DirtyMax Racing blew up their MBRP DirtyMax earlier this year, we were keeping a close eye on them. Brad Makinen from G&J Diesel has been around for a long time. He is actually the person who coined the term “DirtyMax.” Since he just received the copyright for “DirtyMax”, we knew Makinen wasn’t just going to be one of those guys who throws up his hands and says “I’m done.”
What he was actually doing, was building this very cool and crazy 1941 Willys pro mod car for next year. Instead of building it slowly, he was forced to jump right in. With a ton of work, he was able to get the car ready for the last two NHRDA races of the year.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature, had a slightly different idea and rained out the second to last event of the year. So, the NHRDA World Finals in Ennis, TX ended up being the maiden voyage and world debut for the Willys. Showing up at the World Finals without so much as a shakedown pass, the Dirty Max team was still getting a handle on this all new car. The video of the car was only it’s third time on the track. Obviously there are some bugs to sort out.
They still have some tuning to do and we are sure that driver Ryan Milliken from Hardway Performance will be more than able to get the car dialed in and performing better than expected. These guys have proven to be a winning combination over the past years and are true survivors so we are expecting great things from them.
As far as the car, it is a full chromoly chassis built by well known fabricator Tommy Mooney.
The sexy body, nick named the “Bat Mobile” by many people who saw it and were all talking about it is a 1941 Willys body fabricated by the guys at Hairy Glass out of Jacksonville, Florida.
The rear end is a custom nine-inch built by Mark Williams the rear meats are Hoosier 17.0/34.5-16’s. So, they are roughly 35 inches tall and 20 inches wide! They are mounted to a set of Weld Racing wheels.
The power to turn those huge rear tires comes from a heavily built Duramax. With all of the experience that they have with drag racing their MBRP DirtyMax C1500, the team has learned what works and doesn’t. The pistons are a custom design that works well for them without melting or cracking apart.
With how low the engine sits, a full dry sump was sourced from PPE. “PPE has been a huge help. They have done a lot for us,” said Makinen. “The Dry sump pan and sump is all PPE. We bolted it right on, plumbed it up, it was easy,” continued Makinen.
To make the horsepower they need be competitive in NHRDA Pro Stock, Makinen turned to Wagler Competition for help with air flow. Wagler supplied their “biggest and baddest” cylinder heads along with one of their custom manifolds. ARP fasteners keep the cylinder heads as well as other engine components in place.
The air is supplied with two Garrett turbochargers regulated by two Turbosmart wastegates. Instead of running two turbochargers in series (compounds) they opted to run them parallel (twins). They are hoping that by running the chargers parallel, they will be able to have more on the top end. G&J Diesel custom fabricated the exhaust manifold and all of the intercooler tubing.
If that isn’t enough air, there is a single stage of nitrous that feeds both sides of the engine. To ensure a consistent supply of N2O they have the system plumbed to two bottles.
For fuel, the guys turned to Dynomite Diesel. They are running a set of their racing injectors which are feed by two modified CP3 pumps that are supplied by a FASS fuel pump.
Behind the engine is a Bruno Lenco transmission setup. If you aren’t familiar with drag racing this probably means nothing to you. The Lenco portion of the transmission is for drag racing only. It is an extremely durable transmission. The Bruno portion is the front half of the transmission and it is an automatic. The combination of the two allow all of the same benefits of a manual (quick shifts, less rotating weight, etc), without having to worry about working a clutch at the line.
One aspect that can be very difficult with a Bruno Lenco setup is the torque converter. Like all automatic converters, having the right torque converter makes all the difference. This is one place where Makinen has turned to the guys at Precision Industries for help.
The seasoned DirtyMax racing team is an experienced one and we are excited to see what they will achieve over the winter. This will certainly be a vehicle to keep an eye on over the next few years.
