Charlie Booze, Jr. is the poster child of NMRA’s Hot Street Class. With three championships in the all motor class, most NMRA followers will agree that no single driver has done more to grow the class than the hard working racer from Marion, Pennsylvania. Always a Ford fanatic, Booze’s drag racing career started back in 1988 with his first pass down the 1320 in a four speed 1970 Mercury Cougar. Booze’s father Charlie Booze, Sr. was a longtime drag racer and encouraged Charlie and his brother Brian to pursue their passion to race, and to run Booze Brothers Performance, an automotive performance shop in their hometown.

Since the beginning of his racing career, Booze has taken a methodical approach to drag racing and is known for making oddball combinations go fast, winning races, and ultimately earning multiple championships. He is also a student of the track, taking time between rounds to study the conditions and how cars in other classes are performing.

In the early days, Booze campaigned a 4-door Torino at local tracks around Marion and eventually in the NMCA’s Top Stock class. After racing selected events in Top Stock for four years, he set out on the full tour in 1997 and won his first class championship after winning six of seven events. With a championship now under his belt, Charlie was hooked to go after more.

After a few years of racing and winning in big cars in the NMRA and NSCA series, 2002 was the first year Booze was introduced to the world of racing the smaller and lighter Mustang. That year he tuned the Hot Street Mustang of Joe Johnston on the NMRA tour. Working on eight-second land yachts taught Booze the art of engine tuning and suspension set-up so it was a natural that the switch to the Mustang platform came easy. That year, Johnston won the NMRA Hot Street Championship and the success gave Booze all the incentive he needed to switch to the Hot Street class.

Changing Classes

Longtime engine builder and Ford engine guru Jim Kuntz encouraged Charlie and brother Brian to make the switch over to Hot Street. Kuntz recognized that the naturally-aspirated small block Ford market was where the action and notoriety was. In 2003 Booze commissioned chassis builder and friend Matt Wirt to build the car that was affectionately known as the “Freight Train”. In a mere 80 days the team built the car and made the first race of the NMRA season.

Jim Kuntz has worked with Charlie and Brian Booze since their early days in racing. “I knew Charlie since he was running the 4-door Torino in Top Stock,” recalled Kuntz. “He was running the 460 engine, and I started doing cylinder heads and camshafts for him.”

In 2003, the Booze brothers learned a lot about how to win and lose races in the competitive class. By the end of the season, Booze just about won the championship, with the title decided at the last race of the year in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Shane Long won the 2003 title, but Booze would come back hungry the next year and set the class on fire.

In 2004 Booze made NMRA history by winning the Hot Street class at every NMRA National event and went on to win the NMRA Hot Street and 2004 Pro Edelbrock Pro Stock championships. In 2004, Booze won 13 events and had three runner-up finishes with a 55-4 round win ratio, a feat that is quite the accomplishment considering the number of races and stiff competition. Booze again repeated the NMRA championship in 2005 and 2006, and established himself a the man to beat in the class.

“Familiarity and knowledge of the car has paid huge dividends for us,” said Booze. “These cars have gotten progressively faster and faster since the first time we raced in NMRA Hot Street in 2003. We started out running 9.20 ET’s and now we are almost running 8.20’s. So it’s really the same car, and a second faster.”

No Shortcuts to Victory Lane

Having owned the car for eight years is a big plus, and the car was built right the first time instead of adding on tubing or cutting out metal for weight reduction. From the beginning, chassis builder Matt Wirt built a 25.5-spec cage to make the car legal to run into the 7.50 range. Booze credits being competitive all those years and in 2010 a result of knowing what the car needs to run quick.

“In NMRA trim this year, we dropped the weight 150 pounds across the board to comply with the rules in NMCA,” said Booze. “They made those changes to try and get more crossover from the NMRA cars. Naturally, we were the only ones to run 8.50’s in NMRA last year and we’re used to dropping weight out of the car to run NMCA Pro Stock or the RAM N/A Regional Shootout. So the powers at large decided ‘why does this class have to weigh so much more than the other classes?’ and they want crossover, so we were already prepared for the NMRA weight. That’s why there’s the big step up in ET’s. We just looked the car over and got it ready for the season. That being said, we are always looking for something. You get pushed and you’re always trying to improve your program.”

On the topic of pushing, the Hot Street and Pro Stock class is filled with some big money programs from names like Roush and Baskin. For 2010, several new cars are in the works, but Booze has no plans to retire the familiar red 1992 Mustang Hatch. “Folks always think that I have the coin but I have the same old clunker that I’ve been racing for eight years,” said Booze. “It’s not always a lock, knowing you car is going to work out. At Bradenton this year, I made the wrong call and missed it in the finals. The track pretty much stunk all weekend. It had its good moments but it was never better than it was at the end of that weekend and that run. I had made changes to the car to adapt to a crummy racing surface and it changed on us. In the Bradenton NMRA finals we screwed up and gave the race away to Blankenship. It was ours to lose.”

Being pushed by the competition is something Booze welcomes. When asked about some of his Hot Street rivals’ new combinations, he says he has only heard of new cars from gossip at the racetrack. Per Booze, “On the NMRA side we’ve seen reports of Ben Mens redoing his Fox-body Mustang for Hot Street and the Baskin team building a 2010 Camaro for NMCA Pro Stock competition. With Baskin, those guys have two or three Camaros now; one was Bruce Michael’s car and the other two were Jamie Stanton’s cars. I heard rumors that they might build a Mustang to race NMRA, but with anything like that I say knock yourself out.”

Familiarity also comes to mind when Booze talks about his engine combination and engine builder Jim Kuntz. “We treat each other like a father/son or uncle/nephew type deal,” said Booze. “We’ve always been naturally aspirated and it’s simpler, yet challenging at the same time. We break parts but I look at the nitrous guys and some of the power adder cars being really hard on parts. Now the turbo guys never seem to break a lot, but the NOS or supercharged guys wreck all kinds of stuff.” While Kuntz will build boosted engines and happens to build the engine of four-time NMRA Super Street Outlaw Champion John Urist, naturally aspirated engines are his main focus. He enjoys the challenge of finding more horsepower the old fashioned way.

If it Ain’t Broke…

When talking about Charlie Booze’s combination, Kuntz is happy with the direction of the program. “Charlie’s 400 cubic inch engine is something we’ve been working with for the past five years and we just keep updating it. It basically has the same block and heads for the past four years.”

In regards to their main Hot Street challengers from Roush Competition Engines, Kuntz welcomes the rivalry between what the calls ‘just two good old country boys.’ “He’s a Kentucky country boy and I’m an Arkansas country boy,” joked Kuntz. “We really don’t have business competing against Roush, Bischoff and Kaase, but a country boy like myself is going to find out a way to win every once in a while.”

For Kuntz, Comp Cams has been a vital part of his engine building program. “Comp Cams is a really good bunch,” said Kuntz. “We work with James Fry and they have a lot of good cam stuff for our program. In this business you kinda learn what works and what doesn’t, and their cams have always delivered. Plus, being so close to Memphis, their one-day service really helps.”

“Comp Cams is in everything we do, from our crate engines to our niche work, which is helping someone build a motor that wants to win a class, set a record or win a championship. We’re big on helping racers come up with a new innovative combination, especially the Ford stuff, and Comp Cams helps us with new cam profiles and other parts. From Charlie’s Hot Street engine to Ron Anderson’s or Brad Meadow’s NMRA Pure Street cars to Jeff Colvert’s NHRA SS/G record holder – Comp Cams has helped us with custom grinds for all those engines.”

The Five “P’s”

One of Booze’s bits of advice for being a championship contender is prep work before the race. He goes by the motto, ‘Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.’ “At the track I don’t want to thrash that hard,” said Booze. “I thrash at home so I can go to the track and sit around, watch the track conditions and concentrate on the racing. There is an occasional race that I may have to swap an engine or transmission at the racetrack but we try to go to the race with a prepped car.”

Booze also admits that he would be nowhere without a data recorder on the car. He’s used one ever since it was built and Booze is always reviewing run data. “If you’re not drawing run data after each run you’re wasting your time,” said Booze. “I tell everyone to get a data logger – today they are as cheap as 500-600 dollars and it’s hard not to use with today’s technology.”

While Booze has always had focus on making his own program a championship contender, he has been a sounding board for other Hot Street racers looking to step up. “A lot of us still watch our pennies and try to get the most out of what we can buy,” stated Booze. “I don’t mind helping other racers because that’s my business and I’m always trying to help.”

Booze was instrumental in working with Neal Chance Converters on developing a torque converter for Hot Street and Pro Stock cars. “We started developing that converter for N/A cars back in 2005 when Marty approached me about helping him,” recalled Booze. “No one really saw him as a N/A converter guy. He had the Outlaw 10.5. and Pro Street market covered. He was the mastermind; I just gave him some feedback but he was able to build a fantastic piece.”

The Neal Chance unit is so popular it’s the hot ticket in the class with Baskin, DeMayo, Bowles and Blankenship running them. The Booze and Neal Chance relationship has delivered the converter manufacturer some new customers and moved the class forward.

Crossovers aren’t just limited to within the world of drag racing, either – Kuntz also builds Brian Booze’s Dirt Late Model engine for the past four years in addition to late model dirt engines that run all over the country. When asked about technology transfer from dirt track to drag racing, Kuntz sees a lot of crossover that has helped his program. “We learn about the power from the drag race program and we learn about the durability and the drivability from the roundy-round stuff,” Kuntz explains. “I think if somebody just does one and not the other, they are not going to be as good of an engine builder as they could be. I think doing both really opens your eyes to two different worlds, and it’s really helped us.”

From drag racing to dirt racing the relationship between Kuntz and Booze Brothers Racing has paid dividends to both clans. “The Booze family is a very good bunch of folks to do business with,” said Kuntz. “They are really good people and very smart and ultra-competitive. They have helped showcase our products for years and I appreciate the relationship we have.”

The End of an Era?

After not running the full season in 2009, current plans are run as many races in 2010 as time and money will allow. At the first two races of 2010, Booze scored a win at Bradenton in NMCA Pro Stock and a runner-up in NMRA Hot Street. “Weather and help will play a big part in making events,” said Booze. “Ultimately I want to go to these races because we have a good product, and win as much money as they have up for grabs. The economy has dwindled but I have a good car that I don’t have to put a bunch of money into from year to year or race to race to be competitive.”