Jason Michalak And The BAD9ER Crew Prepping A Second Radial Monster

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Fans of Radial vs the World instantly recognize the sinister matte black Camaro of Kyle Huettel as a long-time front runner in the wide-open radial class. What many fans may not know is that Huettel – one of the dwindling few nitrous holdouts in a class becoming increasingly dominated by turbocharged entries – was just a few passes away from abandoning the laughing gas and dropping a big, blown torque monster between the Camaro’s framerails. You see, the rules for RvsW state that nitrous-injected combos can run as light as 2,700 lbs., giving them a big help in keeping pace with the higher-powered turbo entries. The problem with that, though, lies in actually getting a car that started life as a production vehicle down to nitrous weight without completely gutting all of the factory from the car.

imageKyle had already made the call, in fact, to swap in the blown bullet when they realized the gremlins they were chasing in the nitrous motor were actually NOT in the motor itself, but in the transmission and converter combination. So it was decided that Huettel would stick with the injected powerplant and the team would find another car for the blown hemi Kyle had already ordered.

Enter Mark Woodruff.

Looking for a ride to build while his cherished blue 1967 Stingray was rebuilt, Woody had picked up one black C6 Corvette when the opportunity to acquire a more complete, ready-to-race ‘Vette presented itself. Jason Michalak, Kyle’s Team 9ER partner and teammate, took the first C6 off of Woodruff’s hands, and the pieces were in place. BAD9ER Racing would field two cars in RvsW in 2015.

Michalak sent the C6, a former King of the Hill and Outlaw 10.5 runner, to Pro Mod chassis ace Cody Barklage for some extensive updates before bringing the car home to Texas, where another familiar Pro Mod standout, Frankie Taylor, had been working to complete the final assembly.

1030141017What you’re looking at is one nasty machine. The ‘Vette will feature – prominently sticking a few feet out of the hood – a monster C-Rotor screw supercharger bolted atop a methanol-guzzling Hemi powerplant. While others have tried and had moderate success with screw-blown radial entries, nobody has been able to put a top-mounted supercharger ride into the thick of the record hunt. What Michalak and the BAD9ER team have that sets them apart is one Billy Stocklin, a name synonymous with mind-warping supercharged performance.

The frontrunners in the radial world have a firm grasp on where their combinations shine. Lighter-weight nitrous entries are banging out sixty-foot times deep in the 1.00 range, while boosted big blocks plow through the backhalf with insane top end charges. Blown cars with their mountains of torque and decent top-end charge are most likely going to rely on a mix of quick starts and top-end steam to find their ideal radial tune-up and run deep into the 4.0’s and beyond. The BAD9ER team has shown that it is dedicated to running up front, no matter what it takes to get there. With Jason at the wheel, Stocklin doing the tuning, and Kyle offering his years of expertise in going fast on 315’s, you can expect the Texans to bring a pair of six-shooters to every radial gunfight in 2015.

About the author

Jeremy Patterson

A former bracket racer, Jeremy, known by many as "Taco," stepped out of the seat in 2005 to focus on his growing family. A few years ago, he returned to the sport, this time as a photographer and a journalist.
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