When the NMRA introduced Coyote Stock, Joe Guertin was one of the first racers to embrace the new class. At the first two events, Guertin and HiPo Joe Charles were the only competitors. In the first year of Coyote Stock, Guertin finished 4th in points, and then he finished 5th when the class starting growing, and being more competitive. Thankfully, for everyone involved, Coyote Stock has grown by leaps and bounds.

Guertin wanted to go fast, though. He set into motion a plan to move up to Coyote Modified. He took a little time off to get the righteous ’85 LX coupe prepped for 8s by having CRE Performance’s Chet Caminita (Also Guertin’s crew chief) redo the car’s chassis, cage, and 8.8 rear end. The coupe relies on UPR Products for suspension components, which are responsible for planting the power from a MPR-built (Tim Eichorn) Coyote engine with a ProCharger F-1A supercharger. Behind the built Coyote is a C4 with a PTC torque converter. Cal Hartline from Hartline Performance will be handling the tuning on the car, which will rely on a FAST XFI system.

The reason it took so long to get the car together is because Guertin is rather particular, and all the work on the car was done in his garage utilizing jack stands. But that length of time also allowed him to attend NHRA Driving School during the summer of 2014 to get his competition license.

This past Sunday’s test session at Orlando Speed World was the first time in 14 months Guertin had driven the car. “We treated the day like a licensing session. 60′,330′, 1/8mile…etc. We did this to watch and alter the tune (under the watchful eyes of Cal Hartline) as the car progressed down the track,” Guertin says. This process also allowed Guertin to get up to speed on the new found power under the hood, as well.

By the end of the day, though, Guertin made two full passes. He made an 8-second pass at 150+ mph, and pulled the ‘chute for the very first time. “It was a great day,” Guertin says. Alas, the test session showed a tight converter, so it was out of the car by Monday, and sent off to PTC for changes. The combo was losing boost on the 2-3 shift, without enough room to recover that boost at the top end. Guertin will test again with the reconfigured converter to make sure the car is a go for the NMRA Spring Break Shootout at Bradenton Motorsports Park March 5th-8th.

We’ll be at Bradenton for that event and can’t wait to see what Guertin and the rest of the Coyote Modified field does.