Photos: Don Creason

We’ve written about John Kolivas plenty; the guy just sets records and wins races no matter where he’s competing. Earlier this year he set the mark on the 275-wide radial tire at 4.34 at 172 MPH, but just yesterday he crushed that number during a private test session at Holly Springs Motorsports Park in Mississippi. Kolivas entered the Fall Brawl event there this past weekend, but didn’t have much success due to a transmission that wouldn’t cooperate on the 1-2 shift. He repaired the transmission for Sunday, but didn’t have enough data to go very far during the event – which didn’t sit well with him.

“I took off from work yesterday and headed down to Holly Springs – I was the only car there, as they were still cleaning up the facility from the event this past weekend. Jabbo [Holly Springs’ track manager] prepped one lane for me. On the first run I was able to go 1.110 to the 60-foot mark, but the transmission busted the input shaft on the 1-2 shift. I just knew I could run the number based on what I had seen over the weekend, so we pulled out the transmission and Jeff Reed from TCI brought me a new input shaft. I got the transmission back in, Jabbo re-prepped the lane, and I was able to go out and lay down a 4.27 at 178 MPH,” he explained.

The car does not sit legal for any sort of 275 radial class, as Kolivas was running it with the twin-turbo version of the same powerplant he runs with a single turbo in NMRA competition. “I haven’t even taken the valve covers off since NMRA, just switched up the turbo kit and ran the number at 3,300 pounds,” he says. The car relies on a Bennett Racing 427 cubic inch engine, Kooks exhaust, NLR Systems AMS2000 boost controller, and a Keith Neal Powerglide with Pro Torque converter. Wade Hopkins at Southern Speed Racing in Tupelo, Mississippi uses parts from Racecraft, Inc. to help Kolivas achieve the insane 1.11 short times. 

This is without a doubt the quickest eighth-mile pass on a 275-wide radial, and the scary thing is that Kolivas thinks 4.23 is possible with the current combination. Remember that Keith Berry just recorded the quickest time ever on a big 315/60/15 radial – at 4.19 last weekend, also at Holly Springs. There’s a big difference between a 275 and a 315…but not if John Kolivas has anything to say about it.