John Langer Prepares His Trans Am For Takeoff At NMRA/NMCA Atlanta

For as long as he has raced in NMCA Fastest Street Car NA 10.5, John Langer has been a threat in his 1969 Trans Am.

But at the 12th Annual Nitto NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing last summer at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois, he was sidelined after seriously damaging his combination consisting of a 565 cubic-inch Pontiac engine built around an All Pontiac Indian Adventures block and topped with All Pontiac Tiger heads.

“When we warmed up the car at the race, the number seven exhaust rocker arm kicked the pushrod off, so we pulled the valve cover and replaced it,” said Langer. “Then later, in qualifying, the car started to check out at 60-feet and I lifted. We found out that I had kicked another pushrod off, and at that point, I should have realized what was happening. The exhaust valve was touching the piston because the camshaft belt drive had slipped. I should have checked the cam timing. When we pulled the head off, I saw the crankshaft, and there was no number five spark plug, so I knew it was bad. The belt drive jumped three teeth, so every exhaust valve had been hitting pistons and number five went through the piston. There was just the stem left on the exhaust valve, and the intake valve was bent on a 45 degree angle. There was no center to the piston at all.”

Langer proceeded to pull the engine out of his car and turn it over to his longtime engine-builder, Tony Bischoff of BES Racing Engines, at the track that weekend.

“Tony (Bischoff) called me a couple days later and told me that the block wasn’t hurt too bad,” said Langer. “I could have patched everything up and made the next race, which was at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio in August, but my old block was first cast 20 years ago, there was a problem with porosity, it had two sleeves in it to seal and I was limited on how big I could go on the bore because of that. My choices were to keep dumping research and development into what I had to find little horsepower gains or use a new block and see immediate horsepower gains, so we opted for the latter. So, in other words, I took a step back in order to take a step forward.”

Langer’s rebuilt engine, which is 572 cubic-inches, features a new All Pontiac cast iron block, Ross pistons, GRP rods and a Moroso external oil pump rather than the internal oil pump he had been running. Bischoff topped it with the repaired All Pontiac Tiger heads and a Book Racing carburetor.

Meanwhile, Matukas Motorsports installed GlassTek carbon fiber doors and a deck lid on Langer’s car to lighten it up and to allow for the strategic placement of weight to it to help with hooking up and hauling.

“We got the car back a week before the World Cup Finals — Import vs. Domestic race at Maryland International Raceway last fall, and I started it two days before the race,” said Langer. “The first pass off the trailer was an 8.11 at 175 mph after pedaling, and while the 60-foot, 330-foot and eighth-mile times were killer, we had a fuel delivery issue and the car was nosing over at the top end of the track, but we managed to go as fast as 7.83 at only 169 mph and to the quarter-final.”

Hopeful that he had taken care of his fuel delivery issue, Langer headed to the 16th Annual NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem in early March at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida, where he ran to an 8.51 to qualify in the eighth spot in Fastest Street Car NA 10.5, picked up to an 8.03 to win the first round of eliminations, and picked up even more to a 7.98 in the second round of eliminations, but was defeated by Robbie Blankenship, who was 7.90 in his Mustang.

“The car was running out of fuel and nosing over again, so it was a discouraging weekend,” said Langer. “But, I’ve since burned up the phone with every expert, and the carb has gone back to Bob Book to be checked out, and after talking with Jim Craig, I have Weldon parts for the fuel pump and filter that I ordered from Rick Riccardi.”

Soon, Langer will be ready to roll into the 10th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals presented by Mahle Motorsport, April 5-8 at Atlanta Dragway.

“We won’t be able to test before the race, but we still hope to do things like re-set the record and win the race,” said Langer.

Catch Langer and his fellow racers at the event or RIGHT HERE on SpeedVideo when the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals kicks off! This broadcast is brought to you by presenting sponsor zMAx, along with BMR SuspensionComp CamsE3 Spark PlugsProChargerMoser EngineeringRace Star IndustriesFlying A MotorsportsSpeedway Motors and Champion Cooling.

(Photos by Mary Lendzion and NMCA)

About the author

Mary Lendzion

Formerly a writer at the Detroit Free Press, Mary Lendzion writes for Power Automedia, NMCA and NMRA, is the director of media and public relations for Summit Motorsports Park and is happiest in the driver’s seat of her Mustang.
Read My Articles

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