Alan Prusiensky has always been loyal to the Dodge brand, and these days he serves as the lone banner-carrier of the Mopar flag for fans all over the world in the sport’s premier doorslammer eliminator. Over the past four seasons, Prusiensky has been steadily improving his NHRA Pro Stock performances and is poised for a breakout year in 2018. After spending the winter in the engine shop and dyno room getting his Mopar bullets ready, Prusiensky is prepared to make fans of the Dodge brand proud in Pro Stock competition.

Prusiensky runs his own engine shop, ARC Race Engines, and has been drag racing Chrysler vehicles since the early 1990s when he began racing a Dodge Charger. That eventually led him to the Top Sportsman class with a Dodge Stratus that he built, before he later jumped into Pro Stock with the purchase of Matt Hartford’s Dodge Avenger. Prusiensky’s current ride is a Jerry Haas-built 2016 Dodge Dart that was made to fit the new EFI rules in Pro Stock.

While the class, once a vibrant avenue for Detroit’s “Big Three” to showcase and sell their latest and greatest, has shifted to GM products almost exclusively, Prusiensky is out to prove that Mopar power still has something for the Chevrolet powered machines.

“People say Dodge can’t compete in Pro Stock now, but I don’t believe that at all. We just have to work on getting better. I like the challenge of going against the Chevrolet guys that say you can’t go fast with a Dodge, so that’s been another reason I’ve stayed in Mopar products over the years.”

Trying to develop a Pro Stock engine program is a daunting task, even more so when you’re doing it by yourself without factory support, as Prusiensky is currently.

“I haven’t had the money and time to try things like everyone else has in the engine development process. Over the winter we did finally get the chance to experiment more than ever, and hopefully, that will start to close the gap a bit more between us and the Chevy-powered cars. I really concentrated on the engine program and the payoff really has started to show. I think we have enough power now to compete at the highest level, but now we need to translate that to track performance.”

What many don’t realize is that the Chevrolet and Dodge engines are very close overall in the power department. Prusiensky has been on Frank Iaconio’s engine dyno as well as his own and seen first-hand that both powerplants are within just a few horsepower of one another. With that knowledge, Prusiensky spent the winter trying to find ways to make the Mopar mill he uses match the bowtie power.

“For some reason, the Chevy motors just seem to be a little faster on the track in the mile-per-hour department, even when both engines make very similar power. There seems to be a lull around 9,000 rpm with the Dodge motor, but then from 9,200 to 10,000 it really takes off. We have been working on getting the power to come out across the board and I think we’re really close to solving this,” Prusiensky says.

For 2018, Prusiensky made wholesale changes with his team to go with his new engine development program to try and become more competitive in Pro Stock.

“I changed my whole crew for this year — the only people that are the same are my family that helps with the car. I wasn’t able to test last year since the crew I was using couldn’t stay and test after an event. I still have a lot to learn and we’re hoping to test at least 10 times this year,” Prusiensky explains.

All of these changes are part of the plan Prusiensky has put into place so he can finish in the top ten in points for the season. To give that goal an even bigger jumpstart Prusiensky will have eCarMover.com on the door of his Dodge providing support, along with , Kinetic by Windstream for part of the 2018 season.

Alan Prusiensky has no problem being the underdog, and he carries the Mopar banner in Pro Stock with pride. His winter of tireless work is proof that he is dedicated to competing in the toughest naturally aspirated drag racing class on planet, and if Prusiensky can roll into the winner’s circle this year he will be bringing all of the Dodge faithful with him.