Perennial X275 frontrunner Mean Dean Marinis has had quite a year with his nitrous oxide-fed Ford Mustang in 2014, and a week ago, the New York state native added a quarter-mile victory to his resume when he captured the X275 versus Hot Rod class at the annual Haltech World Cup Finals at the Maryland International Raceway.

Marinis, who competes exclusively on the eighth-mile in the popular X275 category at events all across the eastern United States, set his familiar and feared Mustang up for an extra 660-feet of competition for the once-a-year battle in Maryland, and wasted little time proving his big block Chevrolet-powered whip was up for the occasion, qualifying second out of 35 entries with a 7.15 at a slowing and certainly well-off-the-pace 171 miles per hour.

After advancing out of the first round on a single, Marinis showed the consistency possible with his Neal Chance Racing Converters NXS torque converter, carding a 7.16 at 183 in round two, a 7.27 in the quarterfinals, and a 7.22 in the semifinals to oust the Camaro of Mike Gunter. That set up a final round match between Marinis and Tony Alm, who had been running right with Mean Dean in the performance department throughout eliminations.

In the final, Marinis got the best of Alm, taking a huge .086 to .260 edge out of the gate, which was just enough to fend off a much quicker 7.13 with a 7.28-second winning pass.

In addition to the World Cup Finals triumph, the new Neal Chance NXS converter has carried Marinis to wins in X275 at the Atco Raceway, at the Cecil County Street Car Shootout, a No. 1 qualifying shot at the Yellow Bullet Nationals, and a track record 4.51 at Cecil County, along with plenty of other scintillating performances and late-round appearances.

To see more of the successes of Neal Chance Racing Converters throughout the fall months, visit them on the web at racingconverters.com.