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Two seasons ago, businessman Bill Schurr entered the radial tire ranks with a twin-turbocharged Jeep SRT8 that captured the intrigue of everyone thanks to its unabashedly unique makeup — a breathe of fresh air, a departure from convention, in an ocean of Ford Mustang’s and Chevrolet Camaro’s. Schurr’s machine was pure-bred Jeep, which certainly was pivotal to its popularity, but underpowered and over half a ton overweight, it had little chance of being competitive. And it turns out, Schurr is just as competitive as anyone else in racing.
His appetite whetted, Schurr, who owns and operates Paramount Performance in South Carolina, sold the SRT and drew up plans for another one that could easily be mistaken for its predecessor but is anything but once you lift the veil.
“The other Jeep was 4,200 pounds, and taking 1,200 pounds out of an existing vehicle is hard. So we just started with an absolute clean sheet of paper. This is really what we wanted to make it look like — an original Jeep that people could relate to,” he says.
Accomplished Radial vs The World competitor Kevin Mullins, a former Lights Out champion and world record holder, was tasked not only with assembling Schurr’s new piece, but having sold his familiar twin-turbo Mustang, will also handle the driving duties for the foreseeable future.
…we need to put this in X275 and we don’t want to be the second fastest Mopar in the class. – Bill Schurr
Mullins tabbed Jeff Miller to construct the chassis, and acquired lightweight replacement body panels (the hood, quarter panels, roof, doors, etc.) from China to keep the weight down, sharing that the panels are “cheap and crappy, but they’re lightweight. I certainly wouldn’t want it on my daily driver.”
Mullins and his TKM Performance shop built the 440 cubic-inch Gen III Hemi, which Schurr says he instructed him to build as though it were a Radial vs The World engine, but with some degree of reliability — a solid aluminum block, billet crank, aluminum rods, aftermarket Darton sleeves, and so on. The powerplant will run on M1 methanol, which necessitated the addition of the eye-catching array of 16 coil packs (and M&W spark boxes) that are mounted along the firewall to fire in conjunction with the new FuelTech FT500 engine management system, which was installed and wired at Pro Line Racing in Georgia last week.
The TKM-built Gen III Hemi, with the 16 coil packs necessary to light the load of M1 methanol mounted along the top of the firewall.
Through a new partnership with and sponsorship from Garrett that was forged through his efforts with the original Jeep, Schurr will be running either an 80 or 85 mm Garrett snail, depending on the final scaled weight and how it fits into the X275 rules package.
Schurr’s own Paramount Performance, which builds aftermarket performance electronic transmissions, converters, and other driveline components, built the Turbo 400 for the build, which uniquely features an electronic oil pump. A converter was sourced from Ultimate Converter Concepts.
The FuelTech FT500 system being wired, installed, and programmed at Pro Line Racing.
“We really think we’ve got the best of the best assembled here, and we’re hopeful it’s going to pay off,” Schurr says.
Mullins and Schurr are making final preparations at press time and plan to shake the Jeep down at Darlington within the next couple of weeks in order to get up to speed for this fall’s lineup of marquee radial races — where not only do they plan to be competitive, but make a little history, as well, by snatching the Mopar standard for the category.
Engine builder and driver Kevin Mullins, a former radial world record holder and lights Out champion.
“Rob Goss [the current Mopar record holder in the class] and I are friends, but there will certainly be a Mopar rivalry out there to see who’s the quickest,” Schurr shares.
Mullins will drive the Jeep for the balance of the season, and as far as Schurr is concerned, the seat is his for as long as he chooses.
“After he sold his car, we put our heads together and I said, ‘you know, you like to race and I’d like to have somebody in the seat that knows what they’re doing.’ My wife wouldn’t like me driving this one … after the last one wheelied so bad, she told me my driving days were over. But I enjoy this part more — looking at the data and trying to make it quicker and faster. And Kevin is a gung-ho racer who really can do it all.”
