Turbochargers have taken over the drag racing world; or at least in those venues and classes for which they are allowed. All with the exception of one: the ADRL’s headlining Pro Extreme category, where the screw blower reigns supreme. Despite their successes on the quarter mile, no turbocharged entry has so much as sniffed a victory in the ADRL’s eighth-mile outlaw class. But that could all change in the near future.
Turbocharging icon Mike Moran’s plan to not only qualify, but compete for race victories in his new twin-turbo Ford Mustang has been well-documented, and his cause gained an added supporter this week when 2010 ADRL Pro Extreme champion and current national record holder Frankie Taylor announced his intentions to give a turbocharged combination a try in 2012.
“It’s exciting and hopefully it will be something different,” Taylor said. “I’m going to try my approach and see if I can make it work. If it does work, it would be pretty cool. Hopefully it will be a good deal.”
Taylor will utilize a pair of turbochargers from Extreme 10.5 racer Wild Bill Devine and Bullseye Power, and will also receive help from Turbosmart in completing the turbocharged combination. The “Mad Man” plans to test his Jeffers Pro Cars-built Corvette in January, at which he will make the decision to stick with the new combination or revert to his trusty screw-blown Hemi setup.
“I feel confident it’s going to work and I feel like we’ll get it figured out in the first month,” Taylor said. “I really feel confident it’s going to work.
“That first test session, we’ll work on our low-end numbers, our 60-foot times and maybe 330s. We’ll still be running the (526-cubic inch) Hemi, but I always thought the Hemi would be fast with the turbo. We’re going to try it and I think it will be fun.”
“I would really like to be the first one over 220 mph in 1/8-mile,” Taylor said. “It’s got to be fast or it’s not going to be good for me. It might not happen right away, but if everything goes right, I think it can run in the 3.40s.”
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