Up until recently, the Pertronix-backed GTO of Clint Hairston had used small block power in NMCA Pro Mod, but that all changed at the Bowling Green race last month when the team added a 526-inch big block Chevy engine to its program. That’s not to say the team wasn’t successful with the small block, but a big block powerplant is certainly the way to go.
The new engine is an Elite Motorsports/Jake Hairston-built piece with Ken Duttweiler lending his engine-building advice to the project. The billet block is a 5.0-inch bore space unit with billet heads to match. A pair of Precision turbochargers provide the boost.
For the car’s big block introduction at the 14th Annual Quick Fuel Technology NMCA Muscle Car Nationals at Beech Bend Raceway the weekend of May 14th-17th, Hairston and the team snuck up on the tune, making incremental hits before leaning on it for a full pass. Even then, the Jake Hairston tune was a bit conservative to get the car from A to B. The car’s first full quarter-mile pass was a 5.96 at 249 mph, and then Hairston later qualified for the race with a 5.95 at 250 mph.
Unfortunately, Hairston dropped his match with Michael Biehle in round one, so the team was looking forward to some payback this weekend at the NMCA Muscle Car Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indy, but tropical storm Bill is in town and raining on the muscle car parade, so they’ll have to wait to get back out there and get more quality time with the new powerplant. The team’s next chance will be at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at Route 66 Raceway July 30th-August 2nd.
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