NHRA Stock Eliminator racing has long been an arena dominated by the big V8s of Detroit, with some four and six cylinders of domestic origins thrown in here and there. But a new challenger to the status quo has surprisingly emerged, in the form of a late-model 2020 Toyota Supra. 

Veteran racer Daren Poole-Adams, who has campaigned a number of highly competitive Chevrolet COPO Camaros, has broken ranks to pioneer the first-ever late-model Supra built for Stock Eliminator competition. The car, unveiled this week at the inaugural High Performance Expo in Charlotte, North Carolina is the culmination of a tireless, closed-door, two-year engineering process.

Poole-Adams embarked on this ambitious project to inject new variety into the class, a move that required not only immense fabrication efforts, but also a delicate process working with both Toyota and the NHRA to establish a new blueprint for a modern, turbocharged, overhead-cam platform.

The journey began with a vision, albeit a tall order. Poole-Adams, despite his roots in the GM world, was intrigued by the new-generation Supra, seeing an opportunity to do something different. His initial inquisitions to Toyota were met with a polite “no,” but he never gave up. Through persistent, respectful communication and a proven track record of success, he eventually arrived at the conversation that would change everything.

“I ended up having six total COPO cars through all of this, plus some body-in-whites and some other stuff. We had really good success,” Poole-Adams explains. “But when this Supra came out, I had this absolute fixation. I was trying to see if I could meet somebody from Toyota. It took time, but I finally got a meeting at the spring race in Charlotte with Slugger Labbe and his boss, Paul Doleshal, who’s head of motorsports for Toyota USA. For whatever reason, it was just one of those meetings that clicked. Paul turned around and said, ‘We’ll work with you.’ I did my absolute best, holding my wife’s hand, to not just fall out. I’ve wanted a direct connection with a manufacturer, and for whatever reason, I got it in my head that this was the thing.”

Building the first of anything is a monumental task. Unlike his previous builds where a catalog of race-proven parts was readily available, the Toyota Supra required a ground-up approach. Poole-Adams and his team had to engineer solutions where none existed, collaborating with a host of vendors who were excited by the unique challenge.

“There’s a lot of fast Supras out there, but a lot of the parts are not what I would consider hardcore for what I do. So I worked with a lot of companies to develop things like the front brakes and front struts,” Poole-Adams states. “Strange Engineering built me some struts; Weld Racing built me a bolt-on specific 15-inch wheel for this thing. We had to build this whole thing piece by piece, and it takes time. There’s no manual brake system available for this car, so we actually had to engineer and build it ourselves, and it bolts to the factory pedal in the factory hole. We did the same with the manual steering rack. We structured all of this so if somebody wanted to build another one, the parts could be available.”

Underneath, the Toyota Supra shares a similar architecture with its factory-built rivals like the COPO Camaro and Ford Mustang Cobra Jet. Per NHRA rules for 2008 and newer vehicles, the factory independent rear suspension was removed in favor of a traditional 9-inch solid axle rearend. This conversion, complete with a four-link suspension and Panhard bar, required extensive communication and photo documentation to gain NHRA approval. The powertrain, however, is where the Supra really departs from its Detroit counterparts. While the BMW-sourced 3.0L B58 inline-six engine remains, it’s uniquely paired with a GM Turbo 400 transmission.

“Because of the corporate tie-in with BMW, who traditionally used GM transmissions, we’re allowed any corporate transmission. I’ve got such a learning curve with the direct-injected, turbocharged front half of this car that I wanted to stay in what I know on the back half,” Poole-Adams admits. “We worked with ATI to build a Turbo 400 with a low gear set and lightweight components. We kitted all that and built a crossmember that just bolts in. It’s about making everything accessible to someone else down the line.”

The car is built to a stringent 8.50-second NHRA certification, a level of safety that Poole-Adams believes is key, even if the car doesn’t initially run that quick. The focus is on creating a car that is both safe and reliable. Every component, from the engine internals to the wiring, is being meticulously documented and measured to comply with NHRA’s strict rules. The specific category within Stock Eliminator has not yet been decided.

With the car now public, the final assembly is underway. The shifter, passenger seat, and turbo system plumbing are among the last items on a detailed checklist. Poole-Adams is steadfast in his refusal to rush the final steps in the process, prioritizing quality over a hasty debut. The project has also pushed him into a new business venture, Poole-Adams Racing Inc., which will serve as a source for the specialized parts developed during the build.

The unique Toyota Supra project is a potential catalyst for change in sportsman drag racing, coming at a pivotal time when all three of Detroit’s big-three manufacturers have abandoned their factory drag racing programs. It’s a proof of concept that modern, diverse platforms have a place in the sport, and for Poole-Adams at a personal level, the culmination of many years of work to pull of the ultimate challenge of creating something truly one of one — for now.