When Street Outlaws and No Prep Kings racer Chris Rankin realized he was bringing a knife to a gunfight with his 1987 Chrysler Conquest, known as “Relic,” he wisely went shopping for a more capable weapon to wield.

The 44-year-old Maryland-based business owner earned his notoriety wheeling his unique Chrysler and wanted to stay true to the personal brand he had built as he commissioned Relic’s replacement. A predecessor to the popular DSM era of sport compact cars, the Conquest wasn’t overwhelmingly popular, but Rankin still managed to track down a suitable chassis sitting out in a field in Florida.

Rankin entrusted his big-tire build to Henry Fryfogle of HFR Fabrication, and the two worked together to overcome the obstacles associated with the Conquest’s diminutive 95.9-inch factory wheelbase. “We’re at 99 inches now, having extended it three inches as per No Prep Kings’ rules, but it’s got a staggered setup so it’s really only extended about 1.5 inches on one side,” noted Rankin, whose entry is the shortest car in the series by far. “Henry worked with the engine placement, turbo placement, suspension setup, axle lengths, and everything to help the car transition well when I let off the transbrake.”

Regarding the engine, Rankin changed up his previous program as he retired his prior 427 cubic inch LS engine from duty. Instead, he selected a potent Alan Johnson 481X bullet, built by Billy Briggs and packing 524 cubic inches of potential. He did choose to stick with his traditional turbochargers for the power adder, though, as a massive 98mm Comp snail was stuck to each bank of cylinders.

Both a Holley EFI system, as well as Davis Technologies’ traction control unit, were installed to manage the combination, and Dave Klaput at Proformance Transmission supplied a close-ratio, three-speed Turbo 400 with a ProTorque EV1 non-lockup converter to effectively transfer power down to the tricky no-prep racing surface.

“We’re running a Mark Williams modular, full floater with a Quick Performance third member, and 10.5-inch ring gear center section,” Rankin outlined of the build sheet for his Bar Con-backed “Relic X2” which also includes a Precision Shaft Technologies carbon-fiber driveshaft, TBM brakes, RC Components wheels, and GO Lithium lightweight batteries.

The real magic, though, happens within the Penske air shocks that he’s installed. “We’re able to adjust the air extension throughout the run depending on how good the racing surface is,” noted Rankin, who also worked with Bohr Racing Products to specially design a set of MVM wheelie bars. “We took the chassis length into consideration, because if the car is gonna’ ride the wheelie bars, it needs to happen at the right location.”

With Relic X2’s parts and pieces in place, Rankin had MT Pockets Auto Body spray the Conquest’s steel roof and quarters-equipped body in gray (to pay homage to the hue of his original Relic) before hitting the road for Season 6 of No Prep Kings competition.

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At the first event in early June of 2023 at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, Rankin was immediately selected by Kye Kelley to be on the veteran’s team. “He knows we’re fast and get a handle on our stuff quickly,” said Rankin, who unfortunately had a difficult first outing due to an injector driver module coming unplugged. “We blew the motor but were able to get it back together to make the next race in Virginia.”

Despite the lackluster debut and with no further testing, Rankin was ready just one short week later. At Virginia Motorsports Park, he worked hard to adjust his air shock program and was able to get everything sorted out thanks to Penske’s support team. “We struggled with tire shake and tried a lockup converter, but it dragged the motor down too much and we lost the race-your-way-in race,” he shared.

In Minnesota at Brainerd International Raceway, Rankin encountered even more obstacles and unexpected issues. “Running in the race-your-way-in against Lutz, the air shocks initiated while I was bumping in on the two-step and de-aired as I let go of the button,” lamented the man whose wicked wheelie cost him the victory. “But we did make it to the semi-finals of the big tire race.”

Earlier on, Rankin had discovered that there was a two-tenths of a second delay from when he let go of his transbrake button until the Relic X2 moved, and that delay put him behind the eight ball in every race even before he left the starting line. Fortunately, he was able to meet with engineers from Holley while he was in Kentucky at Beech Bend Raceway Park in late June.

Although he was able to get the transbrake issue sorted out, the race weekend still had its ups and downs. “We grudge raced Mike Chandler and won, but lost in the outlaw big tire race due to an ignition coil issue,” Rankin repeated of the weekend.

Moving on to New England Dragway in New Hampshire, Rankin was able to make a test hit and clicked off his first-ever 3-second pass. “We drew Mike Murillo for the race-your-way-in and were basically door-to-door with him, but I was having to do a lot of driving and accidentally hit the parachute deployment button on my steering wheel,” explained Rankin, whose car dropped its laundry midway through the run and dragged it for the last 300 feet of the pass. “Mike beat me by a bumper. When this happened, the rattling in the car took out the crank position sensor so when we went up for outlaw big tire, the car wouldn’t fire in the lanes.”

Despite so many hiccups, Rankin relentlessly pushed forward. In Oklahoma at the famed Tulsa Raceway Park, he once again lined up against Murillo for the race-your-way-in event. And, once again, fate was against him as the power wire to his ignition shut-off switch fell out; his car quit and Murillo got the win for a second time. “We did make it to the semi-finals of outlaw big tire and ran 3.85 at 204 mph, a new personal best,” he added happily. “But I broke the rearend and burned up cylinders four and six due to dirty injectors along the way.”

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With a quick rebuild of the powerplant by Ryan Mitchell’s KC Maxx Performance, Rankin was able to run at Firebird Raceway in Idaho in late August but his tuner, Greg Powrie of GP Tuning, wasn’t able to attend. “The motor we’re running used to be his so he knows the combination well and has been a huge help throughout the season,” asserted Rankin. Although he made it to the semi-finals once again, sadly he had multiple mechanical issues and lost yet another engine.

The clock was ticking as NPK headed to Bandimere Speedway in Colorado next, but Rankin dug deep and was able to get his engine repaired in time. “We struggled again,” he admitted, “the car was down a hole or two and running off its usual numbers.” The trouble was tracked down to a bad coil wire and a damaged rocker on cylinder number eight, and Rankin rallied to score his first win of the season in outlaw big tire – an impressive feat, considering the difficulty of racing in such a high altitude.

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With half the No Prep Kings 2023 season behind him, Rankin continued to Las Vegas for the next outing in the series. He was finally starting to see his efforts pay off with successes and wins, and an even quicker and faster personal best of 3.79 at 204.8 mph validated his hard work even further.

“It was tricky to get a handle on the track,” said Rankin, who was a touch too conservative in his tuning efforts overall but learned a lot from the challenge. “It was greasy and I haven’t run a car at this power level for long enough yet to know how to accommodate those conditions.”

Unfortunately, a new exhaust gas temperature probe malfunctioned and his Conquest shut down as a result of the Holley EFI’s built-in safeties doing their job while mid-race against Jeff Lutz in the second round of the weekend’s invitational competition.

“Overall, transitioning weight from front to back when the car launches has been difficult with the short wheelbase, but we have wheelie control to knock the balls off of it,” laughed Rankin. “Other guys are going after their tune-ups but not the suspension setups and leaving a lot on the table, but we’re focused a lot on the chassis and suspension adjustment and that’s a big part in making this car work.”

It’s certainly been a strenuous few months for Rankin, who had to go through the stress of shaking down and sorting out a brand-new car in front of packed spectator grandstands and under the pressure of competition. The No Prep Kings schedule is so jam-packed with back-to-back-to-back racing weekend after weekend, the relentless pace makes it nearly impossible to fit in any true testing between outings – and that difficulty is made exponentially greater given that the rules prohibit testing within 200 miles of competition tracks.

As only a handful of races remain for NPK Season 6, Rankin is rushing to get the Relic X2 where it needs to be for him to be competitive – and consistent. Lots of little issues have caused big problems for the man, many of which were easily avoidable; as a result, he’s now implemented checklists and note sheets to prevent problems in the future. “Having to rush to turn the car around between rounds, not having enough data, or things just not going in our favor, I’m just doing the best that I can,” affirmed Rankin. “You don’t know what you don’t know until you make the mistake and learn from it.”

Chris Rankin has learned a lot of hard lessons from his Relic X2 Conquest so far, but there are only so many things that can go wrong before they eventually go right. Racing at such a high level with cutthroat competition and 4,000-plus horsepower on tap definitely isn’t easy, but Rankin is confident he’s got a contender with his Chrysler and is committed to tying it all together and continuing to carry his momentum forward.