Neal Chance Racing Converters is making waves, not for what it has on display at this year’s Performance Racing Industry Show, but what it anticipates bringing here a year from now. 

NCRC’s Marty Chance recently purchased a nitromethane-burning Pro Modified to assist in development of a torque converter targeted specifically at supercharged, dual-mag, fuel-burning engines like those in the NHRA’s Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. Two categories that, for the last several decades, have been exclusively reserved for multi-disc clutches due to the demands of engines that quickly grew from 4,000 and 5,000 horsepower to 11,000-plus.

“It is going to be purpose-built. Every piece in it will be billet… Nothing is going to be physically taken from a donor converter already in our lineup,” Chance says. “It will be designed and engineered on CAD/CAM specifically for the load and needs of a nitromethane motor. We really have a vision for the future that a nitro Pro Mod is going to be on the scene.”

The converter will be based on existing technology found in Neal Chance’s high-end converters for Pro Mod racing, but catered to the needs of a nitro motor — “get the engine speed where it’s happy and load it,” Chance says.

The nitro converter is expected to be comparable to this massive 12-inch unit.

“I think what we’ll see is something that’s capable of outrunning a clutch to the 60-foot mark and do it in a more repeatable fashion. [That will] give the tuner a bigger window to not knock the tire off and accelerate the car faster,” Chance explains. “The lockup controls on a converter are the best of all worlds — it’s a torque-multiplying converter when you want it to be, a lockup when we want it to be, and you can even pulse the lockup.”

“I think we’ll get some attention with our car; most of the fuel world looks at torque converters as something that’s not able to handle the demands of a nitro engine, but we’re going to get their attention,” he continues.

According to Chance, the converter will look like the NXS billet converter but will measure more in the 12-inch range.