“Hang on a second, I can’t hear you, I’m out here on the starting line,” answers Nick Bruder, one half of the formidable Bruder Brothers Racing team.
It’s Tuesday afternoon, just four days removed from resetting the X275 world record in Memphis — in politically-charged fashion — and while the rest of their competitors are likely back home in the office, their cars quietly tucked away in their race shops, Nick and brother Rich are putting in laps on their controversial new roots supercharger combination at the Northstar Dragway in Denton, Texas. It’s the kind of dedication that’s made their bright blue Ford Mustang the most feared machine in X275, year in and year out.
In just their second official outing and with only a handful of full eighth-mile runs to their credit with it, the New Jersey natives squashed the national standard in the class during qualifying at the Outlaw Street Car Reunion IV with a 4.364 at 154.46 mph — doing so with a roots-blown, electronic fuel injection combination that’s been virtually untapped in X275. Until now.
The Bruder’s, always at the center of any conversation regarding X275 given their penchant for setting records and winning races no matter how much their combination gets pegged with new legislation, made waves in the days leading up to Lights Out in South Georgia when they revealed their familiar Mustang with a supercharger and injector hat protruding through the hood.
The duo tested in Darlington and then debuted the car at Donald Long’s blowout event, and while they struggled — at one point blowing the hood off the car — only a fool would underestimate them once they got a little more data in their hands.
Jack [French] wanted to pursue the blower EFI world more, so we decided to run it on our car since we’re allowed to run one and push the blower EFI thing.
The brothers returned home from Georgia and pulled the engine apart to make the needed repairs to the intake and supercharger and switch over to the magneto. Some additional fine tuning was done in the drivetrain and engine management system department and the car was then tested on a chassis dyno prior to heading southbound to Memphis. And whatever they figured out, it clearly worked … better than any X275 car in history has worked.
While an additional lead trophy for their efforts being applied to their turbo combination was a variable in the decision to search for yet another new power adder package, Nick says it was sponsor Jack French at Billet Atomizer Injectors who was pivotal in their decision to try the untapped roots supercharger setup — a combination that’s long existed in the rules but had only been approached by one other competitor previously.
“Jack wanted to pursue the blower EFI world more, so we decided to run it on our car since we’re allowed to run one and push the blower EFI thing. Without him, it wouldn’t have been possible. By doing this we can help Jack push this stuff to Pro Modified and the Radial vs The World type of cars,” Nick says.
After breaking their block at the season-ending World Cup Finals last November, the Bruder’s had a new billet block machined by Disomma Racing Engines and acquired new BES SC-1 cylinder heads and assembled a fresh new 400 cubic inch mill. A Chuck Ford 8-71 supercharger rests on top and a Neal Chance converter transfers the power. The brothers have leaned on noted tuners Billy Stocklin and Jon Salemi for some of their expertise in the supercharger field to help get them up to speed, while Anderson Dick and his team at FuelTech have been integral to lining out the new FT600 that’s in the car.
While other teams, primarily in Pro Modified, have tried the supercharged EFI setup with varying success, the Bruder’s are the first to push one into uncharted, record-setting territory. And both Rich and Nick were confident, based on their past experiences, that it would work.
“We knew it would work, because we’d done it with turbos, we’d done with centrifugal blowers, so we knew it’d work, we just had to go do it,” Nick says.
We knew it would work, because we’d done it with turbos, we’d done with centrifugal blowers, so we knew it’d work, we just had to go do it.
John Sears, the co-creator of X275 and the man responsible for policing the many combinations within it, is likewise unsure what the Bruder’s can do with it, but shared with a laugh, “I’m pretty curious to see it at its maximum potential, but not in X275.”
“We gave it [the roots blower combination] a break before, but it’s a beast in these guys hands,” Sears continued.
Nick insists that others in the class are making changes to advance the performance of their operations, and as such, they too had to do what was necessary to keep pushing the bar. “I’m sure with some of the things being said in the pits in Memphis that John is gonna’ do something, but you know, every single combination that we’ve had we’ve run on top with.”
It’s precisely the kind of dedication displayed this week — unwilling to rest on their laurels for even a moment — that’s allowed them run on top, and stay on top.