If you’ve been paying attention to the Outlaw Drag Radial world over the last couple of years, you might remember the name Ruben Tetsoshvili, or simply Ruben T. His gorgeous, multi-colored Mustang is impossible to miss at the track, especially when it’s hanging the hoops and draggin’ the bumper through another low 4-second hit. In addition, as one-half of the race team behind PROLITE Batteries (along with Kevin Fiscus), Ruben has been working overtime to make his mark in the industry. Now, the time has come for him to step his racing program up to the next level. With that goal in mind he teamed up with Teddy Houser from Teddy Houser Race Cars to put together this gorgeous ‘70.5 Camaro Pro Mod using a Cynergy body over the last year or so, and the PROLITE Batteries-sponsored car is on track for an early 2013 debut. 

Image Credit Rob Cossack

The car will be motivated by the same engine that was in Ruben’s ODR car – a 654 cubic inch Nelson Competition Engines big-block that will be packed full of boost by a pair of Precision Gen-2 98mm turbochargers. The Turbo 400 transmission comes from Dave at Proformance Transmission complete with ATI’s new SFI case and one of PTC’s latest trick converters. And of course the car will be started with a PROLITE Lithium 1800 battery.  

“I decided I wanted to go faster and see what it’s like to have big tires and training wheels. We’ve always wondered what the engine combination could do, now we have a car that will let us use all of the power. All of the titanium and every part on this car was made by Teddy Houser Race Cars.

“In an effort to keep the weight down, we weighed everything that went into this car, but also worked to maximize the structural rigidity. We did not want a car that would need to be retired after one season, so we did not introduce the titanium into any of the suspension parts or chassis structure. The parts that were done in titanium include the front nose tree, firewall, pedals, driveshaft tunnel, parachute brackets, window frames, door handles and titanium steering shaft and column. So far, it’s taken 1,500 screws, nuts, and bolts to put this thing together and we’re still not done,” says Ruben.

An interesting note is that the car will be raced on gasoline to start, but is prepared for the switch to alcohol if necessary. Ruben feels that they can make the engine work on gasoline and the maintenance on the engine will be easier, but will make the change if he finds it necessary.

Of course, like any race car build, there’s a lot of people for him to thank. “My crew, Kevin Fiscus, Bryan Hicks, Chris Heffner, Jason Combs, and Dave from Proformance. There are so many companies who have made this project happen, without them I’d never be able to do this. Teddy Houser Race Cars, Tom at Mickey Thompson, Roger at Racepak, Bob at Jesel, Mark at Menscer Motorsports, Berry Motorsports, Chiseled Performance, Peacock the Painter at One Stop Auto Resto in Zephyrhills, FL, TDR Contractors, 187grafix.com, BigStuff3, Billet Atomizer, and Firecore wires. These are the guys that have helped me build my dream car,” Ruben explained. One thing’s for sure…it’ll be hard to miss!