The father and son team of Bob and Tony Niemczyk, whose awesome turbocharged, Mitsubishi inline four-cylinder powered I/Dragster has graced the digital pages of Dragzine on a number of occasions, had another stellar year in the NHRA Competition Eliminator ranks in the Northeast, garnering a career best finish in the division standings.

The previously all-red dragster was wrapped with a fresh new look to open the season, with sponsors AEM Electronics, Extreme PSI, Fuel Injector Clinic, BorgWarner Turbochargers, and Manley Performance all prominently on display.

“This season we focused on consistency and reliability while I worked on my driving skill,” Tony exlained. “We made a few mistakes in the early to middle part of the season that cost us a few round wins. We made a bad converter call at the Englishtown national event that caused the car to just blow through the converter the whole run and fall way off on elapsed time, and at the Lebanon Valley divisional the car drove out of the groove and got really loose so I had to abort a run there.   

“We got things together as the season progressed though and made some real progress, winning a couple rounds at our Cecil County race and making it to the semifinals at the Atco Raceway divisional. At the Maple Grove national evdent, we put on our Breast Cancer Awareness gear, won Best Engineered Car and went three rounds in competition, all while raising around $600 for the American Cancer Society.”

The second-generation racer, who stepped into the family car in 2012, finished seventh in the ultra tough NHRA Northeast division standings, powering to career-best-equaling runs of 6.57-seconds twice along the way and topping 206 MPH, with consistent 6.6-second laps making them a legitimate contender in the ultimate of handicap categories every time they pull to the starting line.

All of this from a production 2.0L, 125 cubic inch Mitsubishi engine (with aftermarket components, mind you) paired with a 76mm BorgWarner turbo.

Foregoing any radical changes to their program that’s proven itself worthy and quite powerful, Bob and Tony will be making a move to AEM’s relatively new Infinity stand-alone Programmable Engine Management System in 2014, with a focus on gaining a little more in the horsepower and reliability departments. 

“Every little item helps at this stage of the game and we’re just focusing on every little detail of our combination. We’re working with our partners on getting the latest technology parts as well as fine tuning their products we already run.”