Rick Thornton Becomes Fourth Radial Car In Three Second Zone

Hot on the heels of DeWayne Mills joining the venerable three-second club for radial-tired cars at this year’s Yellow Bullet Nationals, Rick Thornton blasted to a 3.998 at 195 mph at this weekend’s RTRA tour stop at Northstar Dragway to join the exclusive club. In doing so, Thornton becomes the first small-block equipped car to dip below four-flat, a feat many thought would fall to Keith Berry’s swoopy small block ‘Vette. However, despite very few passes on the current setup, Thornton and partner Grant McCrary skipped the typical long learning curve, relying on their years of ten-five success to quickly push the 1964 ‘Vette-bodied hot rod deep into the fours, laying down a stout 4.04 in their very first race. They followed that with 4.0-second performances at almost every other race they’ve attended, but hadn’t been able to improve upon the 4.04 until finally breaking through the 4.0 barrier and grabbing their spot among the other three-second cars on Mickey Thompson’s drag radial compound.

The small-block powerplant was assembled by the legendary engine builders at Reher-Morrison Racing Engines and boasts 463 cubic inches of asphalt-shredding displacement, Alan Johnson heads, a Hogans sheet metal intake, and Winberg crankshaft. Actuating the valves is a custom-ground Comp Cams camshaft and a Waterman fuel system feeds the need for a LOT of fuel, necessitated by the pair of monster 94mm Precision turbochargers. Sending the power rearward is a Bruno-Liberty transmission mated to a beefy fabricated rear end.

Rick and Grant handled the front half updates to the car at their Fast Forward Innovations shop in Haslet Texas, where it was built around the boosted small-block platform instead of the big-inch nitrous mill that formerly called the beautifully-painted Chevy flagship hotrod home. Look for the ‘Vette to be back in action later this month as the fall season heats up as the weather cools down. The current radial record stands at 3.97, held by fellow Texan Jason Michalak. Could Thornton make a run at the record this fall? Only time–and maybe weather and traction–will tell!

Photos by Chris Graves