[The Mighty T/A]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the support. Here is the scoop as I see it and a little information on the car as requested previously by a few interested people.

The Race: I broke the 472 2 months prior to the haul to Memphis. After many long nights of thrashing we made our first full pass in test-n-tune. 9.10 over 150. Next pass broke the sprag???? Yes, I said more 4 letter words in one hour than the previous 20 years. The premise of the race is 93 pump gas, tags, lights, insurance, mufflers, etc, drive it 34 miles through Memphis and race it as driven with the winner using the average of their 3 passes. No tuning allowed! ANY problems whatsoever... you are out! So after staying up all night to build the trans and make it to tech with 20 minutes to spare, I babied it first pass. Oops! Oh yeah, it was decided 2 weeks prior to the event that wheelie bars (in my opinion, not a "street car item") would be allowed. without them the winning car did not stand a chance! There... got that off my chest. Hot Rod put on a fun and special event to be proud of. The T/A performed marvelously. Buy the September issue to read about the struggles we overcame just to compete. Consider we were a tenth behind a car that weighed 2800 lbs with a motor "they" say can't make the power! Fellas, we got'em on the run!

The Car: 3520 lb race weight. Minitubbed, caged, 4-linked, Moser 9" rear, stock front frame with QA1R shocks and springs, 2 13.5" dual fans (street driven in Phoenix), reverse cooling package, 2" Hedmans, 3.5" full exhaust, Borla 16" XR-1's, ATI T400 with Griner brake, ATI 10" fuel and blown converter, 3.50 Richmond street gears and spool, Denny's shaft, IAII block (the finest block I have ever seen), Crower billet crank, Crower billet rods, Ross custom dished nitrous pistons, Edelbrock RPM WP heads with over 100 hours of home porting, Victor with over 40 hours of home porting, Smith Brothers push rods, Comp springs and retainers, BOP Engineering Belt driven top secret cam, MSD digital 6, 8252 coil, BOP Engineering belt driven distributor (one of my favorite pieces... all timing issues went away!), 1200 ProSystems carb, 2 NOS Big Shot plates, 10" Welds with 29X13.50 DOT Hoosiers, all built in my garage by a bunch of amateur street racers.

X-Factor: The chassis has been together for 4 years. Much effort and redneck engineering has been spent making it work. I have learned every part of the car so well I know how it will react before it happens.

At the PGD's it went a best of 8.79 @ 161.1. We brought it home and with just driving tweaks we went 8.62 @ 162.8. No wheelie bars. No race fuel. No problem! It has rested ever since while I contemplate running in Hot Rods Drag Week.

Thanks again for your support. It is much appreciated!

Robin Roberts