////// 2003 RACING NEWS /// March ’03 Results

At the NMCA opener in Commerce, Georgia, the team of Tim Huston and Tony Gillig take a break from Pro 5.0 in stunning fashion, and qualify #1 in a Pro Outlaw field of 16 cars with a very strong 6.66 ET @ 212 mph. Gillig, a successful IHRA Pro Stock driver previously, took the wheel of Big Red III late last season when Jim Summers became Motorsports Director at ATI ProCharger. Look for this team to make things happen with this relatively new car, powered by a ProCharger F-3R. Also look for Summers to continue to have a huge impact, as he brings his vast knowledge and tuning expertise to the track to support ProCharged racers.

In Drag Radial Eliminator competition at the same NMCA event, Jim Filipowski continues his strong showing from last season and qualifies #1 in his carbureted ’67 Nova with an 8.75 @ 162, running a ProCharger D-3C. In other blow-through carbureted news, the Super Chevy project Nova gets downsized from a ProCharger F-3C (12" diameter housing) to a ProCharger F-2 (10.5" housing) to allow easier underhood installation, and with a sheet-metal 3 core race intercooler produces 1000 horsepower at the rear wheels. This project car will be raced by Jim Summers at the Super Chevy Show in Joliet this summer, as well as a few other events.

In Super Street Outlaw action at the same NMRA event, Todd Fluman qualifies #2 with a 7.98 @ 175, and Jim Blair qualifies #3, both trying to improve their personal best ETs of 7.90 and 7.80, respectively, from last season. However, the supercharged SSO prize for this weekend goes to Mauro Vitale, who takes runner-up in the 24-car Super Street Outlaw field, running a ProCharger F-3. This class should be extremely competetive once again this season as 6 ProCharged SSO cars have already run in he 7’s, with a half dozen more running low 8’s or debuting soon, and ready to run 7’s.

Donnie Walsh, Jr. wins the Pro 5.0 season opener at the NMRA event in Bradenton, Florida, while Doug Mangrum finishes runner-up. Both of these talented Pro 5.0 racers are running the new self-contained ProCharger F-3M (a restricted version of the F-3R) which was created specifically for NMRA competition. Both are also running the new ProCharger chain drive system with reverse-direction supercharger, in which the supercharger air inlet faces forward. This new race kit was which was debuted at the PRI trade show last December, to feed their Ford small blocks and produce 2,100+ hp.