Strength and reliability dictated the choice of a Mark Williams Enterprises rearend under the Rambler.

Upon arriving back at their shop in Marietta, GA, Wilder says the team was pleasantly surprised to find it fit, "but just barely" after a lot of in-house fabrication to shoehorn the 526-cubic-inch hemi into the engine bay, including machining some pre-made parts and building others from scratch.

The engine currently puts out about 2,100 horsepower, but Wilder is confident it could produce 2,700 with a more aggressive tune-up. Regardless, to make sure the drivetrain stays together when he hits the loud pedal, Wilder went with a Lenco transmission backed up by a Funny Car-grade rearend housing and axles because he wanted to avoid

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the constant welding repairs that even hand-fabricated steel rearends require. "These cars are 3,000 or 3,100 pounds and we run them so hard that we shake the tires constantly and that can cause stress cracks," he says. "The Mark Williams rearend that we've got in there now is bulletproof. You put it in there and you're done."

One of the more unusual features of the car is the pneumatic clutch pedal and throttle release set-up, similar to what Scotty Cannon ran in his Pro Mod car a few years ago. Powered by a single air tank, one air solenoid triggers a shaft that moves forward to physically hold the clutch pedal in during staging, while a second solenoid holds engine rpm to a pre-set limit despite Wilder's foot pressing the gas pedal to the floor. Wilder had the system installed because nearly all of his Outlaw 10.5 competitors are running automatics with transbrakes. "Your foot can't move off a clutch fast enough to cut a light with a transbrake car," he says. "So, you have to make it air and electric to compete with them."

	(above) B&S Shifter built the one-off system that's powered by a compressed air tank mounted behind the passenger seat. (left) The shaft below the driver's left leg is forced forward by air pressure to hold the clutch pedal in while staging.