| 
Why run something like this instead of an NHRA Top Alcohol
Dragster or even a legal Top Fueler? “You look at what
it costs to run a Top Alcohol Dragster today, dollar for dollar,
versus what they get paid versus the amount of expenses they
have, and everybody in that eliminator is running against
three or four guys and their big checkbooks.
“We also have that in this arena of racing, but the
big limiter for us is the rules --- a single magneto, 19-
or 20- gallon-per-minute fuel pump, a 6:71 supercharger and
a 12-inch tire, plus direct drive. All that limits the amount
of power you can put down. These cars have run 5.71 at 262
mph, with a hemi, but also with a 12-inch tire. It puts a
reasonable limit on how much technology you can throw at it.
I’ve watched this evolve from iron blocks and heads
to aluminum blocks and heads to billet cranks and aluminum
blocks, iron heads, and now they have billet blocks, billet
heads, billet cranks … the exact same hardware in these
motors that you’d have in a contemporary Top Fuel car,
EXCEPT for the cubic inches to weight, which is 4.6 pounds
per cubic inch. So these cars are relatively heavy, about
1,850 pounds, with a 400-inch motor,” Murry says.
ADVERTISEMENT
 |
|
His
combo, delivering 5.80 elapsed times at more than 240 mph,
evidently works. “With a smaller blower and small pump,
it makes the car run more efficient with my small motor,”
he says.
“Running Wild” runs with a minimum crew. Bobby
Raymond does the clutch, while Brendan’s girlfriend
Karen does the fuel, parachute, all the team managing, oil
filter and pan, plus all the warmups. Brendan does the tuning
and the top and bottom end, while Alan Robbins, who runs ARC
Race Engines in Brownsburg, Indiana, helps in the tuning department,
and he brings a lot of NASCAR to Murry’s vintage type
of racing. Larry Westervelt helps, and Debbie Munoz sells
T-shirts, plus the whole crew will pick up some volunteers
along with way.
So far, Murry’s 2,800-horsepower FED has won two races,
both at Sacramento, and gotten the runner-up slot about six
times between 2003 and 2005, with the Vintage Racing Association
and the West Coast Timing Association.
Brendan will probably stay in his present racing mode. “I
wouldn’t rule out stepping up to a modern ride. But
in today’s drag racing world, it’s not realistic
that talent alone will get you anywhere. Unless you know the
right person or come from the right gene pool, it’s
not going to happen. It takes a checkbook and what you can
bring to the table to get a sponsorship today,” he says.
“Mark Meadors of the Goodguys has me driving the Speed
Sport Roadster this year. I wanted to get some info from the
car, and I ended up driving the thing. Yeah, I’ve driven
a few rear-engine dragsters, but the front-engine dragsters
are a fun deal, and it’s where our home is. We have
a lot of sponsors who help us … not big, but always
there. But when you put one of those other guys in the trailer,
and he has a semi rig and a big bank account, it makes it
a little sweeter when you see him driving out the gate, and
you’ve shown him where the gate is,” Brendan says.
“A couple of guys with a job can afford to run a car
like mine, whereas any kind of modern car, unless you have
a major corporation sponsoring you or you’re some rich
kid, you won’t be in the hunt.” 
|
