THE SCOOP ON "THE SCOOP"

Fear not! Good, old-fashioned drag racing innovation is alive and well in the Pro Mod pit of Mitch Stott. The inventive racer showed up at the IHRA pre-season test session at Darlington International Dragway with an unusual, "whale-shaped" hood scoop screwed atop the front of his Radiac Abrasives-backed 1963 ’Vette. The bulbous black scoop was closed off at the front, save for a 2.5 to 3-inch slot carved into its base.

"I heard Warren Johnson say he estimated pushing a regular hood scoop through the air cost about 80 horsepower," Stott said. "So I figured if I could get rid of the scoop, I'd be about that far ahead."

Stott, a private pilot, explained he researched aerodynamics through aviation books and over the Internet before settling on the rounded form and building molds from clay and sand.

"It looks sort of like a submarine because I figured that shape must be good for pushing through dense materials," Stott reasoned.

To test his theory, he said he constructed a makeshift wind tunnel in his Mill Spring, NC race shop, using industrial fans, wire screens, a hand-fabricated "venturi-like" aluminum box, lots of yarn and tape, and a rented smoke machine. He laid the scoop out in black fiberglass because "it made it easier to see the air" during videotaped test sessions.

"It was really amazing," Stott recalled. "The regular square scoop filled up solid with air and it would get so turbulent around the opening that all the strands of yarn would get all tangled up. When we put this [scoop] on, it didn't get nearly as turbulent around the opening and the yarn was barely fluttering back and forth. It was almost graceful."

Stott's goal is to make it into the 6.20's this season. His best time over the weekend at Darlington was a 6.33 at 220, but he says he's gained "at least four or five miles an hour" over last year's performance.

"I don’t know if it's the scoop that gave us that," he said, "but I don't think it hurt."

SQUIRES DEBUTS NEW RIDE

Just a few hours after putting the car together, Pro Mod veteran Barney Squires steered Roy Singleton's new purple-primered ’41 Willys to a 6.450-second pass at 213.46 mph in the final round of action Saturday night.

"This car was in about a million pieces at eight o'clock last night," Squires said as he wrenched between rounds on the nitrous-aided, Gene Fulton-built 706 c.i. powerplant. "We just finished it at about 1:30 this morning."

The swoopy Willys went an impressive 6.608 at 210.32 mph on literally its first pass out of the box.

"Tommy [Mauney] builds a car right," Squires stated. "This thing drives like a Cadillac."

Singleton and Squires plan on running the full IHRA schedule this year, with primary sponsorship from Majesty Homes. The team has a new tractor-trailer unit, new team members, and a new attitude for 2000. "It's not a hobby this year," Squires said.

MARTIN STICKS WITH EFI

The only IHRA-legal Pro Mod still using electronic fuel injection prevailed over a 14-car field Feb. 19 at the Groundhog Warm-up at Darlington when Harold Martin's ’98 Firebird went 6.422 at 212.66, while Mike Castellana redlighted his ’57 Chevy in the Chicago-style final. Still, Martin called the win "a huge confidence booster" for his team and sponsors.

"We've had to pioneer this EFI deal and it makes the victory that much sweeter," Martin said. "Unlike everybody else, we don't have other people to lean on or borrow from. EFI! That's our baby!"

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