Dirt
Continuous Improvement
or nearly 10 years, Harry Hruska has been an in-
tegral player behind the scenes of the NHRA J&A Service
Pro Mod Series’ growth. The owner and president of Preci-
sion Turbo & Engine is one of the founding board members
of the Real Pro Mod (RPM) group. He’s also owned and
tuned a turbocharged entry in the series since 2008. After
multiple driver changes, Hruska took the wheel himself with considerable
success earlier this season.
Hruska, who had never driven a drag car before earning his license with
Frank Hawley over the winter, made his NHRA Pro Mod debut at the
NHRA SpringNationals in Houston, ultimately missing the 16-car field
despite posting a 5.971-second elapsed time at 249.81 mph. He improved
significantly to a best performance of 5.893 at 252.43 at the NHRA Four-
Wide Nationals in Charlotte, missing the field by two hundredths of a
second. The Indiana driver hit his stride a week later at Atlanta, though,
laying down a 5.796 at 253.42 to qualify third. Hruska also scored his first
round win as a driver, proving he’s most assuredly “ready”.
“The reason we skipped Gainesville was because I wasn’t ready and the
team wasn’t ready,” Hruska admitted. “We didn’t want to come out looking
like we weren’t ready. Our goal is to run the rest of the season and continue
to improve. That’s actually the mission statement of our team: continuous
improvement. Hopefully we can do that every race.”
Continuous improvement is a common thread for Hruska throughout
his race team and his business. Improvement in the PTE camp is good
news not just for Hruska, but also for the company’s customers since the
PTE 2014 Camaro is used as an “open source” test vehicle for Precision’s
turbochargers and engine components.
“One of the great things about working with Precision Turbo for all these
years is I’ve shared all the information I’ve ever learned. My whole strategy
with Precision Turbo is to give information to other people. I still do that
today. My data is an open book to anyone who wants to come in my trailer.
I’ve helped a lot of people over the years in some little way or another. And
I’m still continuing to learn,” Hruska said.
More than just a successful business strategy, continuous improvement
is also necessary to compete in the ever-evolving world of legal Pro Modi-
fied racing. With midseason rule changes and an influx of competitors, one
cannot merely rely on what has worked in the past.
“We’re seeing higher caliber cars with veteran drivers. We’re seeing a lot
of historic numbers because we’re racing on consistent racetracks. The rule
changes and the parity challenges are still out there because the turbo cars
are in the infancy of their life cycle. They learn quickly and they get a lot
of instant changes from NHRA. We’ve already had three changes this year
that affected our ability to race, yet we’re still in the hunt,” Hruska noted.
While Hruska agrees with the NHRA’s most recent ruling to lower the
supercharged cars from 20 percent blower overdrive to 16.5 percent, say-
ing “it was necessary for NHRA to do something”, he also knows what it
feels like to be on the negative end of a rule change. He also respects the
NHRA’s standpoint.
“It does depend on which car you’re driving or which power adder you’re
using,” Hruska said of opinions on rule changes within Pro Mod. “The fact
of the matter is NHRA has a very challenging situation. Pro Mod is the
only class with three power adders. We want balance. We want all of the
cars to be able to compete.
“You never know what the potential is going to be because of the con-
ditions. No matter what you do, some cars are going to run better than
others because of the conditions. If the air is really dry, nitrous cars have
challenges. If the air is really thin, blower cars have challenges. If the air
is really humid, turbocharged cars have challenges. So I don’t think there’s
a perfect solution for the whole year.”
No matter the challenges he may face, be it the hot, humid conditions
of the summer races or the mile-high altitude during the Aeromotive Wild
Card Shootout at the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod in Denver,
Hruska and his Precision Turbo & Engine team will be ready to face those
challenges head-on.
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 121
F
Harry Hruska takes on Pro Mod driving challenge
By Nate Van Wagnen