Drag Illustrated Issue 125, September 2017 | Page 42
Brandon
Q
Booher
& A
ince joining the NHRA
Top Alcohol Dragster
ranks
in 2009, Bran-
don Booher and his father,
Aaron, have made it their
mission to win races, clinch champi-
onships and set records with a super-
charged, torque-converter-equipped
entry. Despite being accepted almost
universally in the fast doorslammer
circles, the combination is still a rar-
ity in the NHRA Top Alcohol classes.
The self-described low-budget team
has faced obstacles along the way,
from mechanical challenges to a
wealth of critics, but Booher and his
team were rewarded for their efforts
when Booher Racing driver Kirk
Wolf fired off the first sub-5.3-second
pass for a converter car – a 5.256 at
274.66 mph – in the first round of
eliminations at the NHRA U.S. Na-
tionals.
Speaking with Drag Illustrated
from the team’s shop in Champaign,
Illinois, the driver-turned-tuner re-
vealed the story behind the record
run, his thoughts on the torque con-
verter movement and his new goals
for the combination.
You missed the first three qualifying
sessions at the U.S. Nationals due to
a rare radio frequency issue that was
killing the ignition on the starting line. How did that setback play into
the 5.25 run?
Our back was up against the wall going into the prior run, the final
qualifying session. You’ve got to go down, but you know you have to be
fast. I didn’t know that it would run .30 with a zero, but once we did run
that, I’m far enough along with what we’re doing that I knew there was
meat left on the bone. It was almost like calling your shot. I told Kirk if
it goes slower than .27, I’m going to be disappointed. The .25 is about
what I thought it would run, but it seemed crazy to say we would run that.
When you’ve never run in the twenties, a .25 isn’t a .299 – a .25 is pretty
deep into the twenties. Very few blown cars have gone there in not-quite-
mineshaft conditions.
How rewarding was it to see that number pop up on the scoreboard?
That run is something we’ve been working on for a very long time. With
that said, it was extremely rewarding. It’s something I knew we were ca-
pable of for a long time. People said it’s because we have a bigger budget
this year, but that’s really not it at all. I’m running the car the exact same
way I did when I drove. We’ve literally had the same main bearings in it
all year. I’ve only changed rod bearings once because it broke an oil pump.
We haven’t changed a piston. We haven’t changed a cylinder head. I’m
running it the same as if we were running on my budget alone or if I was
tuning someone else’s car. Being able to run that quick and not hurt parts
was icing on the cake.
You drove the car to the first
5.3-second pass for a converter car
in 2011, then tuned Kirk to the first
5.2-second pass this year. What’s the
next step?
I’d like to say we can run a teen
later this year, maybe at Dallas. It’s
there for the taking, I’ll just have to
figure out how to do it. My approach
is going to be – and it’s the same
thing when I’m working with my
customers – just because we make
a good run, whether it’s a good run
for the team or a good run no matter
who you are, we need to do it more
than once. A lot of guys make moon
shots or Hail Mary runs, and I don’t
want to be that guy who’s talking
about that run 10 years later. I want
to repeat, repeat, repeat, then try to
fire off that teen when the opportuni-
ty arises. It’s going to be a right time,
right place thing. For a supercharged
car, everything has to be right to run
like that, not just the tune-up.
The 280-mph barrier is also on my
radar. When we went 276 mph at the
Joliet regional race earlier this year, I
really felt that 280 was possible. But
what happened on that run was we
were just slow early. I guess in lay-
man’s terms, we had more time to
build speed, whereas on the .25 run,
everything was markedly quicker on
the front half. Only one blower car has been 280, and that was Shawn
Cowie in fantastic conditions at Woodburn. I don’t know that we’ll see
that kind of air. It’s going to take Mother Nature being in my back pocket
at Dallas. If we could go 5.19 at 280, I’ll sell this stuff and just quit.
Do you see this run and other recent performances in the 5.2s at over
270 mph convincing other teams to consider the automatic combination?
Honestly, you would think so. I’ve discussed at length many times our
operating budget and working hours with the who’s-who of top cars, be it
Top Alcohol clutch cars or supercharged Pro Mods. You get a variance of
answers, everything from “I’d rather quit before I run a torque converter”
to “they shouldn’t be allowed”. I don’t think this run will change that men-
tality. I don’t know what it would take. I suppose if I knew what it would
take, I would do it so I could make some serious scratch off selling set-ups.
Look at what’s going on and what we’re able to do it with, whether it’s
finances, personnel, etc. We run on a tight budget and we only have a
few crew guys, sometimes as few as two, yet we’re able to run right there
with the guys who have twice the crew and at least twice the budget. I
don’t know how you argue against it, although most people do. We ran the
.29 in Earlville and had the car serviced and loaded up 30 minutes later.
Plug in the tranny cooler, run the valves and check the plugs. The stuff is
almost impossible to argue against, but it’s something new, and people
don’t like change. We’ll just keep grinding away and see how many other
friends we can make.
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 125
S
By Nate Van Wagnen