Drag Illustrated Issue 127, November 2017 | Page 38
Dirt
NICK & CHRIS MONTANA
good enough for the win. “I’m telling you what,
that win really carried us through the winter!”
Nick says.
All things considered, the team feels they’ve
once again reached the maximum output for
their latest combination. “This car has pretty
much gone the distance for what she is,” Nick
says. “She’s a good girl, though, and it will run
6.0s all day long, so we’re gonna try to retire her
back to Top Sportsman.”
The Montana brothers have begun construc-
tion on a new lightweight 1969 Camaro-bodied
Pro Mod that they hope to complete during the
winter and debut in NEOPM competition next
season. “I can’t say enough about the car owners,
Junior and Thomasina Harrell, because it doesn’t
matter how many cars we build; without them,
we’re not doing this!” the brothers agree. “They
never get down on us either. Me and Chris are
terrible on ourselves, but they never are.” Junior
once pulled Nick aside and delivered a memo-
rable pep talk. He explained that he didn’t care
how they finish, but if he sees “down faces”, it
won’t be tolerated. “The only time we get yelled
at is when we don’t eat!” Chris insists.
They laughingly describe themselves as a
band of all nations. “Junior is African-American,
Thomasina is American Indian and me and Chris
are Italian-Americans, so you can imagine the
spread of food we have at the track. We truly enjoy
being together and racing together and having a
good time,” Nick insists.
The rest of the country would benefit greatly by
taking notice of the harmony among this “diverse
race” team, which was, of course, assembled in
the true melting pot of cultural diversity – a place
where they don’t even have a track on which to
race, but are more than willing to find one.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
The Montanas even field a competitive car
in the NEOPM series that they built for Long
Island customers Junior and Thomasina Harrell,
who originally approached the brothers about
constructing a Top Sportsman 1969 Camaro, and
later persuaded Nick to be the team driver. After
the build was complete, the car owners expressed
an interest in attending a Northeast Outlaw
Pro Mod event, so the Montanas took them to
Maryland for a big race. The Harrells – especially
Thomasina – were blown away with what they
saw. Thomasina promptly asked Nick and Chris
if this was something they could possibly do with
their car. “Sure, with a bigger motor!” the brothers
exclaimed.
They were previously using an 815 ci motor
that had thoroughly reached its power potential.
“We rung that 815’s neck until it wouldn’t go any
faster!” Nick laughs. The car clocked 6.40s in
the quarter mile, but it was understood that the
motor was simply at the end of its rope. That’s
when Nick and Chris cut the car in half and
stretched it, then cut it in half and stretched it
again, followed by one more nip and tuck. “Three
times we cut and stretched that car!” Chris says.
It currently measures 112 inches and weighs in
at 2,505 pounds, which is still slightly heavy for
the class, which allows a minimum weight of
2,400 pounds.
The Harrells then invested in an 855 ci Reher-
Morrison engine that has propelled the car to a
best of 6.00 seconds at 235 mph on a memorable
day in New Jersey last year. The team went out on
a high note in 2016 by winning the season-ending
Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod race at Atco Raceway.
“We actually debuted the car at the YellowBullet
Nationals at Cecil County just prior to the Atco
race, and even though we made some good hits,
we didn’t have a good race at YellowBullet, so we
brought the car back to the shop and changed a
couple things. Then we showed up at Atco and
it was like we could do no wrong,” Chris recalls.
In the finals, they went up against Dean Mari-
nis, who had just clicked off a 5.80, which was
the record at the time. Both Dean and Nick cut
identical reaction times in the finals, but Mari-
nis rattled the tires just enough that he couldn’t
recover, and Montana unloaded his career best
of 6.00, which was straight as a string and plenty
Pro Stock to Pro Street
shifting gears is just more fun!
ramclutches.com 803.788.6034
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Trevor Eman - pro stock
Issue 127