e Peace
ALL
BUSINESS
Brothers Nick and Rich
Bruder make no bones
about the fact that
they show up at the
track to set records
and win races, using
whatever combination
is necessary to
accomplish their
goals in X275.
BRUDER BROS.
BLOWN MUSTANG
B
rothers Rich and Nick Bruder
set the X275 world on fire
last season as they debuted a
Roots-blown small-block Ford
combination in their Edison, New
Jersey-based ’89 Ford Mustang.
It made its official X275
debut at Lights Out 8 in Febru-
ary, then proceeded to fire off a
record-breaking 4.36 at 154 mph
at Tyler Crossnoe’s Outlaw Street
Car Reunion in March. Later that
summer, Rich lowered the boom
with a 4.35 at 164 mph at Cecil
County Dragway’s Outlaw Street
Car Shootout.
The brothers returned to
Valdosta this year with the same
basic setup, aside from a few
minor offseason changes that “the
car didn’t like” as Nick said after
Rich recorded a 4.42 to qualify No.
2 on Friday night. Bruder later
dropped down a spot to third in
the field of over 50 entries, point-
ing out how competitive the class
has become.
“We were running 4.60s when
we came into the scene,” Nick
says. “We were at 3,500 pounds,
then the blower got kicked out.
Now the blower is back in at
3,000 pounds.”
The combination did have a
legal weight of 2,700 when the
Bruders brought out their blown
Mustang last season, but weight
was quickly added to prevent
the forward-thinking duo from
running away from the rest of
the class.
“We run different things and
we start getting beat up with the
rules, the weights start getting out
of hand, so we’ve gotta switch to
whatever else to try to stay ahead,”
Nick adds. But as Rich is quick to
point out, it’s all just a part of the
game that they’ve accepted. “It’s
exhausting, it’s challenging and
it’s fun, trying something new and
getting it to go down the track
competitively.”
No matter the tension that
might exist among X275 racers
on Facebook and online message
boards, any signs of animosity
slip away when everyone is at the
track. The common bond that
connects all drag racers is strong,
and it was evident in the brothers
Bruder as they were consistently
spotted in the pits of competing
X275 racers, lending a hand or
a spare part that was needed to
make the next round.
“We all travel so far to get here
and it costs so much,” Rich says.
“If we have something here that
someone needs to stay and race,
we’re willing to let them use it. We
want to win, but we don’t want to
win because there was no one in
the other lane.”
After numerous rule changes
aimed at their ever-changing com-
binations over the years – even a
call to ban the Roots-blown com-
bination outright last year – the
Bruders have maintained a pos-
itive outlook on the class they’ve
called home since its inception in
2010. They’re happy with the state
of the class and expect even bigger
things this season.
“(John) Sears is doing a great
job of keeping the rules tight,”
Nick believes. “People are starting
to step up even more, and it’s just
pushing the envelope. No one
thought X would be going this
fast, but I wouldn’t be surprised
to see 4.20s out of X this year.”
– NATE VAN WAGNEN
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April 2018
DragIllustrated.com
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