Dirt
MARK LUTON
started drawing up the Gen X, literally on a nap-
kin, and ended up with what’s in our Pro Mods
today. When we came out with it, we didn’t want
a close-second; we wanted to be so far ahead of
everyone else that we completely dominated, and
every day we waited and every penny we spent
was absolutely worth it.
What’s it like fielding two Pro Mod ’17 Ford
Mustangs at the same time, in the same class?
Other than the obvious expense, our biggest
problem is just having enough people to help.
We either show up with too many, or not enough.
We have lots of great people – Brad Personett
and his father, Mike, have been monumentally
helpful over the years getting the cars where they
need to be and let us store our operation at their
place so we don’t have to transport everything
back and forth from the West Coast – but racing
has always taken a back seat to the MMR busi-
ness itself. Without the business, we can’t race,
especially at this level, so it’s really just a lack of
people, but we make it work on a skeleton crew.
You’ve set tons of modular records over
the years. What does it take to continuously
push the bar?
When I spend this much time at a business
away from my family, I want it to be worth it –
so we take that approach with our racecars. In
early 2017, we set the eighth-mile record and
ran quicker than any Ford engine had ever been.
[Luton was the first to run in the 3-second zone
with a Ford Coyote engine when he went 3.87 at
199 mph and usurped the previous record holder,
John Urist, who had gone 4.55, also with an MMR
engine.] This year, we lowered the eighth-mile
ET record even more and ran 3.83 at 202 mph.
We’ve also set the quarter-mile ET record when
we ran 5.80 at 256 mph, which was the quickest
Ford-based engine ever for a doorslammer… and
there’s more coming.
What does the future hold for MMR and for
modular/Coyote performance in general?
We let our performance speak for itself. We
recently built a brand-new test lab and got a
Superflow Black Widow engine dyno so we can
get down to the nitty gritty. We’ll be developing
some larger cubic inch stuff, some billet cyl-
inder heads, and keep doing what we do best,
which is to focus on the areas we feel there are
shortcomings in the engine as it exists. I have a
tremendous respect for Kenny Duttweiler and
how he built a reputation on making tons of
power with small cubic inches. My goal is to
follow in his footsteps, and I actually model
MMR after what he’s done. From a performance
standpoint, I think we are only races away from
running 3.70s in the eighth-mile and 5.70s in
the quarter. We’re working on some things in-
house to make that a reality.
Anything else you would like to mention?
The most important thing at MMR isn’t our en-
gines, it’s our customers and the people who have
helped us get to where we are. I wouldn’t be here
doing this interview if it weren’t for them, and
we appreciate everyone’s support tremendously.
Additionally, companies like Manley Performance,
Garrett Turbochargers, Brisk Spark Plugs, Jerry
Haas Race Cars, ProTorque, and M&M Transmis-
sion, have all been incredible in helping us along
the way and we couldn’t do it without them.
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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