I gave them one.
“ It’ s a little different now, though,” Musi adds.“ I think( the NHRA Pro Mod teams) realize that PDRA ain’ t no joke. They didn’ t know what to think of us coming over to their side of the world. But I’ ve had a lot of crew chiefs who I think highly of that have congratulated me on the job we’ re doing. That was pretty nice to hear.”
To understand how Musi ended up in this position – the tuner of the third-ranked cars in NHRA Pro Mod and PDRA Pro Nitrous and the engine builder for the other two nitrous cars in the Pro Mod Top 10 – one must take a look back at the day when the former Pro Stock star kicked his carburetors to the curb in favor of electronic fuel injection. Nearly 20 years ago, Musi was offered a then-unproven EFI setup, setting into motion a chain of events that would revolutionize nitrous racing in the 21st century.
“ Mike Thermos at NOS had an EFI system that they were developing with Graham Western. He asked if I’ d be willing to try this and run it,” Musi remembers.“ Well, I’ m the kind of guy who will try about anything if I think there’ s something there. It was probably one of the better decisions I ever made because it gave me that leg up on the competition.”
It’ s easy to look back on that moment as a turning point in his career, but Musi called his shot well before the EFI system had proven itself on the track. Musi’ s EFI-equipped Camaro was still in championship form in NMCA Pro Street, where he clinched the 2002 season championship. Never one to mince words, Musi expressed the potential of the EFI combination when others were laughing if off as a temporary test piece.
“ I feel that when it’ s all said and done, that it’ ll be better than carburetors, but we’ re going to have to have some time at the lighter weight,” Musi said in a 2002 Drag Racing Online interview with Ian Tocher.“ We’ ve made some good runs – I recently ran some 6.40s at over 220 in my Camaro, which is pretty much a shoebox – and we were at 2,600 pounds, which is 225 pounds heavier than a Pro Mod. So, we’ ve seen some real respectable numbers. But I’ m not saying it’ ll happen overnight. I’ m not that stupid; I know it’ s going to take some runs to get competitive.”
Musi still remembers the early days of EFI,
“ I THINK THE NHRA PRO MOD TEAMS REALIZE THAT PDRA AIN’ T NO JOKE. THEY DIDN’ T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF US COMING OVER TO THEIR SIDE OF THE WORLD.”
the trying times when things just weren’ t going his way. The new technology would fight him at first, but there wasn’ t necessarily anything wrong with the EFI system itself. Like any new piece of equipment, it took some time to work EFI into the time-tested and proven race program Musi had developed over decades in Pro Stock and Pro Street.
“ At our first race with EFI – this was back when the 16-volt batteries just started coming around – we had 12-volt batteries. Well, the EFI wouldn’ t run under just around 11.5. It didn’ t seem to affect the carburetor stuff, but the EFI system just would not cooperate,” says Musi.“ That was right about the time I said,‘ Maybe this( EFI) ain’ t a good idea.’ We put the 16-volt batteries in the car and from that day on, every carburetor I had was used for a wheel chock. I just saw what we had and worked on it, stayed with it and kept developing it.”
Western, who had worked on the development of the first EFI system Musi ever tried,
PHOTO: TARA BOWKER
NEW CAR SMELL: Driven by Lizzy Musi,“ King Kong 7” is the latest Frank Brandao-owned hot rod to race out of the Musi Racing Engines stable in PDRA Pro Nitrous. The Bickel-built‘ 18 Dodge Dart made its debut during testing at the PDRA Firecracker Nationals in Virginia.
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