Drag Illustrated Issue 136, September 2018 | Page 78
PAT MUSI
has continued to work with Musi on improv-
ing the EFI Technology engine management
system on board Musi’s car and those of his
numerous Pat Musi Rac-
ing Engines customers.
Western and his Cali-
fornia-based company
also have experience
in IndyCar, Formula 1,
aerospace and military
applications, but their
work with Musi has
helped to normalize EFI
in nitrous doorslammer
drag racing.
“If I come up with
an idea, Graham will
do the software,” Musi
says. “Whenever I went
to him with an idea, he
used to ask, ‘Pat, why
do you need that?’ Then
he started going to the
races with me a couple
years ago and he said,
‘Now I know why you
need all this stuff.’ The
EFI Tech equipment, I
think, is the best equip-
ment out there.”
Along with improv-
ing the engine manage-
ment system, Musi has
worked with a variety
of manufacturers to develop engine compo-
nents that can stand up to the harsh elements
of high-horsepower nitrous racing. A long-run-
ning consultant status with Edelbrock and
hands-on relationships with Dart Machinery,
Jesel and Moroso have played a part in Musi’s
remarkable performance gains over the years.
“I’d say the engine, in
the last 10 years, has
developed where we
can run more nitrous
through them. They’re
nitrous-friendly. The
motors evolved with the
fuel injection and the
nitrous. So everything
kind of came together
and became what we
have today.”
What Musi has to-
day is a combination
that leads in nearly ev-
ery class it enters. His
“house car”, Brandao’s
“King Kong” entries,
started winning Pro Ni-
trous races when Lizzy
notched her first pro-
fessional win driving
“King Kong 5” in 2014
and has continued to
post achievements.
Most recently, she ran
a world-record 206.54
mph pass en route to
back-to-back victories
to close the 2017 PDRA
season. Lizzy finished
third in points, with three Musi engine cus-
tomers joining her in the top 5, including
two-time and defending world champion
Tommy Franklin. On the NHRA side of the
I
magine New Jersey’s famed – and
now defunct as an active drag strip – Old
Bridge Township Raceway Park in the
mid-‘80s. Musi is there rolling his Pro
Stocker out of the small trailer he towed
to Raceway Park from his home in near-
by Carteret. It’s just Musi and a buddy,
preparing the naturally aspirated hot rod for a
“I’D SAY THE
ENGINE, IN THE LAST
10 YEARS, HAS
DEVELOPED WHERE
WE CAN RUN MORE
NITROUS THROUGH
THEM. THEY’RE
NITROUS-FRIENDLY.
THE MOTORS
EVOLVED WITH THE
FUEL INJECTION
AND THE NITROUS.”
world, “Tricky” Rickie Smith has flown the
Musi banner to three NHRA Pro Mod world
championships in the last five seasons.
A slew of race victories, world records and
season championships are the result of Musi’s
mindful efforts to find his own personal edge
up on the competition. One unintended con-
sequence of that movement, though, has been
his fellow ra cers’ adoption of EFI. Almost all
of the mechanical fuel injection holdouts have
been seduced by the benefits of EFI.
“I don’t care if I sound cocky or whatever, but
I forced every Pro Mod out there to put EFI
on,” Musi says. “You couldn’t even run a set of
carburetors and be competitive now. I take a
little pride in that. I made ‘em do it – they had
to do it. They fought it as long as they could
and tried to make the carburetors work, but
they had to switch.
“I kind of look at all the nitrous EFI deals
and I ought to take it as a compliment – and
you have to when you get copied – but you look
at all them set-ups and they’re all copies of my
deal from day one when I started. They run the
same fuel pump and fuel system, all the stuff
we developed through the years. I have to get
a little giggle out of that.”
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Issue 136