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.” 78 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 136