CARL STEVENS JR.
“I’ve really loved everything
about the switch over to
the ProCharger,” Stevens says.
“I like tuning it. I think it’s
a more raceable, easier to
use combination.”
In the NHRA Pro Mod scene, a similar movement happened. Nearly
all of Pro Line’s twin-turbo customers converted their cars to ProCharger
setups. Carl Stevens Jr., who runs Xtreme Racing Engines, built new
ProCharger engines for customers Rick Hord and Clint Satterfield.
When 33 NHRA-legal Pro Mod cars attempted to qualify at the inaugural
Drag Illustrated World Doorslammer Nationals presented by CTech
Manufacturing at Orlando Speed World Dragway in early March, just one
week before the official NHRA Pro Mod season was supposed to begin
at the Gatornationals, the qualifying order featured six ProCharger cars.
Five of them qualified for the 16-car field, led by Justin Bond with his
stunning 5.623 at 253.14 – a ProCharger world record and the quickest
pass for an NHRA-legal Pro Mod – and rounded out by Steve Matusek
in Elite Motorsports’ ProCharged Camaro in the No. 16 spot with a 5.739.
When the NHRA Pro Mod season actually does kick off in Indianapolis
in July, it’s possible even more cars will have made the switch.
Stevens, a longtime turbo guy, says he
and Hord first started toying with the idea
of switching to ProCharger last fall after
Hord crashed his twin-turbo Corvette at
the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis.
While making repairs, they converted the
car to a ProCharger setup. Satterfield, whose
car was nicknamed the “Turbo Pig,” also
switched over the offseason.
Both drivers have had success with the
new combo. Hord qualified No. 8 at the
World Doorslammer Nationals with a
5.709-second pass. Satterfield has been
competing in Mid-West Pro Mod Series
and PDRA Pro Boost competition during
the NHRA shutdown. He and tuner Bob
Gardner have found consistency and improved
performance with the combination,
even winning the MWPMS race at Xtreme
Raceway Park in early July.
Stevens says his customers have been understandably
thrilled with their newfound
performance gains. Even “Turbo” Todd Moyer
made the switch in his new Pro Boost/
outlaw Pro Mod Camaro, which was an
immediate player when it made its debut
at the PDRA Carolina Showdown with Stevens
tuning.
“I’ve really loved everything about the
switch over to the ProCharger,” Stevens says.
“I like tuning it. I think it’s a more raceable, easier to use combination.”
The 2018 Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod champion admits
he hasn’t had much time with the ProCharger combo on the tuning side,
though he’s already assembled several F-3X-140-equipped engines and
worked with them at a handful of events this season.
“As an engine builder, the engines are nearly identical,” Stevens says.
“The only thing really different between the two power adders is basically
the camshaft. Compression ratio and all that’s pretty similar between
the two. Like I said, I think the ProCharger is a more raceable package.
There’s less stuff to manage. There’s so many different things that can
kind of sneak up and bite you on the turbo car that you really don’t have
to deal with with the ProCharger.”
The Xtreme Racing Engines stable of ProCharger cars will soon expand
to four, as Stevens has a new car coming together at Jerry Bickel Race Cars,
and a ProCharger-boosted XRE Hemi will set between the frame rails.
“I’ve liked it so much – and I’ve been a turbo guy forever,” Stevens says.
“I never would’ve even considered running another power adder. But
after working with these three cars, I said I have to have one of these
things myself.”
MAKING BIG POWER IN TOP
SPORTSMAN AND TOP DRAGSTER
While ProCharger has been working on the Pro
Modified market, Vortech has been closing in on the fast
bracket racing world of Top Sportsman and Top Dragster.
It’s an area of the sport where ProCharger customers have also performed
very well. But Danny Nelson helped usher in a new era for Vortech in
NHRA sportsman racing last season when he won the NHRA Top Dragster
world championship with his Vortech V-30 123A-supercharged Danny
Nelson Racecraft dragster.
“Words can hardly express how grateful we are to have racers like Danny
Nelson supporting and believing in our centrifugal supercharger prod-
86 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 158