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“ Alan calls me up and he tells me , ‘ Hey , I want to put quad turbos on a dragster ,’ and I ’ m like , ‘ I never heard of that brand . Quad Turbo , what is that ?’ And he ’ s like , ‘ No , I mean four of them .’ I ’ m like , ‘ Wow , I never heard anybody want to do this before .’ Then he says , ‘ Yeah , it ’ s an AMC motor too .’ My first impression was , ‘ Wow , I ’ m really going to like this guy because this is some crazy stuff .’”
Melnick was then asked to build a set of headers for O ’ Brien ’ s nitrousfed , AMC small-block-powered Greenbrier Excavating & Paving ’ 20 Camaro destined for Pro 632 competition . O ’ Brien , a longtime dragster
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guy , didn ’ t feel right in the car , so he tapped Melnick to drive it at last year ’ s Brian Olson Memorial World Finals .
The O ’ Brien team , which includes Barnhill and engine builder Barry Allen , worked out some setup issues that led Melnick to win rounds over Lexi Tanner and eventual world champion Amber Franklin before the race was cancelled due to rain . Racers being racers , the remaining competitors squared off in a practice tree race for the trophy , and Melnick ended up winning .
It didn ’ t take long for Melnick to get his first official Pro 632 win – big
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check , trophy , championship points , and all – as he won the 2023 season-opening East Coast Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park . He qualified No . 7 and raced past Mike Murphy , Alan Drinkwater , and Tanner before defeating Franklin in the final round .
“ This is the culmination of 40 years of trial and error by Alan O ’ Brien and Barry Allen ,” said Melnick after the winner ’ s circle celebration “ They ’ ve spent a ton of time and effort and money to perfect , blow up , burn up , smash , and everything to get to this point to be able to compete with people like Amber Franklin . It ’ s amazing . I mean , this
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is probably the first AMC-powered professional category win since the ’ 70s . It ’ s wild . To do what we ’ re doing , it is just awesome .”
As Melnick explains , O ’ Brien and his late father , Bill , have raced using AMC powerplants since they were available from the factory . O ’ Brien has had success with the platform over the years , but this Pro 632 program is on another level , which just further fuels the family ’ s passion .
“ They ’ re all energized in it and his whole family is coming racing with us now ,” Melnick says . “ His son went and bought another motorhome . The grandson , Will , races . Kevin ,
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