Hot Rod Drag Week 2022 — the ultimate test of street-legal drag cars — concluded September 23 at World Wide Technology Raceway just outside St. Louis, and Edelbrock Group had employees with a dog in the hunt! Vice President of Sales Mark Campbell took fellow Engine Builder Salesman Robert Freund along as a crewman for the ride of their lives. Drag Week is a grueling five-day festival of speed. It is the perfect proving ground for the goals Mark wanted to achieve for his first foray into this maniacal competition.
It would be a tall order to meet the two lofty targets he set for himself: 1) Make it to the finish, and 2) Get in the top five! Those might not seem very lofty to the casual Drag Week observer, but considering most first-time competitors merely hope to complete the trip, it was certainly ambitious. With 48 cars in his very competitive class, Mark set the bar high with that second goal.
The Car
For Mark and Robert, the journey to Drag Week started with “a pile of parts in October [2021].” The “pile” Mark campaigned was a black 1995 Ford Mustang specifically built to compete in the Street Race Small-Block Power-Adder class, which is essentially an 8.50 index as no cars in the class can have a funny car cage. Employee discounts are a perk of working for the Edelbrock Group, so Mark leaned heavily on the catalogs of its umbrella brands to make his personal car a “test mule” of sorts for the parts he supports.
Let’s begin with the engine. It is an RHS 427c.i. LS-based block with a Lunati crank and rods. The cylinder heads are RHS CNC 6-bolt heads. It uses the new BSR Shaft Rockers, Evolution Lifters, COMP Cams cam, FAST LSXHR manifold, and a FAST XFI EFI engine management system. Though it is a pretty stout engine in naturally aspirated trim, it really comes to life breathing through twin S372 Borg-Warner turbos plumbed by Forced Inductions.
Power transfers through a TCI Pro X torque converter before reaching the TCI Turbo 400 automatic transmission. A Strange Engineering driveshaft connects to an 8.8 rearend with Strange internals geared at 3.30:1. Mark says it is turning 2,400 RPM at 60mph. Needless to say, the ‘Stang is not the world’s most enjoyable long-hauler, running a 275/60R15 tire on the Vision SSR Spike wheels. However, Mark was lucky enough to have his name drawn from all the Drag Week participants to win a Gear Vendors overdrive. Next year will be much more enjoyable!
It is no small feat to home-build a twin-turbo 1,200-horsepower fire-breathing monster in less than a year, let alone one that can be reliably driven. Mark made his first eighth-mile test hits on low boost back in July and started spinning up the turbines by August. By the end of the month, he had it dialed in and commenced fabricating the trailer to haul his “ten pounds of junk in a five-pound bag.”
The Drag Week Trip Begins
Drag Week is a four-track, five-day slugfest where competitors can make as many passes as they want but must make at least one qualifying pass per track. Once satisfied with their time, they must drive the car on a specified course to the next venue. Photo checkpoints along the way keep people from shortening the trip unfairly. The entire route between the four tracks is usually around 1,000 miles. The craziest aspect is that racers can only use the tools and parts they can carry in their car or their optional trailer towed by the race car.
This year’s journey for Mark and Robert started on Saturday, September 17, as they left Memphis with the car (and trailer) loaded in an enclosed trailer and pointed north toward St. Louis. Sunday, September 18, was registration, technical inspection, and test-and-tune day. Tech inspection is not a typical drag race inspection. The car must qualify as a street-legal car, including tags, insurance, VIN, headlights, tail lights, turn signals, etc. They thoroughly check everything, including the cage certification. Mark’s Mustang passed tech with flying colors. Hurdle one was cleared!
After being released from tech, the guys decided to make a test hit to ensure everything was going to plan. Mark laid down an 8.57 @ 162 mph on the Mustang’s first-ever quarter-mile run. It was right where he wanted to be, so it was off to the hotel for the last restful night’s sleep for the next four nights.
Mark’s goal at each stop was efficiency. He didn’t want to risk burning up the engine with pass after pass, trying to hit the target number. He hoped to go “one and done” whenever possible. On Monday, he realized that goal on his first pass at World Wide Technology Raceway after making a picture-perfect, straight-as-a-string pass with an 8.504 @ 163mph. It was back to the pits to load up the trailer. They hit the road to Lucas Oil Speedway in Indianapolis for Day 2 with the lead in their class by just .02 over Dustin Trance in a 2005 Mustang.
Day 2 – Feelin’ The Rythm
The air temps cranked up as the afternoon approached on the road to Indy. With no A/C, the guys got to sweat it out on the way. Drag Week is all about overcoming obstacles, and the duo found they are not immune. At the last check stop before arriving in Indy, they noticed the trailer hitch mount on the car cracked and was barely hanging on. They managed to MacGuyver the hitch back together using a few ratchet straps for the last 30 minutes into town. In the hotel parking lot, without a welder and no shops open, it was time for some hillbilly engineering. They took a couple of wastegate wrenches, drilled and tapped them, and bolted them onto the car. For safety, they put some ratchet straps around it, but it managed to hold the rest of the trip.
Day 2 saw more sunny skies at Lucas Oil Raceway Park, and the track was set on kill. Campbell got to show his bracket racing prowess when the car left with the wheels in the air and a 1/10th better 60-foot time. Campbell peddled it to bring the nose down and pumped the brakes before the finish to run an 8.505 @ 145mph. It was another one-and-done! Campbell’s two-day average of 8.5045 @ 154.48mph saw him still at the top of the leaderboard through the first two days. The boys were flying high as they hit the road bound for Byron Dragway in Byron, Illinois. They had no issues on the road and got a good night’s sleep.
Day 3 – Does The Streak Continue
Mark and Robert arrived nice and early for Day 3 and set up early, ready to roll while others were still coming in. They were in the first group to line up when the track opened. Byron runs downhill, so it was a little trickier for the crew to figure out how to run the number they wanted, but it worked out right on the number they hoped to run. The pass was 8.553 @ 157.17mph. However, a concerning puff of smoke made them apprehensive about trying to inch closer to the .50-mark, suspecting a turbo leaked into the intake tube. Smartly, they decided to sit on the time and investigate further when they got to the next stop. Unfortunately, Dustin Trance ran a perfect 8.50 @ 158.82mph to leapfrog into first place heading into Cordova. Campbell now sat in Second by just .02 second.
The duo looked over the Mustang at the hotel and were pretty sure they had some turbo seals that weren’t cooperating but knew how to manage the problem. They felt confident that the car would be able to handle more abuse. They were able to clean up the intake and head to bed.
Day 4 – On To Cordova
Going into Day 4 at Cordova Dragway, the boys hoped to be able to tighten up the run. The air temperatures had dropped overnight, and the forecast looked poor for the return to St. Louis. The turbos would love the cooler intake charge, and the Stang would make plenty of power. Robert said the track was set on kill as Mark lined up for his first pass. As he suspected, the track hooked hard, resulting in another wheels-up superfast 1.24-second 60-foot time. Mark couldn’t slow it down at the finish line and went 8.441 @152.78mph, which they couldn’t turn in as it was faster than the class allows.
They turned down the wick for a second pass and maybe went a little too far. It ran an 8.584 @150.05mph, so they decided to stick around for a third run to try to catch Dustin in First in case St. Louis got rained out. Unfortunately, they threw a belt on the third pass and ran an 8.61 ET. All three cars were within .02 seconds. It would go down to the last day as Campbell lost another spot to Brian Acton in a 1970 Chevy Nova.
Day 5 – Doin’ A Drag Week Raindance
As the sun rose on the final day of Drag Week 2022, it couldn’t have been more perfect for an epic showdown between the top three. The temps were cool, and the altitude air density was sitting at a steller 387 feet. Mark and Robert were optimistic about getting a few runs in to tighten up the time. Unfortunately, halfway through the run groups, the raindrops started falling, and a giant thunder cell was on its way.
Mark managed to make one run before the rains came. He ran a conservative 8.71 to ensure he got on the scoresheet for the day before the race was called, but it put him in a precarious situation. Three others in his group hadn’t run yet. Track officials fought to get the track dry so they could have at least one complete class. With that soft of a run, Mark was in danger of falling off the podium altogether if someone below him tightened up their time. Queue the rain dance from Mark and Robert! Ma Nature finally took over around 3:00 p.m., causing officials to throw in the towel. Because everyone hadn’t been down the track, no one’s scores counted, so Mark was safe to celebrate.
It was a stellar effort for a first attempt at the toughest street competition in the nation with a home-built street car. The team had met both of their goals of finishing and making the top 5. Mark’s Mustang performed nearly flawlessly, only making a total of six passes throughout the week. That was quite a feat seeing the two above him had over 40 runs between them. Mark says the cool part about the trip was “we never took a valve cover off, and we never even took a spark plug out the entire trip. The engine was super, super reliable.”
Mark and Robert are no strangers to drag racing, but to attack a competition like Drag Week is a different beast altogether. You learn a lot the more you do it. To finish only .006 out of Second and only .02 out of First on your first attempt at Drag Week is a pretty impressive accomplishment. The guys are already thinking about next year. No doubt that Gear Vendors overdrive will come in quite handy between stops. Congratulations guys! We can’t wait to see what you do next year!
