PILCHERS SET STAGE FOR 2009
Fri, 2009-03-13 08:00
Father-Son Team Rumble Sends Early Pro Nitrous Message …
The competition should have known to watch out for this potent combination.
When the track gets marginal that’s when the Pilchers, Johnny and his father Billy, are at their best. The Pro Nitrous contingent found that out the hard way during the final qualifying session of the ADRL Dragpalooza V in Houston, Tex., as Johnny blasted past the competition to claim the first No. 1 qualifying effort of 2009.
Everyone else might have been surprised, but for the Pilchers the performance came as no shock. Father-Son Team Rumble Sends Early Pro Nitrous Message …
The competition should have known to watch out for this potent combination.
When the track gets marginal that’s when the Pilchers, Johnny and his father Billy, are at their best. The Pro Nitrous contingent found that out the hard way during the final qualifying session of the ADRL Dragpalooza V in Houston, Tex., as Johnny blasted past the competition to claim the first No. 1 qualifying effort of 2009.
Everyone else might have been surprised, but for the Pilchers the performance came as no shock.
“We knew it was in the car,” Pilcher said. “We knew it could happen. We just had to get the combination together. Matter of fact, the whole weekend I think I tried every four-link combination possible. I knew we could do it; there was no doubt in my mind.”
Pilcher ran a 3.959 elapsed time to surpass leaders Tim Savell and Jim Halsey on a run he graded as good, not great.
“It actually quivered all the way through second gear,” Pilcher admitted. “I feel like we could have run a low 3.90 and maybe even a 3.80 if it hadn't done some of that.”
Many of the competitors at the ADRL season-opener complained of their cars getting loose at mid-range in the run, which is why last Saturday’s final session played out in Pilcher’s favor.
If the track was tricky, was it Pilcher's experience that made the difference?
“We get to race on a lot of what we call marginal tracks; we don't really call them minimal or tricky,” Pilcher admitted. “It probably helped us some. We just had to back the car down in areas and apply the power in different places.”
Horsepower is something the Pilchers aren’t hurting for considering they subscribe to the theory that there’s no substitute for cubic inches. The Pilchers currently run a Sonny Leonard 864 cubic-inch, GM Hemispherical Engine, a monster naturally aspirated power plant.
The Pilchers, and all who run the GM Hemispherical engine, have learned that when aligned with healthy doses of nitrous oxide, they consistently produce.
“The real thing about this engine is the amount of torque it makes,” Pilcher said. “It's a very dependable piece. I don’t want to jinx myself but it has the same rings in the motor as when I got it last January. It's just a very dependable piece. We had one rod failure, which was really not the engine. It was a combination deal that just didn't work out right. We had that to straighten out.”
Since its introduction to the doorslammer ranks, the GM Hemispherical engine has always been a heavier piece when compared to the traditional Chevrolet Wedge head. This is something Pilcher said Leonard has already improved on over the off-season.
“We are probably within ten pounds of the wedge motors,” Pilcher confided.
Leonard recently introduced a new 900-plus cubic inch engine. Will the Pilcher’s soon make the transition?
“I'm not going to say no, because there is no doubt there is no substitute for cubic inches,” Pilcher explained. “We just have to figure out the secret combination to using what we've got and applying it consistently. You can have all the power in the world, if you don't consistently make passes, and I wasn't really that consistent this weekend.
“Houston was more like our test session because I hadn't been in the car since last November. Houston was essentially the first time out of the box for us. We took 80 pounds off the car and there changes a lot to the car. As far as the engine, nothing was changed other than we had some work done on the heads.”
As convincing as his performance was, Pilcher is convinced they left a healthy amount of horsepower on the table because the track just couldn’t absorb it.
“Most people are advocates of slipping clutches and stuff,” Pilcher admitted. “I even have people tell me how stupid I am by trying to lock it up like I do. I don't believe that I lose a lot of the horsepower in the motor. We probably lose more in our tuning trying to just back it down with timing and so forth. Probably 80 percent is what we are using of what the motor is capable of doing.”
The competition should have known to watch out for this potent combination. When the track gets marginal that’s when the Pilchers, Johnny and his father Billy, are at their best. The Pro Nitrous contingent found that out the hard way during the final qualifying session of the ADRL Dragpalooza V in Houston, Tex., as Johnny blasted past the competition to claim the first No. 1 qualifying effort of 2009.
Everyone else might have been surprised, but for the Pilchers the performance came as no shock. Father-Son Team Rumble Sends Early Pro Nitrous Message …
The competition should have known to watch out for this potent combination. When the track gets marginal that’s when the Pilchers, Johnny and his father Billy, are at their best. The Pro Nitrous contingent found that out the hard way during the final qualifying session of the ADRL Dragpalooza V in Houston, Tex., as Johnny blasted past the competition to claim the first No. 1 qualifying effort of 2009.
Everyone else might have been surprised, but for the Pilchers the performance came as no shock.
“We knew it was in the car,” Pilcher said. “We knew it could happen. We just had to get the combination together. Matter of fact, the whole weekend I think I tried every four-link combination possible. I knew we could do it; there was no doubt in my mind.”
Pilcher ran a 3.959 elapsed time to surpass leaders Tim Savell and Jim Halsey on a run he graded as good, not great.
“It actually quivered all the way through second gear,” Pilcher admitted. “I feel like we could have run a low 3.90 and maybe even a 3.80 if it hadn't done some of that.”
Many of the competitors at the ADRL season-opener complained of their cars getting loose at mid-range in the run, which is why last Saturday’s final session played out in Pilcher’s favor.
If the track was tricky, was it Pilcher's experience that made the difference?
“We get to race on a lot of what we call marginal tracks; we don't really call them minimal or tricky,” Pilcher admitted. “It probably helped us some. We just had to back the car down in areas and apply the power in different places.”
Horsepower is something the Pilchers aren’t hurting for considering they subscribe to the theory that there’s no substitute for cubic inches. The Pilchers currently run a Sonny Leonard 864 cubic-inch, GM Hemispherical Engine, a monster naturally aspirated power plant.
The Pilchers, and all who run the GM Hemispherical engine, have learned that when aligned with healthy doses of nitrous oxide, they consistently produce.
“The real thing about this engine is the amount of torque it makes,” Pilcher said. “It's a very dependable piece. I don’t want to jinx myself but it has the same rings in the motor as when I got it last January. It's just a very dependable piece. We had one rod failure, which was really not the engine. It was a combination deal that just didn't work out right. We had that to straighten out.”
Since its introduction to the doorslammer ranks, the GM Hemispherical engine has always been a heavier piece when compared to the traditional Chevrolet Wedge head. This is something Pilcher said Leonard has already improved on over the off-season.
“We are probably within ten pounds of the wedge motors,” Pilcher confided.
Leonard recently introduced a new 900-plus cubic inch engine. Will the Pilcher’s soon make the transition?
“I'm not going to say no, because there is no doubt there is no substitute for cubic inches,” Pilcher explained. “We just have to figure out the secret combination to using what we've got and applying it consistently. You can have all the power in the world, if you don't consistently make passes, and I wasn't really that consistent this weekend.
“Houston was more like our test session because I hadn't been in the car since last November. Houston was essentially the first time out of the box for us. We took 80 pounds off the car and there changes a lot to the car. As far as the engine, nothing was changed other than we had some work done on the heads.”
As convincing as his performance was, Pilcher is convinced they left a healthy amount of horsepower on the table because the track just couldn’t absorb it.
“Most people are advocates of slipping clutches and stuff,” Pilcher admitted. “I even have people tell me how stupid I am by trying to lock it up like I do. I don't believe that I lose a lot of the horsepower in the motor. We probably lose more in our tuning trying to just back it down with timing and so forth. Probably 80 percent is what we are using of what the motor is capable of doing.”
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