FORMER NITRO FC RACER/TUNER JOHNNY WEST DRIVING FUEL ALTERED

by Tracy Renck    Mon, 2021-03-22 22:12

 

NHRA.com Photo

Johnny West has been around drag racing since the 1970s, driving Funny Cars.

He drove for respected owners, including Roland Leong and fellow Arizonian Johnny Loper and reached three final rounds.

Harkening back to his days of racing is what’s driving West these days as he’s piloting a fuel altered.

“Three or four years ago a partner of mine and I decided to build a true fuel altered more like in the classic 1980s type of thing and go back to the plan A days when I first started out racing,” West said. “It kind of picked up from there and now we are trying to promote this classical type of fuel altered, a real fuel altered. We are trying not have a Funny Car type of chassis that has a whole bunch of wings on it and some sort of a makeshift body and call it a fuel altered.”

West’s plan in building his fuel altered is to show that’s far more economically feasible option for racers. 

“We wanted to have a classic fuel altered that would be limited to like running 6.0s in a quarter-mile,” West said. “A true drag race and make it affordable for somebody to have. Now you have a car with a small body on it that two people can work on without having seven guys to tear the thing apart every run down to the ground like you have in the big show or even the Nostalgia Funny Cars.  We built this thing to run a 6-flat in a quarter-mile, that way a guy could afford to buy this thing and go out and run a fuel car and have some fun with it. Get back to where drag racing is a little bit more fun. With the big show stuff, it is just so intense we are just beating ourselves to death trying to be competitive and then the fun factor is gone.”

West said this fuel altered project has served him well mentally.

“Building this car has been enjoyable and we do our own chassis manufacturing anyway (at Wesco Fabrication,” West said. “We ran the altered three- or four-times last year and then we went to Boise (Idaho) at the Nightfire Nationals in August just to see if we get the car out there and be competitive. All they had out there was a four-car qualified field. We were about two-tenths off from running 6-flat. We have the car down here in Phoenix and we are making some more changes. We have run it down in Tucson (Ariz.) a number of times in a match races format. Now, we are getting ready to go to Texas. It is a long drive, but to get the car exposed and the whole program I’m trying to promote we need to go somewhere where there’s going to be people and we can media exposure.”

The Outlaw Fuel Altered Association is hosting the “Nitro Madness at the Motorplex” at Texas Motorplex in Ennis, March 26-27.

 

 

 

 

“Driving the fuel altered has been interesting,” West said. “It is not quite as quick and undetermining as the fuel Funny Cars we have today with NHRA. This car is so light. There’s just one wing on the back. There’s nothing in the front. It is a car that keeps you honest towards the end of the quarter-mile. I want to run this as a fuel altered. I don’t want to put a Funny Car body on it. I want to go back to having quarter-mile runs because I think that’s what spectators are yearning for. Back in the day when we did a lot of match racing, that’s what the promoters said, ‘I don’t really care if you go out there and run world-record E.T.s. What I want you to go out and make full passes. That’s what the people in stands are paying for.’ 

“That’s what the spectator wants again (quarter-mile racing). They don’t want to see the 3.80 Funny Cars that run 1,000-foot one time out of 10. That’s not what the people are wanting. That’s not what they are going to pay for. That’s what I’m trying to bring back, giving the spectators something to watch.”

Wesco Fabrication in Phoenix, Ariz., was established by West in 1984 with the mission of providing high quality machining and fabrication services to the drag racing and high-performance motorsports market.

West has plenty of experience in the drag racing. After he stopped driving, he tuned for Don Schumacher Racing, Don Prudhomme’s Snake Racing operation, and Kalitta Motorsports, and drivers like Kenny Bernstein, Jack Beckman, Tommy Johnson Jr., Whit Bazemore, Jim Epler, Chuck Etchells, Richard Hartman, Doug Herbert, David Baca, Bob Vandergriff Jr., and Clay Millican as the crew chief, sometimes as a consultant and overseer.

Most recently, West was helping lesser-funded teams like Jeff Diehl, John Bojec, Greg Carrillo, and Terry Haddock.

“My thought process (by running this fuel altered) is to try generate another customer base where a guy could buy a complete fuel operation for $120,000 to $150,000 on the starting line with a trailer with everything and have some fun,” West said. “He and his wife, and best friend could run the car and still be able to park in his two-car garage without having to have a whole bunch of people work on it. I’m trying to help guys who own fuel altereds or want to break into the category to where they can afford it and have some fun. Enjoy family time. Enjoy racing and it be true racing.” 

 

 

 

 
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