What a difference a year makes for Dick and Rick Hord, the father-and-son racing team from Kissimmee, Fla., that runs a 2009 Pontiac GXP in NHRA Competition Eliminator.
One of the most graphic examples of the Hords’ turnaround this season occurred at Indy when Rick, 49, drove their car to No. 2 among 54 entries with a 6.86 e.t., .69 under the CC/A 7.55 index. At the 2011 event the GXP was last among 61 racers with a 13-second run.
Even better than Indy was the Hords’ showing in late August at the Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky. They led the 27-car field with a 6.78, which was .76 under. They suffered a semifinal round loss, the deepest they advanced in 10 events this year.
The Hords wrapped up their season in mid-October at the Division 2 points meet at Silver Dollar Raceway near Reynolds, Ga., by leading the 13-car field at .64 under. But, the car fell off nearly three tenths in a second-round loss.
What a difference a year makes for Dick and Rick Hord, the father-and-son racing team from Kissimmee, Fla., that runs a 2009 Pontiac GXP in NHRA Competition Eliminator.
One of the most graphic examples of the Hords’ turnaround this season occurred at Indy when Rick, 49, drove their car to No. 2 among 54 entries with a 6.86 e.t., .69 under the CC/A 7.55 index. At the 2011 event the GXP was last among 61 racers with a 13-second run.
Even better than Indy was the Hords’ showing in late August at the Division 3 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, Ky. They led the 27-car field with a 6.78, which was .76 under. They suffered a semifinal round loss, the deepest they advanced in 10 events this year.
The Hords wrapped up their season in mid-October at the Division 2 points meet at Silver Dollar Raceway near Reynolds, Ga., by leading the 13-car field at .64 under. But, the car fell off nearly three tenths in a second-round loss.
Such inconsistency has bedeviled the men’s effort to succeed in a new class with a new car. In January 2011 the Hords bought the GXP from Pro Stock veteran Warren Johnson that originally was built by Jerry Haas Race Cars. Their plan for the car was CC/A, which specifies a vehicle weight of eight pounds per cubic inch (2,700-pound minimum) and an engine equipped with a centrifugal supercharger.
The new car marked a new direction for the Hords. They began racing together three decades ago and ran cars in Comp and the former IHRA Factory Modified category for the first 10 years, winning an NHRA national event and 10 IHRA races. After taking a break in 1991, the Hords returned, but with a different approach, switching from a tunnel ram and carburetors to a 14-71 Roots blower and fuel injection.
Except for being inactive in 1998-2006, the Hords competed with the set-up through 2010. They ran in BB/A four years with the former Bob Phelps 1963 Corvette, the 2001 Indy Comp winner. Earlier this year Phelps bought the ‘vette back and plans to race it again.
“We were maxxed out on our combination with the conventional blower,” said Dick Hord, 76. “We liked the challenges with the centrifugal blower and the opportunity to improve our elapsed times. This combination makes more power per cubic inch than the Roots set-up did.”
Besides the prospect of going quicker and faster, the Hords, who both have degrees in mechanical engineering, enjoy designing and engineering many of their engine parts. “We make a lot of our own components and assemble and dyno our own engines, so part of our enthusiasm and gratification is to do this ourselves,” Hord said.
For example, the induction system, which is topped by a Big Stuff electronic fuel-injection unit, was CNC machined from aluminum but not welded. Instead, the system is modular and bolts together with O-ring seals.
The Hords assembled the 375-inch big-block Chevy with a Dart block, Winberg crank, JE pistons, GRP rods, Crane cam, Pro-Filer heads and MSD ignition. The supercharger is a ProCharger F-3R-130 with a 12-inch housing and an impeller spinning up to 72,000 rpm. Horsepower is approximately 1,650.
Behind the engine are a nine-inch converter from Neal Chance Racing Converters, a BRT converter drive from Bruno’s Automotive Products and a four-speed Lenco transmission with a 2.20 low gear. A 150-pound weight break and ease of maintenance prompt the Hords to try the converter-BRT combination for the first time, deviating from their long-time clutch use. Power is transferred to a Mark Williams center section, Strange axles and brakes and Hoosier slicks.
From the first time the Hords raced the 2,850-pound GXP in July 2011 until their last pass this season they not only have been going down the track but up a steep learning curve, the latter primarily due to breaking rods, pistons, valvetrain components and driveline parts. “We’ve learned a lot by what failed and what you really need to make it work,” Dick Hord said. “But, with every setback is the cost of curing the problem and the time. It is a lot!
“All the breakage was because of having more power than we had with our Roots set-up,” Hord said. “We think we’re more than 90 percent of the way through that, so now we’re down to really learning more about the cause and effect of the tuning. You can have a ton of power, but if you cannot make the car behave itself and the driver comfortable, you don’t have much.”
As the Hords progress, they draw closer to their goal – the Comp national championship. They have finished No. 4 and 8 in national points, earned 15 division wins and two division titles and set 13 records.
In 2013 the men will run 15-18 national and divisional events. “We’re excited because we’ve turned the corner and all the inexperience with our learning curve is behind us,” Hord said. “We’ll be at the events to win.”
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