The ADRL is forcing Jason Scruggs to convert.

“They (ADRL) have brought in some new equipment and it’s made the tracks a whole lot better, but it means what had been working for us in the past isn’t working so good anymore,” says the former two-time Pro Extreme world champion, who dropped from second in points halfway through the season to the eighth and final qualifying spot for the championship-deciding Battle for the Belts later this month in Ennis, Texas.  

“The tracks being better is a great thing,” Scruggs emphasizes. “I mean, you need the tracks as good as you can get them. The only problem is you’ve got to find the combination and learn how to run on them and that’s what we’re dealing with now.

“In Ohio we didn’t really have our combination together because the track was so good, so now we’re probably going to put a torque converter in the car.” Scruggs says.

The ADRL is forcing Jason Scruggs to convert.

“They (ADRL) have brought in some new equipment and it’s made the tracks a whole lot better, but it means what had been working for us in the past isn’t working so good anymore,” says the former two-time Pro Extreme world champion, who dropped from second in points halfway through the season to the eighth and final qualifying spot for the championship-deciding Battle for the Belts later this month in Ennis, Texas.  

“The tracks being better is a great thing,” Scruggs emphasizes. “I mean, you need the tracks as good as you can get them. The only problem is you’ve got to find the combination and learn how to run on them and that’s what we’re dealing with now.

“In Ohio we didn’t really have our combination together because the track was so good, so now we’re probably going to put a torque converter in the car.” Scruggs says.

After testing a Lencodrive with a converter last winter in Florida and running some mid-3.60 passes, Scruggs says the potential was there, but not enough to make him abandon the Lenco-clutch combination he’s been running throughout his ADRL career. The Lenco is the same transmission, he explains; the only difference being the Lencodrive has a pump on the front of the transmission that enables the use of a torque converter instead of a clutch.

“I did learn a few things, but thought I’d be better off just to keep running a clutch for a while. But one thing led to another, we got behind the eight ball, and I was scared to change, but now I’m at the point where I’ve got to change my combination anyway,” he admits. “I mean, the way I’m running my clutch is not going to work with these good tracks, so if I have to change my clutch anyway I just thought now would be a good time to put a converter in the car.”

Scruggs and his crew chief/father, Mitchell, also have been paying attention to the trend toward torque converters in the ADRL’s quickest and fastest class.

“As time went on there have been more and more Lencodrives and it seems like they can be more consistent. I’m not saying they’re easy to get a handle on because any car that runs 3.60s you’ve got to have everything right in any combination, but once you do find that combination we feel like it’s the Lencodrives that are making the cars more consistent,” Scruggs says. “When everybody had a clutch we all fought the same things, but now that maybe 10 of the 16 (qualified) cars at each race have torque converters, we just felt like we have to step up and run one, too.”

So, depending on the results of a planned test session at a yet-to-be-determined venue next week, Scruggs says it’s “more than likely” his new Garret-built ’63 Corvette will be torque-converter-equipped when the Battle begins at the Texas Motorplex in just over two weeks time.

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