For nearly 31 years now, Tommy Mauney Race Cars (TMRC) has been churning out some of the finest doorslammers in the land from a modest shop in Spartanburg, SC.

Currently in the foreground at TMRC is a new ’68 Camaro Pro Extreme car destined for the hands of Arabian Drag Racing League star Ali Aryan of the Baharain 1 Racing Team.

“I’m not actually sure whether it’s going to get shipped over there or get run in the ADRL over here,” Mauney says. “Either way I’ll work with his crew chief, Rick Hickman, and when he gets here I’ll probably go test it with him before Ali goes to race it.”

For nearly 31 years now, Tommy Mauney Race Cars (TMRC) has been churning out some of the finest doorslammers in the land from a modest shop in Spartanburg, SC.

Currently in the foreground at TMRC is a new ’68 Camaro Pro Extreme car destined for the hands of Arabian Drag Racing League star Ali Aryan of the Baharain 1 Racing Team.

“I’m not actually sure whether it’s going to get shipped over there or get run in the ADRL over here,” Mauney says. “Either way I’ll work with his crew chief, Rick Hickman, and when he gets here I’ll probably go test it with him before Ali goes to race it.”

A past IHRA Pro Stock (1990) and Pro Modified (1995) world champion, Mauney is more than qualified to drive his creations at speed. Named among the top-10 Pro Mod drivers of all time by CompetitionPlus.com early last year, he continues as a hired gun behind the wheel these days, most recently racing for Charlotte businessman Andy Merrell in the nitrous-boosted ’68 Camaro driven to the 2009 NHRA Pro Mod championship by reigning ADRL Pro Nitrous champ Burton Auxier.

“I’ll probably be doing some racing with Andy again this year and he’s got another lightweight car that we’re hoping to be racing by mid-season this year, too,” Mauney says.

Meanwhile, there’s still plenty to be done in the shop, where Mauney works alongside only three employees.

“I’ve got one guy that’s worked for me since 1981 or ’82 and another since 1990, but I weld up every car that goes out of here,” he says.

In addition to cars that periodically flit in and out for repairs, among those currently being worked on at TMRC are a new ’63 Corvette for longtime nitrous racer Ken Regenthal of Clemmons, North Carolina, a ’68 Camaro for Long Island, New York’s George Williams, who bought one of Shannon Jenkins’ motors from “The Iceman’s” 2010 Pro Nitrous campaign, and another ’63 Vette for Mike Reese down in Perry, Georgia.

“And we’ve got one other car going that we can’t really talk about yet, so yeah, it’s still pretty busy,” Mauney says.

Additionally, Pro Extreme veteran Quain Stott has a ’63 split-window Corvette in for updates and a new body before heading west in March for the ADRL season opener in Baytown, Texas.

“This is Quain’s older ’63 Corvette; it already had a carbon-fiber body, but he’s getting a new ultra-lightweight body and we’re doing some more repair and upgrades work on it,” the master chassis man explains. “This is actually the first car that he had, that I built back in 1997; it’s the one he ran the .71 with in the Battle for the Belts last year in Dallas.”

With the IHRA dropping its Pro Mod and Pro Stock classes a couple of seasons back to enter its Nitro Jam era and never much action on the NHRA front for him, Mauney concentrates on the ADRL classes and Top Sportsman racers to provide most of his new car business these days. Naturally, he’s well aware of the ongoing debate over whether minimum weights should be imposed in the “no rules” ADRL.      

 “I’m not a big proponent, I guess you’d say, for the ultra-lightweight cars,” Mauney states. “I mean, I’m not opposed to the titanium and the lightweight parts and all that, but I don’t want to see it get to a point where people do stupid stuff.

“I mean, it’s just not necessary. One of the lightest cars out there is Blake Housley’s Willys and that car was done back in the early-2000s and it’s as light as any car out there because it’s got all of the bull taken off it. That car is as light as anybody’s car out there, period,” Mauney states.

“But I’ve seen some stuff, and I’m not calling any names, but they’re cutting corners in places where it shouldn’t be done. I mean, I know a lot of my cars have been a little bit overkill from the start back in the mid-‘90s; they had some bigger pieces in there that weren’t called for at the time and we put a kidney bar in way before they implemented that, and you know, it was not about making it heavy or making it last longer; I just felt like that stuff needed to be done to make it safer.”

Mauney says he fears having no minimum weight provides a safety-stretching loophole that some racers and chassis builders will find unable to resist, regardless of the potential consequences.

“The whole thing about the weight just makes me nervous about people doing crazy stuff and getting somebody hurt when it doesn’t have to happen,” he says. “I’m not into that at all.”

Still, Mauney is not naïve enough to believe a weight rule—or any rule—will lead to a lower cost of racing.

“The thing is, even if you end up with a 2,400-pound car and that was the minimum, the people that have money are just going to spend more on parts and dyno time and research and testing, so it’s still going to be the same,” he insists.

“Drag racing at this level is all about the money when it comes right down to it; it’s still going to be hard for the lesser-funded guy to keep up. Like it or not, that’s just the way it is.”

Even over 31 years, some things never change.

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