Litens High Performance, an Original Equipment leader in automotive tensioning products for domestic and import vehicles, has announced that they had entered a relationship with NHRA Top Sportsman drag racer Don O’Neal.

For the past year, O’Neal has been testing a tensioning kit developed by Litens for use with the Magnuson supercharger in his 2017 Camaro. Litens High Performance will soon be offering this kit to the public in their line of high-performance belt drive products.

With over 40 years of experience developing accessory drive and vibration control products, Litens has the people, know-how, equipment, and products to do the job right. In the extreme environments of the high-performance world, this becomes even more critical. With Litens High-Performance products, you get parts you can rely on and a name you can trust.

O’Neal, who finished seventh and eighth in the NHRA’s national Top Sportsman standings in 2017 and 2018, will compete with a Camaro that will be powered by a Magnuson supercharged 427 LS engine utilizing the Litens tensioning kit..

“I prefer Litens-based technology and resources to develop the horsepower that we need,” O’Neal said. “We don’t have time for any mechanical failures; we need our belts to stay tight and on the engine so that we can complete the run. With the stock system, we could get two, maybe three runs before we would need to replace components.  This new system has allowed us to pull off 30 to 35 successful passes without changing a thing.”

O’Neal’s new car, branded with Litens livery, will be unveiled at NHRA Camping World 15th Annual Summit-Racing Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park on the June 25th weekend in Norwalk, OH, kicking off an aggressive racing schedule for the next five months.

“Drag racing has become technology-driven,” O’Neal said. “Power transmission we can count on is paramount in today’s high-performance world.”

Top Sportsman cars are among the most interesting in all of drag racing from a technical standpoint. The rules allow for supercharged, turbocharged, and nitrous oxide-injected engines. The vehicles are full-bodied and typically complete their quarter-mile pass in seven seconds or less, routinely surpassing 200 miles per hour. The Top Sportsman category is part of the NHRA’s Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series for sportsman racers. It is among the fastest categories in sportsman drag racing.

O’Neal said, “We made the switch from the factory setup to Litens to gain more control over the belt during the run. This new engine/vehicle combination is an opportunity for us to communicate the product message, the brand story of our partners, and their OEM quality to everyday people. It’s our goal to help create customer loyalty for Litens. These are products we’ll be putting into play, and they’re also products everyday people use in their own vehicles.”

One racer who has already made it to the Winner’s Circle with the tensioner kit is David Barton, who has scored two Wally trophies utilizing the kit thus far in 2021. The collaboration between Barton, O’Neal, and Litens is paying dividends, and O’Neal is ready to start cashing his in for the remainder of the 2021 racing season.