Thu, 8 Oct 2009, 11:16 PM Spent A Year Chasing Monsters

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2009 Auto Imagery, Inc.

John Robinson

Over the years there have been some unique cars in the sport of drag racing. Going back to the very early days, drivers tried cars with four wheels.on the back of the car. There were also three-wheelers and a look at history will show how that worked out. Twin-engine dragsters were the big thing for a long while, and while most of them ran with two engines that were exactly alike, there were those that took a different route. The famous "Odd Couple" dragster that was owned by Ken Theiss and driven by Walt Stevens, had one Chevrolet and one Chrysler engine in it and that made it popular, or unpopular with fans of both brands. Oh yeah, it also ran well and won, taking top honors at the 1971 Winternationals. And then there was Jim Busby who has two Ford double-overhead cam engines in his dragster. While it was a mechanical success it never parlayed that into wins on the race track. Other "wacky racers" included the twin-engine Nova Funny Car of Dean Dillingham and the beautiful "Syndicate" twin-engine Top Fuel car and the famous twin-engine, rear-engine car of Rico Paris. And there were more, lots more, but you would have to go a long way before you found a car as different and as unique as the one that John Robinson is currently running. Competing in Super Comp, John's car is about as far away from the ubiquitous, rear-engine, big-block Chevrolet-powered dragster as you can get. It's a six-cylinder, nitrous-powered, 360 cubic inch, turbo-charged diesel. Oh yeah, did I mention that's it's also a Funny Car?

John Robinson

John Robinson may be new to drag racing but he isn't new to diesels. "I started out working at a diesel shop when I was still in school," he said. "I changed tires and dumped oil. You didn't get any lower at the shop than I was." But he stayed with it, and today he owns one of the best diesel shops in Texas, Texas Diesel Power in Weatherford. "We started out doing just regular work on diesels, big rigs and things like that, but recently we have moved to working more on the small diesels and pickups. Plus we do a lot of high performance work, too." John said one of the great things about diesels is that you can add about 175 "true horsepower" to a vehicle for around $685. "It's a lot cheaper and easier than if you want to add that kind of power to your small-block Chevy engine. That will get you a program by one of the top diesel companies like Smarty, Bully Dog or Edge," he said. In addition to keeping very busy at his day job, John's shop is also home to this one-of-a kind Super Comp car. "I work on the diesel truck for Paul Kelly and Jimmy Jones and I've become good friends with them. When they decided to sell their alky Funny Car I thought it would make a good car for what I had in mind." When asked exactly what he had in mind John responded, "Well, we thought we could eventually get the car in the Top Sportsman class, but right now, Super Comp is the only place we can run." He also said that, looking back on the project, it may have been easier and wiser to have built a complete new car rather than try to modify an alky car to his specifications. "Finances were a big thing when we got this car, but I have to admit that starting from scratch may have been easier. For the entire first year that we ran it all we did was chase monsters."

As you can imagine, a car that features a diesel engine, a turbocharger, nitrous oxide and a flip top body may not be the easiest thing to tune or drive. "We'll get this thing running, I have faith in that. But the driving part right now is a real handful. You have to get the turbo spooled up and that takes a little time. Fortunately the other racers are very understanding and they work with me because I don't want to smoke them in or anything. At the points race last month I just sat on the line and waited until the car was ready to go. Everyone we have raced has been very understanding. Of course, when it comes to eliminations that's a completely different deal and I understand that." At Dallas John had troubles during the qualifying runs, but seemed to work them all out by round one. Still, with a car that has gone as quick as 8.30, it's tough to tame it down on race day, and John wasn't able to do that, and as a result, he ran out in the first round. "Right now we're not as concerned about winning as we are about getting it to run well and consistently," he said. "I really don't have a racing background and, as you can tell, I'm pretty sorry at it right now." Hey, don't worry John, everyone has to start somewhere.

While John is going through the growing pains of a new car that has a very unusual combination, he does say that there are a few people he can talk to about the combination. "Gale Banks has done a lot of great things with diesels and turbos and we talk every now and then." And then there are the tractor pullers who have been using strange combinations for years. "Yeah, those guys have it together when it comes to making big horsepower. But they have all the time in the world to spool up the turbos before they take off and that's a luxury that we just don't have." What he does have is an extensive background in diesels and a strong desire to make this car competitive. "I'm in it for the long haul. Some folks wonder why we do this but I know it will work, it's just a little frustrating but we have it going A to B right now."

In addition to the mechanical challenges, John says that he has encountered one problem when driving it and it doesn't have anything to do with the car itself. "There's just so much noise in the other lane that I can't hear my car," he said. "That surprised me. I have to rely on my gauges a little more than I thought I would. It's tough to hear the turbo spooling up with all that noise over there." Once he does get the car staged and sees the green light, John is off on a wild ride, a ride that includes three stages of nitrous kicking in down the track. "We use about eight to ten pounds of nitrous on a run and that's with the one turbo that we have on it. Once we get this thing running well we'll add a triple turbo unit over the winter." Better watch out, John, that could bring those monsters back to your pit area!

When asked why a guy with no drag racing experience would undertake such a complicated task at this stage of his life John simply smiled and said, "I guess it's a mid-life crisis. I turned forty and this seemed like a good thing to do. Besides that, I own a diesel shop, these are the things I work on and I want to prove to people that they can make good race engines." For a guy who began his diesel career busting tires and who now owns one of the best diesel shops in Texas, you have to figure that no challenge can be too big. "It's a lot of fun, it helps advertise the business and since the performance market for diesels is growing I thought we might as well be a part of it." John plans to run a few more races this year before embarking on a full Division 4 schedule next year. "We want to show that we can be a real Super Comp team with this combination." And when this racing season is over John will be heading to Las Vegas to display the car at the SEMA show. "We had it there last year and are looking forward to going there again. You can meet a lot of people and maybe someone will take notice of the car and want to help us out." So, if you're at the races later this year, look for this one-of-a-kind car in the Super Comp staging lanes. Or, if you're in Vegas, check it out at the SEMA show. But be careful, because according to John, there are still monsters lurking around it. At least for now.

NHRA: 10 Most Recent Entries [ top ]

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Jul 27- FEATURE- Did You Know? by Bob Frey
Jul 26- DENVER - Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Wrap Up
Jul 25- DENVER - Special Awards
Jul 25- DENVER - Sunday Wrap Up
Jul 25- DENVER - Championship Points
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Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Top Fuel
Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Funny Car
Jul 25- DENVER - Summary of Eliminations in Pro Stock



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