Before arriving at Carolina, Ken Rainwater increased the inside diameter of his engine’s exhaust tubes from 3.5 inches to 5 inches and said it lowered the back pressure in the 598-cubic-inch, twin-turbo Ford from 11.5 psi to -.3 psi at the finish line. “Anything zero or less is what you want,” Rainwater said, “so this makes a big improvement, especially in our top-end speed.”
Despite ignition trouble during the race which caused the rev limiter to come on unexpectedly, the Kimberly, AL-based racer made it to the semis, where Lynch ended his weekend a little early. Rainwater’s car also will have a new look in ’07, as designer Rod Burke is already working on a new blue-flamed motif.
Despite bowing out at Carolina with a bad light in round three against Ken Rainwater, Steve Kirk Jr. secured the 2006 Mickey Thompson Outlaw 10.5 championship. The Monroe, GA, speed shop owner and chassis builder said he’s looking forward to putting a big number “1” on the window of his 2000 Camaro, but hasn’t yet determined if he’ll mount a full-scale effort to defend his ORSCA title next year.
LIMITED STREET
Limited Street winner Eric Dillard (left) hams it up with teammate Tim Lynch as they “play” their new Epiphone Flying V guitars, awarded courtesy of Horsepower TV, in Carolina
Dragway’s victory lane. Dillard qualified his twin-turbocharged ’91 Mustang third with a 4.811-seconds pass, then improved to 4.796, 4.791 (at 162.67, which set a new ORSCA speed record for the class), and 4.809 before winning with a 4.859 at 157.45 mph against Carlton Thompson, who lost traction early.
“We turned it up for the (E.T.) record and we had the 60-foot and the 330 time to do it, but it stood up about 250 feet out when we turned the big stuff on and it wanted to go toward the bumper so I just grabbed it and let it come down,” Dillard said in explaining why his performance dropped off a bit in the final round. “I had to get out of it, I had no choice and it was more important to get the win.”
