Horsepower Wars $10K Drag Shootout: Inside Team Boddie and Team Bigun’s Go-Fast Rides

In our last $10K Drag Shootout update, all four teams worked down to the wire to get their cars done and on the trailer for a trip to Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Ohio to compete during the Shakedown at the Summit event in mid-September.

If you’re handy with a calendar, you know the race has already happened. But honest to Pete, we’re as much in the dark about who won as you are. Since the Horsepower Wars people won’t spill the beans, we’ll all be waiting for the $10K Shootout finale, scheduled to post the first week of October.

In the meantime, they have thrown us a couple of bones in the form of these ‘insider’ videos on the teams. The first two are Team Boddie and Team Bigun. Read the highlights, then click on the titles to see the videos.

Team Boddie, G-Boddie 1984 Buick Regal
Fox body Mustang? No thanks, says Team Boddie.

“We already knew we were going with a big-block, nitrous-fed powerplant,” team captain Russ Wullenwaber explained. “It was no big deal for us that the two Mustangs got picked first. We worked the other teams into thinking that everyone wanted the Mustangs. Team Stinky Pinky may have had their eye on the Regal, too. We’re just glad we beat them out.”

That powerplant is 505 cubic inch Rat motor built from the remains of an old drag boat engine the team found online

“We had three different engines to go after,” Wullenwaber said. “This engine wasn’t perfect--it was a basket case with missing pistons. With the additional parts we were getting in the deal, we decided to make this engine work.”

The nitrous systems—an NOS Big Shot plate setup and an NOS Pro Shot Fogger—are Team Boddie’s great equalizer. It almost wasn’t to be, though.

“We could only afford one really big plate once we crunched the budget numbers,” Wullenwaber said. “During midpoint of the build, we won a taco eating contest. This earned us a Nitrous Oxide Systems (NOS) big shot system, so we returned the plate nitrous system we originally purchased and rolled that money into an NOS Pro Shot Fogger system.”

Team Boddie really prided itself on its fabrication skills. The rear suspension is a perfect example.

“We cut out the front crash support bumper bracing and used that as material to relocate the suspension links. We also turned the front suspension sway bar into an anti-roll bar in the rear suspension using other metals removed from the Buick.,” Wullenwaber explained. “We proudly spent none of our budget on metal for fabricating.”

Horsepower Wars rule specify a 3,200 pound weight minimum. The car finished out at 3,060-pounds with Jay Boddie sitting in the driver’s seat (2,808 pounds minus driver). finishes, “taking the nose weight down to about 58 percent plus having the ability to move 140 pounds wherever we want in the car, Wullenwaber said. “I think we are good.”

Except for one teeny-tiny detail—a transmission that only works in reverse. Team Boddie literally worked until the last minute to get the Regal buttoned up, and despite heroic efforts could not get the Turbo 400 to work in any forward gear. That’s something they will have to—er, did—fix at the track.

Team Bigun, Beer Money 1986 Mustang GT
Team Bigun started their build before they had a car to build. Plan A was to score a Mustang. The team did have contingency plans if they would need to work with another car, but they laid so much hope into getting their body of choice, they actually brought Mustang modification templates with them.

“Our planning started on the day we found out that we qualified to be a part of the show,” said Eric Yost, team leader. “The Mustang would be our best hope for getting the horsepower goal and budget we had. Each of our guys has some form of experience racing or building a Mustang.”

The team also knew ahead of time their powerplant was going to be a 5.3-liter LM7 LS. They kept the factory block, rods, and crankshaft, and did their own port work on the factory aluminum heads. Engine builder Peter Harrell also half-filled the block with Home Depot- sourced concrete.

One of their significant investments came with the power adder and induction. A Borg-Warner 75mm cast wheel turbo is mated with a Holley Performance EFI system using a Holley HP engine control module. Instead of an intercooler, Team Bigun plumbed in a used nitrous injection system to cool the intake charge and add some additional horsepower.

“The first time we put our engine together on paper, we blew our budget within five minutes,” joked Yost. “We made it a goal to save money by going after used intake tubing, a used 44mm wastegate, used fuel injectors, and no intercooler so we could afford the EFI system we wanted. We’re taking a chance that the used wastegate functions correctly.”

While others teams were welding spider gears for a makeshift spool and hoping for the best with stock axles, Team Bigun ordered a Strange Engineering kit with alloy axles plus a new spool from Summit Racing. Team Bigun saved big money by building the Turbo 400 transmission themselves from a used core they scored for a mere $150.

Proving their plan was a sound one, Team Bigun got the Mustang finished in time to be first on the chassis dyno.

“Since we were first to fire our engine, we were first on the chassis dyno,” Yost said. “With a conservative tune-up, timing, and fuel programs, we ended up making right at 880 horsepower.”

I expect to run 1.10-second 60-foot times with what we have come race day,” Yost said. “With a good car, good power numbers on the chassis dyno, and Lyle in the driver’s seat, we are ready.”