If you were to show up even one bullet short of a loaded gun in NMCA and NSCA competition, you'd be shown the trailer in a hurry. Unlike all-Ford drag-racing events, in the NMCA and the NSCA you have every other make known to man gunnin' for you. Challengers, Camaros, Corvettes, Barracudas, even S-10 pickups are running seriously quick times.
However, you still can't forget about the other Mustangs within the series. You constantly have to update your car to try and stay a step ahead of the competition, looking for that extra boost of horsepower to get you out front and keep you there. With the promise of increased horsepower and durability over other superchargers, Matt and Jay Scranton couldn't afford not to give the ProCharger a shot.
Behind the ProCharger is an aluminum Fontana block featuring a 4.100-inch bore filled with a Sonny Bryant billet steel crank, Oliver billet steel rods, Ross pistons, and Childs & Albert rings. Robert Fulco of Fulco Race Engines from Lutz, Florida, performed the necessary machining of the short-block while Jay is responsible for the final assembly of the 370ci bottle rocket. Yates heads featuring a port job from Bennett Racing handle the small-block's breathing with help from Del West titanium valves, Comp Cams springs, and T&D shaft-mount rockers.
Of course, the cam specs are a little hush-hush. What we do know is that it's a Comp Cams roller custom ground to Bennett specs. We're guessing it's somewhere between a B303 and what John Force has in his hot rod.
Though the cam is secret, the Scrantons were more than happy to tell us they built their own headers and combined them with Flowmaster Outlaw mufflers to rumble out the small-block's sweet sound. The hairy piece of machinery sitting on top of the short-block is a Yates intake, also ported by Bennett Racing, and receiving air through a 90mm Accufab throttle body.
A Speed-Pro engine management system controls fuel flow via the 160 lb/hr MSD injectors fed by Bennett fuel rails and a Product Engineering pump.
Igniting the fuel mixture is a Holley Strip Dominator ignition system, while all the happenings are recorded via an Edelbrock Quick Data unit with support from John Moloney of Speed Solutions, located in the Scrantons' hometown of Tampa, Florida. All coating and polishing of engine components was handled by Thermo-Shield Coatings and Polishing, also located in Tampa. As mentioned earlier, the Scrantons' new choice of power adder is a ProCharger D-3M huffer. With the ProCharger on board, they have averaged a two-tenth improvement in quarter-mile times.
Controlling that 7-second power is a Joe Deluco-built Powerglide with a JW case and bellhousing actuated by a Turbo Action shifter. A Continental 8-inch converter enables Matt to come out of the hole at somewhere around 6,000 rpm. A Precision Shaft Technologies carbon-fiber driveshaft carries power back to a Chassis Works Fab 9 housing featuring an Aerospace Components aluminum center section and Moser 35-spline axles. Gear sets of choice range from 4.10 to 4.56, depending on track conditions. Aerospace Components' disc brakes and AVO coilover shocks reside at all four corners, while tubular A-arms ride up front and an Applied Racing Technologies four-link plants the Cobra's backside for optimum traction when it comes time to launch. Speaking of launches, the Scrantons rely on Mickey Thompson 31x10.5-inch ET drag slicks out back for traction and ET Fronts to steer them in the right direction, all the while being wrapped around Holeshot Engineering wheels both front and rear.
All that hardware is no good without sponsor-friendly paint, so Joe Hughes of Service Paint sprayed the silver base-coat, and Ronnie Setzer worked his magic with the Silver Bullet graphics.
It's all go, no show inside the cockpit, however. No mac-daddy stereo here, just Auto Meter gauges, RCI aluminum seats and safety belts, and the previously mentioned data-acquisition equipment. Danny Adams built the rollcage while Ray Miller Race Cars performed the interior aluminum work.
Along with racing in the NMCA and NSCA, the Scrantons make the trip to the World Ford Challenge, select NMRA and FFW races, and local races like the Real World Street Nationals and Ford Power Festival. At these races they'll be looking to improve on their current best times of 5.06 at 142 mph in the eighth and 7.87 at 178 mph in the quarter. At this time, the Scrantons hold the current NSCA Super Street record with a 7.88 at 176 mph.
They're members of the select club who have beaten Billy Glidden in 1999-it was on Huntsville Dragway's eighth-mile track in Alabama, but hey, a victory's a victory no matter how you look at it.
For the future, Matt and Jay Scranton are contemplating a move up to the Pro Stock Truck ranks in either the NHRA or the IHRA. However, for now they're content to reload their '93 Cobra with a ProCharger and see where it takes them.