Wayne Price is threatening to be well and truly back at the pointy end of Pro Alcohol with the addition of US supercharged alcohol tuning wizard Darren Mayer to his team for the coming 400 Thunder super season.
Price and his Funny Car have always seemed just on the edge of a breakthrough, but haven’t been able to crack the quick times some of the competition have stepped up to. He currently sits seventh in the Pro Alcohol championship after two rounds.
“We hurt a new motor bad in October due to a rod bolt failure and we have been stuck in the mid to low 5.50s for a few years now,” Price said. “After speaking to our crew it was decided it was time for change as the entire bottom end needed replacing.”
Rather than spending more time in the wilderness, Price wanted to get his performances into the zone quickly, and so he got on the phone to Darren, whose DMPE combos can be found in Scott MacLean’s Holden Monaro Pro Slammer (the quickest blown sedan in Australia), Emilio Spinozzi’s Chevelle Pro Slammer and Nigel Johnson’s US-spec Top Alcohol dragster.
“Instead of replacing (the blown engine) with the same combination we had run for many years, I rang Darren from DMPE and did a deal where he would consult to our team for 12 months, resulting in two complete new engine combinations,” Price explained.
“We sent both cranks back to Marine Crankshafts for repairs and are just waiting on a truck load of spares which we haven’t been in a position to do because we have been chasing our tail.”
The new horsepower will hopefully match the improvements the team made recently to their presentation including a fresh look on both their car and transport.
“We cosmetically changed both the car and trailer late last year which was a huge task, and we have a new Arrow awning on the water now to improve not only our visual presentation but also set up and pack up. We are all very excited to get back to the track and see what we can do.”
