 Here is the “weight reduction process” Tom dedicated himself to every winter. This is just part of the attention to detail. Every edge deburred, holes like this on door shells, rear package tray, etc, etc. Nicely done and still stock sheetmetal. |
THE SEARCH FOR 9 SECONDS
The first 9-second time slip would elude him for a while as it is no easy task to take a street-driven car and convert it into a 9-second winner when you do all the work yourself and the money you do it with has to come from your 9-to-5 job.
Some of the major things Tom did that provided the best results are these:
- ’91- Switched from 850 Holley to 950 HP, ran 10.70s
- ’92- Back-halved and caged the car, now with 14x32 slicks, ran 10.68
- ’93- Gary Ostrich freshened the 440. Tom installed an A&A Torqueflite with transbrake. Ran 10.50s
- ’94- New 440 by Ostrich, 11:1, .600” solid lifter cam, ran 10.30s and won the track championship at Cedar Falls Raceway. Now running 10.30s
- ’96- Rebuilt with lighter pistons, 14.5x32 slicks, ran 10.10s! Closer!
- Replaced ported iron 906 heads with Indy SRs out of the box. Ran 10.0s all season. Then it happened: Sept. 11, 1998 it runs 9.990!
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A quick look under the front of the car and you see a 4" x 6" piece of aluminum bolted on to the tubular K-member. He was tripping the beams at the finish line with the tires sometimes and the bumper on the occasions he "slightly abused the brakes" at the stripe. To cure what part of the car tripped the beam, this little (and legal) aluminum panel gets it every time. |
Tom and the Duster made it into the NINES with a car he originally bought as a street driver. Of course, you can guess what the next goal was during the winter of ’98, right? The mid-nines and then the EIGHTS!
 Think Tom hasn't worked keeping the appearance unique? How about the OEM vinyl roof, mint condition? Pretty cool. |
Tom decided it was time to step it up a bit in 1999. He had R&J port the Indy heads, put a little bit bigger cam in and then built his own rear spoiler. The spoiler proved its worth in back-to-back tests by running two miles per hour quicker with a better “feel” at 140 mph. He is now running solid 9.80s
Improvements in 2000 included his first aftermarket rods (9.80s on stock rods!), R&S Racing started doing the engine, and he replaced the Morrison coil-spring/shock setup with a pair of QA-1 adjustable coil-overs. Results were good and he is now running 9.70s.
By the end of 2003 he had installed a complete aluminum floor and firewall, installed a rack and pinion to the original stock suspension and fabricated a tubular cross-member. All the work was done in his garage off his own design. He also installed his first roller cam and replaced the stock block with a more reliable Mega-Block. He can now run 9.50s at ease.
