Fuel Altereds Forever!

Mike Sullivan AA/Fuel Altered The "new" Mike Sullivan Fiat was conceived as a way to burn some fuel and give fans a good show in the same spirit of the original car. The basic scheme consists of a 6-71 supercharged, nitromethane fueled, "426" style direct-driven HEMI stuffed in to a 115" chassis with a Fiat Topolino body. Think of it as basically a Nostalgia Top Fuel dragster combination dropped in to a car with half the wheelbase. More detailed information below:

Car:

Builder: Originally a Plueger FC, "Alteredized" by Owen Engineering Length: 115" Weight: 1800 Wings: Chassis Shop Body: Fiberglass Trends Fiat "Topolino" Paint: Estrus Racing Safety Equipment: Taylor Motorsports Products

This chassis started life in 1998 as a Steve Plueger built fuel Funny Car in the Joe Gibbs racing stable. Mike and partner Steve Haight turned it in to a "transformer" style AA/FA and ran it for several years with Gary Read behind the wheel. For this project, Mike and Chris Owen shortened the car to 115" and replaced the A-arm front with a dropped axle. The body was pulled from an old Fiberglass Trends mold with the nose having been stretched to fit the car. Estrus Racing expertly applied the paint and Dennis Jones lettered and striped the car with amazing fidelity to the original.

Engine:

Block: BAE billet Hemi, .100 tall Crankshaft: Bryant 4.375 stroke Connecting Rods: Venolia Pistons: CP Carrillo 4.250 Camshaft: Crane Cylinder Heads: BAE "Cerny" style fuel heads Rocker Arms: Stage V Supercharger: GMC 6-71, updated by Littlefield Fuel Injector: Enderle "Bird Catcher" Barrel Valve: Pete Jackson Fuel Pump: Waterman, 21 GPM Management: Right foot Magneto: MSD 44 Pro Mag

The engine is basically "big show" surplus, based on a billet BAE block and late 90's era fuel heads. It isn't ideal for small pump/blower applications but we aren't trying to rotate the earth and the low compression keeps us out of too much trouble. We use a single 44 amp magneto like N/TF, a 21 GPM pump like N/FC, and an old stock case/cast rotor GMC 6-71 supercharger updated by Littlefield.

Clutch/Drivetrain:

Clutch: AFT 10.5" 3 Disk Transmission: None Reverser: Moore Performance Differential: Strange 9.5 Top Loader, 4.10 Ratio Rear Wheels/ Tires 16" Sander Engineering/ Hoosier NTF Tires

We run the car with direct-drive and a small tire like N/TF. This combo was chosen because of it's basic simplicity and handling advantages as well as helping to keep us out of the 5 second zone.