NHRA’s Competition Eliminator category is the place where the weird, the wild, and the mechanically creative masterpieces still live. Case in point is this amazing 248ci four cylinder engine that uses a block that was scratch built from a chunk of aluminum, a custom crank, EFI, and a pro stock cylinder head. All together, Mike Hanratty Sr’s creation makes a blazing 720hp out of just four holes and without the help of boost, exotic fuels, or a whiff of the happy gas. The Hanratty family has been competing in Comp Eliminator on the national event trail and in the NHRA’s Division One for many years and they do so with a couple of cars. This engine powers a K/A (K/Altered) driven by Mike Hanratty. His bother Pete is the one who made this dyno video and shot us a note about it.

Again, the block is 100% machined from scratch. From there, it just keeps getting better. I’ll admit that the thing threw me off the first couple of times I saw it because since it is a “big” four it almost has the tone of a V6. The damned car runs so fast it seem like it should be a six but when you see the exhaust side of the head there are clearly only four ports and four pipes. I was finally able to catch up with the Hanratty family at Maple Grove this year and I had a nice long chat with Mike in the pits. They had some struggles over the years with this combo, one of which was an electronic gremlin that they chased for a couple of season and was preventing the motor from revving to where it needed to. Once that mystery was solved, it has been full bore ever since. The development work continues and Hanratty Sr continues to tinker and tweak on the thing to make more power. The guys were running down in the 7.50s with the engine bolted to their Bantam bodied altered at Maple Grove in October and there’s nothing more fun for an announcer to get the crowd whipped up on seeing a car with this type of combo rip down the track.

Lots of drag racing follows the mold of other motorsports. Racers follow well worn paths to making power and achieving their goals. For this reason it is even more important to recognize someone like Mike Hanratty Sr. and his racing sons for what they are doing. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t a short road, but the results speak for themselves. 100% BangShift approved coolness here.

Now, onto the video! Scroll down after the video to see photos of Mike, the car and the engine! Comp Eliminator is still full of smart, smart gearheads.

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS “HALF A PRO STOCK” MOTOR SCREAM ON THE DYNO –