With a new paint job (and maybe a new chassis?), BangShift’s adopted fuel altered heroes have outdone themselves again. The Wild Rat crew has found more performance out of their tried and true big block Chevrolet combo, managing to smash into the 4-teen zone in the eighth mile with the 4.19/163 mph run you will see below. That effort was made at Dyno Dom’s Sikeston Raceway last weekend and it was preceded by an earlier 4.23 shot that came in the daylight. For those of your playing at home, these guys run an injected big block Chevy (aluminum New Century block) engine on roughly 100% nitro. Backed by a three speed transmission, the car is specifically setup to run in the eighth mile and does so around the greater Missouri area all summer long.
With the 4.19/193, the team claims that they are now the quickest injected altered in the country and we’d have a tough time refuting their claim. The awesomeness of the Wild Rat gets cranked up more when you consider that the thing is self-starting, it has no reverser and needs to be pushed back to the line, and the sound of that big block on fuel is enough to make our eyes roll back in our head for the right reasons. It is just that good.
As much as we hear people griping, wailing, and generally being Debbie Downer about the current state of drag racing, videos like this prove that the sport is lots more than what you see on the television or the internet live feed realm. Tracks like Sikeston and cars like the Wild Rat are all over the country and they are more numerous than anyone but a select few people realize. Now, to be fair there’s only one Rat and all others are imitators. How awesome would be be to have a small series of these cars running against each other at match races? Six or eight cars running the 4-teens, punishing the air with the concussions of nitro powered exhaust? We’d pay to see that show on a summer night!
Congratulations to the Wild Rat team for their accomplishments and for keeping the spirit of real guy nitro racing alive. You rule!
