Drag racing fans have long been familiar with the name Steve Schmidt. The engine builder has been involved with everything from pro stock to competition eliminator and virtually every other class along the way as well. Like many builders out there, Schmidt is now heavily involved with top sportsman and top dragster engines. Those two very fast classes have exploded in popularity over the last few years and with their rise has been the rise of more and more power to sprint down the track ever faster in the hope of garnering good position on the qualifying ladder. Back in the day, showing up with a low seven second car meant you were probably somewhere in the middle. Now it means that you won’t even be racing first round.
Look, the engine we’re going to show you below is what Schmidt calls his “Intimidator”. This is 802ci of very angry big Chevy style engine. Using Holley EFI and a raft of REALLY good parts, the mill screams out 1,770hp and more than 1,300 lb/ft of torque that our ear tach says is in the neighborhood of 9,000 RPM. Can you imagine the size of the rod and piston assembly moving up and down at that speed?! Making all the power without a blower or nitrous or turbos is helpful to the racer because it is one less thing to worry about. Making it with Holley EFI on the engine is another benefit because you can whip out the lap top rather than the tools to get the car calmed down or cranked up depending on the conditions.
