Well, the tri-shield guys are probably going to fry my ass for calling it a Buick, but the NHRA saw fit to classify it as one and the parts and pieces were sold as Buick items, so I’m telling the truth! With that tap dance out of the way I can tell you that this is one of the coolest motors ever to see a drag strip and the good news is that the mill is being reborn to see many more of them. What’s cooler than a great motor? A great motor with a history….especially if it is a family history. See, this engine belonged to and was run by Dale Hall, a racer who became famous or infamous depending on your rooting interest for beating guys with small blocks in the Pro Comp category and later in the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks. While Rick Santos was the last man standing with a competitive small block in TAD, Dale Hall was his equal on the opposite side of the country for many years and this engine was one of the tools that he used to thump competitors up and down the east coast. Measuring out at less than 400 inches, it produced 2,100hp at its peak in the early 1990s before Dale retired and it was resigned to the back of the shop as a piece of aluminum sculpture.

In the years since Dale stopped racing, his son Scott who was a faithful companion for all those years took up the sport with vigor. Scott has most recently been a player in NHRA D1 Top Dragster running a nitrous assisted big block Chevy powered car. Scott works for Moroso in Connecticut, so the dragster was both a rolling test bed for Moroso parts and pieces but also an outlet for Scott to scratch the go fast itch that is an embedded part of his DNA code. We’re talking about a guy who knew more about blown alky engines by the time he was 10 than most of us will ever know by the time we’re 100. In a rather cruel twist of fate, Dale’s last couple of years have not been good ones. He’s in the twilight of his life and is fighting the types of issues that many of our elder family members have to fight. His fertile mind that was so adept at making things go faster is unfortunately working against him now. With that being said, he’s receiving great care from Scott and the rest of the Hall family and he’s in the best hands he can be in.

When it became clear that Dale was not going to be working in the race shop or able to be involved in racing action any more, Scott went and took a look around at what was still there, gathering dust. He then formulated a plan that would both honor his father’s memory and simultaneously feed his own need for speed. He sold his previous engine and dragster and went hunting for a new chassis with the plan of using the infamous Buick that his dad last campaigned as the power plant. Since the thing was able to shove and older and heavier car down the course into the mid-5 second zone back in the day, Scott knew it would need to be dialed back for the NHRA’s (or at least division one’s) rule of nothing faster than 6.00 in top dragster. Knowing that, dragged the Buick engine out of the shop and into daylight for the first time in nearly two decades…and if we don’t mind saying ourselves, it looks full on bad ass. Not only that, he tore the thing down, got it off to the machine shop and the motor is officially back together, running, and dyno tested. Oh, did we mention that there is video of said dyno testing at the bottom of the page? Because there is. But if you skip to that, you are going to miss a pile of awesome photos.

For us, this story rules on multiple levels. Sure, the motor is bad ass, but the reality is that is speaks to how deep racing and hot rodding run in families. Scott could have easily just sold this deal off and made some good coin on it. Instead it was more important to him to honor his dad’s legacy and fill the air with the same screaming roar his pop did so successfully for so many years. This is 100% BangShift approved coolness on all levels.

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS AND READ THE CAPTIONS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS 380-ODD INCH BUICK FROM HELL!

So the solid Rodeck block isn’t exactly factory Buick issue, but c’amon, this thing is beyond bad ass. Also, see the main caps? They look strong enough to support a bridge. Dale Hall machined those himself for the expressed duty of anchoring this motor and keeping the crank from bouncing off the track!

SEE! It says Buick right there, big as life! The heads were made by Dart and they are solid. As Scott tells us, these were the hot deal before stuff like the SB2 head came to be. These were very limited production pieces and Hall was the first to receive them, much to the ire of some other alcohol racers who assumed that they were going to be first in line.

Here’s the major league PSI screw blower that’ll force feed those 380 (or so) cubic inches. If you think you have a blower on your car…think again. THIS is a blower!

Here’s a shot of the motor with the bitchin’ intake manifold on it and waiting for the big PSI to be cinched down on top of it. The oil pan on the mill was made by Moroso in the early 1990s and still survives until today. You see it was gold in other photos, Scott had it done in black. Quality tuning over the years meant that it wasn’t blasted full of exiting connecting rod holes!

There are like 50 swear words we yell out when looking at this photo because it is so awesome. When the supercharger is literally almost as big as the motor, you are living right!

Not a sight gag or a mock up from something else. This is a real piece and a real piece of history. We’re so glad that Scott is going to uncork it once again!

What’s it going in you ask? This nice looking dragster which will see competition in the NHRA division one top dragster ranks. When the motor was in its prime as a top alcohol mill it made 2,100 + horsepower out of 380-390ci. Scott needs to dial that back a bunch for top dragster.

Looks right as rain, doesn’t it?

Maybe we’re just weird but we cannot stop staring at this monster. With the blower back on, it still looks like it is ready to swallow a man whole.

Now the best of all. Here’s the completed and running motor on the dyno. Not just any dyno, but the inertia dyno that Dale Hall himself built back in the early 1990s and that Scott saw this and many other motors tested on. Dale sold the dyno to a shop and Scott thought it was only right that the thing be broken in again on the actual dyno his ad built back in the day. Again, how friggin’ awesome is that?!