Written by Mary Lendzion
Photos by NMCA and courtesy of Joy Neuenschwander
For Chad Neuenschwander, there is nothing like the sound of his naturally aspirated engine as he soars down track in his Mustang.
The revving and roaring are music to his ears, and he has proven time and time again that he would go to the edge of the Earth to ensure that his combination continues to be competitive in the NMCA Dart NA 10.5 category.
That is why Neuenschwander took his 415 cubic-inch engine from his home in Indiana all the way to Stanfield Racing Engines in Louisiana, where his son, Dylan Neuenschwander, works as an engine-builder, last summer to have it finessed and fine-tuned on the dyno.
His engine, built on a Dart cast iron block with Edelbrock SC1 heads, was freshened and received a new HRE intake. Additionally, Chad’s previous single carburetor was replaced with two four-barrel carburetors that Greg Stanfield used in his Pro Stock Truck.
“The engine was on the dyno at Stanfield’s, and it makes more horsepower, which Dylan and I were both really happy about,” said Chad, who rows gears with a G-Force GF-2000 clutchless five-speed transmission.
The dyno session was the Monday of the TorqStorm Superchargers NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Paul’s High Performance, July 20-23, 2023 at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, and Dylan drove it to Indiana on Tuesday and helped Chad install it in his Mustang.
“In addition to installing the engine, we had to finish some other work before we could head to the race,” said Chad, who also has steadfast support from his wife, Joy. “We had to finish the floor of the car where I had made changes to accommodate new custom headers, and we had to set up the Ram clutch. We also needed to cut and glue my hood scoop to accommodate the different carburetors.”
Chad and Dylan fired the car up the Friday morning of the race, and left Indiana for Michigan.
“When we got to the Michigan race, we still had to put the PST driveshaft in the car and go through the electronics for the MSD Power Grid for the new combination,” said Chad, who also replaced his previous Mickey Thompson tires with those purchased from the Mickey Thompson display at the race.
By the time work on the car was wrapped up, it was time for the second round of qualifying, and Chad clocked an commendable 8.07.
“We had the car set up pretty softly coming out of the hole,” said Chad. “We just wanted some data on the engine. I clicked it off at 1,000 feet and was happy to see the 8.07.”
Chad advanced past the first round of eliminations, and then discovered a problem with his two-step switch in the second round of eliminations, resulting in a loss.
“Despite losing in the second round of eliminations, we were really happy about how the car ran, and we know that it is going to run a lot faster once we make more passes and gather more data,” said Chad, who is now looking forward to the 22nd Annual Mickey Thompson NMCA All-American Nationals presented by Sick the Mag, August 25-27 at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio. “Dylan is doing so great, and I’m so glad that I have him working on my racing program with me. He is taking care of the engine while I take care of the clutch, and he runs the valves, checks the valve springs and tunes the carburetor, which is a lot. I would not be able to do this without Dylan and my wife, Joy. I also want to thank the guys from Stanfield. They are amazing, too.”
Photos by NMCA and courtesy of Joy Neuenschwander
For Chad Neuenschwander, there is nothing like the sound of his naturally aspirated engine as he soars down track in his Mustang.
The revving and roaring are music to his ears, and he has proven time and time again that he would go to the edge of the Earth to ensure that his combination continues to be competitive in the NMCA Dart NA 10.5 category.
That is why Neuenschwander took his 415 cubic-inch engine from his home in Indiana all the way to Stanfield Racing Engines in Louisiana, where his son, Dylan Neuenschwander, works as an engine-builder, last summer to have it finessed and fine-tuned on the dyno.
His engine, built on a Dart cast iron block with Edelbrock SC1 heads, was freshened and received a new HRE intake. Additionally, Chad’s previous single carburetor was replaced with two four-barrel carburetors that Greg Stanfield used in his Pro Stock Truck.
“The engine was on the dyno at Stanfield’s, and it makes more horsepower, which Dylan and I were both really happy about,” said Chad, who rows gears with a G-Force GF-2000 clutchless five-speed transmission.
The dyno session was the Monday of the TorqStorm Superchargers NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Paul’s High Performance, July 20-23, 2023 at U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Michigan, and Dylan drove it to Indiana on Tuesday and helped Chad install it in his Mustang.
“In addition to installing the engine, we had to finish some other work before we could head to the race,” said Chad, who also has steadfast support from his wife, Joy. “We had to finish the floor of the car where I had made changes to accommodate new custom headers, and we had to set up the Ram clutch. We also needed to cut and glue my hood scoop to accommodate the different carburetors.”
Chad and Dylan fired the car up the Friday morning of the race, and left Indiana for Michigan.
“When we got to the Michigan race, we still had to put the PST driveshaft in the car and go through the electronics for the MSD Power Grid for the new combination,” said Chad, who also replaced his previous Mickey Thompson tires with those purchased from the Mickey Thompson display at the race.
By the time work on the car was wrapped up, it was time for the second round of qualifying, and Chad clocked an commendable 8.07.
“We had the car set up pretty softly coming out of the hole,” said Chad. “We just wanted some data on the engine. I clicked it off at 1,000 feet and was happy to see the 8.07.”
Chad advanced past the first round of eliminations, and then discovered a problem with his two-step switch in the second round of eliminations, resulting in a loss.
“Despite losing in the second round of eliminations, we were really happy about how the car ran, and we know that it is going to run a lot faster once we make more passes and gather more data,” said Chad, who is now looking forward to the 22nd Annual Mickey Thompson NMCA All-American Nationals presented by Sick the Mag, August 25-27 at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio. “Dylan is doing so great, and I’m so glad that I have him working on my racing program with me. He is taking care of the engine while I take care of the clutch, and he runs the valves, checks the valve springs and tunes the carburetor, which is a lot. I would not be able to do this without Dylan and my wife, Joy. I also want to thank the guys from Stanfield. They are amazing, too.”