Written by Mary Lendzion
Photos by NMCA and courtesy of Jeff Rudolf
As a racer in NMCA VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod, Jeff Rudolf knows firsthand how fiercely competitive the category is.
He also knows that it takes conviction to have a chance at winning a round, and he has proven in the past several years that he is up to that challenge in his Larry Jeffers Race Cars-built 1969-bodied Camaro.
Rudolf, who was successful with a twin turbo combination, decided to change things up a bit last year and go with a ProCharger F-4 in front of his ProLine-built Hemi. He delivered his car to Larry Jeffers Race Cars to have some fabrication work performed to prepare it for the new ProCharger F-4, and to have the engine moved backed four inches. To much fanfare, he debuted the changes at the NMCA race at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio last August, and clocked low 3.70s.
“Brandon Stroud, who is with ProLine, tuned the car for me with our FuelTech FT600 engine management system, and it went well,” said Rudolf, who uses a Turbo 400 from M&M Transmission to help plant power in his car rolling on Hoosier tires. “There was quite a learning curve with the new setup, but we liked it right away and we think it was a really good decision to move to the ProCharger. It’s very quick in the 60-foot, and that really matters.”
Rudolf and his team continued to dial in the new combination before pulling into the NMCA race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indiana last September.
“Brandon Stroud wasn’t able to make that race, and we tried to tune the combination over the phone, but we had some challenges,” said Rudolf.
Pushing on, he headed to the World Street Nationals at Orlando Speed World in Florida last November, followed by the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida last December and the US Street Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in January.
“We have been gathering a lot of good data,” said Rudolf. “Unfortunately, at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, the chutes on the car went into the wheelie bars, and when I got on the brakes, the car started hopping, and I flat-spotted the front tires, hit and crunched up the front end, but fortunately, we ran a personal best of 3.66 at the US Street Nationals, which we were really happy about.”
Ready to ramp up his efforts, Rudolf hired ProLine to build a new Hemi engine for his car, and he will add FuelTech injectors to his program.
“The new engine will have a little more horsepower than the old engine, and it should help us come out swinging pretty hard,” said Rudolf, who added that his car will soon go to RK Racecraft for new zoomie headers to complement the new engine, as well as a new carbon fiber front end from Tim McAmis Performance Parts.
Then, Rudolf, who is confident his car will run low 3.60s this year, will head to the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem presented by Holbrook Racing Engines, March 17-19 at Orlando Speed World. He has circled all six NMCA events on his schedule, and is gunning for a championship.
“It is going to take consistency to have a chance at the championship in Xtreme Pro Mod,” said Rudolf. “I have a good car and a good team made up of our fulltime tuner, Brandon Stroud, my son, Cooper Rudolf, Jim Biel, Pete Pacalo, Brooke Bailey and Scott Dufek, and we’re going to keep moving forward.”
Photos by NMCA and courtesy of Jeff Rudolf
As a racer in NMCA VP Racing Lubricants Xtreme Pro Mod, Jeff Rudolf knows firsthand how fiercely competitive the category is.
He also knows that it takes conviction to have a chance at winning a round, and he has proven in the past several years that he is up to that challenge in his Larry Jeffers Race Cars-built 1969-bodied Camaro.
Rudolf, who was successful with a twin turbo combination, decided to change things up a bit last year and go with a ProCharger F-4 in front of his ProLine-built Hemi. He delivered his car to Larry Jeffers Race Cars to have some fabrication work performed to prepare it for the new ProCharger F-4, and to have the engine moved backed four inches. To much fanfare, he debuted the changes at the NMCA race at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio last August, and clocked low 3.70s.
“Brandon Stroud, who is with ProLine, tuned the car for me with our FuelTech FT600 engine management system, and it went well,” said Rudolf, who uses a Turbo 400 from M&M Transmission to help plant power in his car rolling on Hoosier tires. “There was quite a learning curve with the new setup, but we liked it right away and we think it was a really good decision to move to the ProCharger. It’s very quick in the 60-foot, and that really matters.”
Rudolf and his team continued to dial in the new combination before pulling into the NMCA race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indiana last September.
“Brandon Stroud wasn’t able to make that race, and we tried to tune the combination over the phone, but we had some challenges,” said Rudolf.
Pushing on, he headed to the World Street Nationals at Orlando Speed World in Florida last November, followed by the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida last December and the US Street Nationals at Bradenton Motorsports Park in January.
“We have been gathering a lot of good data,” said Rudolf. “Unfortunately, at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, the chutes on the car went into the wheelie bars, and when I got on the brakes, the car started hopping, and I flat-spotted the front tires, hit and crunched up the front end, but fortunately, we ran a personal best of 3.66 at the US Street Nationals, which we were really happy about.”
Ready to ramp up his efforts, Rudolf hired ProLine to build a new Hemi engine for his car, and he will add FuelTech injectors to his program.
“The new engine will have a little more horsepower than the old engine, and it should help us come out swinging pretty hard,” said Rudolf, who added that his car will soon go to RK Racecraft for new zoomie headers to complement the new engine, as well as a new carbon fiber front end from Tim McAmis Performance Parts.
Then, Rudolf, who is confident his car will run low 3.60s this year, will head to the Scoggin Dickey Parts Center NMCA Muscle Car Mayhem presented by Holbrook Racing Engines, March 17-19 at Orlando Speed World. He has circled all six NMCA events on his schedule, and is gunning for a championship.
“It is going to take consistency to have a chance at the championship in Xtreme Pro Mod,” said Rudolf. “I have a good car and a good team made up of our fulltime tuner, Brandon Stroud, my son, Cooper Rudolf, Jim Biel, Pete Pacalo, Brooke Bailey and Scott Dufek, and we’re going to keep moving forward.”