A Battle Of American Muscle 2007

Qualifying continued for the third day, with a major reshuffling of the leader board and a glimpse into what would develop into the finals: a Ford versus Chevy shootout. Hinkle Performance carried the last hope for the Chrysler camp with a stout 340 entry. It certainly looked promising in the warm-up pulls, but when the hammer was dropped for the scored runs, the Mopar's numbers were decimated. A plug wire burned clean through on the header and cost this one its shot. A pair of FE Fords followed, the Blair Patrick 332 and Barry Rabotnick's 427. Both finished, but fell short of the numbers needed for contention, though Rabotnick's Ford pulled the highest peak horsepower numbers to that point, at 661 hp.

Decidedly, a tidal change occurred when the next engine hit the dyno, the School of Automotive Machinists' 351 Cleveland topped with the CHI 3V Cleveland-style heads. This top-end combination dominated the field in the '06 event, and the SAM entry portended the possibility of a repeat, with the team solidly grabbing the lead position from the Chevrolets, posting a score of 2,433.8. Performance Unlimited's 351 Windsor followed the 351 Cleveland with a strong showing, but it wasn't enough. Reinforcing the authority of the CHI Cleveland combo, McKeown Motorsports followed with a 400M CHI combo to strip Chevrolet from second position. Leadership had gone from a pair of small-block Chevys to a pair of CHI Cleveland Fords, with the first two of these brutal Cleveland combinations to run. Up next, the School of Automotive Machinists' second team entry would once again stir the pot, with an All-Pro-headed small-block Chevy 400 bumping the McKeown Ford to grab second place. SAM now held the top two spots with a 351 Cleveland and a 400 Chevy, and it seemed that Chevrolet power was going to put up a serious battle to prevent a Cleveland rout.

If there was any doubt about the potential of the CHI Cleveland combination, the next engine would be a wake-up call. Bob Moore and Scott Main from MPG Heads have been competitors in the Engine Masters Challenge since the beginning in 2002. These guys were hungry, they were due, and this time they came packing serious iron in the form of a 400M with the dangerous CHI combo. Pulling the handle on the DTS dyno, the dials spun with a staggering display of power. Those in the know were stunned-the MPG team's engine was recording numbers that shattered the field. With subsequent pulls, a devastating drop in score gave evidence to what was going on inside the engine. The camshaft was wiping several lobes while the team stood by in disbelief-132 pre-event test pulls without incident, and the cam fails on the three that really count.

Another full day of qualifying lay ahead, and with it came some of those competitors who had earned the position in the ladder based upon prior results. Kicking off the day's competition, Ron Shaver brought the only big-block Chevrolet, a 454-based entry. Shaver's big-block fell short of expectations due to scavenging difficulties compromising the sensitive exhaust combination developed for this engine. Randy Malik's 327 Chevy, Automotive Machine's Buick 400, Traco Engineering's 350 Chevy, Weingartner Racing's 350 Chevrolet, and Performance Crankshaft's 318 Mopar followed, and though all exhibited strong performance, none were able to conquer the leader board. Former Engine Masters Champions Jon Kaase (2003, 2004) of Jon Kaase Racing and Tony Bischoff (2006) would be the last to run in qualifying.

Kaase was next, and he would play the poker hand. In the warm-up dyno pulls, the 400M Cleveland/CHI combination showed the numbers required to make the final field. Kaase simply shut down for the 20-minute tuning period that followed and completed qualifying with three easy pulls, putting the engine in second place with Bischoff still to run. Interestingly, Kaase was torn when it came time to claim the engine's cubic inches to calculate the score. New rules state the participant must claim his displacement by which the average power is divided to determine the score. If the engine measures over the claimed cubes-even fractionally-the competitor is disqualified.

Unbelievably, Kaase was running a reground NAPA cast crankshaft in his 400 Ford. He knew minor stroke inaccuracies could conceivably put the engine fractionally over the engine's nominal 403-cid displacement, depending upon which journal was measured. But then, Jon also knew that most of the journals would measure safely under 403 cubes and that claiming one extra cube would cost a precious six points of score. In the end, Engine Masters tech official Wesley Roberson instructed Kaase to key the number of his choice, and Kaase depressed the "4" key for 404 cubes.

As it stood, the SAM 351 Cleveland and Kaase 400M were one and two, both bearing nearly identical CHI 3V cylinder head and intake combinations. If there was to be a challenger, it had to be Bischoff and his Chevrolet. It takes guts to bring 400 cubes of 23-degree Chevy to play against the canted-valve Fords, but it takes more than that to be competitive; Bischoff has the know-how and the racer's savvy to bring it on. Bischoff's Chevy looked strong in the warm-ups, and its score improved with tuning by Bischoff's BES Racing team. With a qualifying score of 2,461, Bischoff secured the top qualifying position and set the stage for a vicious Ford/Chevy shootout in the final eliminations.

It was all Cleveland Fords versus Chevy small-blocks in the finals, pitting, in reverse qualifying order: the McKeown 400M Ford Cleveland/CHI at 2,406.4; Power Shop's AFR-head 302 Chevrolet at 2,408.4; SAM's All-Pro-head 400 Chevy at 2,427.8; Jon Kaase's 400M Ford Cleveland/CHI at 2,429.5; SAM's 351 Cleveland/CHI at 2,433.8; and at the top position, Bischoff's BES Racing 400 Chevy bearing Australian Racer Pro heads with 2,462.1 points. Going in, it was hard to guess what these serious competitors had up their sleeves. The middle of the pack was separated by a mere six points. While Bischoff seemed to have a substantial margin, Kaase held pat in the qualifying rounds, making fellow competitors wonder what hand he might have yet to play. Somewhat down, McKeown is always a dangerous competitor, and the Power Shop engine was within striking distance. It was anyone's game.

McKeown, on the bump spot, began the final eliminations with the intent of making up score. Sometimes she just has nothing more to give, and despite an intense tuning effort, the 400M dropped in score in the finals. Power Shop followed and fared better, bumping the qualifying score a few points, but with a tally that still was not threatening to the leaders. This 302 did make it perfectly clear that the contest was more a test of engine builder's talent than choosing a "magic" cubic-inch combination. The 302 curbed many an engine far exceeding its displacement. Next was another Chevrolet, the SAM 400. This engine rolled in very strong on the torque and hit with an explosive rush of power when the overlap turned on its tight lobe separation cam. In between, there was a noticeable dip in the torque curve that made the difference between placing and an outright win.

Kaase is always a man to watch when the subject is engine building, and his 400M had not seen a wrench since the shipping crate was opened. Kaase worked the timing during the tuning period, watching the score surge over the numbers posted in qualifying. Still, it would be a tight race against Bischoff's leading marks. It appeared as though the hungry Ford was asking for more fuel. Kaase weighed the possibilities, electing not to risk a change. Kaase found 13.8 points in qualifying, putting his effort into the lead position but at a score below Bischoff's qualifying numbers. The SAM 351 Cleveland was next, an engine that qualified within striking distance of the score just turned in by Kaase. The team needed to find score and worked the tune during the allotted 20-minute period. It was just worked a little too hard, with repeated test pulls leading to heat soak and a significant point drop from qualifying.

It all came down to Bischoff's Chevrolet. Ironically, Bischoff's BES racing had won the Engine Masters title the previous year using a 400M-based engine with a CHI 3V combination, exactly the combo he faced now in Kaase's Ford. Although the number posted in qualifying showed a margin of superiority, most of the finalists were down in score compared to their qualifying numbers. And during the warm-ups, Bischoff's engine was no exception. It was razor-close to Kaase, and Bischoff could feel that this one was anything but in the bag. He had to find power, but he also knew the danger of defeating himself in the hunt for a more powerful tune.

Bischoff's direction to his experienced crew was awe-inspiring. It was as if he instinctively knew where to go, what to do, and how to do it-no questions asked. The engine responded with more power with every move, and every move was executed with unreal precision, wasting no precious time in the process. Bischoff then cut the flurry of activity at the heels, directing the BES crew to clear the cell and let the engine cool for the remainder of the allotted 20-minute tune-up period. The race-savvy Bischoff played his hand to perfection, and the dyno scores were the proof. Tony Bischoff and his crew of Richard Kolb, Brett Vonder Meulen, and Brad Nagel pulled it off for a back-to-back Engine Masters victory, taking it home for Chevrolet.