TRACTOR PULLING WORLD CHAMPION JOHN STRICKLAND
IS LEADING THE PDRA PRO BOOST POINTS AFTER HE AND
GALOT MOTORSPORTS TEAMMATE KEVIN RIVENBARK MADE
THE SWITCH FROM ROOTS BLOWERS TO PROCHARGER’S
CENTRIFUGAL SUPERCHARGER LAST SEASON.
do everything in-house as far as the building, dyno tuning, going to the
track, taking care of customer cars and so on. Very few, if any others,
could do that. They could do everything. We could provide components
to them. They could actually put it on the dyno and do the testing and
take it to the track with a customer’s car and see what it would do with
their in-house tuners.”
What they ended up doing was win the 2019 PDRA Pro Boost world
championship. Rivenbark scored the title, adding to his 2016 championship,
with two wins and a runner-up finish. ProCharger customers have
won plenty of championships before, but this one meant a little something
more. It was a sign the company was going in the right direction with its
new Pro Mod blower.
“We worked hard and we knew what we could expect,” Sipp says. “We
knew what the cars were capable of running. We absolutely expected success.
Now to win a championship takes a lot more than expecting success.
That takes dedicated guys going out there and doing it and a little bit of
luck and a quick car. Could we say we expected a championship? Absolutely
not. To set records? Hopeful. Did we expect success? Yes.”
Shortly after Rivenbark claimed his championship, the ProCharger contingent
scored another major victory. NHRA announced in late November
that the ProCharger F-3X-140 would be allowed in NHRA Pro Mod competition.
It was the result of ProCharger working with NHRA to come to
a mutual understand – NHRA Pro Mod tech officials understanding the
product and ProCharger engineers understanding NHRA’s expectations
for a new power adder to join Pro Mod’s already contentious parity debate.
“That was proof that we have taken the next step,” Sipp says of NHRA
allowing the ProCharger. “With NHRA, there are a lot of other things
that are involved in that process, not just having a supercharger that can
run a number. It was working with them to help them understand our
product so we could have a rules package put together.
“It wasn’t only our supercharger,” Sipp adds. “We also came out with
our own crank drive, so we could provide a complete solution to NHRA.
You could get the drive, the blower, the bell, the valves, the whole package,
which is really what they were looking for. When they change or add a
power adder like this, they want to make sure it’s 100 percent ready to
go and they’re not needing to verify this part or that part from different
companies. They can basically come to one company and say, ‘OK, provide
us the whole package that we can govern.’”
As a part of the process, ProCharger engineers and reps have had to
educate the racing public about the combination and its differences. It has
the same basic premise as other forced induction power adders – shoving
more air into the engine – but it accomplishes that task differently than the
other power adders. Boost levels, transmission and converter technology,
gear ratios and more come into play, Sipp explains.
“We’ve had to educate and have some discussions with racers and with
NHRA to some degree,” Sipp says. “We’ve been legal in NHRA classes
for a long time in the sportsman classes, but you’re dealing with different
tech guys at the Pro Mod level. It really hasn’t been a challenge, because if
someone understands forced induction, they kind of get it. We just have
to explain the differences.”
MAKING THE SWITCH
ProCharger’s success in 2019 was a major eye-opener
for other drivers, tuners and engine builders. A string of racers
switched over to the ProCharger combination, following GA-
LOT Motorsports’ lead. Longtime Pro Nitrous racer Randy Weatherford
debuted a new ProCharger Pro Boost car late in the season. Fellow Pro
Nitrous competitors Jason Harris and Johnny Camp followed suit, joining
longtime ProCharger believers Eric Gustafson and Eric Donovan in Pro
Boost this season.
July 2020
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