Partdoctor's Blog

Well my old buddy Steve Cole from TTS is at it again! This guy never ceases to amaze me with the stuff he creates. The truck you see in the picture is what he is calling “the fastest Duramax in the country”. This truck ran an unbelievable 10.52 @ 129.01 MPH in the quarter mile! Now that’s cooking! The amazing part is that it’s diesel powered. It’s basically a stock engine with TTS rods, stock turbo and nitrous and #2 diesel only.

I have known Steve for about 20 years or so. He is what I call “the best reverse engineer” I have ever met. Back in the mid eighties he had already figured out GM calibrations. In fact, he got so good at it he was able to tell us at GM exactly where in our calibration we needed to make a change to correct a driveability problem. Of course the calibrators at GM would not listen ’cause nobody on the outside could possibly know more than they did! I enlisted (begged him) his help with my Malibu EFI project. I’m sure he got frustrated with my confusion over something he found so simple. I have to commend him for being so patient with me.

Anyway, I soon learned that he had developed software one could use to create the calibration I needed. This is probably the best money I ever spent! He taught me all I know about tuning and burning chips. I am still using his “Master Tune” to this day.

My friend, Dave Bommarito, decided he liked vintage front engine dragsters so he bought a 1969 version. Closer inspection revealed damage to the frame, making it unsafe. He comissioned Andy Angelucci to build him a new one out of chrome moly tubing and aluminum sheet metal skins. This was last year.
Team “BOM SQUAD” was formed with Dave as owner/driver, and buddies Bob, Danny, and Mike as crew. The dragster was powered by a built small block chevy (283 cid).

This was to be Dave’s training period (training wheels) to get used to the car.
Last October found us at Ubly dragway. The boys got the thing to run mid 10′s.
I ran against him in the first round and he beat me by foot. Ah, the wonders of bracket racing! My Malibu only runs in the 12′s so it was a good match.

Here comes 2007. New (bigger) motor and off with the training wheels. At Milan dragway Dave shut it down at the 1/8 mile and still ran a 9.58! Wow! I guess he needs to get licensed to run those kinds of times.
I think it’s neat that guys can put together a car in the family garage and run with the big boys! Dave now holds the honor of having the quickest car in the No Name Car Club.