1986 Ford Mustang

In the Mustang drag racing arena-where some people change power adders as often as they change underwear-it's rare for a racer to be loyal to only one means of unnatural aspiration. If you've been paying attention the last few years, you know the Pro and Outlaw ranks used to be dominated by Vortech supercharged cars. With a Vortech XX-Trim supercharger and an Igloo intake, you had a good chance of takin' it to the house against all comers, unless they had the same combo.

However, in a quest to beat Billy Glidden (one of the few who has stuck with nitrous), just about everyone in Pro and Outlaw swapped to ATI-ProCharger D3M superchargers. Then the turbo-charger really turned performance on its ear, and racers followed suit.

Well, now it seems ATI-ProCharger and Vortech are returning with new turbo fighters, and we're already hearing of a couple racers making the switch back to beltdriven horsepower. It's enough to wear out even the most seasoned Mustang follower, including those of us who get paid to keep track of such goings-on.

Bruce Hemminger's steadfast nitrous inhalation makes overcoming Tim Lynch's switch to a turbo a little easier to digest. If Bruce's name jogs your Mustang memory banks, that's because he's definitely not one of the new kids on the block. As a matter of fact, he's the first-ever nitrous Mustang Outlaw racer to run in the eights, and he did it with this car. But we're getting ahead of ourselves

Back in the day, Bruce started racing on the street with his '85 GT. The car featured the usual Edelbrock intake, Holley carburetor, MAC H-pipe and headers, and 3.73 gears. Then he came across a screaming deal on an '86 four-cylinder coupe for $400. With the intention of making the car wicked fast, one of the first things he did was have Race Engineering in Crown Point, Indiana, install a full rollcage. With the car in racing form, Bruce started bracket racing. But when the heads-up bug bit hard, he entered the Fun Ford Outlaw ranks in 1999. Years of pounding the street surely helped Bruce on the strip. He won the Norwalk Fun Ford event that year and had the first nitrous Outlaw car to run in the eights.

In 2000, Bruce made the switch to NMRA Super Street Outlaw. "It was a year I'd like to forget," he says. He hit the wall in testing at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and put the car back together only to hit the wall again at the World Ford Challenge that same year. He managed to make it to another race before the season was over, but the year was basically a wash for him.

With the escalating cost of Super Street Outlaw racing, Bruce initially decided to sit out the '01 racing season. The '86 sat primered and unpainted the entire year. However, as the season progressed, Bruce began to change his mind. "My love to race took the best of me," he says. "I found myself at the track with my '92 black LX five-speed that I bought from the dealership where I work." He bought the car for $2,500. It already featured headers, an off road H-pipe, Flowmasters, a Ford Racing Performance Parts Cobra intake, 3.73 gears, a 65mm throttle body, and a C&L 73mm mass air meter. The car ran a best of 12.14 on the motor and 11.14 on-what else-a single shot of NOS juice. With just the addition of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads and a Race Engineering six-point cage, he found himself at the Byron, Illinois, NMRA race where he entered Real Street. "I managed to qualify second with a 10.80 at 123 mph and finish with a runner-up," Bruce says.

He also attended the NMRA World Finals at Bowling Green, Kentucky, where he again qualified second with an even quicker 10.65 at 126 mph. His luck ran out in the semis at Bowling Green, but he still managed to finish ninth in Real Street points attending just two races.