Three years ago we were pleasantly surprised at the NMRA-NMCA race at Route 66 Raceway (Joliet, IL) when Doug Sikora pulled into the gates. Sikora is a Barstow, California-based racer who made the 2,000-plus mile trip east to show he could compete against the likes of NMRA superstars Dan Millen and Mike Murillo. He made his statement loud and clear as he dropped an impressive 6.68 at 209 mph. Sikora would end up losing to Millen in the final round, 6.72 to the California racer’s 6.76 and both were going 208 mph. The Pettis Performance 399ci engine would declare itself as one of the sickest small-block Fords to ever cover the ¼-mile in Pro Outlaw 10.5 competition at the time. On the short track, the 1/8-mile, Sikora continues to hold the quickest small-block run with a 4.30 and current NMRA badass Tim Essick is right behind him with a best of 4.31. We have to admit, we still talk about Sikora’s eastern invasion and wish he’d do it again.
There have been grumblings out of the west regarding Sikora’s racing from the past few years and he is always a contender at the big events. The latest news, however, puts a huge smile on our face—there will be some hurt feelings when Sikora shows up to race anywhere on Earth be it the west, east, Middle East, Europe, or Australia. The small-block was ditched in favor of a new 499ci BAE Hemi engine from his longtime engine builder, Pettis Performance. Also new is a ProCharger F3R 136mm that will be huffing a serious amount of boost into the Hemi engine. Sikora continues to employ the 25.2 home-built back half chassis (Quarter Max) kit) under the body of his 2000 Mustang GT. Don’t let the home-built label fool you, this Mustang works as good as any top of the line Outlaw 10.5 car built by any of the big-name chassis shops. It had run a 1.07 60-foot at Joliet in 2009 and nothing was slower than 1.11 that same weekend.
It only took Sikora and Jason Pettis a few outings to start making some real noise in the Outlaw 10.5 ranks with the Hemi. The team unleashed a best of 4.25 at 180 mph at Woodburn Dragstrip (Woodburn, Oregon) during its X10.5 Championship event. Sikora sat on top of the qualifying list with a 4.29 at 177 and dropped the 4.25 during round one of eliminations. Sikora now owns the quickest and fastest run with a centrifugal supercharged Outlaw 10.5 combination. The 4.25 instantly puts him in the hunt for a win at any Outlaw 10.5 competition anywhere in the world. That type of 1/8-mile performance also shows Sikora is capable of going deep into the 6.40s and possibly 6.30s on the 1/4-mile. The Sikora/Pettis juggernaut that dominated a few different western racing series is back in action and they are looking for even quicker times. It’s the heat of the summer right now and we can only imagine how fast the Mustang will run during the big year-end events with the cool weather and sick track conditions—4-teens? We’ll keep you updated.
