NMRA Digital
01-29-2006, 04:35 PM
RP Digital Car Feature: Dennis Bailey's Outlaw 10.5W Car
Story by Dr. Jamie Meyer. Photos by James Lawrence & Jake Amatisto
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey4.jpg
I have always been intrigued by the business that swirls around in the background of 5.0 Mustang drag racing. I say “5.0 Mustang” because that is where this story starts. Sure, we are all in love with the Modular Mustangs, and the future of Ford’s favorite car looks bright indeed. But, it was the dawn of the 5.0 drags, and the cottage industry of speed shops that followed, that really got this baby moving. A myriad of “Mustang experts” have opened shop and simply not been able to make a go of it, and that’s why BB&T is so special. Their story is pretty straight forward: Two brothers, Dennis and Derrick, loved to race their Mustangs. They got really good at going fast in a Mustang, had a lot of people ask them to work on their cars, and ended up opening a shop specializing in the hot modern muscle car – the 5.0 Mustang.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey2.jpg
The Business
By 1994, BB&T was a legal business, and the two brothers – Dennis and Derrick Bailey - were looking at a bright future. The cornerstone of their business can be seen in their monthly add in Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine. They cater to the street crowd offering street-style engine kits, exhaust systems, and drive trains components. Once the business got rolling, the Bailey brothers continued their passion for fast Mustangs with a run at Pro 5.0 in the NMRA.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey3.jpg
“In 2000, we attempted to run Pro 5.0 on a very limited budget and finished top ten in points,” Derrick told us. “After being under budgeted and overworked, we decided to take a year off from racing and build an Outlaw/Limited Street car. On the local scene we won the points championship at Jackson Dragway in 2002 and 2003. After 2003, the L/S class died locally, and we converted the ‘95 Cobra to stock suspension and went to Outlaw/Easy Street with a two-car team - Derrick in one car and me in the other. We dominated Jackson, TN, Benton, IL, and ORSCA. Finally, the ‘95 turbo car was banned from Jackson and Benton. ORSCA changed their rules to eliminate the turbo cars. We then realized we had the perfect Outlaw Drag Radial car.”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey1.jpg
After testing only a week before the NMCA race 2004 in Memphis, we came out of nowhere and qualified #1. After three days of rain, Derrick had to return to the shop, and I was left to race solo. In the second round, the car wheeled stood, and I lost the race. The next week, we showed up at Orlando qualified second, and set the Outlaw D/R mph record with a 189.82 mph on a 7.70 second pass. We finished second after smokin’ the tires in the Finals.”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey5.jpg
Moving to Outlaw 10.5
Tire-limited racing got real old to Derrick, so while his brother was tearing up the locals in Limited Street, they made plans to have a BB&T 10.5W-tired car constructed by one of the best in the business: Keith Engling and his Skinny Kid’s Racecars shop. The result is the stunning ’04 Cobra you see before you. Skinny pulled out all the stops with the chassis, offering our boys from Mississippi all the racecar they could handle. A 25.2 SFI chassis was constructed out of chrome moly using the same recipe that has brought so many other great races success. The kid whipped up one of his custom K-member, A-arm, and Strange strut front ends. In the back, Skinny set up the suspension to run with either his four-link or ladder bar suspension – making the car a doubly dangerous depending on how the rule book reads. Again, Skinny uses Strange shocks in the back to control the launch when the M/T 33x10.5W slicks try to control the power. Best short time so far has been a 1.15 second effort.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey6.jpg
Not just a functional chassis, the BB&T Cobra is a pretty face. Ross Stomp painted the maroon paint on the largely carbon fiber body. A Skinny Kid ’03 Cobra front end, hood, and bumpers are all the light weight and strong stuff. A Skinny Kid wing rounds out the aero mods, while the twin turbo inlets cut in the front bumper are just plain mean.
Precision Power
But, what about power? Well, the twin turbochargers are obvious. They are 88mm Precision Turbo units that Dennis admits to making 38 psi. We are sure the BB&T boys can go more than that, but they are just getting used to this car. And, that explains a lot of the parts that make up this 2500 horsepower monster – not that they aren’t all good parts, mind you. But, Dennis is already planning another engine to replace this one with more potential. Derrick build this entire engine right at the BB&T machine shop facilities. It features a Ford Racing 9.2-inch deck aluminum block with a 4.155-inch bore and a 3.900-inch stroke for a total of 432 thumpin’ cubes of small block Ford. The crank is a five-year old Ford Racing 4340 forged steel unit that swings 6.125-inch aluminum Bill Miller rods and an octet of 10.5:1 Venolia pistons wearing JE rings. Total Engine Airflow ported up the Ford Racing Yates intake and Brodix Neal heads. Dennis admits to 412 cfm at .700-inch lift for the Neals with a 310cc runner. The heads hold 2.125-inch intake and 1.65-inch exhaust valves.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey8.jpg
The COMP Cams camshaft is described as “a big one” with lift numbers of over .700-inch. [We tried to get some kind of numbers for you, but after Dennis told us Derrick would kill him if he told Race Pages, we decided to back off.] T&D 1.65:1 rockers, PSI valve springs, and Jesel lifters make up the rest of the valve train. A 105mm Accufab throttlebody takes that 38 psi from a Precision intercooler after it gets blasted from the twin 88s.
The turbo system itself was fabricated by Skinny Kid’s Racecars, and it features 1 7/8-inch primaries; a 3-inch crossover tube; and 5-inch exhaust with Dynomax Bullet mufflers. Another unique part on this car is the WLFF belt-driven fuel pump. “It’s some Pro Mod ****,” Dennis shared with us. “It’s a companion oil and fuel pump off the same shaft.” The pump is only half of the recipe to meet the demands that this hungry little Ford puts on fuel. After the –12 line and custom BB&T fuel rails, each cylinder is doused with twin 160 lb/hr injectors. Ignition comes from a MSD-10 with the matching coil; MSD plug wires; and NGK sparkplugs.
The transmission is a Keith Neal powerglide backed by a Neal Chance converter that Dennis admits is the key to his success. Again, tight lipped on his converter setup, Dennis tell me this much: “This converter is the key: no lag is what makes a turbo car win races. It wasn’t always like this before. I will tell you that it stalls to 3200 rpm, but even Marty [of Neal Chance Converters] doesn’t know what my setup is. I change it as soon as the converter comes out of the box!”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey7.jpg
Not picking on Precision, but the pressure that twin turbochargers puts on one of these engines is extreme – enough to split the intercooler in the semi-finals at Bowling Green. Had Dennis caught that parts failure in time (the BB&T crew carry a spare of everything), the final with Greathouse/VanMeter might have been a little different. As it stands, the new BB&T 10.5W car is one of the highlights of a great year at the NMRA.
Dennis isn’t making excuses. Hell, with a final round appearance in their first outing from a 16-car field (at the NMRA World Finals no less), they don’t have to. But, after speaking with this guy for awhile, I could tell that things are starting to change at BB&T. These guys have focused in on 10.5W-tired racing. They’ve made the financial and emotional commitment to run one of the wildest classes in the country. With Vortech continuing their sponsorship of this exciting NMRA class, look for a lot more action of Dennis Bailey, his brother Derrick, and this wild heads-up Mustang.
VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS:
DRIVER, AGE: Dennis Bailey, 35
HOMETOWN: Southaven, Mississippi
OCCUPATION: Business owner of BB&T
OWNER: Dennis Bailey
CREW: Milton Duupont (engines) & David Holmes
CLASS: Vortech 10.5W Outlaw
CAR WEIGHT: 3096 pounds
BEST E.T./MPH: 7.15/203
ENGINE/SIZE: 432
CYLINDER HEADS: Brodix Neal 202
EXHAUST: Skinny Kid’s Racecars turbo system
CAMSHAFT: COMP Camshafts
CHASSIS: 25.2 SFI by Skinny Kid’s Racecars
FRONT SUSPENSION: Skinny Kid’s Racecars front end feature Strange struts
REAR SUSPENSION: Skinny Kid’s Racecars 4-link or ladder bars
TIRES & WHEELS: Weld Aluma-Stars & M/T 33x10.5W
REAREND: Skinny Kid’s Racecars Fab-9 featuring Strange components
TRANSMISSION: Keith Neal Powerglide
EFI/CARB: FAST tuned by Derrick Bailey
FUEL SYSTEM: Belt-driven WLFF fuel pump feeding twin sets of 160 lb/hr injectors
POWER ADDER: twin 88mm GT-47 Precision turbos
SPONSORS: BB&T
Story by Dr. Jamie Meyer. Photos by James Lawrence & Jake Amatisto
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey4.jpg
I have always been intrigued by the business that swirls around in the background of 5.0 Mustang drag racing. I say “5.0 Mustang” because that is where this story starts. Sure, we are all in love with the Modular Mustangs, and the future of Ford’s favorite car looks bright indeed. But, it was the dawn of the 5.0 drags, and the cottage industry of speed shops that followed, that really got this baby moving. A myriad of “Mustang experts” have opened shop and simply not been able to make a go of it, and that’s why BB&T is so special. Their story is pretty straight forward: Two brothers, Dennis and Derrick, loved to race their Mustangs. They got really good at going fast in a Mustang, had a lot of people ask them to work on their cars, and ended up opening a shop specializing in the hot modern muscle car – the 5.0 Mustang.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey2.jpg
The Business
By 1994, BB&T was a legal business, and the two brothers – Dennis and Derrick Bailey - were looking at a bright future. The cornerstone of their business can be seen in their monthly add in Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords magazine. They cater to the street crowd offering street-style engine kits, exhaust systems, and drive trains components. Once the business got rolling, the Bailey brothers continued their passion for fast Mustangs with a run at Pro 5.0 in the NMRA.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey3.jpg
“In 2000, we attempted to run Pro 5.0 on a very limited budget and finished top ten in points,” Derrick told us. “After being under budgeted and overworked, we decided to take a year off from racing and build an Outlaw/Limited Street car. On the local scene we won the points championship at Jackson Dragway in 2002 and 2003. After 2003, the L/S class died locally, and we converted the ‘95 Cobra to stock suspension and went to Outlaw/Easy Street with a two-car team - Derrick in one car and me in the other. We dominated Jackson, TN, Benton, IL, and ORSCA. Finally, the ‘95 turbo car was banned from Jackson and Benton. ORSCA changed their rules to eliminate the turbo cars. We then realized we had the perfect Outlaw Drag Radial car.”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey1.jpg
After testing only a week before the NMCA race 2004 in Memphis, we came out of nowhere and qualified #1. After three days of rain, Derrick had to return to the shop, and I was left to race solo. In the second round, the car wheeled stood, and I lost the race. The next week, we showed up at Orlando qualified second, and set the Outlaw D/R mph record with a 189.82 mph on a 7.70 second pass. We finished second after smokin’ the tires in the Finals.”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey5.jpg
Moving to Outlaw 10.5
Tire-limited racing got real old to Derrick, so while his brother was tearing up the locals in Limited Street, they made plans to have a BB&T 10.5W-tired car constructed by one of the best in the business: Keith Engling and his Skinny Kid’s Racecars shop. The result is the stunning ’04 Cobra you see before you. Skinny pulled out all the stops with the chassis, offering our boys from Mississippi all the racecar they could handle. A 25.2 SFI chassis was constructed out of chrome moly using the same recipe that has brought so many other great races success. The kid whipped up one of his custom K-member, A-arm, and Strange strut front ends. In the back, Skinny set up the suspension to run with either his four-link or ladder bar suspension – making the car a doubly dangerous depending on how the rule book reads. Again, Skinny uses Strange shocks in the back to control the launch when the M/T 33x10.5W slicks try to control the power. Best short time so far has been a 1.15 second effort.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey6.jpg
Not just a functional chassis, the BB&T Cobra is a pretty face. Ross Stomp painted the maroon paint on the largely carbon fiber body. A Skinny Kid ’03 Cobra front end, hood, and bumpers are all the light weight and strong stuff. A Skinny Kid wing rounds out the aero mods, while the twin turbo inlets cut in the front bumper are just plain mean.
Precision Power
But, what about power? Well, the twin turbochargers are obvious. They are 88mm Precision Turbo units that Dennis admits to making 38 psi. We are sure the BB&T boys can go more than that, but they are just getting used to this car. And, that explains a lot of the parts that make up this 2500 horsepower monster – not that they aren’t all good parts, mind you. But, Dennis is already planning another engine to replace this one with more potential. Derrick build this entire engine right at the BB&T machine shop facilities. It features a Ford Racing 9.2-inch deck aluminum block with a 4.155-inch bore and a 3.900-inch stroke for a total of 432 thumpin’ cubes of small block Ford. The crank is a five-year old Ford Racing 4340 forged steel unit that swings 6.125-inch aluminum Bill Miller rods and an octet of 10.5:1 Venolia pistons wearing JE rings. Total Engine Airflow ported up the Ford Racing Yates intake and Brodix Neal heads. Dennis admits to 412 cfm at .700-inch lift for the Neals with a 310cc runner. The heads hold 2.125-inch intake and 1.65-inch exhaust valves.
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey8.jpg
The COMP Cams camshaft is described as “a big one” with lift numbers of over .700-inch. [We tried to get some kind of numbers for you, but after Dennis told us Derrick would kill him if he told Race Pages, we decided to back off.] T&D 1.65:1 rockers, PSI valve springs, and Jesel lifters make up the rest of the valve train. A 105mm Accufab throttlebody takes that 38 psi from a Precision intercooler after it gets blasted from the twin 88s.
The turbo system itself was fabricated by Skinny Kid’s Racecars, and it features 1 7/8-inch primaries; a 3-inch crossover tube; and 5-inch exhaust with Dynomax Bullet mufflers. Another unique part on this car is the WLFF belt-driven fuel pump. “It’s some Pro Mod ****,” Dennis shared with us. “It’s a companion oil and fuel pump off the same shaft.” The pump is only half of the recipe to meet the demands that this hungry little Ford puts on fuel. After the –12 line and custom BB&T fuel rails, each cylinder is doused with twin 160 lb/hr injectors. Ignition comes from a MSD-10 with the matching coil; MSD plug wires; and NGK sparkplugs.
The transmission is a Keith Neal powerglide backed by a Neal Chance converter that Dennis admits is the key to his success. Again, tight lipped on his converter setup, Dennis tell me this much: “This converter is the key: no lag is what makes a turbo car win races. It wasn’t always like this before. I will tell you that it stalls to 3200 rpm, but even Marty [of Neal Chance Converters] doesn’t know what my setup is. I change it as soon as the converter comes out of the box!”
http://www.teninchterror.com/iimages/bailey7.jpg
Not picking on Precision, but the pressure that twin turbochargers puts on one of these engines is extreme – enough to split the intercooler in the semi-finals at Bowling Green. Had Dennis caught that parts failure in time (the BB&T crew carry a spare of everything), the final with Greathouse/VanMeter might have been a little different. As it stands, the new BB&T 10.5W car is one of the highlights of a great year at the NMRA.
Dennis isn’t making excuses. Hell, with a final round appearance in their first outing from a 16-car field (at the NMRA World Finals no less), they don’t have to. But, after speaking with this guy for awhile, I could tell that things are starting to change at BB&T. These guys have focused in on 10.5W-tired racing. They’ve made the financial and emotional commitment to run one of the wildest classes in the country. With Vortech continuing their sponsorship of this exciting NMRA class, look for a lot more action of Dennis Bailey, his brother Derrick, and this wild heads-up Mustang.
VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS:
DRIVER, AGE: Dennis Bailey, 35
HOMETOWN: Southaven, Mississippi
OCCUPATION: Business owner of BB&T
OWNER: Dennis Bailey
CREW: Milton Duupont (engines) & David Holmes
CLASS: Vortech 10.5W Outlaw
CAR WEIGHT: 3096 pounds
BEST E.T./MPH: 7.15/203
ENGINE/SIZE: 432
CYLINDER HEADS: Brodix Neal 202
EXHAUST: Skinny Kid’s Racecars turbo system
CAMSHAFT: COMP Camshafts
CHASSIS: 25.2 SFI by Skinny Kid’s Racecars
FRONT SUSPENSION: Skinny Kid’s Racecars front end feature Strange struts
REAR SUSPENSION: Skinny Kid’s Racecars 4-link or ladder bars
TIRES & WHEELS: Weld Aluma-Stars & M/T 33x10.5W
REAREND: Skinny Kid’s Racecars Fab-9 featuring Strange components
TRANSMISSION: Keith Neal Powerglide
EFI/CARB: FAST tuned by Derrick Bailey
FUEL SYSTEM: Belt-driven WLFF fuel pump feeding twin sets of 160 lb/hr injectors
POWER ADDER: twin 88mm GT-47 Precision turbos
SPONSORS: BB&T