Bench Racer with Steve Turner—Monster Class
While I’ve enjoyed a long run of modern muscle car performance, it has been a long while since there was a new performance engine from the factory. While it isn’t new and it has yet to grace a performance car, Ford’s 7.3-liter pushrod engine that serves as an affordable, reliable option in the Blue Oval’s current Super Duty trucks is rising as a performance engine option for street machines and race cars.
Since ’96, Ford committed to modular engines and left the pushrod architecture behind, while Chevrolet kept perfecting pushrod power with its LS engine. It would seem that we wouldn’t see pushrod Ford engines ever again. However, before departing Ford, the company’s former Director of Global Engine Engineering, Brian Wolfe spearheaded a new 7.3-liter pushrod engine. Its rugged efficiency was impossible to ignore and it debuted in the company’s big trucks back in 2020.
Since that time Wolfe retired and started building performance versions of this engine and the aftermarket took notice of the powerplant. Given the rarity of new engine platforms, it didn’t take long for the engine to garner support from a wide range of aftermarket suppliers, including several niche players dedicated to imbuing Godzillas with even more firepower.
On the heels of its milestone silver anniversary celebration in 2023, the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals series is celebrating another milestone in 2024 as the Ford Mustang turns 60 years old in April. As a Ford-based series, NMRA is sending up the original pony car at all three of its standalone races in 2024, including the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Gainesville, Florida, the NMRA Ford Homecoming in Norwalk, Ohio, and the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
These events will include several special features, including familiar categories like the Fox Body Reunion and the GT500 Shootout. However, at the NMRA Ford Homecoming at Summit Motorsports Park, a new subevent will celebrate all things 7.3-liter, including the first-ever Godzilla Shootout racing category.
Following a similar format to the GT500 class, the Godzilla Shootout is divided into Street and Unlimited subcategories to accommodate everything from basic combinations to four-digit power-adder builds. You can peep the full rules on the NMRA website, but both classes will proceed with an all-run format with a .500 Pro Tree and run a full quarter-mile with the laddering order determined by those who run closest to their index.
We have already seen pioneers like Wolfe and Paul Svinicki pushing this platform forward, so it will be fun to see a gathering of these monsters rampaging down the track in Norwalk. We will also see these cars on the show field, and some of the companies developing Godzilla gear on hand at the track as well.
While it is always fun to watch the tried and true combinations further pushing the envelope, there is a special thrill that swells with a newer platform that is still finding its performance footing. That environment is ripe for innovation, pioneering performances, and building a foundation for years of hot rodding to come.
It is exciting that NMRA is embracing this movement, and watching it evolve to this point and beyond should be fun. Godzilla won’t replace the many other popular engine platforms that permeate both the NMRA and Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals series, but having a new one to play with is never a bad thing.
So if you already have a Godzilla-powered machine, are in the process of building one, or are considering the swap, mark June 6-9, 2024 on the calendar, because your vehicle needs to be ready to roar at next year’s NMRA Ford Homecoming.
While I’ve enjoyed a long run of modern muscle car performance, it has been a long while since there was a new performance engine from the factory. While it isn’t new and it has yet to grace a performance car, Ford’s 7.3-liter pushrod engine that serves as an affordable, reliable option in the Blue Oval’s current Super Duty trucks is rising as a performance engine option for street machines and race cars.
Since ’96, Ford committed to modular engines and left the pushrod architecture behind, while Chevrolet kept perfecting pushrod power with its LS engine. It would seem that we wouldn’t see pushrod Ford engines ever again. However, before departing Ford, the company’s former Director of Global Engine Engineering, Brian Wolfe spearheaded a new 7.3-liter pushrod engine. Its rugged efficiency was impossible to ignore and it debuted in the company’s big trucks back in 2020.
Since that time Wolfe retired and started building performance versions of this engine and the aftermarket took notice of the powerplant. Given the rarity of new engine platforms, it didn’t take long for the engine to garner support from a wide range of aftermarket suppliers, including several niche players dedicated to imbuing Godzillas with even more firepower.
On the heels of its milestone silver anniversary celebration in 2023, the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals series is celebrating another milestone in 2024 as the Ford Mustang turns 60 years old in April. As a Ford-based series, NMRA is sending up the original pony car at all three of its standalone races in 2024, including the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Gainesville, Florida, the NMRA Ford Homecoming in Norwalk, Ohio, and the NMRA World Finals in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
These events will include several special features, including familiar categories like the Fox Body Reunion and the GT500 Shootout. However, at the NMRA Ford Homecoming at Summit Motorsports Park, a new subevent will celebrate all things 7.3-liter, including the first-ever Godzilla Shootout racing category.
Following a similar format to the GT500 class, the Godzilla Shootout is divided into Street and Unlimited subcategories to accommodate everything from basic combinations to four-digit power-adder builds. You can peep the full rules on the NMRA website, but both classes will proceed with an all-run format with a .500 Pro Tree and run a full quarter-mile with the laddering order determined by those who run closest to their index.
We have already seen pioneers like Wolfe and Paul Svinicki pushing this platform forward, so it will be fun to see a gathering of these monsters rampaging down the track in Norwalk. We will also see these cars on the show field, and some of the companies developing Godzilla gear on hand at the track as well.
While it is always fun to watch the tried and true combinations further pushing the envelope, there is a special thrill that swells with a newer platform that is still finding its performance footing. That environment is ripe for innovation, pioneering performances, and building a foundation for years of hot rodding to come.
It is exciting that NMRA is embracing this movement, and watching it evolve to this point and beyond should be fun. Godzilla won’t replace the many other popular engine platforms that permeate both the NMRA and Red Line Oil NMCA Muscle Car Nationals series, but having a new one to play with is never a bad thing.
So if you already have a Godzilla-powered machine, are in the process of building one, or are considering the swap, mark June 6-9, 2024 on the calendar, because your vehicle needs to be ready to roar at next year’s NMRA Ford Homecoming.