Soon after securing a seventh place finish in NMRA Edelbrock Renegade points last fall, Curtis Catalon sent his energetic 4.6L engine to RGR Engines to be freshened.
While it was there, Rich Groh made improvements to the engine's oiling system and suggested improvements to the combination's cooling system, which Triangle Speed Shop then handled for Catalon, who had previously clocked a best of 7.50 at 185 mph with the 4.6L engine paired with Cobra heads, a 76mm Precision turbo, ProFormance Racing Transmissions-built Powerglide and a Circle D Specialties converter.
Triangle Speed Shop then used Big Stuff 3 to concoct a tune for Catalon, whose Mustang features RaceCraft and UPR components and rolls on Mickey Thompson drag radials.
When everything was together, we did a chassis dyno at Triangle Speed Shop, and everything looked really promising, said Catalon, who recently retired from his job as a power company lineman and has been spending more and more time on his tractor maintaining pastures near his home in Louisiana. There were significant gains, mostly because of the improvements to the cooling system.
With everything in place just before the Radial at the Park event on June 30 at Houston Motorsports Park, Catalon, whose crew consists of Daniel Pachar and Craig Pachar of Triangle Speed Shop, and Eric Rodriguez,'decided to make that his first event of this year.
Let me tell you, I was ready to go, said Catalon, with a laugh.
While he declines to share specifics of the day, he will share that he's confident he picked up on both ends of the track.
It felt really good to be back in my comfort place after a nearly eight-month hiatus, said Catalon. The changes made by Rich Groh and Triangle Speed Shop were on point. Previously, we were experiencing oil pressure fluctuations when the car would leave the starting line, and when the parachute was pulled. Now, there's absolutely no fluctuation in oil pressure whatsoever. Additionally, changes made to the cooling system for the engine and intercooler were extremely positive. It's making lots more power due to cooler intake charge temps.
Catalon will be back in action at the 13th Annual Nitto NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing, July 26-29 at Route 66 Raceway in Illinois, where instead of competing in NMRA Edelbrock Renegade, he'll compete in NMCA Edelbrock Xtreme Street.
Because we made some changes to the car and we're still dialing it in, I'll run NMCA Xtreme Street because it's eighth-mile, said Catalon, who will be back in NMRA Edelbrock Xtreme Street, flying banners for Circle D Specialties and Camp Dog Cajun Seasoning, at the 20th Annual Nitto NMRA All-Ford World Finals, Sept. 27-39 at Beech Bend Raceway in Kentucky. It's going to be great.
