Currently sitting second in NMRA JDM Engineering Limited Street points, Stacey Roby had a strong showing at the 22nd Annual NMRA Ford Performance Nationals at Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio in June and has made some changes to his ProCharged and Rich Groh Racing Coyote-powered 2014 Ford Mustang to prepare for an even better weekend at the upcoming 2nd Annual Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival Presented by Force Engineering at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan.
In Ohio, Roby was the top qualifier with his 8.030 at 170.75 mph run which also (temporarily) reset the elapsed time record for the class. “When the car wheelied on that pass, as I pedaled it, it shifted to second and broke the second gear sprag in the transmission,” explained Roby, who finished out the race with first-to-third gear changes and took out the third gear clutches in the process. “We also started having blower belt issues, too.”
Roby did muscle his way into the final round of eliminations, but despite having a quicker reaction time, he wasn’t able to limp his injured Mustang to the finish line first as another belt let loose and Samantha Moore got the win.
Stacey Roby's engine bay, before
He returned home to Ohio on Monday after the race and, by the following Wednesday, he had made visits to both Coan Engineering and RPM Transmissions to start the process of repairing his Turbo 400. “We upgraded it with some new goodies and lighter components, and went to a looser stator in the converter,” noted Roby. In addition to the fixed-up gearbox, Roby also moved some weight around in the front end of his Mustang.
The Ohio Valley Prize Fight Round 8 race in late June served as a high-profile test session for Roby. He wound up running in the X275 category, albeit still in NMRA Limited Street trim, and did surprisingly well; despite qualifying low on the list, Roby “threw the kitchen sink at it” and made it through to the semi-finals after beating a few of the group’s biggest names.
Some new eighth-mile personal bests were also accumulated during the outing and the next step was for Roby to run his Mustang all out on the quarter-mile. “We tested two separate days at Muncie Dragway [in Indiana] and would lose the belt nearly every pass,” he shared.
Frustrated, Roby called up another racer and purchased a complete blower setup. Everything from the blower itself to the Cobra Jet intake, crank support, strut tower support, intercooler tubing, and more. As a result, the ProCharger supercharger was switched from its previous passenger side location to its new driver side location and an electric water pump was installed to free up some more power.
Stacey Roby's engine bay, after
“We use motor plates and had to do a ton of fabrication work to get it all together,” Roby detailed of the hundreds and hundreds of hours spent over the past few weeks preparing for the second-to-last NMRA event of the 2022 season. “I got it on the dyno and the blower belt seems to be staying on now, but with the [traction compound] glue shortage going on lately, I can’t get to a local track to test.”
Roby plans to test on Thursday prior to the start of the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival to make sure that the blower belt doesn’t try to eject itself from under the hood, but he will wait until qualifying begins to really turn the wick up.
“I plan to have a 7-second tune-up in it for the first qualifying session. I want to be the first in the class to break that barrier,” he affirmed. Considering Roby’s recent efforts have already yielded him a new personal best eighth-mile run of 5.04-seconds at 138 mph with a 1.18-second 60-foot time, it seems like a good decision to bet on red.
In Ohio, Roby was the top qualifier with his 8.030 at 170.75 mph run which also (temporarily) reset the elapsed time record for the class. “When the car wheelied on that pass, as I pedaled it, it shifted to second and broke the second gear sprag in the transmission,” explained Roby, who finished out the race with first-to-third gear changes and took out the third gear clutches in the process. “We also started having blower belt issues, too.”
Roby did muscle his way into the final round of eliminations, but despite having a quicker reaction time, he wasn’t able to limp his injured Mustang to the finish line first as another belt let loose and Samantha Moore got the win.
Stacey Roby's engine bay, before
He returned home to Ohio on Monday after the race and, by the following Wednesday, he had made visits to both Coan Engineering and RPM Transmissions to start the process of repairing his Turbo 400. “We upgraded it with some new goodies and lighter components, and went to a looser stator in the converter,” noted Roby. In addition to the fixed-up gearbox, Roby also moved some weight around in the front end of his Mustang.
The Ohio Valley Prize Fight Round 8 race in late June served as a high-profile test session for Roby. He wound up running in the X275 category, albeit still in NMRA Limited Street trim, and did surprisingly well; despite qualifying low on the list, Roby “threw the kitchen sink at it” and made it through to the semi-finals after beating a few of the group’s biggest names.
Some new eighth-mile personal bests were also accumulated during the outing and the next step was for Roby to run his Mustang all out on the quarter-mile. “We tested two separate days at Muncie Dragway [in Indiana] and would lose the belt nearly every pass,” he shared.
Frustrated, Roby called up another racer and purchased a complete blower setup. Everything from the blower itself to the Cobra Jet intake, crank support, strut tower support, intercooler tubing, and more. As a result, the ProCharger supercharger was switched from its previous passenger side location to its new driver side location and an electric water pump was installed to free up some more power.
Stacey Roby's engine bay, after
“We use motor plates and had to do a ton of fabrication work to get it all together,” Roby detailed of the hundreds and hundreds of hours spent over the past few weeks preparing for the second-to-last NMRA event of the 2022 season. “I got it on the dyno and the blower belt seems to be staying on now, but with the [traction compound] glue shortage going on lately, I can’t get to a local track to test.”
Roby plans to test on Thursday prior to the start of the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival to make sure that the blower belt doesn’t try to eject itself from under the hood, but he will wait until qualifying begins to really turn the wick up.
“I plan to have a 7-second tune-up in it for the first qualifying session. I want to be the first in the class to break that barrier,” he affirmed. Considering Roby’s recent efforts have already yielded him a new personal best eighth-mile run of 5.04-seconds at 138 mph with a 1.18-second 60-foot time, it seems like a good decision to bet on red.