Rage Racing Inc.

06/24/2026

Blown Methanol Pro-Mod
Super Bird 1/4 mile at Cordova

I think this car ran 6.40’s at 212 or so miles per hour that day.

Continuing the talks about horsepower per cubic inch. I said gaining numbers like going from 2.0 horsepower per inch o displacement to 2.5 horsepower per inch is a monumental feat and every 1/10th of a point has to be fought hard for to attain.

Well that is true of naturally aspirated engines. Once the power adders start coming out like exotic fuels, supercharging, nitrous, turbos, and nitro the ball game changed quite a bit. Power can be made in leaps and bounds… up to a point. But you better know darn sure what you are doing or you will hurt the engine and possibly hurt yourself in the process. There is a point these things can be deadly when ignorance meets opportunity.

So want more power? Add more boost. Add more nitrous. Add more fuel. And dance that fine razor sharp line between a happy engine and a disaster. Good luck. In the case of this pro-mod. I’m just guessing it has probably around a 500 inch engine with a 14-71 supercharger pushing 40-50 pounds of boost on top of 14:1 compression pistons running methanol as a fuel delivered by a mechanical pump. Estimated horsepower would be 4000. So that would be around 8 horsepower per cubic inch of displacement. Get the tune a little off like a degree or two of too much timing or go a step lean on the air/fuel ratio and it will melt a piston or all 8 pistons in short order.

I love drag racing!

06/23/2026

Front Engine Top Fuel warmup
(7 second video)

A couple days ago I poked some fun at the Harley M-8 for poor horsepower per cubic inch performance. Some of you agreed with me. Others thought I was nuts. That’s all fine. I am a little nuts.

This is in no way related to that discussion other than still talking about horsepower per cubic inch of displacement.

It gets exponentially harder and harder to make more power per cubic inch as the power increases. Go from a figure like 1.2 horsepower per cubic in to 1.3 isn’t too hard. Going from 1.3 to 1.4 gets tougher. 1.4 to 1.5 and now it’s noticeably more difficult. To get to around 2 horsepower per cubic inch of displacement you are dealing with a serious engine generally speaking. 2 horsepower per inch not long ago was the area of professional race teams. At least for naturally aspirated. (No turbo, super charger, or nitrous).
At this point every 1/10th of a point you will have to fight for. Going from 2.0 to 2.5 is a mountain to climb and is an entirely different animal. At 3.0 horsepower per cubic inch you are dealing with some type of power adder (turbo, nitrous, supercharger, or exotic fuel) unless you are a world class engine builder and professional racer.
Going up from there just gets harder and harder. Parts have to be more exotic. The life expectancy goes down dramatically. Money goes out the window. The tuneup must be perfect.
The 7 second video filmed with an old I-Pone is the warmup of approximately 5,000 horsepower engine. Maybe much more. Minimum horsepower per cubic inch on this blown nitro engine would be 10. Just to stand close to and engine at idle capable of producing 10 horsepower per cubic inch is awe inspiring.
NHRA top fuel cars have around 24 horsepower per cubic inch.
The car in the video is no slouch. It ran the 1/8 mile in 3.76 seconds at 206 MPH. This is a sportsman car ran by average people. I know, Or knew the driver years ago. They do this for fun mostly out of their own pocket.

06/21/2026

Your Harley M-8 is a huge disappointment!
(Picture for eye candy and reference later in the story)

There, I said it. Now that I have burned a few bridges let me explain myself.

The M-8 cylinder heads with 4 valves flow a mountain more air than previous twin cam heads. The fact is though that its not making much more power than the twin cam. Sure, you see big power numbers (big, ha!) these days out of the M-8 but it’s not because they are better. They are just bigger. Sure there is some improvement in design and efficiency but not as much as there should be.
I can point out the downfalls of the M-8 (there are many) and I could point out some of the great things it has going for it. I could also describe how I would fix them for a true high performance motor but why would I give that knowledge away?
What I will do today is simply a comparison. First, usually a highly efficient hi powered small engine is a lot more fun than a lower powered less efficient big engine. For today’s discussion I am talking about horsepower per cubic inch.
Let’s take a big M-8 build of 136 cubic inches that makes 150 horsepower to the ground. (Just throwing up some numbers). That 136 probably makes 170 horse at the crank. So 170 divided by 136 equals 1.25. That’s 1.25 horsepower per cubic inch. let’s look further. A 103 twin cam making 120 horsepower at the crank is 1.214 horsepower per cubic inch. My personal sportster from 1987 with 883 heads (modified) makes around 100 horsepower at the crank out of 74 inches so that’s 1.35 horsepower per inch displacement.
Let’s look at other combinations:
-stock v-rod = 1.73 hp/in
-500 horse 350=1.43hp/in
-750hp 358 SBC cup motor from 1995 =2.095hp/in
-2000hp methanol 500 inch big block drag motor = 4.0 hp/in
-3500hp pro mod engine = 7.0hp/in
-5000hp nitro engine = 10hp/in
-12,000hp top fuel = 24 hp/in

I’m not saying the M-8 needs to compete with drag car engines but the measly 1.25 horsepower per ci for a highly modified engine is crap.

06/18/2026

Cordova drag strip.
One of the worlds oldest tracks.
How about going out to see some old school racing and give them some support this Friday and Saturday.
Zero chance of tornadoes!
Take your dad!

05/28/2026

Few (none) of the big name dyno shops that are posting huge power and torque numbers (a little too huge) are posting about how “good“ the tune is or how drivable these Harleys are.

I will

Top dyno sheet is the front and rear cylinder air/fuel ratios before dyno tuning of 11 throttle positions from 5% to 100%. The ratios vary from 10.2 to 15.6

Bottom dyno sheet is the same exact throttle positions after my tuneup. Air fuel ratios go from 14.3 at light throttle/cruising down to 12.8 full throttle power.

Best of both worlds. Light throttle fuel economy and smooth running without building too much heat and full power when you twist the throttle.

05/03/2026

Which would you want?

Dark colored lines representing the torque and horsepower of motorcycle “A”
143.90 torque
135.69 horsepower

OR

The light gray lines representing the torque and horsepower of motorcycles “B”
137.67 torque
142.43 horsepower

Let’s vote in the comments below!
Almost perfect opposites where horsepower and torque numbers are switched.
-Note-
It is just a coincidence that all lines intersect at 5252rpm. Horsepower and torque from each bike will always cross there but for bike “B” to overtake bike “A” at that same point is just by chance. That’s how these particular motorcycles happened to compare to each other.

04/26/2026

Cars. Motorcycles. Trucks. Boats. It doesn’t matter. All shops get calls like this.

The mythical perfect cam for everything...🥴

If you understand the science of horsepower, you know the real reasons why the perfect camshaft for every combo cannot be made.

04/23/2026

Evolution Softail Springer with long open drag pipes.

The M-8 platform may be high tech and fast but it’s definitely not as cool as this old school Evo.

04/21/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FgtzQth7n/

This Saturday is Spring Training 2026. It is your chance to get your cars, your team and yourself ready for the 2026 season.
Gates will open at noon.
Bring the cars, bring the bikes, bring the dragsters. Your new season starts this Saturday.