A Little Bit of Luck and a Whole Lot of Noonan Horsepower

Joey Severance set new standards for blown alcohol performance last Saturday in Las Vegas when he recorded a 5.121 second pass, the quickest methanol-fuelled elapsed time in history.

At the heart of the J&A Service dragster is a full Noonan Race Engineering package including the block, cylinder heads and manifold, which gave Severance the power needed to make the world record run.

Severance said with the championship having already been decided for this season, he and the team decided to get more aggressive on their tune up.

“We thought we would try a few things and everything just lined up right,” he said. “The air was really good for Vegas and to run the 5.12 was just nuts.

“It definitely felt like a good run. The wheels were up a little bit and it was the quickest 60 foot time we have ever had at 0.864. The track matched our tune up and everything worked out.”

Severance and Noonan Race Engineering have had a long term relationship, and the Oregon-based driver said he appreciated the level of innovation that continues to go into Noonan products.

“Jamie (Noonan, owner of Noonan Race Engineering) is willing to work with us and we are there to help him out, it is a mutual thing to try and make their product better while getting a great product to begin with,” he said. “You can tell the Noonans are out there to try to improve stuff, to make things better. It is fun to be around people with innovative ideas.”

Severance will close out his season in Pomona, California at the NHRA World Finals where he believes there is a 5.0 in the car, provided the weather and track conditions play ball.

“It's possible, but everything will have to line up,” he said. “We are on a fine line when we get aggressive and that can turn around and bite you in the butt. But if we get it perfect, there is a chance of a 5.0 for sure.”

It has been a successful week overall for Noonan Race Engineering customers around the world. Steve Jackson took out the final round of the NHRA Pro Mod Series in what has been a year of domination for the Georgia doorslammer racer. On the other side of the globe, Steven Ham romped to victory in Pro Slammer (the Australian version of Pro Mod) at the East Coast Thunder event at Sydney Dragway, while Gary Phillips added yet another victory to his massive list when he won in Pro Alcohol.

Noonan Race Engineering would like to extend their congratulations to all of these racers on their accomplishments.