The "Mistake" That Changed Pro Stock - Roy Johnson on Hidden Horsepower

I simply hadn't seen anything like it. I just said what's up. and I said, hell, I think it's blowing up, but it just made 1300

horsepower

and 92 feet of torque and I didn't know what I was doing. I was just trying to learn, right, yeah, and that's it. why it's one of the new popular categories, relatively new people, you know it's trendy, something people can relate to and you know kids love things powered up in one way or another oh yeah, that's what it happens to me, it's an era powered by the ProCharger superchargers turbochargers it's the computer technology that seems to be enabled what we've known for a long time that mechanically supercharging something can make it more powerful, but now you have the ability to control it so much better that maybe it's not as risky as it used to be or the reliability is much better, yeah, sure you could break a lot of parts if, especially if you don't turn on the power cooler, you know, circulate the water.

Allan comes back when we run and in Atlanta he came back and I told him that Allan needed to smoke why isn't he missing. I said yes, it burned a hole through the piston, the cylinder wall, everything, the intercooler is something important, okay, yes, no, no, uh, The action of the fuel moves many people to this day think that it was a

mistake

, maybe I want your opinion on it. I've been watching them, we just talked to John Kazy about you know, the air intake is right on the runway, so much hotter, we have yet to eclipse the previous ET record and the pre-injection speed record. fuel, but you know they're tuning with computers, it's interesting, maybe there's a new wave of tuners coming in, uh, when you look back and you didn't.

I didn't get the

stock

that you thought would have worked better with that combination, but you know, what do you think looking back? Well, I'm sorry I didn't jump straight into the computer setup earlier. I let Allan do that because he's the IT guru and he's 20 years younger than me, so I'm sorry, but since then I've gotten more involved in Street stuff. I think NH probably should have done it five years earlier or maybe sooner. or before, the guy in the other room was pushing it in 1990, I think so, well, I mean, I think if they had made the change back then and used the throttle body instead of what they did and left the hood on it, I think everyone The audience would have loved it, right, I think you're right.

I mean, it's the Expo deal last year that Ben Rider did that got the combination right, so the same LS engine, Holly Dominator, versus his sniper EFI throttle body injection produced exactly the same power. by just changing them, but then you would have to change the look of the car or whatever, you could have had all the advantages of EFI without having to make all those other changes if you just hit the throttle body, well, see. the cost of just changing the front of the hood, yeah, but at the same time, uh, and of course, you know Holly's bringing you the segment right now, what they've been able to do with the person at home who just wants to screw something together. . and having it learn and run at its best, that's amazing and making that connection like the person watching the test that has a project car at home and then I want to have that and say it's the same thing having a carburetor on. back in the year 2021 that doesn't make sense to me anymore, well I just finished a production project last week and it was throttle body fuel injection and I didn't even know anything about the system we started with, mhm, but just a phone call or two and a couple days later we were there with it, you know, it had 600 and some feet of torque and 600 and some

horsepower

, right, it was the throttle body, yeah, that sniper system they have with the throttle body you don't even need a laptop, a little old digital one, it's like small.

Your phone is ready. You wish you had immersed yourself in the computer stuff sooner. Yeah, I was doing engines and I thought if I can do the best I can on the engine, let someone else worry. about all that other right to be fair, computers didn't work that well back then, you know we're benefiting from the hindsight of the best computers we've ever had and they're super fast and super easy to use and everyone has it all controlled now, then it wouldn't have been so easy, no, but at least I know how to turn things on and off D, it makes sense to me, yeah, yeah, that's too good, but that's the regret I have, right?

Again, that's part of what the Expo is about, is sharing that, like Hey, listen, you need to jump into the computer stuff now, don't hide, embrace it, yeah, I know one of the segments that will come up later today it is S Tech and its CNC. programming, so we know that CNC machines help make things more repeatable, increase productivity, but you have to learn how to program it, yes, and then you just accept it, you don't hide, you jump into that technology, it's what you I hear you say, yes, that's it. You know exactly what was on the dealership service manager when it started showing up on the street and if you stay on this, some of them did it and some of them are still on it, some of them fail.

My side makes sense, so Pro Stock, are you done yet? fact, is there any inclination? some thought like, "hey, there's power available" and maybe you could call Jerry today and who knows you guys might come back to this like you did the first time, no, that chapter is closed, that chapter is closed. Allan's little brother has a little S10 truck that he runs stands with, that's all I need, there you go, that's it, I've got you, I've got you, we'll see you at the Thunder Valley Nationals this weekend. I doubt it, really, come hang out. Not with us, he's here today apparently yes, I was good enough for me no, I like seeing my friends, but for the rest no, I have you now.

I tell you what Roy was, he was uh, he was great like this was. It's great to have you here and I appreciate it and this is really what

hidden

power is all about. This is a mess with the podcast. It's about being able to have someone like you come and share their story and communicate that passion and people understand what it is. You really need to do this, people aspire to this kind of thing, but what does it really take to do it? I mean, you showed it today, everything about this, it's like you could sum up what your Nordic power is about and what this industry is.

About man, you shared it, so thank you so much for being happy to ask. Was there anything you wanted to talk about that we didn't touch on? We have it all. I think you have it all. We have it all. Where you're going, that is. that's how we do it Roy, thank you very much, I appreciate you, this was just amazing and that's what the Engine Performance Expo is all about.