When he is not racing NMCA Street Outlaw, Eric also has plans of racing this combination in X275. The X275 combination will utilize an 88mm Garrett turbocharger per class rules.

In the fast moving world of Ultra-Street and X275 drag radial racing, only a select few racers are consistently at the forefront. One of those racers happens to be Eric Kenward, who is well known for his nitrous assisted small block Malibu wagon that’s capable of pulling off some hellacious wheelstands while putting down elapsed times in the 4.80s in the 1/8^th mile. For 2013, Eric is setting his sights on NMCA Street Outlaw racing with a new ride, a turbocharged 1980 Malibu sedan.

Don’t let the flat hood and stock appearance of this Malibu fool you — there’s a monster lurking below. That monster just happens to be a Mike Moran built, 427 cubic inch small block Chevy using SBX heads and a single 94mm Garrett turbo charger.  The intercooled turbocharger feeds a custom built sheet metal intake and Billet Atomizer injectors, also supplied by Mike Moran.

A BigStuff 3 EFI controller will handle the fuel management duties of this turbocharged combination while a belt drive MagnaFuel pump will supply high pressure VP Racing fuel to this engine. An AMS-1000 boost controller has the responsibility of holding back the boost pressure of this turbocharger combination at launch so it doesn’t over power the Hoosier 275 drag radial tires.

KSR Performance and Fabrication created a custom set of stainless headers for this car, while TRZ Motorsports handled the trick intercooler and exhaust system routing. Cal Hartline of Hartline Performance handled the engine management and tuning of the combination using a BigStuff 3 EFI system and AMS-1000 boost controller on a chassis dyno and also assisted in the tuning at the track. 

TRZ Motorsports recently updated the chassis and cage of the Malibu sedan to 25.3 spec so this car can handle low seven seconds sprints at over 200 mph in the ¼ mile. An FTI Powerglide and custom torque converter has the responsibility of putting over 1,500 horsepower to the ground.  Hoosier 275 drag radials are mounted to a set of black Holeshot rims with matching bead-locks. Eric’s car utilizes TRZ suspension components throughout the car, including a prototype TRZ chromoly 9-inch full-floating rear end and AFCO double adjustable shocks.