What does a Hall of Fame Racer do after his enshrinement within the hallowed walls of the institution? Maybe retire because you’ve achieved everything you set out to do. Perhaps you could linger in the sport as a middle of the road competitor with your best days behind you.

(Editor’s Note: While this video isn’t featuring Eddie Hill’s amazing Ecotec-powered Aerial Atom, it does illustrate what a blast these little cars can be. This particular video shows just how fun these Atoms can be, even while attempting to eat from McDonald’s.)

Eddie Hill with his Atom at Hallett Motor Raceway, near Tulsa, Oklahoma. (All photos from Eddie Hill)

You could even try to cash in on your former success by marketing products with your name on them. If your name is Eddie Hill, you accept your enshrinement in the NHRA Hall of Fame in 1978, then you go out and continue to push the limits.

Named as Person of the Year in 1988 by Car Craft Magazine, Hot Rod Magazine, and the International Hot Rod Association, he followed that up with Driver of the Year in 1993 as named by the International Hot Rod Association, Car Craft Magazine, Hot Rod Magazine, and National Dragster.

He was voted as one of the most popular drivers in the history of motorsports in 1999. Hill was then inducted into the Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2000, the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002 and the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007.

Surely the long career that started back in the late 1940’s, winning a Championship at the 1947 Tri-State Flat Track Motor Scooter title in Shreveport, Louisiana, to the selection in multiple Halls of Fame in the early 2000’s earned a well deserved rest. Hardly!

The man that is credited with introducing small profile tires on dragsters (1958), Introducing front wings on dragsters, Introduced charcoal-filled breathing masks for safety (1959), Inventing the tire-smoking burnout (1960) for heating up tires prior to a run, which is still standard practice today, has embarked on the next phase of his racing life.

Eddie Hill and his Atom at Eagles Canyon Raceway, near Decatur, Texas. (Photo from Eddie Hill)

• The first driver to cover a quarter mile in less than five seconds, 4.990-second pass on April 9, 1988, in Ennis, Texas.
• First to break the 200 MPH barrier in a gas-powered car when he attained a speed of 202.07 MPH in Hobbs, New Mexico in 1962.
• He was documented in The Guinness Book of World Records for eleven years for recording the fastest speed ever turned in a propeller-driven boat at 229.00 MPH, Chowchilla, California, in 1982.
• He covered the quarter mile track at Firebird Lake in Phoenix, Arizona, in 5.16 seconds. It was the first time in history that the world’s quickest quarter mile time was recorded on water rather than on asphalt.
• Hill went on to set records in all four sanctioning bodies of dragboat racing and collected five world championships along the way.

Our friends at Flowmaster Mufflers clued us in on what the legendary racer was up to these days. We knew instinctively that record breaking was involved, and we were proven correct as we read the press release from FlowMaster.

FlowMaster Muffler’s press release:

Eddie Hill, who most people remember for his hugely successful NHRA Top Fuel Drag racing career and his milestone “first in the fours” mark, is a true racer at heart and continues to pursue his passion with his stable of 2, 4 and even non wheeled “toys”. One of these is a 2.0L GM Ecotec powered Ariel Atom.

"The original exhaust system has been replaced with a much better and freer flowing one, and I have a choice of FlowMaster mufflers for the street, or less restrictive (louder!) ones, for track use."

For those unfamiliar, the Arial Atom is a car that has been reduced and refined to the bare essentials, it contains nothing that detracts from sheer, exhilarating performance.

No extra weight, radio, heater, air conditioner, power steering or power brakes and no computerized driver aides.

At half the weight of a Covette Z06, it’s a virtual rocket on wheels. Earlier this month Eddie took his car to Atomfest 2009 held at Hallet Motor Racing Circuit in North Eastern Oklahoma.

This annual ‘Exhibition of Speed’ event features some of the fastest Atoms in North America driven by some of the most experienced Atom pilots in the US. This year Eddie drove his Atom to a new track record of 1:20.6 seconds for Ariel Atoms.

A long time Flowmaster fan, Eddie’s car is fitted with custom exhaust system provided by Flowmaster. Looking for a lightweight, compact muffler for track use, our Special Project Development Shop created a direct fit system for Eddie using a “shorty” Outlaw series muffler. Judging by his new record the system worked out pretty well!

Eddie Hill Sets Track record at Atomfest 2009

After the record setting run at the Atom Fest.

What Eddie Hill Says

“I have had my personal 2006 Atom II for over four years. Jay Leno bought number 1, and I bought number 72. I received my new 2006 Ariel Atom II, a new 2006 Ford GT, and a new Ultima CanAm/427 Chevy at the same time, and my Atom has more than seven thousand miles on it — more than the other two cars combined.

That should tell you how much fun the Atom is to drive,” adding, “At the two tracks I attend, Hallett near Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Eagles Canyon near Decatur, Texas, it has almost always been easily the fastest car there with a license plate.”

Hill claims that, “The car is so light (about 1350 pounds) that it is extremely easy on the engine, transmission, clutch, tires, brakes, and even fuel cost.”

“The 7,000 plus miles on my Atom II has been about half and half street and track,” Hill says, then proudly states, “I was fortunate enough to set the all-time track record of 1 minute and 20.6 seconds for Atoms on the first day of the AtomFest, at Hallett Motor Raceway.

In my quest to reset the record even faster, I have done some serious horsepower upgrades to the Chevy Ecotec engine in my 2006 Ariel Atom II.”

"The adjustable-indexing cam gear on the bottom is available from GM, and should let me put the cam timing right where I want it."

What Upgrades? 

Hill says that his Atom is one of the American built cars that is powered by the Chevy Ecotec 2.0 liter LSJ four-cylinder, all aluminum engines with a factory equipped roots style Eaton M 62 Supercharger. Unfortunately, the Atoms are no longer available with the Chevy engine, which Hill claims makes his, “not only a high performance car, but also a very rare one.”

Hill installed a water/methanol injection system.

Hill’s Ecotec upgrades include:

• A water/methanol injection system that uses approximately one gallon of methanol for each five gallons of 93 octane fuel on the track. On the street there is hardly any methanol used.
• Two steps colder spark plugs.
• A dual pass endplate on the intercooler.
• Red Line Water Wetter, instead of anti-freeze, is used in the engine cooling system and the aftercooling system.
• Supercharger upgrade to a 1.3 liter Harrop HTV 1320 LSJ.
• CNC Porting of the cylinder heads with upgraded valve springs and retainers.
• More aggressive camshaft with COMP Cams.
• GM Performance Parts cam gear.
• Forged Pistons (9.5 compression range).
• Lighter and stronger Centerforce flywheel and clutch.

Hills latest blog updated us on where he stands with his upgrades now:

“The CNC porting of my cylinder head has been finished by M2Race in New Jersey, and the head has been sent to Diamond Pistons in Michigan, so they can 3-D scan it and design the piston domes for the actual combustion chamber and the actual oversize Supertech valves it now has.

When the custom made pistons are finished, they will be sent to M2Race so they can do the final torque-plate honing of the big and heavy-duty Darton sleeves, while they have the actual finished pistons in hand.”

Stay tuned because we will be following the record breaker as he continues to work on his incredible street legal machine.

Check Out The Original Test Featuring BBC’s Top Gear with Jeremy Clarkson – This Thing Is A Riot.