Back in the day, every popular dragcar had a name like; Old Reliable, Grumpy’s Toy, Red Alert, Chevy2 Much, and who could forget about Jungle Jim’s line-up of dragcars. For a while, naming racecars fell by the wayside, but it seems that trend is making a comeback.

Case in point is Michael Roemer’s 1994 S10. When VP Racing Fuels’ “Pooch” saw the truck in action, he nicknamed the truck, the Flying Pickle. “Pooch” races in the drag radial class, and is actually VP’s Regional Manager, Jason Rueckert. “The truck has a tendency of doing wheelies,” Michael says, and that’s how the truck became known as the Flying Pickle. Michael chose the retina-searing color in memory of a close friend who passed away after a car accident. “Her favorite color was green,” Michael says. “She never experienced going to watch a race, but now she rides with me every pass.”

The engine in the Flying Pickle is a Bennett Racing-built 400ci small-block. Michael uses a Nitrous Express in X275 and Ultra Street competition, and he is planning to give the MX235 Class a try.

We hope she’s holding on, because Michael has the truck moving these days, and it’s only getting quicker. In prepping the truck for the NMCA Super Bowl at Route 66 Raceway, Michael was busy putting the S10 on a diet to better take advantage of the Bennett Racing 400ci small-block under the hood. The engine benefits from a Dart block, GRP aluminum connecting rods, custom Diamond pistons, All Pro 245 cylinder heads, Jesel shaft-mount rocker arms, titanium valves, a Peterson oil pump, a Williams oil pan, an Edelbrock intake, and a Bob Book carburetor. The small-block’s compression is squeezed via a Nitrous Express system, controlled by an NMS1000 control box. The truck relies on an MSD 7531 ignition box with a crank-trigger system. Winning races requires cataloging a lot of information, so Michael relies on a RacePak V300SD to keep track of the mechanicals.

A ProFormance transmission with a PTC converter lives behind the engine, while a 9-inch rearend lives out back with Strange Engineering 40-spline axles, a 4.30 gear, and Aerospace Components brakes. The rear suspension is a ladder bar arrangement with Menscer Motorsports shocks, and the front is made up of TRZ Motorsports control arms, and Menscer double-adjustable coilovers. The truck has a 25.5-certified chromoly cage and mini-tubs, both done by Michael’s dad Phil Roemer. Other work was handled by Jim Plimpton at Authentic Automotive, who helped get the truck ready for March’s Outlaw Street Car Reunion.

The truck’s front end was the latest area to get attention from a weight savings standpoint. Some new pieces from Innovative Racecraft helped to lighten the load up front.

Michael’s S10 was running low 5-second e.t’s before the upgrades, but the next time at the track, he hopes the weight loss plan equates to times in the 4-second zone. We’ll all find out come the NMCA Super Bowl July 28th through 31st.

Michael’s S10 usually wears Mickey Thompson 275 radials with Weld V-Series 15×12 wheels. Obviously, if Michael chooses the MX235 route, a tire change will be a necessity, but changing back to a 275 will be a piece of cake.