Recent News From Mar-Schan Motorsports:
Mar-Schan Motorsports Sponsorship Update 2010.
We are welcoming back some returning companies and friends and would like to introduce some new ones, as of February 3rd, 2010.
We would like to welcome back our friends at Jesel Valvetrain. Bob Macdonald and the Jesel family are back on board again for a second year of support and have stepped up not only with our personal program but we are also now an authorized dealer for their full line of products. Give us a call or send us an email for pricing on parts for your ride.
Josh and Vince from BMS Racing Engines / Budz Motorsports are back again offering their knowledge and support to help us keep our 421" small block healthy and strong. If you are in the South Eastern Pennsylvania area these guys are conveniently located right off the Pa Turnpike in the Plymouth Meeting area.
M&M Competition Engines is back again to offer their knowledge and technical expertise with our SB2.2 heads and custom cast intake manifold developed in house. Scott and Tim will be preparing a brand new set of GM SB2.2 cylinder head castings to get the fuel and air into engine.
We would like to welcome Joe Rivera and ProTorque torque converters to the team. Joe will be using his magic to give us a killer competitive torque multiplier to get the power from the bullet back to the tires. Joe has been around the heads up door slammer scene for years providing converters to numerous champions and class winners.
Brodix Cylinder Heads will be offering their support and confidence in our program by offering us special pricing on one of their 8B 1000 aluminum blocks. Brodix has been in the aftermarket manufacturing business for almost 40 years and their aluminum blocks have been the foundation on which winning engine combinations have been built since the mid-90s. They have become the standard to which other blocks are measured.
We welcome and thank PWD Lubricants in Warminster, Pa for coming aboard to provide us with their full line up of products including Brad Penn Racing Oil. Philadelphia Warehouse Distributors has been selling lubricants for over 70 years in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware area. They are full line distributors for several companies providing lubricants for your automotive and industrial needs as well as many other automotive chemical accessories.
Check back often to see what winning companies will be helping us to the winner's circles in 2010.
You Can Also Become Part Of The Marschan Motorsports Sponsors Here:
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Marschan Motorsports Announces 2010 Racing Schedule:
 After many successful events in 2009, Marschan Motorsports is primed and ready for the upcoming 2010 season with many new racing series announced and growing in the northeast, we feel we will be a major player in all arena's of what the series and tracks are offering for not only us but you as spectators and fans of Drag Racing.
Between Cecil County, NMCA, Ultimate Outlaws, Atco Raceway, Super Chevy and Shakedown At E Town, we will be fixated on taking home a championship.
Take a look at our new schedule, come see us at the track and watch the internet for our name to ring prominent again in 2010.
Also, Thanks To Many Interested Parties The Toterhome Has Been Sold !!
Meet Team Marschan Motorsports Here:
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
SCHANKWEILER WINS "TRUE STREET RACE WRAPS"
Written by Ron Ward / Behind the Lens: The FSC Staff
Clothing For Fast People.com NMCA Milan
Blue is the Color of the Day
"I miscalculated his potential during testing." Marc Schankweiler
Detroit is the undisputed home of American automotive muscle and it is just a short drive from beautiful Milan Dragway. A great bunch of racers gathered for NMCA's fastest growing class, Tremec True Street, to flex some of those American muscles and vie for the title of King of Michigan.
The scenic area around Milan, Michigan was the backdrop for the mandatory True Street cruise and it offered up a host of challenges for the competitors. Said Marc Schankweiler, "We had a really good time. It was actually a 32-mile cruise with a lot to deal with. There were construction zones with flagmen, rutted roads, loose gravel, train tracks and a stretch of highway where I was doing 60 miles per hour at 3200 rpm and I was hoping the valve train would hold up."
 Mt. Pleasant, Michigan's Mark Willis drove his '92 Mustang on the cruise and added, "It (the cruise) could have been better, but it wasn't the NMCA's fault; there was road construction. My car stayed at about 200 degrees, but got up to 210 once." After beating themselves half to death on the toughest cruise of the season, 26 drivers made their way to the staging lanes to cool off a bit before making three back-to-back passes. Schankweiler was having issues with his immaculate 1966 Chevy II and held his fingers crossed as he cranked the SB2-headed small block. "I was having problems with the car starting.
During testing, it acted just like the battery was dead and we found out later it was the starter. When we got back from the cruise, I shut off the car to let it cool down and I was worried it wouldn't restart. Thankfully, it started up, but I didn't shut it off between rounds. It just ran for 17 minutes," said Schankweiler.
Those 17 minutes proved to be worth letting the car run that long. As the tire smoke started rolling out of the burnout box for round one, it was apparent there were some real players in the house. Schankweiler's Deuce flashed an 8.809 up on the scoreboard, Willis' Fox-body knocked down a 9.100, Steve Critchlow mustered up a 9.478 with his familiar Mustang and Ben Nau had his 1972 AMC Gremlin set on kill as he hiked the front tires way up in the air and blasted to a 9.383.
Read The Full Event Wrap Up In The Newest Fastest Street Car Magazine
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
2009 IS A WRAP For Mar-Schan Motorsports Chevy II
Shakedown At E Town, Our Biggest Qualifying Of The Year
 The Mar-Schan Motorsports team finished the year at the Shakedown At E-town in Englishtown, NJ in somewhat of a strong fashion. We qualified out Nova in the #3 position, with an 8.521 out of 63 cars vying for the 32 available spots with our first qualifier on Saturday morning in the 8.50 index class. The weather threw everyone for a loop it seemed as only 9 cars ran between the magic index 8.50 and 9.00. After a long wait for the second qualifier we had another shot to dial the car in and try to take home the low qualifier award but it was getting colder by the minute and so was the track. The launch was ok but about 300 feet out the Nova moved around a little and I decided to keep the car between the lines knowing we were comfortably in the show on Sunday.
Sunday we woke to perfect weather conditions and a great day for racing. We were the second pair of cars down the track and Jason Penna left the starting line together and I could see him down track in my mirror so I lifted approximately 8 seconds into the run and took the win with an 8.55 @149mph. As I was coasting to a stop looking forward to turning the car around for the next round I heard a dreadful noise coming from under the car somewhere in the driveline. The way the car was bumping and banging around as we were towing it back we assumed it was the gears in the rear differential, so we got back to the pits and Harry Gerb from H&J Motorsports already had a spare set of gears and gear oil ready for us. We pulled the wheels, brakes, drive shaft, and axles prior to pulling out the center section and gears only to discover that it was in pristine shape.
 The call for the next round was looming but we decided to pull out the only other thing it could be and that was our transmission. That proved to be the culprit and the search was on for someone with a spare that we could borrow. Finally one was located, but as we were switching parts between the two the call to the lanes for the second round was heard over the loudspeaker and our weekend and season was over. It was a tough way to go out when we had a pretty good combination for the weekend. The good news is that we will have a fresh transmission from G&C Pro Trans and the torque converter was sent home with Joe Rivera from ProTorque so he could do what he does best.
I want to thank again all my sponsors and my family as well as the guys who help me out during the season for the occasional hamburger, unless of course Seth Cohen from www.gonedragracing.com is cooking nearby and then we all eat like royalty.
I am busy right now preparing my sponsorship proposals and marketing for the Performance Racing Industry show in Orlando, Florida that I will be attending December 10-12. Check back for more updates and changes as well as our schedule for 2010.
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
Marschan Motorsports Nearing The End Of The Season Review
Ultimate Outlaw Shootout Series And Cecil County
Wrapping Up Our Expectations, Heading To The Shakedown At E Town
Photos Courtesy Of www.gonedragracing.com
 Well another month has FLOWN by and the season is almost wrapped up. At the beginning of September we missed the Cecil County Street Car Shootout because of the repairs to our engine after the valve to valve seal interference issue but the Josh from BMS Racing Engines and myself made quick work of that and we were back on the track for the Cecil County Real Street Car Shootout on September 19th running the 275 drag radial class. There were only 5 cars in attendance because many were recovering from a race the week earlier down south and were saving their cars for the following weeks Ultimate Outlaw Shootout presented by Coast Chassis, Holeshot Wheels, Pritchett Brother's Racing, and BMS Racing Engines. We did manage to qualify in the number 3 position and won a close race in the first round. We then lost a close one in the second round ending our day.
Here is a look at the ladder.
The following week we were at the Ultimate Outlaw Shootout at Cecil County Dragway dodging the raindrops again running in the 275 drag radial class. This week there were 11 cars in the class and we qualified in the number 7 position fighting some issues and taking a guess at the tune up.
We increased our potential power output with the addition of more nitrous and fuel but we hadn't had the time to really examine the tune up by reading the spark plugs at the end of a run due to the lack of a proper tow back vehicle, which was damaged in Milan, Michigan a month or so earlier. We ended up losing in the first round by .012 to 275 standout racer Bobby Flippen.
We did garner some more exposure for our team and sponsors though when the show Inside Drag Racing aired on Fox Sports Net nationally on October 18th.
Here is a clip of an interview with Nate Pritchett prior to the first round of eliminations and that run.
A copy of the complete show divided into 2 parts hosted on You tube can be seen here:
 In the middle of September I purchased a used Renegade toterhome to better serve the team and my family's needs. It is a sweet unit that sleeps 6 and has full shower and bathroom facilities. We can't wait to use it more.
We also were victims of the current economic situation when I was laid off from my job of 10 years on September 30th. I lost many of the extra benefits I had grown accustomed to, a company truck, gas card, cell phone, guaranteed 40 hours etc. This is compounded by the fact that I just extended myself, isn't that what most racers do, to purchase the toterhome only one week earlier. I did find work only a few days later, but the basic things most people pay for on their own that I didn't have to do is taking its toll.
We sat out a couple of weeks in October but planned on racing at the Shakedown at E-town at Raceway Park in New Jersey, but it has been postponed due to rain until November 6th and 7th. We look forward to running in the 8.50 index class at this prestigious event. The team and family may travel to the final Ultimate Outlaw Shootout race the following weekend in Virginia if finances permit.
Thanks again to all of my sponsors and I look forward to seeing many of you again at the Performance Racing Industry show in December.
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
August Starts Well And Ends Better!:
Holeshot Wheels Ultimate Outlaws, Speed Freak Clothing Winners Circle:
Photos Courtesy Of www.gonedragracing.com and Dr. Rudy Rouweyha:
 We got our first taste of competition since the Wayne Keegan, Competitive Wiring updates at the Cecil County Street Car Shootout on August 1st. We jumped into the 8.50 index class without much of a tune up and not holding any extra power in the bag. The weather was typical August summer weather with temps in the upper 90s. We qualified in the middle of the 17 car all-run field and ran an 8.55 in the first round, an 8.57 in the second round and an 8.59 losing effort in the semi-finals. The weather was getting better and I think the car was leaning out because the numbers fell off but we didn't have much time between rounds to address the tune up. It was good to be back at the track having fun again. Thanks Wayne!
We were back at Cecil County for the Real Street Car Shootout on August 15th running in the 275 Drag Radial category. There were 11 cars in the class and we qualified #6 with a 5.49 in the 1/8-mile at 129mph. It was hot again and the track temps were around 150* but our Mickey Thompson shod Nova was up to the task. We had both nitrous stages in within a tenth of a second after the initial launch. Again we are still in the beginning stages of working on our tune up after wasting the first 4 months of the season. Unfortunately we lost in the 1st round on a red light after I rolled through the lights.
 The following weekend we headed north to Lebanon Valley Dragway, just outside Albany, New York, for the Holeshot Wheels Ultimate Outlaw Series race. We entered the 8.50 index race and after getting rained on all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday the track was finally dried late Sunday afternoon to begin the battle for the custom trophies designed by Holeshot Wheels.
 We got through two quick qualifying rounds to once again land in the middle of the pack qualifying #6 out of 10 cars.
Shortly after the second qualifier the skies opened up again and the decision was made to call the race due to time constraints and another front coming in behind that one.
 On Thursday August 27th we headed to Milan, Michigan for the NMCA JE Pistons Muscle Car Nationals and the Inaugural Speed Freak Clothing Quick-16 race. We got rained out on our testing day on Friday but were up early to catch a test run on Saturday prior to the True Street Cruise. We had a little extra nitrous in the first stage that we didn't have earlier in the month and wanted to see what would happen. The weather was good and the track was even better!
The car launched well carrying the front wheels past the 60' mark but at the same time the back tires started to shake while the front end was still in the air, because of the aggressive nature of the launch and lack of tire pressure for the extra weight we were carrying in the rear of the car to meet the needs of a True Street race. My crewman Cecil Walton and I went back to the pits and decided to detune the first stage to what we had been running throughout the month of August because it looked like it would be enough to cover the field. I also took a bunch of timing out of the car on the launch to help tame things down and make sure we could go A to B and get down the track.
We met up for the True Street cruise around midday and drove 32 miles through Milan, Saline and Ann Arbor before returning to Milan. We had about an hour cool down time prior to our 3 hot laps down the ¼ mile. The decision was made to not shut the car off during the race due to a starter issue we were having earlier in the weekend, which was the same problem we had at Super Chevy in July that I attributed to a bad battery.
We ran 3 passes in 17 minutes without shutting the car off. We went an 8.80, 9.02 and an 8.85 for an 8.89 average and the quickest average of the 26 cars in the class and the win. The second pass was a little off because of a bad purge of the nitrous prior to the run. I was just purging the lines of the evaporated gas instead of the actual liquid nitrous. I didn't wait long enough for the good stuff to get from the bottles in the back of the car to the front before I made the run. I got it right the last pass though. Keep in mind our times in general were down because of pulling the power out of the car to get us down the track with a quick enough ET to win the race, not set any records.
 On Sunday the quickest 16 cars in the class went head to head on a sportsman ladder in the Speed Freak Clothing Quick 16. This time we put a little more power back in the engine and went an 8.54, 8.51, 8.52 and an 8.56 in the finals for the win and a double up on the weekend.
I want to thank the guys that help me out, Keith Allen, Jim Dolbin, Cecil Walton, and John Kokinda as well as my wife Jennifer.
I also want to thank Alternate Construction Concepts, Mickey Thompson, Inaugural Speed Freak Clothing, Quick Fuel, M&M Competition Engines, Buds Motorsports, VP Racing Fuels, Aeromotive Fuel Systems, Boccella's Performance and many other sponsors for helping me get through the rough times and to the winner's circle.
Now for the bad news.
It's Monday September 7th and we are in the midst of pulling the motor out because of what appears to be at least one valve seal that has been destroyed by possibly the failed inner spring on a triple valve spring. There are pieces of the seal and its tensioning spring as well as other metal shavings in the oil and filter. We will have it out and back to BMS for a good look and cleaning, but will have to sit this weekend out. Keep an eye on the schedule for where we will be next.
Visit Marschan Motorsports Sponsor Page
It's Hard Work. There Are No Shortcuts, Unless You're Rich:
Tommy Johnson Jr. Funny Car drag racer when asked if he could describe the drive within him?:
Photos By GoneDragRacing.com:
 I was coaxed into writing an update for the web site by Mark, from goDragRacing.org / WTF Web and Graphic Designs, because it's been a month or two since we posted. The quote from Tommy Johnson Jr. above couldn't be truer at this point in the 2009 season. We have been working and testing, trying to spend our budget wisely to diagnose the problems that have plagued us since the start of the season. Things went well last season but we wanted to step up the program and try to coax some more power out of our Alternate Construction Concepts / Buds Motorsports / M&M Competition Engines SB2.2 small block. Somewhere along the line, that plan was thwarted by some cantankerous electrons that didn't want to do what they were supposed to do. It has been a long and draining, both emotionally and financially, season so far, but we hope that this weekend at the Cecil County Dragway Street Car Shootout 8.50 index race will be the turning point.
We have been to several events and test sessions since the last update but nothing was more frustrating than the showing we had at the Super Chevy event at Maple Grove. We seemed to be getting a handle on the electrical problems and isolating where there were coming from. The problem was that our nitrous system was losing power going down the track intermittently. We were racing in the True Street class, which we won last year at this event. After the approximately 15-mile cruise and the first of three back-to-back passes we were the quickest car in the class. That's where our latest problem reared its ugly head. The car was dead when it was time for a restart for the second pass! To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. The class win would go to someone else this year.
We did make a couple of laps after that with another battery and we lost in the first round of Super Pro with a breakout pass which was fine with me, at least the car got down the track. The crew came back on Sunday and we entered "The Last Chance Race" or "The Easiest Way To Get $35 From A Loser Race" as I call it. All I wanted to do was back up Saturday nights pass to see if we could get down the track without incident two times in a row. You already know where this is going, right? It didn't. We lost fuel pressure due to another electrical gremlin that no one can figure out. That was it!
 Monday I called Wayne Keegan at Competitive Wiring in Freehold, New Jersey and he had an opening. I dropped the car off Monday night and told him to work his magic. I picked the car up on the next Saturday all finished up with a schematic drawing of what he did. It looks great and should function without issues like the many other cars he has wired like Craig Buscio's Nova, Jack Boerer's Monte Carlo and the late Leo Barnaby's Corvette.
 Our future plans and schedule will now also include a couple of stops on the Pritchett Brothers Ultimate Outlaw Racing Series circuit. Nate and Adam Pritchett have joined with ORSCA and Fox Sports Network to provide a series here in the Northeast that will have unprecedented coverage of outlaw drag racing. We will be participating in their 8.50 index category and plan on being a contender in this growing and competitive class. We look forward to the challenges and the opportunities this series will afford us as well as our sponsors.
We know there are no shortcuts to success, and we will never be rich, so all that's left according to Tommy Johnson Jr., is hard work and we are ready. Bring it on!
Pritchett Brothers On Competition Plus
Pritchett Brothers Racing Information Press Release
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
Mar-Schan Motorsports In Mickey Thompson History Video
A Tribute Anyone Could Be Proud To Be Included
I was recently honored to be part of a promotional video for Mickey Thompson Tires that was just released and I wanted to share it here. They have been supportive of our racing program since 2007 and I want to take the time to thank them for their commitment to quality and to the grass roots racing community.
I am proud to represent them again this season and look forward to many more years of racing with them. Just being recognized as an asset to their progressive program and being in this video with some of the big names in the street car racing scene keeps me motivated even with the rough start to the season we are having this year.
The Mar-Schan Motorsports Team would like to again thank Carl Robinson, Ben Anderson, Aaron Smith and the whole Mickey Thompson team for helping support our passion safely.
Sincerely "Marc Schankweiler"
Mickey Thompson Tires Website. Visit Them Here:
Let The Thrash Begin:
A Timeline View Of Getting The Motor Together
 In our last update we were waiting to see the status of our crankshaft to determine the fate of our 421 SBC and the direction we would take for the rest of the season. On Wednesday we were told that our 1-year-old Callies Magnum Crankshaft was now suitable for use as a doorstop or jack stand. This sport is now officially starting to get expensive! In talking to Scott at M&M Competition Engines it was decided to stick with the same combination of rod length and stroke now and into the future even if we decide to go with another engine block sometime soon.
We called BMS Racing Engines / Buds Motorsports, and talked to Vince and Josh. These guys were eager to step up to help us recover from the loss and get back on the track. They called Callies and got me a great price on the same crankshaft and connecting rods we just trashed. The rods showed up on Thursday May 26th and the crank showed up on Monday June 1st, and BMS had it balanced and ready to install on Tuesday just 4 days before the NMCA race at Maple Grove.
We started putting the motor together at Bob Hartsock’s shop again on Tuesday night. It wasn't long before we encountered a problem; the snout on the crankshaft seemed to be undersized. Wednesday morning I called Callies and the told me the acceptable tolerance for the snout and it was 1.5 thousandths undersize. The gear to drive the camshaft and the harmonic balancer slid on instead of pressing on. After some persuasion Callies decided to believe that one of their products got through the quality control phase thus costing me precious time and money for the balancing that was done. They took the bob weights from the balancing process here and did a stand up job of balancing one in house on Thursday and sending it red label UPS to us Friday morning.
This is where the fun begins!
 I had pulled all of my engine components out of Hartsock's shop on Wednesday night when we decided that if I had any chance at all of getting this thing done it needed to be done locally by someone who didn't work a 40 hour job for another company. We needed dedicated service on Friday and BMS was up to the challenge. The crank showed up around 9am, a mere 24 hours before I needed to be at The Grove for tech. Josh was ready to go.
 Everything was laid out and cleaned for assembly. I arrived around 10:30 and he had already checked main bearing clearances and was getting ready to file fit the new top rings for the pistons.
The level of precision and accuracy was incredible during the assembly underlying Josh's background as a mechanic on local alcohol funny car legend Carl Ruth's crew and his time spent in Roger Penske's organization.
 Hour by hour the motor was assembled with the occasional little hitch but nothing that these guys didn't have the resources to solve.
It always helps to have a great shop like Big Time Automotive right next door to help out when you are in a jam! Thanks Bob!
   
The camshaft was degreed in and all final torque specs were checked and double checked before the oil pan and cylinder heads were installed and the cold valve lash was set by around 5pm. It was complete, ready to shrink wrap for the rainy Friday rush hour ride home.
 
 I arrived back in Berks County around 6:30pm and my help started arriving by around 7pm. The Dart Little M block housing all that precision assembly was once again residing in the Mar-Schan Motorsports 1966 Chevy II by around 8pm. Keith Allen, John Kokinda, Joe and Brian Costira from J&B Motorsports and Mike Cerrano were on hand the help out and keep the atmosphere light even though I had my game face on. With less than 12 hours left till tech we had everything ready to go and the decision was made to wake the neighbors and fire this thing up. Power-Check. Water pump-Check. Ignition-Check. Fuel pump-Check. Fuel pressure…………fuel pressure. Houston we have a problem. The pump was running but there was no pressure. It was about 10:30 and it was getting late and we were running out of time.
 Previous to this night, in my spare time, while waiting for my new rotating assembly to arrive, I decided to install the new Stealth FS fuel system that Aeromotive Fuel Systems provided as big time sponsorship donation to our program. The Eliminator Stealth Kit has a powerful Eliminator Fuel pump and pre-filter, built right into the sump. It's a weld-in universal sump that gives you the advantage and flexibility of a custom, in-tank fuel system without building a custom tank. The Eliminator pump can support 2300 naturally aspirated horsepower and 1700 in boosted applications. Also provided by Aeromotive was their Fuel Pump Speed Controller which works via a tach output signal that allows the pump to slow down at cruising speed when all that fuel isn't needed. Thus extending the life of the pump and keeping the circulating fuel cooler by not circulating it as much.
 The system was new to me and we couldn't figure out the problem so I took a chance and called Jesse Power from Aeromotive on his cell phone around 12 mid-night. He actually called me back at 12:10am Saturday morning to help me diagnose my problem. Now that's customer service! I found out that when installing the system in the car I ended up turning the pre-filter housing inside the tank 180 degrees out of rotation thus blocking the flow of fuel from the sump into the filter housing. Oops.
 Everything was buttoned up and back in place. We had fuel pressure now but we also had a fuel leak from the filter housing area and the sump. From taking the housing off and messing with it the rubber gasket was trashed. We tried till about 2:30am to get the tank to stop leaking with it in the car, and around 3am the decision was made to pull the tank and see what was happening instead of having the $15.00 a gallon VP C-23 run down our arms onto the floor.
Brian Costira was still hanging around, risking the wrath of his fiance', to make one last ditch effort to get ready for Saturday morning. It was not to be though. The gasket was beyond repair and we were out of gas, no pun intended………well maybe a little.
Saturday morning a few hours later I headed up to the track with no car. It was a sad day indeed. We fought and thrashed for a week only to be defeated in the end. Thanks to all the guys that helped out and my wife for putting up with me. I did however meet Steve Matusek, president of Aeromotive Fuel Systems, at the track and we scavenged a new gasket from their display Stealth Sump to get us going, Aeromotive supplied us later with some more gaskets and O Rings for the sytem to make sure we had some on hand.
Brian and Joe came back to the house Saturday night and we put the tank back in the car with no leaks and fired the car up and we made the decision to load it up Sunday morning and head to the NMCA event and at least make some passes in support of our sponsors in the Super Pro category. We made a time trial run and all was well. The car sounded great and we seated those new rings with a 2-stage nitrous pass the length of the ¼ mile and we had killer oil pressure and our electrical problems were solved by the addition of a new ignition coil or the new timer that activates the 2nd stage of nitrous. We ended up winning the first round of competition but lost in the 2nd round. Oh well that was the least of our worries. We might have lost the race but more importantly we seemed to have solved our problems both mechanically and electrically and we are looking forward to the next race on June 20th at Cecil County Dragway for the 275 Radial Tire Race. Hope to see you there.
Marschan Motorsports Archived News and Press Here:
Going From Bad To Worse:
We Sure Have Had A Hard Start This Year:
The Mar-Schan Motorsports team can’t seem to catch a break this year. I think in the last 6 weeks we have had more problems than in the last 6 years, but in this sport when things go bad they tend to go really bad.
 The week following the NMCA race in Bowling Green I upgraded some of my wiring still trying to nail down our electrical gremlin that keeps rearing it’s ugly head. I installed Cole Hersee continuous duty solenoids to control the power to both nitrous systems hoping for longevity and durability. I was convinced after BG that my MSD ignition box was the cause of my problem so I sent it out to them for repair. I put my old ignition coil back in and decided to try the car again at the Northeast Pro Street Shootout at Maple Grove Raceway on May 10. The car left good on the initial qualifying pass but as soon as the second stage of nitrous was activated the motor started to misfire again.
 I scoured the pits looking for another coil I could try, but of course it wasn’t the same size so we tie wrapped it to the panel and thrashed to get ready for the second qualifier. I started the car prior to leaving the pits and all sounded well. We towed the car to the lanes with a fresh set of plugs to get a reading on our tune up because for sure we were going to make it down the track. As I begin to pull into the water for my burnout I look at my oil pressure gauge and it was on 0. My motor that hadn’t caused me a problem for 2 years and about 180 passes now had no oil pressure!
We towed it back to the pits and pulled the filter and drained the oil and we didn’t see any debris in it. Put a fresh filter and fresh oil back in it hoping maybe the filter was to blame, but still no pressure. The distributor was spinning but no oil was coming out of the line to the gauge. Time to pack it in.
I pulled the intake and distributor the next day and found that the distributor wasn’t down far enough to turn the oil pump. Somehow it worked the first 8 days at the track! I put the primer on it and we had tons of pressure. I left the old crab cap distributor that I wasn’t using any longer anyway, since I put the belt drive in the front, off and replaced it with a billet plug from MSD that just has the gear on it to drive the oil pump. In went some fresh oil. Back on went the intake, and we fired the car up. 75 pounds of pressure at idle cold and 55 hot after about a 3 mile cruise around the neighborhood. Maybe, just maybe we caught it soon enough.
Saturday May 16 we headed to Cecil County with a new coil of our own installed, a much larger and blinding low oil pressure warning light, and an RF noise filter from MSD installed prior to the ignition box to help prevent damaging power spikes. Again precipitation was keeping us from running the car so we were homeward bound by 10am. That’s 6 hours I will never get back.
Instead of waiting for another weekend to come to see if I fixed the problems I decided to call Ray at Performance Specialties and set up an appointment to make some dyno pulls on his Dyno-Jet chassis dyno 3 days later.
  
I found a small glitch on the 2nd pull in my wiring that was causing the ignition box to pull timing out while running on just motor as if the nitrous was being activated. No big deal since I rarely race the car on just the motor anyway. After the 2nd pull though the oil pressure seemed low and erratic, but we attributed it to very hot oil from the pulls. I left it cool down and we put a pressure sensor in line so we could record the oil pressure on the computer during the pull.
Well I never got to make that pull.  When I tried starting the car again the battery seemed very sluggish and we put the charger on it and tried it again. I got it to fire but it wouldn’t idle and it shut off. I pulled the oil filter off and it looked like the ground at a scrap yard! Time to pack it up. She was hurt and hurt bad!
The next day, Wednesday, Keith Allen and I pulled the motor. When I got under the car to turn the flywheel so I could remove the torque converter bolts I realized just how tight the motor was. It wasn’t looking good.
 Thursday I pulled the intake, valley pan and cylinder heads off, and if there were a copper thief looking in the lifter valley his heart would have skipped a beat. I cleaned all the parts in the valve train and the cylinder heads and took the short block to Bob Hartsock’s for disassembly. It was pretty much a wasteland. The rods are scrap and the crankshaft is questionable. The pistons can be saved and the block is fine.
I guess we will wait to see if the crank can be fixed to determine the direction we go with it.
  
All I know is that my racing alarm clock is set to go off on Friday June 5th for the Kooks Headers NMCA race at my home track Maple Grove, and we hope to be there to continue our season and see if we replaced enough parts to chase away our electrical gremlins.
A lot of teams with greater resources might decide to take some time off, but we will persevere, learning as we go, in continued support of our sponsors by missing as little time at the track as possible.
Sincerely Marc Schankweiler
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