A Major Mustang Movement
By: Bruce Biegler
The graduation to nitro for British Columbia’s Tim Nemeth, who has been a familiar name on the Top Alcohol racing scene for a number of years, was one of the coolest stories in all of Canadian drag racing last year. Despite only limited appearances, Tim and his wife Nancy turned heads and made solid strides with their spectacular new fuel burning Mustang…..
Dubbed the “Iceman”, Nemeth’s very creative ’69 Mustang-bodied Nostalgia Funny Car was impressive by season’s send. The team made a total of four events during 2010 and showed solid progression each time out while ultimately being rewarded with a best time of 5.89 secs at 245 mph. For Tim, the development of his new Mustang was both rewarding and the latest cog within his Funny Car racing career.
Tim Nemeth's Ford Mustang is his first Nitro burning effort
“We started racing in the TAFC class back in 1994,” Tim revealed. “Our first FC was a McKinney/Olds Cutlass body once owned by Billy Meyer. In ’02 we purchased Jimmy Rectors former IHRA Alcohol Championship car run it until ’06 when we debuted a new Prostart / Camaro body. The Rector/ TC chassis has since been converted to fit the Mustang Fuel Coupe which so far has worked out just fine.”
“We did test the Mustang late in 2009 – but 2010 was our first full season with it. We got close quickly from a performance perspective and I think that surprised a lot of people because we had never raced nitro before. We didn’t run as much as we first anticipated we would — but we got quicker and faster each time out which was very exciting for us.”
Tim and Nancy are in fact part of an ever growing movement of racers who have elected to dabble within the nitro nostalgia drag racing scene which is arguably the sport’s fastest growing sub genre.
The very cool goth/medieval paint scheme application was an immediate fan favorite
“These Nitro cars of the early 70’s are what I grew up with so as you can imagine it was something I always wanted to race, “ Tim continued. “I felt we had the right chassis with the TC along with the fuel parts I had been gathering and with the Demidoff Equipment Ltd. sponsorship in place we made the decision to switch from alcohol to Nitro. Start up costs were close to that in the alcohol program but now that we have run the fuel car we see the returns are much better.”
Tim and Nancy Nemeth still do have a complete TAFC operation. That is a Prostart car which was finished in 2007; however that car is parked — at least temporarily.
Tim Nemeth is a very popular Western Canadian driver
Tim was very quick to cite all of the valuable assistance he has received for his journey into nitromethene racing. That includes his crewmembers Mike Supeene, Mark Campbell and Pete Shuttleworth. Tim also employs the tuning expertise of Texas-based Dale Emery and also Tim’s close friend Shawn Brown who both help with the decision making.
The Mustang simply looks stunning. Combing stealth like paint with some cool Medieval/Gothic themed art has made the car a huge fan favorite already. That vision is the end result of some 120 hrs of meticulous artwork by talented painter Nick Boos.
For 2011 Western racing fans can expect an expanded presence from the team. While their exact final season schedule is still TBA – planned participation within the NHRA Hot Rod Heritage Series is being molded as well as guaranteed appearances at Mission Raceway and Edmonton next summer.
Tim Nemeth's 1st FC was this Olds Cutlass
Tim and Nancy are currently negotiating sponsorship for the 2011 season to assist family owned TDN Constructors Group Inc. TDN Constructors Group Inc. is an infrastructure based group of companies out of Chilliwack B.C. that offers engineering, pipeline construction, pipe coating and lining as well as industrial mechanical and machine shop services.
Visit: www.tdnconstructors.com
(Bruce Biegler photos)
