Editor's Note: "Terminal Velocity" is a new column in which we hand the microphone to a renowned tuner; in this case, it's Bob Norwood. Norwood's crazy creations have appeared in the Turbo pages on many occasions. His talent goes beyond conceptualization, fabrication and tuning; what sets him apart is the ability to take leading edge ideas and execute them so they work in the real world, on the street or on the strip. We call him "The Mad Scientist" and look forward to his offerings from month to month.
I have spent a lot of time over the past three years explaining what it is about sport compact drag racing that has made me pretty much devote all of my time to the sport. It's not easy to explain to some people, especially fellow "Old Timers" who still think the ultimate performance engine is a Hemi V8 and that four-barrel carbs and distributors are state-of-the-art.
I've always enjoyed stretching the limits of racing technology and over the years, I've had a fair amount of success. Like everyone else of my generation, I started out drag racing a variety of Chevys, Dodges and just about anything else. Eventually I was running an AA Fuel Funny car at the national level. That was a learning experience for me and I came away with a new-found respect for the type of innovative thinking required to compete at that level.
When I finally quit drag racing, I dabbled in several other types of racing but I always found myself drawn towards the racing that allowed me to push the limits and experiment with new ways to go fast.
I got a lot of kicks over the years running a variety of cars at Bonneville. The salt flats are really special and running land speed record cars is a perfect venue for someone who likes to experiment and innovate. I was fortunate enough to establish a bunch of records with a variety of cars, including a big-block-powered turbocharged Ferrari GTO (287 mph) a 3-liter naturally aspirated Ferrari 308 (169mph) and a Toyota MR2 that set records at 1.5 liters (209 mph) and 1 liter (156 mph) with different engines I developed.
I've also built and campaigned a race-winning Can-Am car, Indy cars and the Oldsmobile Aerotech concept that shattered (and still holds) world records for speed and endurance.
I've had a lot of luck and won a lot of races, but it's the design and construction of a new project that really gets me excited. Once the car is built, tested and kicking butt, I'm ready to start again on the next one.
My current project is Chris Rado's 2004 Pro-FWD Celica. This is a car that's giving me the opportunity to try some new idea; that's really what gives this old dog the incentive to work as hard as I ever have on a project car. In a nutshell, the sport compact drag racing scene is probably the best venue for an engineer that wants to explore new problems and, hopefully, new solutions. The construction of Rado's new car is testing my skills and forcing me to think about building racecars in new ways. Yes, it's a challenge, but as the old saying goes: "If it was easy, everyone would be doing it."