Haulin' Huber Promo
The Story of Huber Performance
Drag racing has been a popular activity since automobiles were invented. Not long after an internal combustion engine was placed on a rolling chassis, a few folks decided to see who's could go faster. Drag racing was born. As automobiles evolved, so did the sport. Dedicated facilities were built and people started to modify cars to go as fast as possible in 1320 feet [1/4 mile] from a standing start. Publications were established that covered the sport, how to compete, and where to buy the parts needed. Many legendary men and women and their cars went into the Drag Racing record books all over America.
The fastest cars would incorporate larger engines, chemical injection into the engine, and forced induction to make more power. Engines displacing 500+ cubic inches producing 600, 700, 800 horsepower and more are not uncommon. The old rule was "There is no substitute for cubic inches" is and in many ways still is the mantra of Drag Racing. These engines then become so stressed, expensive, and radical that the cars must be trailered everywhere they go and are not legally driven on the street. They will not pass modern emissions inspections and are not issued license plates. They are very specialized cars that are made for one thing: going fast no matter what. Interiors are stripped out, glass is often removed and replaced with lightweight Plexiglas, even lights are removed in order to save weight and achieve this goal of speed. It is all about winning.
Just like all things, this approach does not apply to everyone. There are a few cars and their builders who stand out. This is a story about one such car and the men who build and race it. The Huber's and Huber Performance in Saint Louis, Missouri.
The Huber's are a father and son team in the mid-west who engineer a 1979 "Fox" bodied turbo charged four-cylinder Mustang drag-racer. Huber Performance has built a Mustang dubbed by some in the automotive journalism world as "The Fantastic Four" and "The Furious Four", the Huber Performance Mustang is also Ford's first turbo Fox-bodied Mustang built when Ford designed the car for the 1979 model year [documented] and they are the original owners of the car.
The car is completely engineered and tuned by the Hubers themselves. It meets current emissions regulations, is street legal, has license plates and is driven to the track. It has full interior, does wheel stands off of the line, and is the younger Huber's first car that he drove in High School. Every season brings new challenges to shaving time off of the quarter mile times, making more power, and re-engineering parts that break to make them withstand the power that the sub-3 liter 4-cylinder engine makes.
The production concept follows the Huber's as they prep the car for the summer racing campaign and commence to wheel-standing runs with 179 cubic inches producing 1,000HP propelling the car 1320 feet at 150+ miles per hour while getting 25MPG on the street.
All of the parts fabrication, testing, tuning, and the quest to shave any amount off of their quarter mile elapsed time is covered. The Huber's do everything from fabricating intake manifolds to re-engineering parts bought from racing equipment suppliers and then showing the manufacturer why their parts are breaking.
They are considering retiring the car from drag racing in the next season or two and converting the car to a land-speed record car. That will entail a totally new direction and challenge for them as they move from drag-racing to making the car a 200+ MPH record holder.
While there are many cars that are campaigned by private individuals, most are extremely large displacement engines with Nitrous and forced-induction. Others have unpractical street engines that run on things other than gasoline. This is a small displacement engine that is practical enough for long-term street use, and runs with these wild configurations. Pound-for-pound, cubic inch-for-cubic inch, it can't be beaten.
The concept seems to be catching on. They are prepping to build two other cars based on the 2.3L platform. Neither are Fox Bodied cars but want the light weight high-performance package. This is in addition to the many single and twin-turbo V-8 cars that they have modified to varying degrees.
For more information on the car and the men behind it, visit these
sites:
HOTROD Magazine -
Proven
Power Combos Of Drag Week
Mustangs and Fast Fords -
The
Furious Four
Gateway International Raceway -
Huber's
Four-Banger Street Car Goes 8.97/150!
BangShift.com -
Jon
Huber Wins Small-Block Power Adder at Drag Week, With a 4-Banger!
Mustang 5.0 Magazine -
1979
Mustang Turbo Four-Banger - Fantastic Four 5.0 TECH SPECS
This is a rough demo of the car and the men behind it. This is one
days worth of footage and a few archive clips from the Huber family
and 1320video.com.
SPECIAL NOTE: All footage is played back in real time. No time
remapping was applied to any footage. At all.
Haulin' Huber
Genre: Documentary/Unscripted/Reality
By: Tod O'Brien/One Eyed Dog Productions
Reg. Writers Guild of America: # 1394333
Huber Performance, Fox-Bodied Mustang, 9 seconds, 150 mph, 4 cylinder, Jon Huber
For more information, contact us at 314/303/6976 or tod|at|oneeyeddog|dot|com.
