Unlimiteds and nitrous, the reality...
In the late eighties, early nineties the Bearcat Rare Bear was well sponsored by Jack DeBoer, the owner of Residence Inns and other companies. He put a lot of dough into the project and pilot/owner Lyle Shelton and crew chief Dave Cornell did deliver the results. Four consecutive Gold wins from 1988 and three record Gold speeds as well as the coveted 3KM record that still stands since 1989, 528 mph.
This was done with nitrous, plumbed and metered by a California street rodder with rad skilz as a nitrous guru. With the collaboration of 80 year old George Baird's 3350 engine building skills of hybridding the best of all engine model's in the old school way, and young Chris' (can't remember his last name, gettin' old) knowledge of the "squeeze", the engine made over 4400 hp and the fastest pass of the six being 540mph timed and recorded. (Not GPS telemetry speed claims as is heard from modern teams, which is often highly inaccurate.)
Chris...