Mike Murillo has been called many things in his lifetime. Either through his humor-infused personality, or his capabilities on the track, Murillo always seems to be crowned with an interesting nickname. Some of the more recognizable examples of this would be “Buster” or “Baby-maker,” however there is one other distinct title thatMurillo is also known for, and that’s the title of “Champion.”

Murillo’s first NMRA championship came in 2002, at the wheel of his infamous Super Street Outlaw ride, the “Star Car.” It was this car and it’s single-turbocharged power plant that carried Murillo to his championship in 2002, but not without the inevitable struggle that comes along with heads-up drag racing.

“I had taken apart the star car and transferred all of the parts to (Kevin) Marsh’s chassis because I didn’t think I had to go to Bowling Green. Well, I found out that I had to make it to the second round in order to win the championship. So we had to tear all the stuff off of Marsh’s chassis, a lot of which was custom fabricated, and put the star car back together. We made it to Bowling Green and I lost in the second round.”

This was enough to secure the 2001 championship for Murillo and his team, a feat that accompanies many other victories in several different racing series.

Fast forward to 2008, and to the return of Murillo to the NMRA behind the wheel of the totally revamped chassis that he had originally purchased from Kevin Marsh in 2001. The beautiful chassis featured several innovative items, such as trunk-mounted twin turbochargers, a NASCAR style oval exhaust system, and more.

However, innovation doesn’t always lead to instant success, as Murillo found out. After a steep learning curve with the new combination, which resulted in flashes of brilliance and mountains of frustration, the decision was made to convert the car to a more traditional setup, with the turbochargers mounted up front. To accompany the new setup,Murillo decided that it was time to bring back the fabled “Star Car” paint job, but with a little more flare this time. The airbrushed result is a thing of beauty, and the coupe is now, without a doubt, one of the best appearing cars in the class.

With his trademark paint scheme on board, Murillo began getting a handle on the twin turbo big block, improving its performance with every outing. Murillo made the short trip to several of the Clash of the Titans races, which are held around various venues in Texas, with several being in Murillo’s hometown of San Antonio. Mike and his team began to get the performance in line with the rest of the heavy hitters in the Outlaw 10.5 ranks, but still couldn’t manage to put it all together for a win.

“We made it to four or five semi-finals, but could never seal the deal. We would break parts in the finals, or I would red light, I did that two times,” says Murillo. “Let’s put it this way, the last race I had won was before my current wife even knew who I was.”

In 2009, Murillo secured backing from popular EFI company, SCT Performance. Finally, his luck changed at the NMRA’s most recent stop on the 2009 tour, in Atco, NJ. Murillo again experienced more than his fair share of issues both at the race and leading up to the event. Seven days before he was scheduled to leave for Atco, Murillo’s engine builder discovered that the crankshaft in his big block was broken.

“I had to get a $3,000 crank in 7 days,” recalls Murillo.

Murillo managed to get his hands on a crank, but when he did, it was 10:30 PM the day that he was supposed to leave for Atco. To make matters worse, Murillo discovered a transmission issue with the car while loading it on the trailer. In need of a fast solution, Murillo and crew drove straight through the night to ATI transmissions to pick up a new trans. They then pulled another all-nighter to arrive at the racetrack at 1:00 PM on Friday. Immediately they pulled out the car and began to thrash in order to make qualifying.

After getting the car together, they pulled to the line only to discover that the trans brake now had an issue. Again, it was thrash time for the Murillo Motorsports crew as they tore the car down and swapped in a second, fresh trans from ATI. This time the car fared better, posting a 7.16 @ 210 mph to qualify fourth in the field. Knowing that he was solidly in the field, Murillo decided it was time to go over the rest of the car and make sure that there were no more issues come eliminations.

On Sunday, it was a totally different scenario for Murillo. With the major issues behind him and his team, Murillopowered his way through eliminations, meeting up with Tim Essick in the final round, a familiar scenario forMurillo, however this time Mike wouldn’t find himself as the bridesmaid. Though Essick gave Murillo a run for his money, it was Mike’s day as he streaked to the win with a scorching 6.77 @ 218mph, a new NMRA record.

Check out Mike’s interview at NMRA Atco’s Winner Circle:

“It was very gratifying. We had gotten so much coverage, and we have these great sponsors, it was really relieving to get the win. It got the monkey off my back.”

Murillo plans to run the entire NMRA series this year, and hopes to grab at least one more victory. Something tells me, though, that he wouldn’t mind being called champ again.