“Big” can be defined as ‘large’ or one with iconic stature. That pretty much sums up “Big Daddy” Dwayne Gutridge. Add in ‘persistent’ and you get an even better picture of Gutridge. He’s always been a fixture in the 5.0 movement from the very beginning, starting off as a an apprentice for Ford in 1983, getting his certification as an “A Technician” in 1988, and opening his own business, Outrageous Performance, in 1990. Long before Ford Racing offered a 5-lug conversion, Gutridge had already done it. His ’88 Fox-body was arguably the first supercharged Mustang on the east coast, and his shop became one of the original distributors for Vortech, long before they became a staple in the Mustang aftermarket. Gutridge was also a pioneer in drag radial racing, the first into the eights and then the sevens on BFGoodrich tires, and he continues to be heavily involved in radial racing on the new generation of Mickey Thompson rubber.

Today he runs his successful shop “Big Daddy Performance” in Lakewood, New Jersey. He has taken the proactive approach to safety in the sport with his current work on Alex Vrettos’ Mustang. At age 45, Gutridge is a father of three, with two daughters and a son, and mentors even more kids through his involvement in youth basketball programs. We were recently fortunate enough to get a few minutes of Big Daddy’s time to find out what’s new, where he’s been in the past, and what the future holds.

You’ve been through a lot of different combinations over the past fifteen years – what are you running right now?

The engine is the same as it was two years ago. A small block Ford that’s 390 cubic inches. I run a set of Victor Gliddens that were given personally by Billy Glidden. My transmission? PG baby; Powerglide. We run the Powerglide because of that fact that the C4 transmissions were unable to hold the power and the C6’s are too heavy and never became popular. With the aftermarket making cases especially for these Ford applications, it seemed the only way to go. The rear is an 8.8 Ford that came out of an Explorer. They have beefier axle tubes – that’s why we used it. It has been extensively customized by Joey Gambino.

We know you recently switched to a twin turbo setup. Can you tell us about it? How much power is it making?

It’s a pair of Turbonetics 88’s. They are the small ones. Everyone feels that we can’t go fast with these small turbos, but we are going to prove them wrong. I feel that it’s in the area of 2200 horsepower. The entire combination is tuned by Job Spetter of Turbo People. I don’t want to have to fool with tuning; I want to get in and race.

What’s your chassis setup like now?

It’s a Wolfe Racecraft 25.2 that was installed and customized for fitment the way that we wanted by Gambino Fabrications. The car sits low and has the setup to maintain the correct instant center, which allows us to throw power at it when needed.

Obviously, you’ve been at this for a long time, and you’ve always been a Ford racer. How did that get started, and what keeps you motivated?

I grew up around cars and my father always owned Fords. I started in 1980 with a 71 Mercury Cougar. I rebuilt the Cleveland engine with a Holley carburetor and 4.11 gears. It ran a 13.41 at 103mph. Racing is all about the speed, the need for speed. If I couldn’t go fast, I wouldn’t do it. What do I dislike? It’s easy – I hate all the crybabies and haters.

What made you choose your current car and the class that you race?

I grew up a Ford guy; I purchased my first Mustang at the Five & Dime store. It was a Matchbox car, a Mach 1. From that point on I was hooked on Mustangs and when it came time to choose a car to build, I felt that the notchback was the best looking car on the market. You know, it all started with the guy on the streets that ran his mouth that he had the most money and the fastest car. He always felt he had the fastest car. From that point I started racing at the Mustang Showdown at Raceway Park. There used to be four to five hundred cars show up for the event.

I was approached by Michael Napp on how to make the event better and to get it to move along. I suggested making it a radial tire race. That would eliminate the congestion of changing tires in the pits, and the cars could go directly through tech after coming in the gates. Also, with the radial you had less breakage and down time. It all just seemed to fall in place from that point on.

The car you’re racing now was put together especially for radial racing, right?

It was a purpose-built race car designed to run in drag radials. At the time I was still running in Pro 5.0. The class was becoming stale and at the time we had built a car for a customer that was running low 11’s, then 10.80’s and on down. It intrigued me, then the drag radial became popular which I felt was a opportunity to bring in business to our shop. When I first started, I ran 17-inch Boyd’s wheels all the way around. At that time the car would run in the 9.40’s at over 140mph.

My car works well because it was built by a chassis builder who understands the geometry of a race car. There are only a select few builders who know these stock suspension car well enough to make them go down track without spinning the tires or wheelstanding at 400 feet. These cars are very similar to a Top Fuel car in how they act. The instant center is so critical on these cars and so many do not understand that.

How do you feel about the controversy over the Wolfe “TCD” torque arm, and do you think it has a legitimate place in stock suspension racing?

It’s tough…. There is a difference between the controversy it has created and the purpose of why it was made. David Wolfe made the torque arm for the Mustang of Job Spetter when he was competing in Super Street Outlaw in the NMRA. No matter what you did to the car it would continue to rip the upper control arm mounts out, and Wolfe was able to fix that with the torque arm setup. I feel it should be legal because it is more for safety than anything.

Being the guy who grabbed so many “firsts” on the BFGoodrich drag radial, how do you feel about the Mickey Thompson tire? Is it a good thing for this type of racing, or will it ultimately be the demise of the class?

I am going to say no. The tire will not be the demise of the class, although they will ultimately take the blame. The M/T tire is a great piece because of the work that I did while running the BFG. Tom and the guys at M/T analyzed those tires after I ran them and just could not understand how I was going as fast as I was on them. Truly, they were unsafe. They would wobble and the car would really move around on the top end. Anything over 180 MPH was scary. The demise of the class will be the fact that we failed to limit the power. We should have capped the turbo size or cubic inches of the engines. That will be the demise.

Many of us have been following the progress of the work that you and Joey Gambino have done on Alex Vrettos’ Mustang. Do you think the things you’re doing to improve safety should be adopted by other racers as well?

I have had so many emails and messages on the build. All with positive feedback on what we are doing. Some are chassis builders and some are fellow competitors. They have all thanked us for showing off our work. Many have either contemplated doing so or have had someone who wanted it to be done. All in all, it’s the right thing to do with the speeds exceeding 200 MPH. It will help keep these cars under control. The floater rear will help if you were ever to break an axle. It will keep the wheel in place and under that car and not shooting across track. I will continue to do what I need to do. You know, when I was racing early in my career I was told I was ruining the class when I went from a eight point cage to a ten point, and from a ten to the 25.5, and so on. It is all evolution. We need not wait until something happens, and be more proactive. It’s evident everywhere; we lost Racin’ Jason Betwarda, and now we can thank him for the 25.5, but he is not here to see it because he was pushing the envelope with a car that only had a ten point cage.

Speaking of safety issues, will quarter mile racing for drag radial soon be a thing of the past?

No! Hell no. It is the cream of the crop, the top 2% of the field. It happens in every sport. No matter what you do or what you achieve you will have the haters. The people who believe that racing eighth mile is the answer are full of shit. If I have to drive all the way to the end of the track I want to do it under full power.

So are we going to see more of you at the track in 2009?

I have been to Georgia to test in January. Yes, I will be out this year. I am not sure how much, but I want to be back on top. I like being the spoiler. I live my life a quarter mile at a time and that’s the way I plan on living it. The quarter mile races are where you will see me, wherever they will let me in. I also plan on running the 1320X races as well.

How did the test session in Georgia go? What did you learn from it?

We accomplished what we intended to do. The car’s performance is actually right on track where it needs to be. Going over the numbers and data, there were a few points in the run that need to be tweaked. The sixty-foot times need to be in the low 1.20 area, where we ran a 1.30. Seeing that makes us confident we have the power, because the motor was really hauling at 250 feet. I am still is getting used to the current setup on the M/T tires. With the BFG’s I always had to pedal the car and I tend to do it without thinking about it. The data told the whole story. With the points in the run where it was not under full throttle and the car moving around on the top end, there are several hundreths to be improved upon. I am confident that we don’t need more motor, and with the upgrade of the turbos I can run deep in the sixes. The current combination I feel is capable of doing so as well. The car is headed back to the shop and the motor will get tore down, more than likely. They have a cylinder that is leaking down 40%. The current tuneup was the same as it was for Shakedown. Job Spetter told me that it definitely needs a tuneup and to throw more at it early. With the spring changes that Gambino made throughout testing, the car is at its best right now.

Let me put it like this; I am going to show the world how to make a little 390 with straight 88’s work. If I had a 632 with 91’s I would have already went 6.50’s. It’s nothing personal against Dave, it’s just how it is. I have a friend out in California and he was talking to some people from Precision. All this was prior to Dave’s run, but the buzz was Alex, Fiscus and myself. All them guys run them Pro Mod 91’s and my boy told him, “Dwayne don’t,” and they didn’t believe him.

The problem with this industry is that somebody goes out with a big engine and tries to run fast and they can’t do it because the chassis isn’t right, or the rear gears aren’t right. I am going to get everything out of my engine that’s in it. These guys keep building bigger engines and bigger turbos just to try and stay ahead. You know who I am – I am the Billy Glidden of drag radial. I run the smallest of stuff, not necessarily the cheapest, but it works. You have all these racers out there running these big inch small blocks and the big blocks with twin Pro Mod 91’s, and I am the one cheating because I am only running my 390 with the 88’s and I go fast, so I must have nitrous in my C02 bottle. I have heard that before. Be a man if you think I am cheating. Next time I am at a race, call me out. Get the camera and a big hat to collect some money, because I will let you tear my shit down, but when you don’t find anything I am taking your money. When you don’t find anything I am going to embarrass you.

You know, we’re coming back out soon and heading to Georgia for some testing. Me and Alex, you know we are both going to leave there with six second passes. I will have to push my car hard, but Alex, he should be the one to be able to leave there with consistent six second passes. That is when you will see who the best is when it is done time after time consistently. Look, it’s like this; I wrote the book on haters. Don’t hate the player – hate the game.