Bart Tobener built a brand-new car over the 2012-13 winter, with plans to run it in a number of classes during the upcoming season. Broken parts at the season’s first couple of races derailed that plan, but he’s back, with a new plan to return to the class that made him famous: the NMRA‘s Edelbrock Renegade class. The car started the NMRA season in the Street Outlaw class with Tobener’s familiar 5.4L MPR Engines-built Modular engine under the hood with an 88mm turbocharger, but since the turbo is not legal for Renegade competition Tobener has made the switch back to the familiar Vortech YSi supercharger he campaigned so successfully in the past. He tried to run the car in the turbocharged configuration three times this year, for a total of ten passes, but didn’t have much success.

336 cubic inches of MPR Engines-built Modular merged with a Vortech YSi supercharger should get Tobener right into the thick of the Renegade class.

Tobener relies on sponsorship from his employer, MPS Auto Salvage, along with ATF Speed, UPR, and others to help him bring his projects to life, and this time around was no exception.

“We had to swap out the other intake for this Sullivan piece, and Patch (his crewmember) had to build a new set of headers for it, but that was the only fabrication we had to do — it was pretty straightforward. The car was done in time for Norwalk, but I didn’t have a chance to test it out. I’ve had all of the Renegade-spec parts sitting in a box just in case I decided to go back. The blower, the brackets, everything else was just sitting here waiting. We’re planning to head out and test this weekend,” he explained. 

As the car has previously been solidly into the 8.30’s at 3,350 pounds with a virtually-identical non-intercooled setup, Tobener feels that he’ll be right on pace with the same combination and an intercooler at his assigned weight of 3,450 pounds, which is where the car will have to be when he shows up in Joliet, Ill. next month for the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing. He’s also made the switch to the Mickey Thompson ET Street Radial Pro tire, which he feels will help him to get the power down most efficiently. “Brian Mitchell called me on his way home after winning Norwalk, and he said ‘We’re in trouble, aren’t we?’,” Bart laughed. We have to think so, if past performance is any indication of future returns.