Legend Jim Blair Is Returning With Support From ATF Speed

It’s been quite some time since we’ve heard from Florida’s Jim Blair – the longtime NMRA/NMCA competitor has been out of action for a number of years now. His retirement is nearing its end, however, as explained by longtime crew chief Jason Gatlin of ATF Speed.

“The one question everybody asks me is, ‘will Jim will ever run his car again?’ The answer is yes, we’re currently working on the final fabrication of Jim’s car. After we get it together we plan on testing on some of the radial tires to determine where he’ll be competing,” says Gatlin.

ATF Speed is known for their line of CNC-machined gear drive components, and Blair’s car has been a guinea pig for many of those pieces over the years. New pieces are in development at this time, and Gatlin is proud to show them off.

Says Gatlin, “This motor plate is a new setup for the magneto stuff. The plate is 3/4-inch thick and is pocketed from the front and back, making it as light as possible. It also has provisions to mount my gear drive. At the the top of the plate is the area I have mounted the mag. This is set up in a way that you can tension the belt without changing the phasing.”

The car will also wear one of ATF’s supercharger gear drives to turn the ProCharger that so many have become accustomed to seeing under the hood of Blair’s machines over the years.

The ATF gear drive design has a number of features that are designed to make it easier for the racer to install all of the necessary components onto the engine. “Our gear drive will make mounting the Waterman Lil’ Bertha fuel pump easier since they share the same bolt pattern. On the other side of the gear drive we have provisions to mount just about any vacuum pump on the market, or even an alternator,” Gatlin explains.  

The unique upper intake manifold design was created back in 2010 by Gatlin after the team found a number of distribution issues in the manifold they were using prior. It uses a lower sheet metal section from Wilson Manifolds.

“Our cylinder correction before was 22% across eight cylinders. After I made the upper it was 7%. The car went from 4.40’s to 4.30’s with the manifold modifications only,” Gatlin says.

The ATF Speed team has proven their worth over years of racing, so we’ll take this to mean that the Outlaw Drag Radial world should be paying attention for the return of the man from South Florida.