“Twenty years ago I was actually suspended from IHRA for running one of the first nitrous cars in what’s now Top Sportsman,” he explains. “I thought it was legal and so did the guy that teched me in. But for both of us, it was our first IHRA race. He got in trouble, I got suspended, my momma got in the middle of it, and they unsuspended me and let me come back at Rockingham. So there was a time when nitrous was new and wasn’t allowed on the grounds, too.”
The Corvette served as Summer’s test bed for the first couple of years, mostly with a 600 cubic incher up front pressurized by a pair of Duttweiler turbos. Countless turbo ducting configurations, gearing experiments, tire size and type changes, and even substantial body
modifications followed, but the ‘Vette remained a real handful, notoriously shaking the tires on practically every run.
“We’ve literally put thousands and thousands of hours into this thing with test after test and I hate testing like that,” Vern says. “I like to test and find something new, but all we’ve been doing is trying to find a good combination and it’s like getting a shot of adrenaline when it finally does good.”
A turning point for the team came in October 2004 at the ADRL’s inaugural Dragstock event in Jackson, SC, when noted tuner Darrell Makins, formerly with Scotty Cannon’s championship-winning Pro Mod team, walked up to their pit, unexpectedly announcing he wanted to get involved in their turbo program.
“I just looked at him and said, ‘Have you lost your mind? I mean, this is so hard.’ But he has been the missing piece of the puzzle for us,” Summer says. “He is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life; he can figure anything out, draw it out, design it, and then make it.”
Vern Summer heaps praise on Makins, too. “Without Darrell I’d be in trouble because I’m just a wrench guy. I’m a mechanic and I can fix anything on the car and I can peck on the computer a little, but it’s just evolution. Right now Darrell can make that motor do anything he wants it to, no matter how much boost we need, when it comes on, how quick you want it, he can make it happen.”
With Makins’ help, the ‘Vette finally made it happen last October at the Orlando World Street Finals, when Summer steered it to the number-one qualifying position in 6.404 seconds at 220.21 mph. She later ran a career-best 227.84 mph in the opening round of eliminations and her qualifying time stood up as low E.T. of the meet. Significantly, the Orlando event also marked the first race with her current combination of a 526 c.i. engine and a pair of Innovative Turbos 101 millimeter units under the hood.
