[jim_howard_pdx]

In 1976 one of my best friends built a 327 engine with shaved heads and dome pistons giving him a 14 to 1 static compression ratio. He used the famous "pink" camshaft, the first factory cam to deliver more than 1 horsepower per cubic inch.

At the street races Grant liked to add two or three drops of nitroglycerine to every gallon of fuel (102 octane pump supreme). He also added extra tetraethyl lead to bump the octane up to about 108 or just a little higher.

One night he lost a race and wanted a rematch. He decided to try 6 drops of nitroglycerine to ensure victory. The engine exploded at the starting line. One piston flew about 20 feet into the air the intake shattered like a piece of china, and I think we never did find a significant portion of the head that grenaded.

The impact of the explosion blew his hood off one hinge after the piston made its brave escape. The block cracked both across the webs and longitudinally with the bore on the passenger side of the block.

I had seen nitro-methane dragsters detonate like this but never a street engine.

So practice safe NOS out there guys. You are running some quick brackets with engines built on the edge of their performance envelopes.

Grant figured he was running safe, he was headed to cal tech and works today at the jet propulsion laboratory. I still tease him that the piston was after him for using so much go juice.