MAN BEHIND THE X go down into the 4.90 range over 140mph in the eighth-mile. Sears is quick to thank everybody who has helped out along the way. “Special thanks to my wife for being patient with my obsession of drag racing. My crew members; Randy Van Raden and Charles Robertson for always making sure the car is right and sending me down the track in a safe car. Bob and Jay at NRC for building me such a great car. Barry Mitchell for all his advice and the great deal on getting this engine! And Dean Marinis for the help with the nitrous
tunes and keeping me patient on the progress of lowering the ETs.” So what’s in store with Sears and X275 for the rest of 2015? For the X275 class itself, Sears has his hands full with the tough job of trying to keep things in line with racers and rules, and cars getting quicker and faster at every race. As for the Malibu, it can definitely be found in X275 whenever possible plus any index racing that Sears can get to. But no matter what he runs, the car will always run Sears’ signature tire, the M/T 275. After all, he named a class after it.
PSSSSST.... Sears gives one last purge of the nitrous to get the bottle pressure just right before staging. Randy Van Raden helps Sears out racing the Malibu after stepping away from the driver seat a few years back.
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august 2015 | RPM Magazine
Sears (left) and Van Raden have worked hard together on getting the car back up and running since picking it up from NRC.