Jason Thompson
Jacksonville, North Carolina
'02 Dakota R/T
540 Horsepower
In the Holy-cow-that's-a big-power-small-block-class, Is United States Marine Jason Thompson. We're thinking that Jason wanted to be able to haul anything he wanted very quickly, so that's why he took the 5.9 Magnum engine out of his Dakota, and rebuilt it into a 408-inch monster with a Paxton Novi 2000 supercharger. Just bolting on the Paxton will definitely add power, but Jason went a little farther.
He gave the engine to the guys at Sloan Racing Engines in Sanford, North Carolina, and they promptly added Ross pistons and connecting rods, A forged Scat Stroker crankshaft, so that under the Indy X heads, the compression ratio would be a blower friendly 9.3:1. The Hughes Engines roller cam raises the lifters .561-inch on the intake, and .588-inch on the exhaust. On top, a Mopar Performance M1 intake, and an F&B prepped 58-millimeter throttle body feed it all. Tuned by Kevin Thackston of Majestic Motorsports in Jacksonville, North Carolina, the sound through the 1-7/8-inch Spintech headers feeding into a 3-inch exhaust with Spintech mufflers made this thing sounded great on the dyno.
Behind the engine is a Tremec five-speed, and that connects to a 3.92-geared rear end. A set of Bogart wheels (15 x 4 and 15 x 10) are wrapped in Hoosier donuts, and launch capability is aided by a set of Calvert Racing 90/10 shocks up front, and Calvert 9-way adjustable shocks on the rear.
You might be wondering how quick a 540 horsepower Dakota is, and Jason will tell you that he has run a best of 11.10 seconds at 128 m.p.h.