Canadian racer Nick Agostino made waves in the Outlaw 10.5 world when he set a new OTF Small Block ET record at the 2014 YellowBullet Nationals with a 4.110 at 190.43 MPH hit.
Agostino, who first got his start racing at the age of 15 – despite having a license – has proven himself over the years as quite a strong contender. He’s been a heads up racer since day one, and really enjoys the challenge of seeing how fast he can go each time he rolls out onto the track.
“We’d been struggling with a few things this season and just haven’t really been able to apply the power soon enough,” says Agostino. After some so-so test passes at the YellowBullet event, track conditions improved and the 47-year old racer found himself perfectly situated to make a bold move.Putting his serious wreck at Cecil County Dragway earlier this year out of his mind, Agostino calmly staged his red ’00 Chevy Camaro during the first round of YB Outlaw 10.5 qualifying on Friday, August 29. Agostino launched his twin turbo Chevy hard and went 1.05 to the 60’, then 2.81 to the 330’ (a new career best) before running it out at the eighth for the final 4.110 at 190.43 MPH number.
“The car felt great, and took all the power we gave it,” he shares. Running a somewhat conservative tune, Agostino wasn’t expecting his ET to be as low as it was, and says that “honestly, we actually underestimated the track a little.” With a more aggressive tune, it’s likely that Agostino could have shaved a couple more hundredths off his time. Laughing, he adds that he “didn’t realize I had even gone that fast until I was packing the chutes and Mo Hall came by to give me a high five!”
Initially, Agostino and his team didn’t think that a record run was in the cards for them at this race. He admittedly got “a little greedy” after the 4.11 run, though, and tried to squeeze some more out of the Camaro, but unfavorable weather with bad air moved in and conditions deteriorated. That record pass, though, was enough to rank Agostino third overall for Outlaw 10.5 at the YellowBullet race. He took out Dirk Miller in the first round of eliminations, but relentless rain eventually caused the event to be called.
Propelled by a Maximum Performance built 480 CI small block running on alcohol equipped with Alan Johnson heads and a set of Precision GEN2 Pro Mod turbochargers, Agostino’s record-setting run left him feeling on top of the world. Also on board is a ProTorque converter and 2-speed TH400 trans from M&M Transmissions, to which Agostino credits a lot of his recent success. “Our previous 3-speed setup was just a little too aggressive,” he explains. The car was built by the Chassis Stop in Toronto, and Skinny Kid Race Cars lent a hand with repairs from the previous wrecks. Tuning duties are handled by Wade Stevens at Maximum Performance.
“We’ve been fairly lucky this year that everything’s held together,” Agostino says of his engine program. He and his team spent a considerable amount of time working on the car over the winter, and they’re at a point now where it can go round after round without any major issues. “We’re at the point now where we’ve got it set up so well that we can compete with our small block against these other guys running big blocks,” he proudly shares.
With the success of the YellowBullet record now tied to his name, Agostino’s got a busy few months ahead of him as he looks to keep the momentum going and end his season on a high note. He’s hoping to finish out Canada’s Outlaw 10.5 Association race series in the lead to score the overall title, and his two wins and one runner-up finish already on the books will certainly help get him there.
Easy isn’t fun, and because of that, Agostino’s also got a wild road-trip adventure planned for October. He’s planning to make appearances at both the Shakedown at the Summit race and Cecil County Shootout in the very same weekend. “If we qualify well at Norwalk, we’ll leave and go to Maryland. We’ll race at Cecil on Saturday to grab some points, then come back on Sunday for Shakedown,” he elaborates.
The man is on the hunt for a 4.0-second pass next, and admits that none of his racing efforts would be possible without the support of his wife Jackie. With plenty of races left on his card for the remainder of the 2014 season, and the data logs hinting that the twin turbo Camaro’s got plenty more potential on tap after the awesome 4.11 small block record pass, the question isn’t if Agostino run that 4.0, it’s when and where.
This story was originally published on September 5, 2014. 
