One of the biggest annual intercontinental wars at the Haltech World Cup Finals at Budds Creek, MD, has been the battle for the unlimited four-cylinder marks for both the quarter-mile and eighth-mile. Canadian Carl Brunet, operator of Napierville Dragway in Quebec, became the driver of the first four-cylinder machine of any kind to clock under six seconds and, later, over 230 mph back in 2020 during the annual World Doorslammer Nationals at Orlando (FL) SpeedWorld in 2020.
Since 2012, Brunet has booted all four records back and forth with several teams including Puerto Rican Joel Olivo’s Faster Motorsports 2020 Honda Accord which, powered by a 143 cubic-inch inline four-cylinder K24 Honda powerplant with a single Affordable Turbo Kits turbocharger, recorded a stunning 5.862 at 243.25 mph at the 2022 World Cup Finals.
In 2023, Brunet (whose father, Ron, was a Pro Stock Eliminator campaigner for decades) towed his Jerry Haas-built ex-Pro Stocker 2011 Pontiac GXP to Maryland and, during the second qualifying session, pushed its minuscule single-turbocharged 124-inch EcoTech inline four to an amazing 5.828 blast for the new quarter-mile ET record while its speed, 242.71, was his first over 240 mph but just missed Olivo’s record.
In the eighth-mile, the results were similar. Brunet absolutely bombed Olivo’s previous E.T. standard of 3.856 with a stunning 3.808, but Brunet’s speed of 194.73 couldn’t overcome Olivo’s best of 195.79 from 2022.
Of note is the fact yet another Honda, the Pimar Autos And Fiberglass Repairs-backed, Precision-turbo’d, K24-powered 2023 TLX of Floridian Derick Santiago, ran under six flat by qualifying second with a 5.866/237.17 and then produced a string of four elimination runs with a best of 5.92/236 to win the Atomizer Fuel Systems Renegade Versus Modified Eliminator!
This story was originally published on November 17, 2023. 
