While Jeff is now tantalizingly close to the 9-second range, he refuses to cut his truck up to go faster. "I built this truck as a street truck, not a race truck. Right now I can drive it to the store or go out to dinner in it," he says. "If I wanted to build a race vehicle, I'd just build a rail or something." The streetablity of his truck is in fact a big part of its charm. The interior isn't gutted, the bed is usable, and, heck, even the paint job is still factory. Jeff has taken great care of his ride for the last 10 years and 130,000 miles, and he is sure to put many more miles on this wild street truck in the near future.
 At the TS Outlaw event in...  At the TS Outlaw event in 2007, Jeff was chasing major traction problems that left him spinning the tires until close to the 1/8th-mile mark. Still, the truck ran in the high 10s at more than 135 mph. |  |  Jeff uses a custom-built water...  Jeff uses a custom-built water injection kit to keep exhaust gas temperatures under control while running down the track. In just one quarter-mile pass, he'll go through almost a gallon of water. |
The Keating Connection
When doing the story on Darren Morrison's tube chassis truck, which runs low 9s (March '08), we were surprised to learn that he was still running stock head bolts. Later, we ran into Jeff Prince, who was making four-digit power on stock head bolts without any issues. The connection? Both engines were built by Keating Machine in Knoxville, Tennessee. With the rest of the world blowing head gaskets and installing head studs as soon as they reach 500 hp, we called Keating up and asked him what his secret was. "It's not that we think bolts are better than studs," he said. "It's just that we haven't needed studs yet.
My drag truck has run 8-second times for two years without any failures on stock head bolts, and it's not because we're running 10:1 compression pistons or anything silly like that." Keating explained that he relies on a very careful and precise machining method that involves removing the engine from the truck and machining the block, as well as the head, to make sure everything is perfectly square. He also has a specific torquing and re-torquing procedure for the cylinder heads once they are installed. Whatever he does, it sure works.
 Believe it or not, the injection...  Believe it or not, the injection pump is based on the stock 215hp "913" pump and has never been to a pump shop. Jeff put in a 4,000rpm governor spring kit, custom delivery valves, and did a few other tweaks on his own that he's pretty tight-lipped about. |  Despite all the turbo plumbing,...  Despite all the turbo plumbing, there is still room for a ridiculously large K&N air filter. |  When it's set up for the street,...  When it's set up for the street, Jeff again goes with Hoosier tires, but this time, they're 33x21.50x15 D.O.T.-approved street tires. Even with the sticky street meats, Jeff says he can spin the rear tires at 70 mph, no problem. |