From Street Car to Championship Winner

NASA NorCal racer Sal Molinare’s speed obsession escalated from go karts to dirt bikes to hot rods to the viewing of a cult classic. After first watching “American Graffiti” as a teenager, he machined a piston-shaped shift knob for his street car like the one in character John Milner’s yellow ’32 Deuce Coupe.

It was that inclination to craft his own car parts that led to him building his own tube chassis with which he’d compete in local autocrosses.

The next 10 years were a blur. Winning titles in a variety of stock cars throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s led to the founding of Trik Manufacturing and the Northern California stock car community, who appreciated his fabrication skills and his knack for unusual solutions.

After being head-hunted by a Fortune 500 company in the food and chemical industry, Sal’s infatuation took a pause. He dedicated the next 30 years to research and development, where his ability to think outside the box was put to another, more practical use.

As his career came to a close, he began using his newfound free time to customize a 2006 Mustang GT – initially for a goof. What started as a show-car project morphed into a drag racer after Sal grew restless and threw a blown stroker motor in it. He hoped that straight lines would scratch the old itch, but they failed to keep him satisfied for long.

Then pushing age 60, Molinare wondered if his streetable strip car might handle a lapping day at Thunderhill Raceway, a pivotal moment that set the tone for later.

Unsurprisingly, a supercharged Mustang and a man with racing experience was able to blow by most of the HPDE guys with ease. The pace was undeniable, but a drag car and Molinare’s driving style were not well received by all in his new environment. “‘It’s fast, I’ll give you that,’ the promoter said, ‘but you’ll never turn a drag car into a track car,’” they added.

There was also the question of his driving etiquette – too aggressive for the calm waters of track days. “I didn’t see the problem,” Molinare said. “Oval racing is slicing and dicing in close quarters – that’s all you do. I thought I was giving them plenty of space, but apparently not.”

The icing on the insult cake was a dig at his age. “Guys were telling me I was too old, and my reflexes wouldn’t be enough to be competitive on road racing circuits. ‘This ain’t NASCAR. We turn both ways,’ I heard more than once,” he said.

After a three-decade hiatus from racing, Molinare had a new axe to grind. “All those dismissals were not going to go unanswered,” he grumbled.

With his son Richard Molinare and friend Kevin Patten, Sal got started overhauling the Mustang.

Thankfully, Molinare was already very familiar with suspension development from design/building tube chassis racecars throughout his oval days, so he had an eye for quality pieces that worked well together.

What he couldn’t find, he built. “Geometry and physics don’t change, but strategy does,” Molinare said. “It’s about what you are asking the car to do. If you are not getting the results you want, just keep asking better questions.”

“Adapting suspension strategy and driving technique from the oval track to the road course was an interesting learning curve,” Molinare reflected.

Using parts like a Cortex Watt’s link and torque arm from a wrecked car allowed him to put money toward big-ticket items like Cortex’s SLA front end, JRI coilovers, and a cambered rear axle.

“Driving the ovals is all about getting the power down first, and letting the locked rear end and tire stagger turn the car. Without those tools, I had to fight that instinct on the road course. I had prioritized getting on the power early, which needed a softer rear spring/lower roll center setup, and that limited entry speed, but paid dividends on corner exit,” he explained.

“Originally, I kept the stock rear brake calipers, but that was a mistake. Adding the four-piston Brembo rears made a world of difference. The car has no ABS, so I had to brake in a straight line almost exclusively, which is terrible for mid-corner speed. Ultimately, I ended up improvising a custom valving setup with cables that reach inside the car to allow bias adjustment on the fly. It still retains the stock master cylinder, and booster, so this is a cheap and effective work-around!” he explained.

“Once I upgraded the brakes, I was able to drive in much deeper, which allowed me to raise the rear roll center, increase rear spring rate, soften the front springs, and add a Cortex competition rear sway bar to complement everything. All these helped rotation a ton and that was reflected in lower lap times and improved drivability,” he continued.

Bringing out the best in his car is a source of entertainment. “I’m constantly tinkering – I bring a dozen sets of springs to the track as well as multiple sets and compounds of tires. Everything I’ve added has numerous holes and quick pins for easy adjustments,” he added.

The supercharged stroker motor that carried it down the drag strip was not suited to track days – heat had always hindered its stamina.

Though his budget was limited, Sal explored every option in building the stroker’s rightful replacement. Consisting of a stock third-generation bottom end and second-gen top end built by Shaun Perry at AED Tuning in Shingle Springs, Calif., the “3/2 Coyote” showcases a fine array of specialized parts for road course pony cars.

Power gains come courtesy of heads ported by Brett Barber at Air Flow Solutions, L&M Engines “intake only” cams, American Racing Long tube headers, an AFS ported Cobra Jet intake, as well as a Weldon Pump, filter, and return-style fuel system with MMR fuel rails and LU47 injectors. On E85, the motor makes 508 horsepower and 414 pound-feet of torque, and revs to 8,200 rpm.

Most of the improvements, however, have been aimed at reliability; an FRPP 302R oil pan, Crank-Scraper.com teflon crank scraper and windage tray, a SpecFab-modified triple-pass Fluidyne radiator and ducting, a Meziere electric water pump, and a GT500 fan, a 948 Setrab oil cooler, a Boss 302 alternator, ATL fuel cell with internal surge tank make sure the lump is happy on sweltering August afternoons at Thunderhill Raceway.

This output required a sturdier powertrain and considerably more rubber. The close-ratio Tremec Magnum XL with upgraded syncros send power to a Torsen T2R differential with 4.10 gears and onto 18 x 12” Forgestar F-14s wrapped in 335/30 Hoosier A7s and R7s. Under those, Sal fitted four-piston Brembos Club Race four-piston brakes with RST2/RST3 Pagid Race pads.

When he couldn’t find suitable brake ducts for his Mustang, he fabricated his own 4” items, as well as his own custom spindles, which he later learned would sell well to other budget-conscious racers like him.

These quick fixes served as the germ for another racing business of his: SpecFab Racing. Soon, orders for brake ducts and many other fabricated racing parts were coming in, and this newfound revenue stream would make big aero and a full season of racing a real possibility.

The last items on the checklist didn’t quite conform to the cost-cutting strategy he started with. Most of the AJ Hartman catalog, including a carbon splitter, airdam, end fences, Fulcrum 14 wing with large end plates, tunnels, canards, and spats were worth the price, because they are partially responsible for putting this 3,300-pound Mustang in the mix with lighter machinery. “AJ always has had good advice,” Molinare added.

In 2022, Sal jumped into NASA’s AIX series. An uncertain start proved fruitful, with Molinare winning another season championship and every event that year. Despite the success, he needed some encouragement to attend the NASA Championships as they drew closer. “I wasn’t going to enter. This car wasn’t built for that class. It’s well under the maximum power and a half-ton heavier than some of the competition. I worried I’d end up dead last,” Molinare admitted.

However, he knew the track well and felt he might have some home-court advantage. “It was a tight program, and everyone there was organized and friendly. I can’t say enough nice things about the people there,” he added.

VIDEO

Ride along with Sal Molinare as he qualifies his American Iron Extreme 2006 Mustang GT at the 2022 NASA Championships.

After qualifying on the pole for AIX, a scoring kerfuffle put him at the back of the pack. However, that didn’t deter him, and by the time he rounded the last corner of the first lap, he had made his way to first in class and started extending a commanding lead.

During the race, the Tremec stopped selecting gears correctly, often with him coasting down to a near-stop until the transmission would finally find a gear. As he left Turn 11 on the final lap, the gearbox gave up the ghost – like a scene from a film, he coasted down the front straight to take the checkered flag. “I won that race by the skin of my teeth,” he said with a smile.

He’d proved the naysayers wrong and was enjoying the high point of his racing success during his so-called retirement. Then, somewhat unceremoniously, the replacement gearbox blew the following weekend. “It was like the universe saying, ‘You’re done,’” he said defeatedly.

That didn’t deter him completely, but when he replaced it to return to racing shortly thereafter, he hit another event that could be described as cosmic intervention: he was robbed. As he stopped for pizza following a successful first day of the season, his truck was broken into and all his gear stolen. “Everything — my driver’s suit, helmet, gloves, radios, civvies, my CPAP machine, iPad, even my molded earbuds were gone. That knocked the wind out of my sails for a minute,” he admitted.

However, you can’t keep a guy like Sal down long. When he returns this year, he’ll be back with more aero from AJ Hartman. “I’m using a bigger splitter now, and bigger tunnels. I sent AJ Hartman a template and he’s made me a custom setup with carbon fiber end fences. It runs all the way back to the front of the oil pan with an aluminum extension piece I made,” he said.

“I try to stay ahead of the curve, but technology has gotten so good these days that it’s hard to keep up. I’m still learning all the time, and getting faster and faster. I’ve made many friends and pioneered plenty of ideas over the decades, and I’ve formed strong relationships with my vendors, who’ve always been helpful and supportive,” he said.

“Although I would like to have done more with my racing career, I remind myself that I’ve achieved a lot, and have experienced so much that many folks never have an opportunity to try,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate, and for that, I am grateful.”