Could This Chaotic Rotary-Powered RX-7 Be the Next Eight-Second Drag-and-Drive Ride?
There are times when the internet can make it seem that imports are not welcome at drag-and-drive events. Not only is this not true, but several have made their mark with solid performances and challenged for class titles.
Mike Janousek showed up to the first Sick Week Presented by Gear Vendors Overdrive in 2022 with a convertible 1988 Mazda RX-7 packing a single turbo-boosted rotary engine and a stick shift transmission in the tunnel.
The convertible did battle in the Stick Shift class, and although Richard Guido ultimately won the class, Janousek turned some heads with a 9.46 average at the end of the week.
Building on that experience, Janousek decided he wanted a car with more safety equipment that would allow him to grow and chase quicker elapsed times.
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Another 1988 Mazda enters the picture, but this one a coupe model, and Janousek had all the bars added to the cage to allow the car to certify to 7.50 standards.
“The (Sick Summer) event registration was December 2022, and I had the new chassis,” said Janousek. “It was close to me in Minnesota, and wanted to do a drag-and-drive event to really test the setup for future events. Good or bad, me and my copilot Mike Boese thought we knew what we were getting into.”
Thrashing to get the car finished in time, Janousek tapped the convertible for its engine and manual transmission, and the car would debut at Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes, and things started with a bang on day one.
“We hit the wall due to a line lock sticking and drove the car hard right, into the wall,” said Janousek. “This was the very first launch the car ever made on a drag strip.” Thankfully no structural damage resulted from the wall tap, and a fix got Janousek a 9.94 at 146 mph on a later run.
But he still had work to do. “Then I had to create a street drive fuel cell with the help of Red Horse fittings,” said Janousek. “But they came through multiple times for us during the event.”
After a rain out at Byron Dragway on day two, Janousek made his way to Great Lakes Dragaway for day three and some changes to the tune-up. “On our one pass at Byron it ran a 10.1-second pass, but looking at logs we had an EGT sensor randomly dropping out during the run pulling boost out of the run,” said Janousek. So, he ordered new EGTs to be waiting at Great Lakes for him.
Great Lakes found Janousek installing the new EGTs and setting up the cars launch control with a new staging line lock. “The first attempt with the new launch strategy rpm was too low and the car bogged on the 2-step,” said Janousek.
“I rolled the car through first gear, and grabbed second on a normal shift, and BANG! Something broke and the car darted, making a violent sound in the back of the car.”
Turns out the ring and pinion were broke. “I went to the tower to make a parts call, and a spectator on site had an 8.8-inch rear 4.10 gear set only six miles from the track,” said Janousek. “Needless to say, we thrashed to swap a gear set, swap bearings with hammers and screw drivers on blocks of wood.
Got the backlash to .012-inch on a dial indicator, and said good enough for a pit side repair.” He left Great Lakes Dragaway with a 17.35-second time slip but a fixed car. Or so he thought.
“We left Great Lakes Dragaway, heading out to Tri State,” said Janousek. “The car made it ten miles, and I noticed instantly the oil and water temperatures spiked.”
Turns out the electric water pump had bit the dust. “That in turn melted the wax out of our thermal pellet to the oil cooler thermostat, looping hot oil back into the engine. Now things were looking bad, really bad.”
They cooled down the motor on the side of the road, but damage was already done to the exhaust side water jacket O-ring, forcing exhaust pressure into the coolant system. The only way to fix it was to pull the motor, disassemble, and put in new water jackets to seal the engine, according to Janousek.
“As luck had it, the gentleman who brought us EGTs that morning was with the drive to a couple of the checkpoints. He lived 10 miles from where we were stopped, and was a fellow rotary nerd, so he had the parts I needed and a shop at his house to complete the repairs.”
Janousek limped the RX-7 to his house, got started on the repairs, and by 3 a.m. the following morning, Janousek and Boese were back on the road with a freshly rebuilt engine.
Now, as if they hadn’t been through enough already, the duo had one more issue. “We’re needing to bypass the oil thermostat to the oil coolers, and we had to use unions from our street drive fuel system,” said Janousek.
“So, in true drag-and-drive fashion, we drove the entire time with our race fuel system, which is a belt driven mechanical fuel pump and 2.5-gallon cell. Needless to say, we’re stopped every 15-22 miles for a top off on fuel.”
The RX-7 rolled into Tri-State Raceway about eight hours later in time for day four activities. “Both myself and Boese are exhausted,” said Janousek. “We didn’t even want to chance another break down until back at Cordova, so we ran a 12.46 at 74 mph pass testing 1-2-3 shifts and rear end under power.
Everything was solid, so we packed up to do check points and get to a hotel to sleep, but not before meeting up with the boys at Red Horse Fittings for unions, fixing our street drive fuel system back to normal.”
After all the issues, Janousek and Boese returned to Cordova for the fifth and final day, fixed and somewhat rested. “It was all or nothing on day five,” he said. “We had our trailer there, sorted out the car best as possible and first run we managed a 9.5-second pass at 146 mph.
We knew the car had more, so we turned it around and went again to close the week with a 9.35 at 146 mph which is my personal best in the new car.”
“The event was amazing,” Janousek admitted. “The people participating, vendors on site, and spectators made this event for us. Without the help on parts calls needed, we couldn’t have completed this event.”
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Sick the Magazine and Mike Janousek.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com