Congratulations to Tony Bischoff and BES Racing Engines... 5X Engine Masters Champion

When Jon Kaase looked at his numbers after his dyno run on day four of the 2014 AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge he seemed crestfallen. He brought a powerful engine to the game, but when all was said and done after Thursday's end of the day run his gut told him he'd be coming up short in the final showdown.

Tony Bischoff (center) watches the numbers with BES Racing Engines on the block.

Sure enough, his instincts were keenly attuned to what was going on, and when the final story had been told, he didn't have it this year. Tony Bischoff started the final day with ginormous numbers and by day's end his score was insurmountable.

Congratulations, Tony. 5X Engine Master has to feel pretty good.

There was still a lot of power on display in the finals. When all was said and done, here's how it all shook out. 

1) SCORE: 3017.4 
ENTRY: BES Racing Engines ENGINE: 401ci Gen III Hemi 
AVERAGE PEAK POWER: 688.67 horsepower, 611.67 lb-ft

2) SCORE: 2920.9 
ENTRY: Bradley Built Engines ENGINE: 417ci Gen III Hemi 
AVERAGE PEAK POWER: 699.07 horsepower, 615.70 lb-ft

3) SCORE: 2913.5 
ENTRY: “Also BES,” John Lohone ENGINE: 401 LS 
AVERAGE PEAK POWER: 674.00 horsepower, 595.33 lb-ft

4) SCORE: 2904.1 
ENTRY: School of Automotive Machinists ENGINE: 436ci LS 
AVERAGE PEAK POWER: 725.33 horsepower, 644.00 lb-ft

5) SCORE: 2875.4 
ENTRY: Jon Kasse Racing ENGINE: 404ci Kaase Boss 9 
AVERAGE PEAK POWER: 677.33 horsepower, 597.00 lb-ft

For more details, and photos, visit the Hot Rod Blog.

Here are some additional shots from Lima, Ohio last week.

The Bradley Built Engine had some cool Brazilian technology affixed.

The local media dropped by to put our story on the evening news.

That's an oil pan, not a bed pan. All week the staff was exceedingly helpful.

John Lohone, like the other top guns, had double plugs per cylinder.

This was a first EMC for Hot Rod editor David Kennedy, here addressing the banquet.

The Brad Nagel made an impressive run, but came up short. 

Jon Kaase Sets the Bar

Jon Kaase makes beautiful engines that exhibit eye-popping numbers.

The final day of the AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenge is underway. Jon Kaase has just completed his run and set the bar for the four teams of engine builders that will follow. We can't divulge his scores but during the course of nine dyno pulls each one improved over the previous and that final pull knocked it out of the park.

Nevertheless, we've only just begun.  Judson Massingill and the School of Automotive Machinists is now setting up in the cell. All action today will be in Dyno Cell #2.

At last night Engine Builder Banquet a number of awards were handed out, including $1,000 prizes from AMSOIL for the Torque Monster and the Horsepower King. The winner of both prizes was David Freelander of Montreal's Freelander Race Engines/Oakley Motorsports. Rob Orava accepted the awards on Freelander's behalf because the team captain had to return to Saudi Arabia. Orava was quite familiar with AMSOIL long before this competition as he has been an AMSOIL Preferred Customer for quite some time.

As title sponsor AMSOIL has provided the each builder with lubricants in advance to experiment with before selecting what they believe will be the optimal viscosity. Here is a page of AMSOIL synthetic racing oils that these teams chose their oils from.

Meantime, we've got ignition in cell #2 and the Massingill Team is on its way to giving us their first run. That rumbling growl is music to our ears.