By Brian Wagner
Horsepower is what makes the drag racing world go ’round — every racer who rolls into the beams is always looking for more, any way they can get it. Having all that power is great, but it’s virtually useless unless you can put it to the track in a controlled and predictable fashion. This makes the vehicle’s front and rear suspension as vital as the powerplant itself. To gain a greater understanding of how these elements affect performance, we enlisted Eric Saffell of AFCO to share greater insight into the company’s all-new doorslammer and chassis car struts to understand how they can help racers get the most out of the power they have on tap.Strut-style suspensions have been used on door cars for decades, so the concept of how they function hasn’t changed, but using better components has become the focus. Racers and tuners have learned that when they have more adjustability in the suspension, they can compensate for varying track conditions, which allows them to apply more power earlier in the run, which in turn lowers elapsed times. Taking these ideas into account is what drove AFCO to create a new strut that can help racers at all levels make their cars more predictable at the track, no matter what power level they are trying to harness. Why Quality Struts MatterThe front suspension of a racecar has the important task of helping to begin the weight transfer process during a pass. Having the ability to fully control how quickly the weight transfers throughout the entire chassis is essential to making sure the car works consistently on any racing surface.“While it is imperative to have high-quality shocks on the rear of the car, controlling pitch rotation at the launch can have dramatic results. Virtually everyone with a door car can benefit from struts that have a broad range of adjustment. Bracket cars can adjust to conditions for maximum consistency. Fast door cars like Top Sportsman, Radial vs The World, Pro Mod and others deal with high horsepower and torque that need a strut that can control how quickly the front end moves up at the hit,” says Saffell.

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The new chassis car struts are designed to fit almost any application and are already set up for spindles out of the box.