From left, Chris Bennett, Preston Mosher, Shawn Hooper, Jud Massingill, Linda Massingill

“Everything went perfect,” praises Jud Massingill, commenting on the victory his School of Automotive Machinists team claimed at the 2012 Amsoil Engine Masters Challenge presented by Popular Hot Rodding Magazine.

SAM school won first place in the Xtreme Street division, tallying 3313.4 points to runner up Jon Kaase Racing Engines with 3298 points.

“We’d change the air bleed, it worked. We changed the timing when it started to rain outside, and it worked,” says Massingill, who is owner and founder of the SAM school.

The SAM team built a 402ci small-block Chevy with SB2 heads for the competition. Last year SAM won the Street division and was runnerup in the Extreme Street. They were not eligible to re-enter that 2011 winning engine in Street again this year. After the three qualifying runs, SAM was in first place in the Extreme Street division with 3300 points with peak numbers of 853 horsepower and 665 lb-ft torque.

“After qualifying we thought we might have 10 more points left in the engine,” says Massingill. “We made some changes and found 13.”

Under the Engine Masters format, the engines are run on the dyno from 4,000 rpm up to 8,000 rpm with torque and horsepower readings taken every 100 rpm. The torque and horsepower are averaged out, then factored according to engine displacement. That way, smaller engines can compete with mountain motors. The Kaase team pulled over 1100 horsepower with their 537ci big-block but couldn’t catch SAM after the engine displacement was factored into the points system.

“We had identical average torque numbers on all three qualifying runs,” says Massingill. “Two of the runs had identical average horsepower and the other was off by one horsepower.”

The SAM small-block (4.128-inch bore) boasts Lunati crank (3.75-inch stroke) and rods, Diamond 15.5:1 pistons, Comp Cams camshaft, MSD ignition, Edelbrock manifold and BRE carburetor.

“Most of the teams had tunnelrams,” says Massingill. “We tried it but couldn’t make it work.”

Team members include Massingill, wife Linda, instructors Chris Bennett and Shawn Hooper and student Preston Mosher.