E85 ethanol fuel — an alternative fuel commonly containing a blend of roughly 85 percent denatured ethanol and 15 percent gasoline — has been a hot-button topic over the last several years, in the political sector as a central element of great environmental standards, and in hot rodding and motorsports as a back and forth argument over whether it’s a better choice than conventional leaded, high octane gasoline blends. E85 generally carries a relatively high octane rating, said to range anywhere from 105 to 110, and leaving out other plusses and minuses for the sake of brevity, can equate to running higher compression, more spark advance, and (if you run a power adder) more boost. E85 is considered capable of producing five percent horsepower gains in some engines, although it will require 20 to 25 percent more fuel to accomplish it. There’s a tradeoff to everything, right?

In drag racing circles, E85 and any other form of alternative fuels are rarely talked-about, leaving one to assume that, unlike IndyCar racing, our sport has disregarded it and moved on business as usual with leaded racing fuels. But that’s not entirely the case, and the king of extreme engine exploitation, Steve Morris, recently proved that as such, flogging a stout — and we do mean stout — E85-fueled monster that’s destined for the 1/4-mile in his engine shop.

Although few details on this engine build are given, what you’re looking at is a Morris-built 540 cubic inch big block Chevrolet, packing a big ol’ honkin’ ProCharger F3-139 — one of the biggest blowers in the ProCharger stable — with one of Morris; Pro-Volute’s attached. The end result on this particular pull is a horsepower reading north of 2,200 at 6,764 RPM, with an equally impressive 1,750 ft/lbs. of torque at 27.5 lbs. of boost. If you watch the video to the end, Morris notes that the air/fuel ratio, particularly at lower RPM’s reaches beyond his comfort zone, keeping him from truly leaning on this bad boy on the dyno. That’s right…there’s more in this thing.

No doubt the power potential of E85 is there, and despite the tradeoffs, this proves it.