UNORTHODOX RACING
Unorthodox Racing was founded by an enthusiast who had spent a decade wrenching on American muscle cars. He worked with many products, some as simple as spark plugs to as complex as super/turbocharger systems. By the early 1990's it was clear a new era was dawning with smaller displacement higher performance engines being offered. He slowly began developing what would become Unorthodox Racing MAXX Power pulleys. The first pulley was for his personal 1988 T-Bird Turbo Coupe with the 2.3L SOHC 16V Turbo engine. His father in law was a class A machinist, trained in Germany before he came to the US. The two designed then machined a crankshaft pulley for the T-Bird. The pulley performed flawlessly, the seat of the pants improvement told him he was onto something.

Over the next few years more pulleys were made and tested. Another was made for a 1992 Civic Hatch (EH2) the founder bought for commuting to graduate school. The new pulley made the little 1.5L SOHC 16V feel like a whole new engine, especially when the VTEC kicked in. He knew some underdrive pulleys for the V8's he worked on caused charging, cooling or other accessory issues. So the amount/percentage of underdrive would have to be tailored to each car/engine. Every new pulley was put through rigorous testing (the alternator, a/c, air pump, power steering and water pump) to assure the accessories functioned at factory specified output levels. It was during this testing that he realized the most important fact about making power with pulleys. Smaller displacement engines saw bigger performance gains from weight reduction than underdrive. This is why Unorthodox Racing MAXX Power pulleys are designed to achieve the greatest possible weight reduction.

With this important engineering and test data UR was registered as a Sole Proprietorship in 1996. Market research showed the demand for small displacement performance parts was growing. A final business plan and Mission Statement were created. At the heart of this was the strict Unorthodox Racing policy of only making products that "DID WHAT WE SAID THEY WOULD," "FIT LIKE WE SAID THEY WOULD," "LOOKED LIKE PIECES OF ART" AND "WOULD LAST THE LIFETIME OF THE VEHICLE." There would be no compromises which meant a higher retail price. It was the only trade off he was willing to make. He was sure the end user would not chance damaging their engine with a cheap part. What's the point of saving fifty or hundred dollars if it causes thousands of dollars in damage. It was simple, it was about quality, customer satisfaction and word of mouth. This philosophy is still a cornerstone or Unorthodox Racing 23 years later.

In early 1997 Unorthodox Racing was incorporated and launched our first web-site. We introduced our pulleys to this hungry new market in May of 1997 with our first ad in Turbo magazine. Unorthodox Racing pulleys were officially the first pulleys for the small displacement market. We were quickly accepted by enthusiasts, racers and tuners as a vendor they could trust. Enthusiasts worldwide have used Unorthodox Racing products in everything ranging from everyday street to full out race cars. 20+ years later we are still the leader with hundreds of billions of end user driven miles using our products.

Unorthodox Racing products are designed and manufactured exclusively in the U.S. using the latest 3D product development tools. Strict quality controls are followed from material selection (Using only the finest U.S. produced raw materials), machinery and tooling.