Champion Superchargers LLC was formed in September of 2020 specifically to continue the legacy of Joe Abbin’s Roadrunner Engineering supercharger kits . Dion Casto, our founder, is the former owner of RAPID Tooling Inc, a 13 CNC equipped manufacturing and engineering firm based in Dallas,TX. RAPID Tooling used to machine some of the parts for the kits Roadrunner was selling and now we are licensed to manufacture the complete kits.
Many of you know Dion’s father, Joe Casto aka “Okie Joe”, infamous for his dropped axles and swap meet banter. Through his father, Dion developed an interest in cool things automotive that began back in 1977 when he sold his 1934 Ford coupe body (given to him at 2 yrs of age) to buy a running 1955 Chevy pick up with a SBC. It was important, at the time, to have a running vehicle so he could cruise the main street (Grand Ave) in his hometown. After working harvest his junior year, Dion wanted to paint the ’55 to make it look bad-ass but his Dad wanted him to update the engine and go through the suspension. After several heated discussions, Joe made the comment that stuck with Dion for the rest of his life…” Go ahead and paint it, you’ll have the best looking piece of crap in town”. Not his exact words, this is a public website….
Needless to say, the pickup was soon transformed into a 454 BBC truck with power steering and tilt/telescoping steering column. The reason the truck never ever got painted is another story in it’s own right. As it were, this simple comment, “best looking piece of crap intown”, has driven Dion for the past 43 years to do things the right way and not take shortcuts. This is the approach we are taking to Champion Superchargers. Dion, a Mechanical Engineer himself, has spent time and many conversations with Joe Abbin to truly understand the intricacies of supercharging flathead Fords. We are using the same engine analysis software to properly configure the supercharger kits and have plans to implement a flow bench and ultimately an engine dyno so we can continue the excellent work done by Joe Abbin.
Future plans include supercharger kits for other vintage engines such as Y-block Fords, Bangers and Inliners.
If his name is familiar, Dion is a moderator on “The Flat Spot” Facebook group and runs the “Vintage McCullough Supercharger” and the “KR Wilson and other Vintage Automotive Tools” groups on Facebook.