Phil Tobin arrived at HOT ROD Drag Week 2025 with a familiar blue 1993 Corvette, a naturally aspirated big‑block under the hood, and his trademark calm, methodical approach. Five days later, he left with the All Motor Big Block trophy, averaging 8.511 seconds across the week to top a tough field and underline just how far a well‑sorted, NA package can go when it’s built for consistency as much as for glory runs.
Who is Phil Tobin?
If you tune EFI, you likely know the name already—Phil is the programmer behind TunerStudio and MegaLogViewer at EFI Analytics. His software has become the daily driver for thousands of DIY and pro tuners alike; it’s not unusual to see his dashboards on laptops in Drag Week staging lanes. (Yes, that’s that Phil.)
This wasn’t Tobin’s first Drag Week success, either. In 2021 he and co‑pilot Brian Holzbach won Modified Naturally Aspirated with the same C4, finishing the week with an 8.96 average—proof that the car, the team, and the process have been building toward this moment.
The Car & The Class
Tobin’s Corvette is a 1993 C4 in blue, running All Motor Big Block—no power adders, just displacement, airflow, and tuning (MS3Pro FTW). That makes every increment of ET the product of fundamentals: induction, valvetrain, traction, and calibration. His entry is listed in the official results as a 1993 Chevrolet Corvette (Blue).
What’s under the hood—and why it mattered
Tobin’s C4 runs an MS3Pro ECU from AMP EFI, a choice that aligns with his software background and the event’s demands for reliable, flexible control of a high‑rpm, naturally aspirated big‑block. MS3Pro is a fully featured standalone that’s become a staple in drag‑and‑drive circles for its robust I/O, fast datalogging, and deep strategy support.
How the week unfolded (day‑by‑day)
Drag Week is a marathon: five tracks in five days with road legs in between—no trailers. The 2025 route ran Maryland → Pennsylvania → Pennsylvania → Maryland → back to Maryland for the finale. Here’s how Tobin kept stacking slips:
- Day 1 — Maryland International Raceway (Budds Creek, MD): Tobin set the tone with an 8.405 @ 158.87 mph. That early, clean hit put him at the top of the class
- Day 2 — Numidia Dragway (PA): Backed it up with an 8.493, bringing his two‑day average to 8.449. In All Motor Big Block, that kind of low‑8.4 pace is a haymaker
- Day 3 — Maple Grove Raceway (Reading, PA): An 8.562 kept him comfortably clear with a three‑day average of 8.4867. This was the “don’t get greedy” day—no hero tune, just a banker.
- Day 4 — Cecil County Dragway (Rising Sun, MD): Posted 8.589, still on rails, for a four‑day average of 8.5123. Late‑week attrition was rising across the event; Tobin stayed out of the drama.
- Day 5 — Back to MIR for the finale: He closed it out with another crisp pass and sealed the class title with an 8.511‑second weeklong average.
Bottom line: he didn’t try to win it in one shot—he won it by being the same fast car every day.
In context: 2025 was a record‑maker
This year’s overall story was pace and durability. Ned Dunphy reset the Drag Week all‑time average mark at 6.175 seconds, proving the event keeps raising its ceiling. Against that backdrop of fury in Unlimited, Tobin’s NA big‑block win showcased the other Drag Week truth: execution beats chaos.
Why Tobin’s approach worked
- A stable window: Across five days, his ETs lived in a tight low‑8.5 bracket, which insulated him from weather swings and track‑prep variance. Daily averages tell the tale.
- NA simplicity: With no boost or nitrous to manage, the car asks less of cooling, fueling margins, and driveline on the highway legs—critical when you’re driving hundreds of miles between tracks. (Drag Week’s rules and format demand that kind of reliability.)
- Attention to calibration: It’s no surprise the guy behind TunerStudio harnesses data well. Even small improvements in launch torque management, shift points, and fuel/timing trims show up in a class where hundredths matter.
By the numbers — Phil Tobin, Drag Week 2025 (All Motor Big Block)
- Car: 1993 Chevrolet Corvette (Blue) — naturally aspirated big‑block
- ETs (selected): 8.405 (Day 1), 8.493 (Day 2), 8.562 (Day 3), 8.589 (Day 4)
- Final average: 8.511 seconds — All Motor Big Block winner
Tech Box: The Hardware & Software That Keep Drag Week Cars Alive
Drag Week rewards teams who don’t just go fast—they survive five days of heat, traffic, and back-to-back track runs. That’s where the right electronics and calibration tools make the difference.
MS3Pro ECU: A proven backbone for Drag Week builds, MS3Pro gives you precise control of fuel, spark, boost (if you’re running it), and advanced strategies like launch torque management and flex-fuel. With CAN data streaming and powerful logging, it’s designed for the kind of repeatability that wins classes.
IGN1A Smart Coils: When you’re turning big cubic inches at high cylinder pressures, weak spark isn’t an option. IGN1A coils deliver monster energy and consistent ignition under punishing conditions—whether you’re idling through small towns on pump gas or laying down an all-out pass at 8,000 rpm.
TunerStudio Software: Hardware is only as good as the calibration behind it, and TunerStudio (developed by Tobin himself) is the go-to tuning suite for MS3Pro. Its real-time dashboards, data analysis, and auto-tune capabilities let racers refine every detail—launch torque, fueling, and spark—down to the hundredth of a second.
Bottom line: the cars that finish Drag Week—and win—do it with robust electronics and smart calibration. MS3Pro ECUs, IGN1A coils, TunerStudio, and quality sensors are what make speed survivable.
The Takeaway
Phil Tobin didn’t just win All Motor Big Block—he wrote a case study in how to attack Drag Week: pick a target, build for repeatability, read the data, and drive the plan. In a year headlined by a new overall record, Tobin’s 8.51‑second average was a masterclass in control, and proof that naturally aspirated big‑block power still has a very loud, very credible voice at the toughest street‑car race on earth.