Hot rodders are a lot like the early days of technology when renegade engineers invented things without much consideration for what precedents had been set. Turns out these old hot rodders have a few miles left in them.

Crower calculates that the Steam-o-Lene boosts the work it gets from a gallon of gas by 40 percent over conventional engines. Diesels, which are already more efficient, might get another 5 percent. And his engine does it with hardware that already exists, so there’s no waiting for technologies to mature, as with electric cars or fuel cells.

Far from being just an idle inventor, Bruce Crower is a legend in drag racing and NASCAR with the company that bears his name a leader in camshafts, valvetrains, cranks and connecting rods. I’m anxious to see how his latest invention works out given that he has the capital and industry connections to make it happen.