Volume 1 | Issue 2 | November 2010
PPNDigital.com • Part# PP2010-1
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 1
8/29/10 5:27 PM
THE PERFORMANCE PARTNER
YOU CAN TRUST.
COMP CAMS® IS HERE FOR YOU TODAY & WE’LL BE HERE TOMORROW, PROVIDING THE MOST ADVANCED ENGINE COMPONENTS BACKED BY SUPERIOR SERVICE COMP Cams® is a company of racers – we understand the passion and dedication it takes to be a winner because we come to work every day with that same competitive spirit. For employees at COMP Cams®, second best is not an option. It shouldn’t be an option for your next valve train purchase either. COMP Cams® continuously expands our selection of advanced performance parts, but each new addition is simply an extension of the heart and soul of our product line: camshafts. From off-the-shelf cams to custom grinds, nobody offers a wider selection of innovative camshaft designs. Every cam is engineered to exact specifications by incorporating the absolute latest developments in valve motion design, precision manufacturing and quality assurance. The hundreds of subtle differences separating COMP® camshafts from the competition make a major difference at the race track. With a COMP Cams® camshaft, nothing is left to chance. Every last detail, from gear run-out to surface finish is accounted for, so you get the perfect match for your engine application. These critical refinements are why COMP Cams® camshafts consistently produce 10 to 30 more horsepower versus the competition. It’s for all these reasons that many leading race teams and engine builders at all levels of motorsports trust COMP Cams® to power their efforts. They understand that selecting a camshaft is no different than anything else in life; you get what you pay for.
LIFTERS Tool Steel Flat Tappets to Elite Race™ Solid Rollers, COMP Cams® lifters are the standard for performance & durability, even when subjected to high rpm, punishing race applications.
VALVE SPRINGS Nothing in your valve train takes more of a beating than your valve springs. COMP Cams® valve springs deliver unmatched pressure retention, material quality and valve control.
With the industry’s largest and most highly trained valve train engineering team, COMP Cams® is making the investment to ensure that we remain on the leading edge of camshaft technology. Wherever valve train technology is advancing, COMP Cams® will be there.
ROCKER ARMS A critical piece of your valve train combination, COMP Cams® offers a full selection of aluminum & steel, stud mount & shaft rockers for superior rigidity, ratio accuracy & durability.
8243
d
Engineered To Finish First.
CAM HELP® 1.800.999.0853 | WWW.COMPCAMS.COM
CONTENTS 48
32
40 Features Mr. Smooth the Internet Has Changed Racing 44 Meet Q&A With Billy Moyer 16 How The Good, the Bad & the Ugly Odd Couple Propels the MSRA Dirt 52 The King of California After a Frightening Crash, Jonathan Allard 24 The Late-Model Series to Prominence The COMP Cams MSRA Dirt Late-Model Series Finds Success
32
Homecoming King
36
Keith White Drives to National Championship Contention
Jared Landers’ Open-Wheel Modified Wins in His Own Backyard
IMCA Open Wheel Modified Driver Keith White Shows How to Win
tech Expectations 12 Crate Is There a Place for Crate Engines in Racing?
20
Choosing the Right Cylinder Head RHS Designs for the Entire System Not the Flow Bench
26
Getting Started
30
Let the Sparks Fly
39
Quarter Master Starter Quality Raises the Bar Pick the Right Ignition for Your Racing Application
Tune In, Turn On And Turn Left
Comes Back Fiercer Than Ever
to the Future 10 56 Back The “New” Lunati Is Rapidly Moving Forward by Returning to Its Past
04
Geving, 18-Year-Old Sprint Car 59 Alissa Driver, Is the Real Deal A Young Woman With Winning Ways
Power 62 Chevy Bill Tower’s Historic Collection
48
on Pavement 40 Perfection Kyle Busch’s Short-Track Screamer Puts the “Super” in Super Late-Model
Racers From Themselves 43 Saving Are Rev Limiters the Answer to Higher Engine Costs?
Power 48 Billet Dart’s Billet Components Provide the Perfect Platform for Circle Track-ready Blocks
Next Generation Lifter 60 The Comp Cams designs an all new lifter for racers and high performance enthusiasts
The Most Radical Race Cars in America are Home to Ingenuity
Departments – The Grass Is Greener 04 Editorial The Spirit of Grassroots Motorsports Is Alive and Well in America
06
New Products
Editorial – Karl Fredrickson 11 Guest Words of Wisdom From a Man Who Knows Questions 66 Ten Richard Childress Tells His Story
Everything to Make Going Fast Easier Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 3
3
8/30/10 1:19 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
EDITORIAL
POWER &
THE GRASS IS GREENER
PERFORMANCE Magazine
The Spirit of Grassroots Motorsports Is Alive and Well in America dvanced technology. Advanced thought. Those are the keys to winning whether it’s racing on a dirt oval or succeeding in life. Armed with the best tools possible, racers are going faster and delivering more consistent performance than previously thought possible. Aided by innovative technology dedicated to improve the products we take to the track, racers can count on time-tested equipment that allows focus to be directed to the driving task at hand come track time. With less experimentation the racing improves, and everyone from the racer to the spectator is the ultimate winner. This issue of Power & Performance News is dedicated to circle track fans – from those in the stands to those in the pits spinning wrenches. The directive from the beginning has been to present the newest products available to help the racer learn about new ways to go fast. As always, we are very pleased with our list of new products that lead off our magazine (Pages 6 to 10). In addition to the short new product releases, there are major product reveals throughout the issue. From new spread bore billet blocks that emit more power and torque along with increased chassis strength to roller lifters that improve engine durability and performance, this issue has some very cool content that we bet will be new to you. There’s even a crate engine story that seeks to demonstrate some of the potential of these engines authored by veteran circle track author Carl Fredrickson. All are just part of the friendly service. Along with this new product information, we’ve sought to entertain you with stories of some very successful racers tackling both dirt and paved oval around the U.S. From Billy Moyer to Alissa Geving, there are racers tearing up tracks and dominating the competition. While you may know some, others will surprise you with their quiet winning ways. If nothing else, they will inspire you even if you never intend to strap in and take the green flag. Finally I want to invite you to take a look at our in-line website www. powerandperformancenews.com. It’s filled with lots of great information beyond what we can pack into this issue and is updated after our print date with new things we’re sure you’ll want to see. Perhaps best of all, you can subscribe to the printed version through our website so you won’t miss another issue of this trend-setting magazine. So what’s on tap? There are QR tags that allow you to download new information and videos to your Smartphone by simply taking a picture of the “tag” after downloading the free Microsoft software. Innovative information delivery – that’s what P&PN is all about. — Cam Benty
A
Bill Tower’s original Dale Earnhardt Sr’s “Pass in the Grass” Monte Carlo lives on. See page 62 for the full scoop.
Publisher
Chris Douglas
Editorial Editor Cam Benty
Associate Editor
Stanley White
Managing Editor
Linnea Hunt-Stewart
Contributors
Senior Editor
Manager
Associate Sales
Karl Fredrickson John Jamros Jeff Huneycutt Paul Henry Mike Adaskaveg Jim Hill Bobby Kimbrough Patrick Reynolds Lew Boyd Ben Shelton
Photo Editor Jerry Genre
Advertising Greg Long Steve Walker
Art
paul@graffixdesign.com
Power & Performance News Online
Online Editor
Andrew Lindsey
Power & Performance News® is published quarterly in the interest and growth of highperformance aftermarket products and services. The magazine consists of dedicated information from participating partner companies with the mission of disseminating unfiltered editorial on companies, products and services directly to the targeted audience of the automotive enthusiast. Each quarterly publication is dedicated to a market segment theme of street performance, circle track racing, drag racing and street rods & muscle cars. Editorial and advertisements for each issue originate from partner companies participating in the magazine. Power & Performance® News is a hybrid of digital online publication as well as quarterly print media. Magazine distribution occurs through selected placement of the publishing company and the internal methods chosen by partner companies. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
4 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 4
8/29/10 5:27 PM
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 5
5
8/29/10 5:27 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
PRODUCT NEWS
No Charge
Breathe Right
No Extra Fee COMP Cams Custom Grind Camshafts
RHS Pro Elite SBC 23-Degree CNC-Ported Iron Cylinder Heads
With the largest cam lobe library in the industry, COMP Cams is set up and ready to grind the custom camshaft for almost any engine. With a normal turnaround time of less than 72 hours, even custom grinds are delivered quickly. And even better than that, custom grind camshafts don’t cost any more than part-numbered camshafts unless the design dictates an upgraded core. So for the same price as a part-numbered camshaft, the company can specially design a cam. Added processes that are available include multiple surface preparations, camshaft measurements and other special operations. Some of the more popular processes include Pro Plasma Nitriding for any flat tappet cam, camshaft profiling and certain machining procedures. (A fee is charged for any special process added to a custom grind camshaft.)
Engineers at Racing Head Service have recently designed the only small-block Chevy 23-degree, cast-iron head for 360-434ci engines that is CNC-ported from the factory. The precision accuracy and durability of the RHS Pro Elite SBC 23-Degree CNC-Ported Iron Cylinder Heads are derived not only from the CNC-porting of the intake and exhaust runners but the CNC-ported combustion chamber, as well. The CNC-ported 240cc intake and 85cc exhaust runners optimize airflow volume and velocity while the 53cc combustion chambers are also CNC-machined to relieve the valve shrouding that occurs when the edge of a valve is in close proximity to the combustion chamber wall. Overall, the full CNC-porting process provides more consistent runners and smoother port-to-chamber transitions, thereby increasing both airflow efficiency and horsepower.
COMP Cams 800-999-0853 camhelp@compcams.com www.compcams.com
Racing Head Service 877-776-4323 www.racingheadservice.com
Brake Advantage TCI Electric Brake Shut-Off TCI electric solenoid instantly shuts off the right front brake for improved corner entry handling and changing track conditions. The easy-to-install solenoid mounts directly into the brake line, anywhere between the master cylinder and caliper. The driver flips a switch from the inside of the car, which activates the lightweight 6061-T6 aluminum-encased, continuous-duty solenoid. This high-quality solenoid blocks fluid flow to the right front caliper, eliminating the common “push” or “tight” condition experienced under corner entry braking. The heavy-duty solenoid handles up to 3000psi and incorporates a waterproof seal to handle frequent high-pressure washings. Best of all, the solenoid requires only a single amp of current so it won’t place a drain on the electrical system. The TCI Electric Brake Shut-Off works with all hydraulic brake systems, making it perfect for stock cars, modifieds and late models. TCI Automotive 888-776-9824 www.tciauto.com
6 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 6
8/29/10 5:27 PM
Pound the Pavement TCI FastLap 10-inch Asphalt Torque Converters for Powerglide and TH350 Transmissions When it comes to the often-overlooked asphalt circle track drivetrain, finding the right torque converter can mean the crucial difference between taking the checkered flag and a long ride home. With an extremely low stall speed, these premium converters give more engine braking going into the corner, as well as quicker acceleration coming off the corner. In addition, the oversized bearings increase load capacity and reduce drag, while the 10-inch diameter significantly reduces rotating weight for overall improved performance on a circle track. These state-of-the-art torque converters are triple-tested for quality assurance and use the TCI proprietary HDT (Heat Dissipating Technology) Coating™ for cooler and more efficient drivetrain operations. TCI Automotive 888-776-9824 www.tciauto.com
GETTING YOUR BEARINGS Lunati Now Distributes Clevite Bearings Lunati, a firm with more than 40 years of crankshaft know-how, is now a leading distributor for Clevite bearings. When protection for crankshaft journals is the chief concern, Clevite’s TriMetal bearings offer a useful advantage. TriMetal bearings provide critical protection that bi-metal bearings do not. They enable foreign particles to become embedded in the soft surface layer of the bearing. This innovation often protects crankshaft journals from harmful foreign particles. Lunati supplies Clevite’s TriMetal bearings in coated form or uncoated. Developed for high-performance and race engines, the coated bearings have a proprietary molybdenum/graphite treatment applied to the bearing surface, but not the bearing parting lines. The molybdenum serves as a high-pressure, high load, dry-film, anti-wear agent. The graphite provides additional protection across a wide range of temperatures, especially when oil flow is marginal. These coated TriMetal bearings are identified in the part number suffix by the letter K. Lunati www.LunatiPower.com 662-892-1500
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 7
7
8/29/10 5:27 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
PRODUCT NEWS
Rock On COMP Cams Nitrided Steel High Energy Rocker Arms for Small-Block Chevys The latest addition to COMP Cams High Energy series of rocker arms includes all the same beneďŹ ts as its predecessors and makes an excellent replacement rocker for engine rebuilds with stock or COMP High Energy camshafts. Nitrided for increased strength and durability, these steel rocker arms are designed for small-block Chevy applications that require a 1.5 rocker ratio and a 7/16-inch stud. All High Energy rocker arms help eliminate the noise and slop associated with worn or high mileage stock rocker arms. They feature a long slot for higher than stock lift camshafts and are engineered to handle higher spring pressures and hardened pushrods. COMP Cams 800-999-0853 www.compcams.com
8 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 8
8/29/10 5:27 PM
HP in a Box Dart Takes the Guesswork Out of Building a Complete Engine Selecting components that will work together properly can be a challenge, and if you don’t get it right, performance will suffer. Dart’s Horsepower in a Box kits are the result of building and testing hundreds of engines to ensure optimal performance in an affordable package. You get a pair of legendary Dart cylinder heads, fully assembled with premium stainless-steel valves, spring, retainers and related hardware, an aluminum intake manifold, valve covers, gaskets, fasteners and spark plugs, a timing set, along with a Comp Cams camshaft and lifters. Cylinder heads are available in cast-iron or aluminum and hydraulic flat tappet, or roller lifter camshafts are available. Just select a kit based on your displacement and your power goals, and you’re ready to go. What could be easier? Dart Machinery www.dartheads.com 248-362-1188
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 9
9
8/29/10 5:28 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
PRODUCT NEWS
Fire Up! MSD Heat Digitial HEI Module MSD’s Heat Digital HEI Module and performance coil will fire up the performance capability of your stock HEI Distributor with increased current for a powerful ignition spark. Designed to fit a stock HEI distributor, the module is a direct plug-in for the 4-pin HEI module and will produce up to 7.5 amps of current. This increased energy will continue through 9,000 rpm! The HEI Module is extremely accurate in its delivery of this energy resulting in more accurate ignition timing. Another unique feature is an adjustable rev limiter, which allows you to dial in an engine saving rev limit ranging from 2,000-10,000 rpm. To get the most performance out of the HEI Module, MSD offers a performance coil as well which drops right in place of the original and fits under the stock cover. MSD Ignition 915-855-7123 www.msdignition.com
Driving Force Quarter Master Carbon Fiber Driveshaft For Dirt Late Models Engineered using the highest strength aerospace-grade materials, Quarter master’s carbon fiber driveshaft is much lighter and more durable than any other competing aluminum or carbon fiber driveshaft available today. Weighing less than 4.0 lbs. (39” length, weight varies by length), the Quarter Master Carbon Fiber Driveshaft offers maximum weight reduction and decreased MOI (moment-of-inertia) that provides for more immediate acceleration and deceleration in and out of the corners, where momentum is a premium. The Quarter Master Carbon Fiber Driveshaft has an approximate weight savings of 1.5 lbs. over rival manufacturers’ carbon driveshafts and 2.0 lbs. over aluminum driveshafts. Finished with a smooth, non-load bearing composite outer layer and lightweight, black-anodized, billet aluminum ends using standard 1310 U-joints, the Quarter Master Carbon Fiber Driveshaft is not only the strongest, lightest and most durable driveshaft available but also the best looking. The driveshaft is also available in white for those series, sanctioning bodies and tracks that require a white driveshaft. Quarter Master 888-258-8241 www.racingclutches.com
10 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 10
8/29/10 5:28 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
T E G
EDITORIAL
YOU U GET IT
Going Around in Circles for Fun and Profit ou received this issue of Power and Performance because you likely spend a considerable amount of time applying full throttle while attempting to control an unruly vehicle that has way too much horsepower. And you do it as you are trying beat everyone else on the track to the fi nish line. You race. Good for you. Whether you’ve raced for three months or three decades, you’ve accomplished something that many dream of doing but don’t have the determination to make happen. Racing is such a challenge that it keeps many away. But, like Tom Hanks said in A League of Their Own, “It’s the hard that makes it great.” The rewards far exceed the effort. Just about any productive activity that gets its participants outdoors, away from overindulgence in television and the computer, to do something real is fantastic. Racing, however, has a quality that sets its participants apart from other outdoorsy types. It’s a side that emerges in the jokes, one-liners and stories that only we get. Like the one a longtime pit steward recently shared. He was reminiscing about old racers, some of whom he’d had the notalways-distinct pleasure of offi ciating. The name Herbie Simpson came up. “Oh, Herbie?” says the steward. “We used to call him kidney stones.” His audience was silenced. Bewildered. (Kind of the way you are right now.) Then the offi cial says: “We called him kidney stones because you can pass ’im, but it’s gonna hurt when you do.” So racers aren’t always one big, happy family, especially during post-race inspections. Yet even during the tough, frustrating times, racing delivers so much more than it demands. That’s why friends, neighbors, fans and sponsors lay down their hard-earned cash each week to gather around an: A) tight, B) wide, C) fl at, D) high-banked dirt/ paved (select the combination that fi ts your speedway) oval. They love to sit in awe and watch what racers – crewmembers as well as drivers – do. You owe them something in return. None of those folks paid cash, sat on a wood plank and swatted away bugs to watch you gather points. Nope, they want to live through you. That means taking no lap for granted. It means never taking a pass on a pass – unless the likelihood of wrecking a dozen or so cars is too high. (And if the race has been a yawner to that point, you still might want to consider going for it.) You’re a racer. Race. Each of us has a personal reason to be on the other side
Y
of the pit wall. For Robert Yates, the NASCAR crew chief and car owner, the motivation was clear. At one time Yates said, “God gave us competition so we’d get up in the morning and make things better.” Those types of racers are easy to spot. They’re the ones constantly working on their equipment. They not only won the heat race, they’ve also got an idea to make the car easier to load. That’s why they’re fi ddling with the trailer before the feature. For others the thing that gets them up in the morning is the image staring back at them from the mirror. For these guys the challenge is to push themselves to be better for no other reason than to say they did it. These guys are easy to spot too. They win their heat, then run another hundred laps pacing an oval in their pit stall before the feature. Then there are the guys who are more likely to win a three-state lottery than anything on a speedway, but they’re racers just the same. They load their cars just as you do, and they bust their knuckles just as you do. And they love it just as you do. So what kind of racer are you? Maybe you don’t know yet. But you’re determined to fi nd out. That’s why you’re out there.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 11
11
8/29/10 5:28 PM
12 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 12
8/29/10 5:56 PM
CRate eXPeCtatIons Is There a Place for Crate Engines in Racing? By Karl Fredrickson
o answer our own question: Yes, there is a place for crate engines in racing, but like the engines themselves, it’s very limited. Crate engines, specifically, the pre-packaged and assembled engines available in a variety of low-horsepower options from General Motors, are viable only as an alternative to race engines in the same division. ARCA, which sanctions both touring and weekly racing, has had success with that approach. “Crate engines are an option at Toledo [Ohio] and Flat Rock [Michigan] speedways,” says ARCA president Ron Drager. “We’ve got guys running both. Ron Allen is an experienced racer who has over 100 feature wins. He’s now combining the crate engine with his ability to set up the car at Toledo Speedway. He can make it handle on the high side of the track, which he must do because he can’t afford to lose momentum.” Other racers would rather combine their experience with the expertise of a builder of their choosing. They prefer a torque band that makes it possible to get up off the corner. In ARCA’s case Drager says these competing philosophies have generated great racing. That’s great news to other sanctioning bodies. “We’ve got five years with crates as an option in our Sport Mod class,” says Brett Root, vice president of IMCA. “That’s the only division in IMCA where there are specific rules that make them an option. My experience indicates a 50/50 ratio of crates to built engines.” While crates have worked as an option, both Drager and Root say they would not make them mandatory. At the beginning some thought that was the only way crates could work. If all cars ran the same engine part number, the theory went, then every car presumably would have the same horsepower, torque, reliability, durability and cost. Research – the kind based on facts, not opinions – has revealed several flaws in that theory. First, the crate concept presumes that the cost of a typical “built” engine has continued to rise each year. It hasn’t. In fact, the cost has dropped significantly over the past two decades. While a few components have gone up (typically because the price of aluminum has gone up too), some parts such as 4340 connecting rods cost only about half what they did in the early 1990s. It sounds incredible, but as prices have come down, component quality has improved.
t
Josh Reaume from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, races many types of cars. He says that throttle control is part of becoming a successful driver. “With a built motor and its torque I can spin 10-inchwide tires anywhere on the track,” says the 19-year-old, shown on the tire of his Grand American modified last season. “With a crate engine and 8-inch tires, I can mat the gas coming out of the corner.” Photo: Mike Adaskaveg
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 13
13
8/29/10 5:56 PM
It’s fun to adjust engine behavior by talking with your engine builder and occasionally trying new parts. The results can be fun too. Not so with a crate engine. Photo: Mike Adaskaveg
Some engine-related costs have risen in proportion to compression ratios and RPM ranges. Greater stresses result in greater strain on components, which increases the frequency of replacement and rebuilds. So simply comparing power-topower and dollar-for-dollar is insufficient when a few racers can afford to twist their engines harder and enjoy a performance advantage. Proponents believed the crate concept would address this disparity by creating a so-called level playing field. Equally powered engines derived from limited compression and lower-stress components would translate to races decided by driving talent and setup ability, not by the wealthy racer’s checkbook. The best argument against crate-only engine rules is great racing like the kind found at Ocean Speedway under IMCA modified sanction. “Tracks and sanctioning bodies should not remove the creativity and dumb down the sport so racers don’t want to participate,” says IMCA’s Vice President Brett Root. “We have the crate option in our Sport Mod class, but a crate mandate is not the future.” Photo: Mike Adaskaveg
Laudable goal. Too bad it didn’t work. Tech men tried to ensure compliance by relying on simple-to-bypass anti-tampering devices such as seals and one-of-a-kind bolts. Those proved easy and inexpensive to reproduce. Highly modified engines hid beneath counterfeit seals and bolts. Even in the rare cases when engines actually were equal, money still won. Racers bought tricked-out, low-friction rearend housings, expensive transmissions, lightweight clutches and crate-only headers. Then, they lined up all those high-dollar, and perfectly legal, pieces on a chassis dyno to make sure as much power as possible made it to the rear tires – through lighter wheels, of course. NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Matt Kenseth wrote in Speedway Illustrated that he thought a crate engine was a good idea for his son Ross, but he was disgusted to learn that another $4,000 in covert modifications, good for another 25 horsepower, were required to make it competitive. Kenseth encountered other disappointments as well. “The combination of sticky tires and crate engines just doesn’t work in my opinion,” he said in another Speedway Illustrated story. “I’ve driven that combination, and it seems to me that anyone can just point the car and stand on the gas, whether he’s handling good or not. I recently ran a car at Madison [Wisconsin], a track with long straightaways and tight corners, and it was sad how underpowered that thing felt just because we were dealing with too much tire for the horsepower we had. It felt almost like a restrictor-plate Sprint Cup race, where you never have the power you want. I found it really difficult to pass that night, and passing is a big part of what makes short-track racing so much fun for both the drivers and the fans.” The Carquest Maritime Pro Stock Tour, which runs in Canada, provides thrilling action from cars powered by various makes. Here, Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge all race together. Photo: Mike Adaskaveg
14 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 14
8/29/10 5:56 PM
This Vic Hill Racing Engines powerplant, equipped with MSD ignition, sits in Scott Bloomquist’s chassis. Bloomquist or Hill can contact MSD with a call, an email or in some cases simply by walking over to the company’s support truck at a race. MSD’s Todd Ryden says the company provides that level of service to all its customers. That doesn’t happen with crates.
Tim McCreadie (left, with the Kentucky Colonel, Steve Francis) says crate engines lack sufficient torque to teach newer racers how to keep the car underneath them.
Photo: Mike Adaskaveg
Photo: Karl Fredrickson
The problem is not limited to pavement. “Take the best guy from a crate division, put him in an 800-horsepower car, and he’ll be [lost],” says dirt late-model legend Billy Moyer. “My son races. I haven’t got him one of these crate-engine cars because you don’t learn throttle control. I want him to learn how to have that egg under his foot, and he has learned that.” And, says fellow dirt late-model star Tim McCreadie, “It’s not just the horsepower, it’s the torque. They can talk all day long about how they get the horsepower close, but the torque is never near what we get. Anytime you put torque into one of these motors, they’re just going to blow up. They’re just not made good enough. It’s the torque that’s getting your wheels spinning at the beginning. So, if we have 730 ft.-lbs. of torque at 7700 rpm, where the crates I’ve run have about 300 ft.-lbs. of torque, it doesn’t teach you to keep a car underneath you. And it doesn’t teach you the sheer speed of what it takes to drive a late model. The crate engine teaches you a lot of bad habits, I believe.” A big part of racing is learning to find the car’s limits. It’s hard to do that with a crate engine. “This problem would be solved if you had enough horsepower to break the tires loose,” Kenseth says. “That way the cars slide around a bit and create opportunities for passing. What really happens is you find out who the good drivers are. For example, there’s a limited late-model class in Wisconsin where the balance between horsepower and handling is pretty good. They don’t have a ton of motor, but they’re on an 8-inch, treaded tire, so they can’t hook up the power they have. In other words, unlike the crate-engine late models, these limited cars have more horsepower than bite. When that’s the case, passing is a lot easier, as long as you do your job as a driver. Be really smart about throttle control, don’t spin the tires and get a run on the other guy coming off the corner. That’s a challenge, but it’s a fun way to race. It’s also a great way for a young driver to learn the value of being smooth and managing tires, instead of just matting the gas.” In short, the crate engine deprives young racers of some of the sport’s best experiences. “Half the fun of all this stuff,” says Comp Cam’s Scooter Brothers, “is searching for your hot setup, something that works for you and your car.” But first you have to know where to look. “I’ve got a deep respect for racers who understand how their accelerator pump circuit works and can talk about cam lobe separation as it relates to their preference of driveability in the torque band,” says Holley’s Bill Tichenor. “Sometimes all it takes is to look at the quality of work on a guy’s car. It’s easy to tell the ones who understand how things work together.”
And, says Tichenor, “You don’t need to be born knowing it; lots of guys learn it as they go along.” Another problem with crate engines is that they don’t inspire anyone. Economics alone has never been a great motivator to get into anything, especially racing. The desire to race springs from the gut. A driver is born the day he sees a daring, up-against-the-wall move with the car sideways – and decides he can do it better. Has anyone ever dreamed of becoming a driver after watching a pack of cars not passing because they don’t have the power? Yet another concern with crate engines is the danger of having such a large segment of the sport dependent on a single supplier, particularly one that recently received a federal bailout. (GM, the joke goes, stands for Government Motors.) Could government assistance lead to government oversight? Even a single environmental fanatic in the right position could steer GM out of the sport. And what if the aftermarket has already moved on by then? It’s happened before. When musclecars were eliminated from the showroom, the aftermarket made parts for the street. After the gas crunch of the ’70s, the aftermarket focused on drag racing until it became increasingly difficult to do business there in the ’80s. The aftermarket has found a home in the short track segment ever since. Stock car guys have enjoyed many benefits of this arrangement. They’ve been involved in developing specific products for their applications, worked with dedicated tech staffs – even been featured in national ad campaigns. If the aftermarket is pushed out, all of that goes with it. “The oval track business has been good for companies like ours, and we’re thrilled to have tech help and support vehicles at many events,” says MSD’s Todd Ryden. “But I don’t see how we’d be able to maintain all that for a segment where we cannot do business.” If forced to do so, the aftermarket will seek business elsewhere. “We’ve had to find or create new markets before,” says Ryden. In certain applications the crate engine works as an alternative to race engines in the same division. Still, as a standalone program its effects have been devastating. Just ask any sanctioning body or track that has tried it. “People buy into the whole idea,” says Dart’s Jack McInnis, “but they sour on it pretty quick and pull the plug. Crate engines are less of an issue today than they were just a couple years ago.” That’s good news for the racing industry – and for racers.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 15
15
8/29/10 5:56 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
16 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 16
8/29/10 5:56 PM
How tHe
Internet Has CHanged
racIng the good, the Bad & the Ugly By Ben Shelton
Remember The Day… emember the days when you patiently waited by the mailbox for your favorite nationally syndicated racing paper to arrive on Thursday or Friday, so you could find out who won the big events across the country the week before? And then, remember how mad you’d get when the paper got lost in the mail, and you had to wait until you got to your local track a few days later to learn who won? Looking back now, one sometimes wonders if that was ever really a problem, or whether it’s just a memory from a previous lifetime. In a day and time when you can jump on your personal computer and find out in a matter of seconds who won a race anywhere in the world right after its conclusion, it seems unfathomable that we ever had to wait days for racing results. The reality is it really wasn’t that long ago that the motorsports world began to gain a strong presence in the cyber-world. A quick analysis of the dates of creation for some of the top racing-related sites on the Internet clearly reveals that most of them have had a shelf life of no more than 10 to 15 years. Over the past few years there has been an exponential growth of Web presence from racetracks, race teams and race media. In a world where knowledge is power, it only makes sense to theorize that the availability of racing topics on the Internet has helped the sport grow – or, if you stop to think about it, has it really?
R
The Emergence
In the motorsports outlets’ early days on the Net fans and racers alike flocked to sites like Jayski.com, Hoseheads.com and 4m.net. The discussion forums on these sites were filled with the racing faithful. The formative days of these sites were truly extraordinary as fans and racers from across the country could share and learn racing news and results in real-time. Fans thought they were in heaven because they could get race results as soon as an event was over, as opposed to the five day “wait and see” process they were accustomed to. Similarly, racers were thankful because they could find out information on upcoming races they otherwise may never have heard of. Perhaps the happiest group of individuals using the emergence of the new information source was the track owners and promoters. They saw the birth of a medium that would allow them to reach a huge fan base with race promotions at no cost whatsoever. One thing was for sure. In the early days nobody could ever deny that such a perfect recipe could possibly hurt the sport of racing. We were wrong.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 17
17
8/29/10 5:56 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TECHNOLOGY
Today, you can chase down anything you require quickly from the Internet if you know the right places to look for credible information. Everything from race results to new product reviews to forums where you can discuss the latest technical breakthroughs are as close as your nearest computer.
The Bad & the Ugly
During the early days things grew, and it seemed as if the Internet was the best addition to racing since the invention of the helmet. It stayed this way for quite a while. However, during the late 1990s the effect the Internet had on the racing world started to go in a slightly different direction. Just like anything that experiences periods of rapid growth, there’s inevitably a time when transformations take place. For the Internet racing world this transformation came in the form of Internet trolls, people whose one goal in public forums is to create chaos. With these trolls came posts where drivers, tracks, series, etc. were blasted and bashed for different reasons. While most of these so-called trolls didn’t represent large percentages of the sites’ users, they still could create a more tumultuous environment where typically complacent users became quick to defend their favorite causes. Individuals found protection and comfort in hiding behind a randomly created screen name while unleashing accusations, opinions and ill will. No longer were these sites used solely as a friendly meeting place for racing discussion. Now many of them became battlegrounds where the original users, who remembered the principle the sites were created for, began to fade into oblivion due to lack of interest in the venomous environment. Suddenly, track promoters began to find the environment they once regarded as a promotional heaven had become a promoting nightmare. Fans who once used the sites to decide which new track they wanted to go to next, now found themselves using the information posted by users on the forums to decide which track not to go to next. Another side product of the Internet’s involvement in racing was carryover from online disputes to actual altercations at the track. Sometimes a small run-in last weekend would be overanalyzed to the point of insanity during the week on discussion forums. By the time the next race night rolled around, tempers were at a boiling point. The proverbial statement of making a mountain out of a molehill has come to fruition many times as Internet forums served to throw dirt on that tiny hill.
The Good
Make no mistake, though, despite the few bad apples that have spoiled the sites, the Internet has produced several positives that have helped to grow the motorsports world. Even though some sites have become unreadable due to troll domination, new ones are constantly surfacing where racing enthusiasts who have never met can merge into giant online families. Websites such as MidSouthRacing.com have come into existence, and its forum alone records more than 6000 members that have thrived on a policy that strictly frowns upon trolls. Friendships and acquaintances have taken the online experience for motorsports to the next level. Almost every weekend people plan gatherings and cookouts at tracks across the country. Drivers and teams have basked in the motorsports presence on the Internet as hundreds of websites have shown up over the past few years, allowing fans to track the news and schedules of their favorite drivers. With the ability to forecast which drivers will attend which races, fans have become more comfortable in traveling farther to special events when they know they’ll get to see who and what they want. Despite some bad press many tracks have also flourished in the wealth of information. They have created websites for a relatively low cost and use them to advertise their events to potentially millions of perspective customers. Along the way
18 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 18
8/30/10 9:33 AM
Manufacturers use a variety of forums to get out their newest content – and promotions. The www.onedirt.com site receives a lot of Internet traffic not only because of the solid manufacturer product news but its up-to-date and entertaining video content.
concepts such as email blasts and RSS feeds have only increased the value of using the Internet to promote races and events. During the past few years a strong influx of advertisers, representing companies directly and indirectly tied to racing, have recognized the value of these mass cyber gatherings. They’re now helping fund the bills of these sites by posting advertisements.
The Verdict So you sit back and you try to digest all the information thrown your way, and you think to yourself, “Has the Internet really helped the motorsports world?” Yes, it’s a victory for the racing supporters and positive thinkers. Even though the Internet has definitely created some problems within the racing world, it has gone a long way to educate millions of potential customers about what motorsports have to offer. Real-time knowledge of races has allowed fans and teams to save countless dollars traveling to rained out, postponed or canceled events. Racers have provided technical and setup tips to drivers battling problems or traveling to unfamiliar tracks. Fans have helped other fans find the best deals on hotels and the best dives to grab a burger. Individuals who would have had a better chance of winning the lottery than meeting each other now have countless long-distance friendships because of the Internet. In a day and time when it’s not easy to draw the masses to the track every week, sometimes some bad can create some good. While those who always feel the need to constantly stir the pot on racing sites will remain, it’s undeniable that sometimes a little racing drama on the Internet during the week can help fill the stands on Saturday night with patrons who are dying to see what will happen next. So, the next time you come home from a track, and you feel as if you or someone else was slighted, before you get on the Internet and unleash your keyboard fury, think about the long-term ramifications of what you’re saying and the negative impact it can have on the survival of the sport we all cherish so much. Just like everything else in life, sometimes you can’t appreciate exactly what you have until it’s gone, and we don’t want to make that mistake.
Racing On The Web
These websites are among the top websites for oval track racers. ResourcesRacecontingency.com • Contingency registration required by many of the major parts manufacturers. AutoPressRelease.com • The latest performance product news for all types of racing applications. Reader’s Favorites: Jayski.com Onedirt.com Dirtondirt.com Speed51.com Midsouthracing.com Hoseheads.com Racingwest.com Indianaopenwheel.com Racerap.com Autoracingdaily.com 4m.net Got other favorites? Share them with us on our Facebook Page @ facebook.ppndigital.com
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 19
19
8/30/10 9:33 AM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
ChOOsinG The riGhT
Cylinder heAd RHS Designs for the Entire System, Not the Flow Bench
d
etermining the best cylinder head for your needs requires more than simply comparing port flow numbers. There are many ways to measure a cylinder head: port volume, port flow, cross-sectional area, air velocity, dimensions, chamber volume, valve size, etc. All these factors contribute to a decision, some more than others. It’s vital to understand what to look for and how to decide which of these measurements is more significant when selecting a cylinder head. While there are many ways to measure and compare heads, the only thing that really matters is that the entire engine performs as desired. After all, it’s the way the engine operates and feels as well as the power it makes that will determine whether the choice was correct. That’s why it’s important to understand how some of these things work together and why head designs can be so vastly different. It would be really easy if you could just throw a head on a flow bench and declare the one that flows the most is the Advanced dyno testing with a FAST manifold, valve body, fuel rails and oxygen sensors allows RHS to see how the entire engine performs with a new head design.
Aluminum cylinder heads being poured at the RHS foundry.
20 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 20
8/29/10 5:58 PM
Big-block Chevrolet cylinder head on flow bench, including a gauge that measures airflow at different lifts.
This is the RHS factory milling area where new cylinder heads are machined to spec.
Taking into account the entire system when they design a head and port, they make sure every cylinder head works for the entire engine package to maximize power, efficiency and throttle response throughout the RPM range. best. Unfortunately, flowing a head has become the easiest and most common way to compare heads. RHS takes the bold approach and designs its ports for the best performance on the engine and not necessarily on the flow bench. Port flow, which is a central part of head design, is now the single most common factor used in the cylinder head arms race. The reasoning is simple: Although the factors that determine what cylinder head design works best with a particular engine package are numerous, and sometimes complex, most people only understand the concept that if a cylinder head restricts the air/fuel flow going into the combustion chambers, it will kill power. So the more air and fuel an intake port can flow, the better, right? Not always, but that doesn’t keep someone from thinking that intake port flow numbers, measured in CFM (cubic feet per minute), are the only critical factors when determining which head is best for an application. Unfortunately, that’s just not always true. In fact, it’s rarely true. It is easy to make a port flow more air – just make it bigger. Doing that creates an engine that, more often than not, makes no torque and displays lazy throttle response. Plus, because there’s no standard, unless you know exactly how the testing was performed, raw flow numbers are not much value and can easily throw you off track. The list of tricks a smart operator can use to get artificially high numbers on the flow bench is nearly endless. So when it comes to flow numbers, the only ones that are useful come from comparing two different heads on the same bench at the same time. The engineers at Racing Head Service work to put together a complete package. Taking into account the entire system when they design a head and port, they make sure every cylinder head works for the entire engine package to maximize power, efficiency and throttle response throughout the RPM range. Port flow numbers here aren’t the goal, only a single indicator among many factors. After all, who cares how much CFM the intake flows as long as the engine hits your horsepower and performance targets? “I have a customer who was buying heads from somebody, and he called up and wanted to try a set of ours,” says head porting specialist Mike Stensrud of Wegner Motorsports, who works with RHS® on many of its port designs. “I did up a set
and sent it to him. He put it on his flow bench and then called me up and asked if he could return them. I said sure, but asked him to first tell me what was wrong. He said that on the flow bench the set was 40 CFM off from what he was currently running, and he didn’t even want to put the heads on the race engine he was building. “I asked him to do me a favor, go ahead and bolt them on the motor and see how they ran on the dyno. I told him if he still didn’t like them, he could send them back, and we’d not only refund his money but also buy him a new set of head gaskets and anything else that needed to be replaced from the test. So he did, and those heads he didn’t like at first because they were 40 CFM down, wound up making 38 horsepower more than the better flowing heads.” Stensrud says there are design cues, which are regularly included in RHS® cylinder heads, he has learned in his many years of designing and porting high-performance heads that sometimes even result in lower flow numbers on a flow bench. But that’s OK because the results show up quite well when it comes to helping the completed engine make power. “The problem is a lot of people want to race the flow bench,” he says, “but nobody wins the real races with flow bench numbers. You have to consider how the cylinder head will affect the completed engine’s output. One trick that some people will use to help make their heads flow better is to blow out the chamber really big around the intake valve seat. And yes, that will flow well, but when you put those heads on the engine, it loses torque, and you won’t have a happy motor. You also usually have to put a lot of timing in it to get it to run. We like to leave it tighter around the valve seat, which means we give up a little bit of flow on the bench, but you really pick up the torque, which you can feel from the driver’s seat.” Another area to improve power but also hurt overall port flow is the throat diameter. The “throat” of a port is the area directly behind the seat. A smart head designer considers the throat an extension of the valve seat. By controlling how the throat tapers as it approaches the valve seat, it can make the changes in seat angle less noticeable to the incoming air/ fuel charge. Generally speaking, if you’re trying to target max power in lower RPM ranges, you need a smaller throat size.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 21
21 8/31/10 11:34 AM
Stensrud says he aims for a throat size that’s 88 to 92 percent of the valve seat on a hot street motor, which helps the low-end torque. For all-out racing where the RPM are going to be much higher, you may want the throat to be in the 92 to 98 percent range. A throat percentage this high will hurt flow bench numbers but will show up on the dyno in the upper RPM range. The RPM range the engine will be operating within is also a major consideration that affects just how much flow is actually ideal. In many respects, the velocity of the airflow inside the ports is just as important as how much air the port can flow. The speed of the airflow in the port – often referred to simply as “velocity” – must be high enough to keep the air/fuel mixture in suspension, otherwise the fuel droplets will drop out of the airflow and won’t burn in the combustion chamber. And unburned fuel means lost power. Port velocity also helps improve signal at the carburetor, reduces the opportunities for power-killing reversion and increases cylinder fill at lower valve lifts. In plain English, this translates to better part-throttle response and more power throughout the RPM range. The trick is to size the
Assembling an aluminum small-block Ford head.
The RPM range the engine will be operating within is also a major consideration that affects just how much flow is actually ideal. port appropriately in order to get the necessary velocity and then shape it to maximize flow. “The port size doesn’t directly relate to flow or velocity,” Stensrud explains. “Higher flow numbers usually mean a bigger port, which usually means less velocity, so you can actually end up going the wrong direction. A good example of this is the LS head I just worked on with RHS. When we finished the design, the ports weren’t any bigger than the stock LS7 head, but yet it flows almost 40 CFM more air. It all has to do with intel-
ligently changing the taper sizes and doing the things that help flow and horsepower without making the port any larger than it needs to be.” This is why when it comes to choosing the correct head for your engine, you shouldn’t believe the first thing you read or hear. Consider the other factors, including the port design, the volume and cross-sectional area, and all aspects of the head, not just the flow numbers. The smaller details are often more important than overall flow because, as with port volume and
22 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 22
8/29/10 5:58 PM
cross-sectional area, they have a direct link to velocity and performance. Everything should be sized appropriately to the engine. And in order to do this, especially if you’re building a brand-new engine, it requires a little planning. If you aren’t already a cylinder head specialist, the best advice is to find someone who is. You can, for example, contact the tech help line for a cylinder head manufacturer. Or better yet, contact several different manufacturers and compare the answers they give you. The tech department at RHS doesn’t mind spending some time looking to find the right cylinder head for an application and may even point you to a different brand if RHS doesn’t have what you need. The company’s philosophy is that creating a relationship with a customer is much more valuable than a single sale. When calling the RHS® tech department for help, you need to be prepared with some information. In order to guide you in the right direction, the department will most likely want to know the engine, the displacement, the use, the RPM range it will most often see, compression and even the fuel type (octane, gas or alcohol). Also, you can do a little research on your own. If you’re a racer, you can take a quick survey at the track. What heads are the top dogs running? And we’re talking about the guys that are actually fast on the track, not the ones who simply talk a good game. That will tell you plenty right there. Unfortunately, when it comes to determining which cylinder head is best for an application, there’s no easy answer. There certainly is a lot more to it than simply comparing flow numbers. You have to ask around and find a tech department that’s more concerned with how you want your completed engine to perform instead of selling the features on that
company’s heads. After all, horsepower and torque are the only numbers you should be interested in, not flow numbers and other mumbo-jumbo. Once you’ve found someone to work with, the hardest part of selecting the best heads for a project is already complete.
A micrometer measures spring height so the technician can get an accurate reading. Shims are used on the valve seats to get the final spring height on this small-block Chevy head.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 23
23
8/29/10 5:58 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
RACE
The W Odd COuple prOpels The MsrA dirT lATe-MOdel series TO prOMinenCe The COMP Cams MSRA Dirt Late-Model Series Finds Success with Unconventional Co-owners
hen most racers and race fans think of great success stories in racing promotion, several names come to mind. Whether it’s the legendary Ted Johnson, who founded the World of Outlaw Sprint Cars; Earl Baltes, who built Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio; or Bill France, who turned a beach into a race track and created Daytona International Speedway, which led to the birth of NASCAR as we know it today, all of these great minds had one thing in common, and that was a background filled with racing heritage. Most people believe that if you don’t breathe it, eat it and live it every minute of every day, then you don’t have what it takes to be successful in the sport. However, two residents of the small Arkansas town of Beebe are proving the critics wrong, and they’re using non-racing related knowledge to be quite successful in the motorsports world. In late 2006 Chris Ellis began to recognize a need for a Super Late-Model series that primarily sanctioned events in Arkansas. The tour needed to be affordable for tracks, while also offering racers a purse that could support their operations. The Mid-America Racing Series (MARS) had filled this role for several years, but by the 2006 season the series raced mainly in Missouri and points northward. As the only Super Late-Model sanction in the area moved progressively north and since no tracks in Arkansas ran a weekly Super Late-Model program, drivers from the Natural State had long tows each
24 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 24
8/29/10 5:58 PM
Cary Jones
Chris Ellis
From his background as a school administrator and a coach, Ellis brought a firmness and discipline to the series that directly resulted in a well-known understanding of equality for all racers. week just to have the opportunity to race. With the gears in his mind turning, Ellis began making phone calls to test the waters for the birth of a new series. Ellis had a history of racing involvement ranging from racetrack promotion to flagging, but none of these duties were his main occupation. For more than 17 years, his day-to-day profession involved being a teacher and boys’ basketball coach. In 2007 he was promoted to an administrative role as the vice principal of Beebe High School, which he still is today. The naysayers were present from the beginning, asking the question, “What does a basketball coach know about running a racing series?” Their question would soon be answered. In 2007 the coach’s brainchild would become a reality as the Mid-South Racing Association (MSRA) Super Late-Model Series took to the track. Luckily for Ellis, the tracks were willing to give the tour a chance. The series had a solid response; 10 different drivers found their way into the victory lane during the first year. Joey Mack from Benton, Missouri, edged out Jeff Floyd for the inaugural season’s title as Arkansas racing fans began to buzz about the new series. As the tour prepared for the 2008 campaign, Chris Ellis welcomed a new co-owner of the tour. His long-time friend, Cary Jones, also a native of Beebe, bought a half interest in the tour. Jones had raced for the majority of his life in several facets of the sport. His son, Jordan, raced everything from Mini Sprints to Super Late-Models. However, much like Ellis, the racing business was not Jones’ primary profession. He worked as a loss prevention manager for the Cracker Barrel Corp., and his job focused on overseeing efficient operations for the nationwide restaurant. When Jones joined the series, the same doubters, much like the naysayers that plagued Ellis in 2007, said he had no business being a co-owner of a racing tour. Together, Chris Ellis and Cary Jones set out to prove them all wrong. From his background as a school administrator and a coach, Ellis brought a firmness and discipline to the series that directly resulted in a well-known understanding of equality for all racers. Racers and teams learned quickly there would be no favorites, and that unsportsmanlike conduct had no place in the MSRA tour. No matter what the driver’s name was and what his resume may have boasted, no racer was exempt from having Ellis point the black flag at him. Before and after races Ellis would joke with the competitors, but from the time the drivers’ meeting started
until the time the checkered flag was waved, it was all business. At the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Jones provided the perfect complement for Ellis in the tour’s successful operation. Via his profession, Jones had a strong sense for the bookkeeping and operational aspects that are necessary to successfully manage a series. He had an easy-going personality that was a perfect match for sponsorship negotiations as well as occasional phone calls during the week to check on drivers and to make sure they would be in attendance at upcoming events. Many onlookers from within the world of motorsports referred to them as “the odd couple.” Not only did their personalities strongly differ, but their appearances were a stark contrast with Ellis standing at 5 feet 6 inches and Jones standing at 6 feet 3 inches. Their differing personalities, appearance and backgrounds created the perfect recipe for success, as the MSRA tour grew by leaps and bounds during the 2008 campaign. New venues began to come on board with the series, as well as new fulltime drivers, and when the final checkered flag dropped on the season, Joey Mack had once again edged out Jeff Floyd by a narrow margin for the championship. The 2009 season was a true coming of age year for the tour as it dodged Mother Nature’s unkind side – severe thunderstorms, high winds and even tornadoes. They still managed to sanction 18 events that saw 11 different drivers find their way into victory lane as the competition level of the series reached the all-time high. Second-generation driver, Billy Moyer Jr., had a breakout year and dethroned Mack at the top of the standings, forcing Floyd to be the runner-up for the third straight year. With the 2010 season now underway, more exciting developments have arisen for the tour, including the title sponsorship of Memphis, Tennessee-based COMP Cams. Also, there are more new venues, so the slate of events is now more than 20 race nights for the year. The tour has grown to be one of the most renowned and respected regional tours in the nation for its show quality and talent. The COMP Cams MSRA tour consistently packs the stands everywhere it goes because as all true race fans in the South will tell you, there’s no one else in the business who knows how to put on a race like a vice principal and a loss prevention manager from a little town in Arkansas.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 25
25
8/29/10 5:58 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TECH
GeTTinG sTArTed Quarter Master Starter Quality Raises the Bar
n
o matter whether the competition is street/strip, circle track or anything in between, every competitor knows that parts have to take a beating and stand up to grueling conditions, or the competition is over. And in racing failure means sitting on the sidelines, watching. One of the most taken for granted competition products is the starter. That’s because starters are a dime a dozen, and many competitors think any starter will do and eventually pay the price of starter failure. However, failure is a non-issue with a Quarter Master Hi-Torque Ultra-Duty starter. Quarter Master has refined the design with aggressive dyno and on-track testing and believes it’s superior in every way. A premium Quarter Master starter is manufactured with high quality, long life and cost savings in mind. Each unit is made with the most dependable and durable components available, resulting in starters that meet the heavy demands of racing environments. Most important of all, they’re built to last so replacement costs are virtually eliminated. Racing starters take a lot of abuse, so it makes sense that it takes a tough starter to supply worry-free performance and long-lasting service. Because of their exacting standards Quarter Master engineers have created that tough starter. Building a tough and reliable starter takes superior components, and every Quarter Master unit includes top-quality Hitachi components. In addition, Quarter Master starters feature heavyduty solenoid and ball bearing construction to withstand higher engine temperatures and more extreme operating conditions.
The solenoid contains several modifications to provide efficient performance racers expect. For instance, the solenoid plunger (the black cylinder on the right) is chamfered to ensure that the in-andout movement won’t bind. The free movement of the plunger is mandatory for reliable starting.
They also include gear reduction for increased ring gear torque and 1.4kw of power output. The adapter mounts are CNCmachined for precise flywheel fit and unique pinion gear with a lightweight head to enable much tighter tolerance in run-out, which allows a highly efficient flywheel engagement. Each component receives multiple quality checks before it’s even passed along to the starter assembly area.
Quarter Master Hi-Torque Ultra-Duty starter
26 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 26
8/29/10 5:58 PM
The reverse rotation coil is now put in place. This procedure is an exacting process that requires great precision. Once the coil is placed in the housing, it’s then pressed outward for a tailored fit and to provide the required clearance for armature rotation.
The solenoid spring is modified; the end is sanded so the end is flat and seated accurately. This is a simple yet important step to ensure reliable operation of the starter.
Because some race starters require reverse rotation, the coil housing must be dissembled and the coil reconfigured for reverse flow electricity. With the reconfiguration complete the coil unit is reassembled.
One of the first steps in coil unit assembly is to insert a fiber packing ring. This component (the white ring at the top of the case) serves as a barrier between the coil case and armature brush unit. With all that racing abuse, this addition eliminates the electric current from the coil brush unit to the coil case, which prevents starter failure.
It’s not only the components that make Quarter Master starters strong, but it’s also how each starter is put together that ensures a tough and reliable starter. It’s here that Quarter Master sets the bar even higher. To demonstrate the amount of precision Quarter Master puts into every starter, take a look at the pictorial overview of some of the painstaking detail that goes into every starter. It will become clear why racers rely on Quarter Master starters to handle the conditions that racing dishes out and to keep on running. The starter used in this illustration is a PN114260 reverse rotation starter. These are a few of the steps Quarter Master takes to make
Prior to putting the armature in place, it goes through a chamfer operation. This operation removes any sharp edge that could cause coil damage. Again, it’s a small step but it’s another link in the chain of specific detail that ensures long life for the starter. Because the armature and bearings unit is the heart of a starter, it’s important that each unit is verified for free rotational movement. Unrestricted rotation is vital for efficient and long operation. If there’s any vibration, wobble or other movement impediment, the unit does not pass inspection and is discarded.
the toughest and most reliable starter possible. It’s evident each is built with extraordinary precision and attention to detail and for efficiency and reliability start after start. With applications in every form of racing for Chevy, Ford and Chrysler competitors are assured that Quarter Master gets them started and keeps them going.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 27
27
8/29/10 5:58 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TECH
Each armature brush unit is modified so there’s no electric arcing that could cause operational failure. Here, the copper wiring is elevated from the base of the brush unit. This small but important step means no electricity will contact the base.
Another modification to the armature brush unit is the addition of a chamfer to the edges as is shown here. This action eliminates any sharp edge that might damage the coiling wiring.
As assembly proceeds, all screw attachments to the starter have Loctite applied. This is just another detail that’s important and provides additional security in every Quarter Master starter.
When all the modifications have been made, the solenoid and coil case are mounted to the nose unit (gear case) and tested. When the operation of the unit is verified, it’s ready to go to the races.
A premium Quarter Master starter is manufactured with high quality, long life and cost savings in mind. Each unit is made with the most dependable and durable components available, resulting in starters that meet the heavy demands of racing environments. When the coil unit is assembled, it’s then verified for roundness, and each case is micrometer-checked. This action is critical for an accurate fit to the gear case. Any unit that does not mount together with perfect accuracy will cause problems later.
Source:
Quarter Master www.racingclutches.com 847-540-8999
28 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 28
8/29/10 5:58 PM
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 29
29
8/29/10 5:58 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TECH
Let The Sparks Fly
Pick the Right Ignition for your Racing Application
G
ot spark? Got fuel? When you have them both, you’re going to have some sort of combustion. When the spark occurs, its characteristics and the right mix of air and fuel are the main ingredients that determine the outcome of the combustion event. Of course, there are still even more variables including compression ratios, combustion chamber design, valve timing, fuel quality and many others that all contribute. You can have ideal fuel delivery, but if the ignition system isn’t up to snuff or not set up properly, the fuel isn’t going to do you much good. (Conversely, all the spark voltage isn’t going to be worth squat without the fuel, but for this story we’re talking about the spark.) The ignition system is one area that can be improved and tuned to deliver more performance to your engine whether you’re running a local dirt track or racing at 9000rpm on a banked oval. The ignition is responsible for the outcome of many systems that work together on your car, including the fuel system, valvetrain, exhaust, intake and many more. It really ties everything together. Flip through any catalog or racing magazine (such as this one), and you’ll note there are a lot of components available that are designed to improve the ignition system such as CD controls, advance kits, low resistance wires, distributor modules, high output coils and many more. In fact, it can become a little overwhelming when you first start looking around at ways to up your ignition’s oomph. So where do you start exactly? First, you need to determine just what you plan to accomplish and what the rules of your class allow. Does the class require a “stock appearing” HEI distributor? Or is there a claimer rule? Are CD ignition boxes allowed? There are three different stages of ignitions for circle track cars.
hotter than any factory module available. MSD’s HEAT drives over 7.5 amps of current into the coil to ensure full combustion of the fuel through the entire race. Another nice feature is the adjustable rev limiter that can save your engine in the event of a missed shift, spin or driveline failure. IntermedIate The next step up on the performance ignition ladder would be to add a CD ignition control. The most common CD ignition control is the familiar red MSD 6AL ignition control. There are many benefits to a CD ignition starting with the incredible power that comes from the Capacitive Discharge technology along with the ability to run at full output power through 12,000rpm. A CD ignition draws its voltage supply directly from the battery and uses a custom-wound transformer to step up this voltage to more than 480 volts and higher. This voltage is stored at full strength in the ignition’s capacitor until it’s triggered. At that point, all the voltage is dumped into the coil where it’s stepped up and can reach well over 30,000 to 48,000 volts depending on the coil. One of the favorites for a mid-level racer is the MSD 6ALN ignition control. This unit is designed to endure the rigors of the racing environment. It’s potted with a clear epoxy compound for vibration resistance (and easy tech inspection), plus it’s fitted with sealed and locking Weathertight connectors. It can be used with almost any distributor from breaker points to MSD’s ProBillet designs as well.
The 6ALN is ideal for dirt tracks and the pavement. They’re supplied with Weathertight connectors and harness, plus they’re potted with epoxy for extra protection against vibration. The CD design delivers full voltage output through redline RPM. MSD’s new HEAT HEI module delivers the highest output possible in an HEI module. Through advanced digital dwell control the module is capable of exceeding 9000rpm while maintaining full output.
Budget Let’s start with the weekend warrior, dirt track contingent since this is where the majority of us race. The most common distributor in use is the good old, tried-and-true GM HEI distributor. Many race classes require them. The nice thing about them is the easy one wire installation, of course, but the output of the stock HEI falls short, especially at higher racing RPM. One answer is MSD’s new HEAT HEI module. This digitally controlled module is capable of delivering full output through 9000rpm. What’s more, the full output is a lot
HIgHer end The next tier comes in a familiar CD ignition package, but notice the sinister black housing. The MSD 6HVC ignition control is the ultimate CD ignition and was designed specifically for high RPM, long endurance racing. You’ll find these black ignition controls mounted on the dash of pretty much every NASCAR Cup car. The 6HVC drives more than 150mJ of spark energy to the plugs compared to the 110mJ of the 6ALN design. Primary voltage is also increased to 550 volts to ensure a hot and powerful spark to jump that gap no matter what RPM, compression or fuel are used. What’s even more important is that this ignition delivers all of this increased power while running cooler and more efficiently. For durability the power components all share a
30 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 30
8/30/10 3:17 PM
huge heat sink, plus the unit comes with clear epoxy compound for vibration protection. Deutsch connectors are also incorporated for sealed and locking connections.
IgnItIon
BasIcs The MSD 6 HVC ignition controls are designed to handle the rigors of superspeedway RPM and long endurance.
Another area of the ignition that goes in tandem with the ignition you choose is the distributor, and of course, MSD has you covered there as well. From a Pro-Billet HEI model to the dual pickup design and finally the HVC level distributor capable of individual cylinder timing; it all depends on what kind of racing you do. Of course, none of these parts can do the job properly unless the rest of the system is in prime operating condition. Before you even think about upping the output of the ignition, make sure to have a good quality distributor cap and rotor in place. Also, spark plug wires are obviously important, and you should always consider them as a maintenance item throughout the racing season. Wires get beat under the hood of circle track cars, and you’re often pulling on the wires and terminals during tune-ups and test sessions. Save yourself headaches by using proper connectors when you’re wiring the ignition system. An intermittent problem is hard to track down during a race.
Many of the higher level racers run dual ignition systems, but the main reason is not reliability. It started with the ability to switch to a different timing setting. As track conditions got slick, a driver could flip a switch and have a system that was set up with a slightly retarded timing. Besides, if it was legal to run a backup fuel pump or a backup alternator, racers would have them on the cars.
source
A lot takes place between creating a high voltage spark and getting it to fire across the spark plug gap at the right moment. There is also a variety of ignition components and upgrades available to add performance to your car. Understanding the basics of the ignition system will help in choosing the right parts for your application so we’ll start with a brief overview of a stock inductive ignition system. To get a better understanding of your options when it comes to ignition systems, let’s start at the coil. The coil is responsible for taking the high amperage with 12 to 14 volts from the battery and stepping it up to thousands of volts, creating a spark that’s capable of jumping the gap of the spark plug to ignite the air/fuel mixture. To accomplish this, the coil is made up of two series of windings, the primary and secondary, along with an iron core to strengthen the magnetic field that’s created as the battery current flows through the primary windings. The primary windings are usually several hundred turns of a heavier wire while the secondary windings are a finer material with several thousand windings. (This gives you the turns ratio winding that you see in coil specifications such as 100:1 or 70:1, which is another story in itself.) When the switching device opens, whether it’s breaker points or an electronic trigger source, it causes the current flow through the primary windings to stop forcing the magnetic field to collapse across to the secondary windings. This induces a very high voltage that’s sent out of the coil through the secondary (spark plug terminal) to the distributor. From there the voltage is sent into the distributor cap and to the rotor. The rotor is attached to the distributor shaft, which is coupled to the spinning camshaft through the mesh of their gears. As the shaft turns, the spark travels across the rotor tip and jumps to the cap terminal where the spark is delivered to the spark plug via the plug wire. This is an incredible feat in itself as it all must be timed precisely as the piston approaches Top Dead Center on its compression stroke. If that opportune moment is missed, the performance will suffer due to inefficient combustion. There are many things at work to get this all right, and fortunately, there are many aftermarket parts available to ensure this process works effectively for the most performance.
MSD Ignition 915-857-5200 www.msdignition.com
PPN-1011-001-031.8.20.indd 31
8/30/10 3:18 PM
HOMECOMING
KING Traveling Man Jared Landers Wins Big In his Own Backyard. By Mike Adaskaveg
32 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 32
8/29/10 5:59 PM
S
hort-track racing has allowed Jared Landers and his young family to see much of America. Landers, 29, has journeyed from Florida to New Mexico to Minnesota and all points in between, accompanied by his wife, Jessica, and their two-yearold son, Madden. They’ve been awed by snow-capped mountain peaks. They’ve taken shade under palm trees. They’ve baked in desert sunshine. Says Landers, “It seems like we keep saying, ‘We’ve never seen anything like that.’” But the most astonishing never-seen-anything-like-that moment of Landers’s life happened August 22, 2010, when he came home. Landers, an Arkansas native, won the 18th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 Lucas Oil Late-Model Dirt Series race at Batesville Speedway. “I don’t know what to say,” Landers said in the victory lane. “This is my first late-model win. To do it here on my home track and in front of my fans – it’s something I’ll always remember.” The prestige and the $40,000 payday were a triumph not only for Landers but also for the legion of dedicated open-wheel modified racers who hit the highways each year before the winter snows have melted, chasing checkered flags and a working man’s paycheck. Landers, who splits his time with modified and late-model racing, has had a typical professional dirt-tracker’s career.
Jared and Jessica Landers have enjoyed magnificent views traveling the country.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 33
33
8/29/10 6:00 PM
h to u p rs e d n a Schoenfeld headers exhaust a Mullins 415cid engine that produces 710 horsepower. Components include a Dan Olson pan bolted to a Dart block that carries a Comp roller cam and MSD Ignition and coil. It’s bolted together with ARP fasteners.
Yes, he’s rubbed elbows with some of the sport’s biggest names. But he’s done his best work in places many NASCAR fans have never heard of. He started in karts when he was 12 before launching his dirt career at I-30 in Little Rock. His dad, Lance, sponsored the guy, Terrell Chastain, who built Jared’s first car. Later, Jared began buying Larry Shaw cars and raced with Wayne Brooks. He also credits Larry and Jeff Taylor and the McDowells with helping him learn the basics. Landers has a crew of two: Billy Collet of Clinton, Michigan, and Donnie Ladgerwood of Birch Tree, Missouri. His father’s company, Southern Marine, sponsors Jared’s cars. Lance Landers, incidentally, is partners in a dealership with
L , tape around the lc fu L T :A ra e th n Landers puts components of his suspension. “If anything rubs or hits, the tape will tell you before the paint rubs off,” he says. “It shows travel and movement.” Landers adjusts his spacing spud instead of the shock mount. He uses Eibach springs. Shocks are TSM. Brakes use Hawk pads. Upper is built by TWM.
IIn the rear: ATL fuel cell, FastShafts driveshaft and 9-inch gears. Rearend gears are polished and flattened. Landers uses a Winters rearend and a polished yoke to remove friction. “The four bar is different,” Landers says. “It’s my design, which allows for finer adjustments than a standard Shaw. Also, the shocks are on weight jack bolts for fine-tune adjustment.”
another Arkansas native of some renown: Mark Martin. In addition, Clint Bowyer drove for Jared last year, and Austin and Ty Dillon drove Landers cars to the victory lane in 2009 and 2010. “It is good to work with them and learn from them,” says
34 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 34
8/29/10 6:00 PM
BUILDING A REPUTATION
L Landers, who catches up with the NASCAR crowd during Speedweeks each February. “They’re in North Carolina. I’m in the center of the country. Florida’s always a good place to meet.” As his reputation as a builder has spread, Landers has met plenty of other racers too. He now has almost 20 cars “out there” and keeps in contact with all his customers. “It’s tough to help customers and all-out race at the same time,” Landers says. “I try to give everyone a baseline to start from. When I help someone at the track, I know that when I leave, the car is better than it was when I arrived.” In addition, says Landers, “I learn from my customers’ questions too. I learn more from helping other guys than I learn from going out and racing.” Life as a traveling racer “is not as easy as it looks,” Jared says. “It’s a lot harder than punching a clock. When you’re not running good or not winning, it seems harder than a real job.” However, as his triumphant return to Batesville in the COMP Cams Topless 100 demonstrated, racing provides much greater rewards than a real job too. PPN
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 35
The same qualities that make Jared Landers successful on the speedway also serve him well off the track. “He’s level-headed,” says his wife, Jessica. “It’s hard to make him mad. He’s not a jealous person.” But that’s not to say he doesn’t have pride. That’s evident in his work. For modifieds Jared’s cars are “Shaw by Landers.” He developed the cars’ distinctive circular cockpits “just to be different.” “More important is the updates to the Shaw that I’ve added,” says Landers. “The cars feature my own four bar mounts, shock mounts and front end settings.” In short, says Landers, “I choose what works for me. And it doesn’t matter what it costs. I won’t even put a free part into the car if it wasn’t the best for me.”
8/29/10 6:00 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
KEITH WHITE DRIVES TO
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENTION IMCA Open Wheel Modified Driver Keith White Shows How to Win
R
acers across the nation have long used TCI products to power their cars into victory lane. Keith White from Academy, Texas, is one of those drivers. White made the switch to TCI components four years ago, and since he made the transition, his on-track performances are phenomenal. The 42-year-old White competes in both the IMCA Southern Sport Modified and IMCA Open Wheel Modified divisions. He principally competes at Heart O’ Texas Speedway (Waco, Texas) and Kennedale Speedway Park (Kennedale, Texas). In 2006 White was having issues with his transmissions and converters from his then provider, and it was reflected in his performances. He knew it was time to make a move, and that’s when he decided to switch to TCI components. White comments, “I was having transmission and converter failures that I shouldn’t have been having, and it was costing me money and important national points. I had heard a lot of good things about TCI products, and I decided it was time to make the change. It proved to be a great decision!” With TCI components on his entries, he won his next 12 events in 2006 and went on a tear that would see him wreak havoc on the local and national scene for the next four years. The four-time
IMCA Southern Sport Mod National Champion had a banner year in 2008; he won two track championships as well as the regional and national championship in the IMCA Southern Sport Mod division. The 2009 season was another strong outing for White and his team as he once again claimed the national championship, two track championships, the Texas State Championship and the South-Central Region Championship in the IMCA Southern Sport Mod division. He also claimed the IMCA Open Wheel Modified division two track championships, the Texas State Championship, the IMCA South-Central Region Championship and a third place finish in the national championship race. “I’m proud to say I never had a TCI-related part failure that eliminated me from a race. TCI has always been quick to remedy any issue I ever had, and they’re always interested in my feedback for future product development.” White further notes, “Since making the shift to TCI transmissions and converters, I also began using other products from them and their affiliated brands, including flywheels, coolers and starters. With the level of competition I face each week, I can’t afford to use anything but the most efficient and dependable products in my cars.”
36 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 36
8/29/10 6:00 PM
“It’s extremely hard for a driver from the South to win an IMCA Open Wheel Modified National title due to the way the points take the number of entries into account. But with the way our team is performing I think I can get the job done this year...”
With more than 200 career feature wins to his credit, as well as 40 wins so far in 2010, Keith White currently leads the IMCA Southern Sport Modified and IMCA Open Wheel Modified points at Heart O’ Texas Speedway and Kennedale Speedway Park. In addition, he also leads the national points for each division, and he hopes to claim his first national IMCA Open Wheel Modified title this year. “It’s extremely hard for a driver from the South to win an IMCA Open Wheel Modified National title due to the way the points take the number of entries into account. But with the way our team is performing I think I can get the job done this year,” notes White. Other goals that White has set for himself include winning the IMCA Super Nationals at Boone Speedway in Boone, Iowa. In 2009 he entered the event for the first time ever and qualified for the feature event against a field of 247 competitors. An early race incident eliminated him from contention, but White looks forward to returning this year to take another shot at the win. White is also proud that he’s elected to the IMCA Super Nationals All Star Race, where he received more votes than any other driver for the invitational event.
For the 2011 season IMCA has realigned its rules so that a driver cannot compete in the IMCA Southern Sport Mod and IMCA Open Wheel Modified division. As a result, White will only compete in the IMCA Open Wheel Modified class, while focusing on selling his custom-designed IMCA Southern Sport Mod cars. He also looks to possibly host some driving schools as well. White notes, “Sponsorship will likely determine the extent of my plans for the 2011 season, but I’m confident TCI products can help my team achieve any future goals we may set.” For championship-driven competitors like Keith White, only high-performance transmissions and converters will suffice. TCI recognizes this need for excellence and believes the company can provide him with all of its quality products. PPN
Source
TCI Automotive 888-776-9824 www.tciauto.com
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 37
37
8/29/10 6:00 PM
38 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 38
8/30/10 9:13 AM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
TUNE IN, TURN ON – AND TURN LEFT The Innovative Spirit of the ’60s Survives in the Supermodified Division By Lew Boyd
H
ow fitting that the 1960s, a decade that gave us both the space program and unprecedented social upheaval, also birthed the Supermodified. Never has a race car been so radically different from anything else, so stripped down to raw, naked speed that it often appeared to have leapt halfformed off the drawing board. The hard-core racer’s enduring enthusiasm for supers is directly linked to the fact that they are fune damentally beyond regulation. An early super builder was limited only by the depth of his creativity. (Frankly, many builders were also unfettered by concern for the driver’s safety.) Supermodified racing was not for strokers. The driver’s job was to launch those rocket ships at uncharted speeds, beyond all boundaries of bravery – and common sense – and then turn left. Supers sprouted at speedways all across the country in the ’60s, beginning right at the dawn of the decade. There were many varieties within the species. In Florida Pee Wee Griffin squeezed into his father’s No. 72 at Palm Beach for the 1960 campaign. The car was basically a chopped and channeled lightweight, open-competition modified. At West Capital Speedway in California Billy Vukovich’s “hard top” was also transitional, with its narrowed frame and center seating. In the East Massachusetts innovator Andy Smith glued together a tidy-looking No. 99 atop a late-model chassis, replete with A-frames. It took a super-smooth shoe such as Freddie Borden to ease it around. However, the more lasting innovation at the time was the move away from stock frames towards what were sometimes called “rail cars.” One of the most infamous was the frightening, unimaginably long-wheelbased Wilmington Ford No. 1/3. Smokey Boutwell was a show himself in that orange capsule of a cockpit. The thunderous Ford big-block would fling him past two or three cars on the straights, but he would give back one or two spots manhandling his way through each turn. By 1964 the custom chassis and space frames were just about everywhere. On the West Coast short wheelbases were the norm, with nice construction and California Speed-supplied powerplants. Also in the East Frank Barthell brought engineering elegance (if not safety) to a small inventory of legendary entries, arguably the most famous of which was Lee Allard’s No. 1/4, a.k.a. “the Twister.” A highly accomplished pilot, Allard was a big winner until Labor Day 1964 at New Hampshire’s Hudson Speedway. He barrel-rolled off the fourth turn, and the cage literally sheared off. By the second half of the decade it seemed the garage out back had closed down. Highly sophisticated, expensive configurations quickly came to rule, supported by a busily growing industry of speed parts manufacturers. Down South the “skeeters” of Rat Lane, Armond Holley, Gene Tapia and Rod Perry gave way to monstrously fast injected slingshots. Variety remained the story as
2010 photo: Karl Fredrickson; Dolliver photo: courtesy of Lew Boyd
If you hate cookiecutter race cars, then you’ll love Supermodifieds. They don’t even have a uniform number of wings (and look closely at the suspensions). What would you expect out of cars descended from a division that was so wide-open when it began some 50 years ago that one car builder based his design on a Model A chassis? That’s Jerry Dolliver in the No. 24 “upright,” which paraded around the Northeast with grand success. The flyweight was powered by a flathead built by Bill Welch. That engine alone carried Gentle Jerry to more than 100 feature wins. It sits today in the ProNyne Motorsports Museum in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
evidenced when Page Reynolds in a winged, rear-engine machine nipped Tony Walters at the line at Mobile in 1967. At Oswego, New York, where the annual Labor Day Classic had become such a showplace of technology, the influence of Indianapolis was clearly visible. In 1968 Todd Gibson hauled in with an ex-Indy roadster, “the Flintstone Flyer.” By the next year the field was dotted with early wedge cars. You can see vestiges of those early wedges in the Supermodified profile that’s so common today. And you can hear echoes of the 1960s not only at Oswego, but in places like Sandusky, Ohio; Lee, New Hampshire; and Las Vegas, Nevada. Lew Boyd is the editor and publisher of Coastal 181, a leading supplier of books, DVDs and artwork for racers. PPN
STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES’ … MOUTH The Author’s Experience With the Supermodified In 1971 a 5/8-mile dirt track called Lakeville Speedway near Providence, Rhode Island, was running wide open competition. I bought an upright super from the URDC circuit, perhaps 10 years old at the time, for the lofty sum of $400. We adapted it for dirt and plunked it in a small-block. It was a little tentative for a couple of laps while I waited for anything that wanted to fall off to do so. Then it was time to boogie! Sure wish we all could still be doin’ that today.– L.B.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 39
39
8/29/10 6:00 PM
40 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 40
8/29/10 6:00 PM
PERFECTION ON
PAVEMENT Kyle Busch’s Short-Track Screamer Puts the “Super” in Super Late-Model By Patrick Reynolds
The competition at last year’s Snowball Derby didn’t have a snowball’s chance against this setup. KBM’s standard Hamke (Mooresville, North Carolina) chassis is set to 4 inches frame height on the left and 5 inches on the right. Cross weight runs from 55.5% and 57%. The left-side weight is 58%. Special thanks to super late-model car chief Nick Easton for the guided tour.
E
ven before the first engines fired at Daytona this year, Kyle Busch had resumed his winning ways. On the last day of January Busch won the SpeedFest super late-model race at Lanier, Georgia, for the second straight year. “It was cool, man,” said Busch. “The car had great forward bite in the second half of the race. It really worked well.” Busch’s super late-model has been working well for a while now. Besides his back-to-back wins at Lanier, Busch also won a pair of Indiana classics, Anderson Speedway’s Redbud 300 and the renowned Winchester 400, as well as the Snowball Derby in Pensacola, Florida. What makes the No. 51 super late-model so stout? “Kyle likes to A-B everything,” said Kyle’s father, Tom Busch, at the KBM shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. “If we have eight hours of practice, he will practice for all eight hours.” All that practice has made perfection. Here’s a closer look at what Kyle Busch uses to dominate America’s short-track pavement scene.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 41
41
8/29/10 6:00 PM
Superior stopping power comes courtesy of Wilwood (Camarillo, California) rotors and AP (Cramerton, North Carolina) calipers. The standard Hamke spindles are slugged to the minimum of 8 degrees inclination on the left and 11-degrees maximum on the right. Upper controlarm lengths are 9.5 inches on the left and 9.0 inches on the right. As for those studs only a single thread shows after the lugs are torqued because XRC provided four different lengths.
Busch gets the most from a 377ci Hamner (West Blocton, Alabama) sealed spec engine that produces 500 ft. lbs. of torque. Gibbs (Huntersville, North Carolina) XP3 engine oil keeps things moving.
The chassis side of the Panhard bar is set 12 inches from the surface plate.
Under acceleration and deceleration a Right Foot Performance Products (Appleton, Wisconsin) 2-Way Tracker on the right lower radius-rod controls rear axle movement.
Power transfers through a Mid Valley (Phoenix, Arizona) transmission connected to a Quarter Master (Lake Zurich, Illinois) clutch, flywheel and starter.
Tiger (Mount Ulla, North Carolina) bolt-on camber snouts reside in a Winters (York, Pennsylvania) quick-change center section. Tiger gear oil extends the longevity of internal parts.
The headers and exhaust system were built by Schoenfeld (Van Buren, Arkansas).
Busch stays cool with a Performance Rod and Custom (Boonville, Indiana) radiator. Spring rates on the Renton (Renton, Washington) springs are 200 on the left front, 200 on the right front, 175 on the left rear and 225 on the right rear. The car uses a combination of Penske (Reading, Pennsylvania) and Integra (Coopersville, Michigan) shocks.
42 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 42
8/29/10 6:00 PM
SAVING RACERS FROM THEMSELVES Are Rev Limiters The Answer To Higher Engine Costs? By Mike Adaskaveg
This module, which sells for less than $10, has two pins and plugs in the side of the box.
A
s engine RPM has climbed, so has the cost to remain competitive. Some promoters are turning to tiny, rev-limiting modules as an alternative to power-constraining rules such as restrictor plates and gear ratio limits. Restricting an engine to a specific RPM means highprice parts aren’t as necessary to be competitive. “The more you spin the motor, the more titanium parts you need,” says promoter and modified driver Royal Jones. “The higher you spin [the engine], the sooner MSD’s Mike Sharp talks with Southern With a simple handheld device, tracks you’ll need to freshen it.” New Mexico Speedway promoter and can check if racers are attempting to To try to remove the incentive for racers racer Royal Jones about rev limiter rules. subvert the rules designed to keep to use their wallets to beat their competition, overall racecar costs in check. Jones uses rev limiters at his Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, New Mexico. “The rev limiter seems to make the most sense,” says goes from the distributor cap to the plug. The distributor spins at Jones. “Racers have found ways around other rules—like half crank speed and generates a signal. With our test method the spending big money on flat-tappet cams.” tester becomes the distributor and does the math to read in RPM.” Not that rev limiters are perfect. “The downside [to rev Rev limiters are easy to enforce and less expensive than other limiters] is that we have 1% maximum tolerance—even cost-saving rules. “There’s a complete engine program built around though we are running much better than that,” says MSD restrictor-plate racing,” says Sharp. “Gears can get into hundreds Ignition’s Mike Sharp. “There could be a swing of 20rpm, of dollars too, and they take time to change. The module costs plus or minus.” around $5 and plugs in within seconds.” Another word of warning for tech inspectors involves the MSD supplies track promoters with modules so they can plug combination of the module’s easy changeability and sleightthem in their cars’ MSD boxes, or they can swap them to check of-driver-hand. “The rules have to [specify that] the ignition accuracy during testing. The modules are available from any MSD box is outside the driver’s reach,” Sharp says. “Inspectors dealer in 100rpm increments. Cost is in the $5 to $7 range, dependhave to test the cars before anyone can touch them.” ing on quantity. PPN MSD’s handheld digital ignition tester is an easy and effective method to check limiters. “It’s more accurate than a tach,” says Sharp. “A test plug goes on the coil wire to the Source tester, emitting a loud signal that can be heard above the MSD Ignition noises at the racetrack. 915-855-7123 “The spark output from the coil that makes an engine run msdignition.com
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 43
43
8/29/10 6:00 PM
B
illy Moyer had a perfect night at the World of Outlaws LateModel Series event at Shawano Speedway in Shawano, Wisconsin, in early August 2010. Twenty-one years after falling short of victory in the national tour’s only previous appearance at the half-mile fairgrounds oval, the three-time WoO LMS champion from Batesville, Arkansas, capped a sweep of the evening’s action with a convincing win in the 50-lap A-Main that was run before a capacity crowd. “To come out and set a track record (in time trials), win the heat and win the main – you can’t do better than that,” said the 52-year-old Moyer, who dominated the first incarnation of the WoO LMS (1988-89) run under late WoO Sprint Car Series founder Ted Johnson but experienced a rare finish outside the top five in the tour’s stop on June 5, 1989, at Shawano. “That’s a storybook deal right there.” For those unaware of his pedigree, a little background on Billy. Known as “Mr. Smooth” for his precise lines and unshakable demeanor, Moyer was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1957 and is one of the most successful drivers ever to compete on a dirt track. His trophy room looks like the vault at Fort Knox, thanks to a staggering number of victories spanning a 33-year-career. Moyer has won over 720 features and is the only person to win the prestigious “World 100” five times. Other career highlights include three World of Outlaws Late-Model Championships, seven “Driver of the Year” awards from Behind the Wheel, six UMP Summernationals Championships, plus he was named
44 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 44
8/29/10 6:01 PM
Q&A With Billy Moyer November 2010 2010 Power Power & & Performance Performance News News || || November
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 45
45
8/29/10 6:01 PM
Dirt Late-Model “Driver of the Year” in 2002 and was inducted into the Dirt Late-Model Hall of Fame. Back to the drama in Shawano – Moyer, who won a DIRT car Summer Nationals event at Shawano in 2002, pushed his WoO LMS all-time best career win total to 37 with his runaway triumph. He has registered 15 of his victories since 2004 when the tour was restarted under the World Racing Group banner, following a 15-year hiatus. “It was a lot fun,” said Moyer, who earned $10,225 for his second win in nine WoO LMS starts this season. “When the car’s working that good, it’s always a lot more fun than when you gotta work your butt off to get to the end. There were little flaws [in the car] there at times – it can always be better – but it got the job done. I’m real happy with the car and [Clements’] engine combination we have right now.” Moyer, whose other WoO LMS win in 2010 came in April’s ‘Illini 100’ at Farmer City Raceway, is a five-time winner of the $50,000-to-win event, which this year is part of the WoO LMS for the first time since 2005. Moyer established a new track record during the 32-car Ohlins Shocks Time Trials session, lapping the big track in 19.630 seconds to overtake the standard of 19.800 seconds held since 2003 by Darren Miller. It was Moyer’s first fast-time on the tour this season – and ironically, he was also the fast-timer for the only previous WoO LMS event run at Shawano in 1989. Off the track Moyer spends most of his time running Billy Moyer Racing (BMR), spending time with his wife Joyce and riding his Harley. He realized a long-time goal of owning
and managing his own team when Billy Moyer Racing was formally organized. As with many grassroots racers Moyer fielded his own race team over the course of 20 years with the help of several key people in his career (including his father Bill Moyer), but the team was never formalized into an independent business. In 1996 while Moyer raced as a hired gun for a touring team, preparations were underway for the establishment of an independent racing enterprise known as Billy Moyer Racing. Billy Moyer Racewear, a subsidiary of Billy Moyer Racing, was also organized to handle the merchandising and licensing needs of the #21 team and subsequent teammates and partners. In the wake of Shawano, Moyer is still enjoying his victori-
46 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 46
8/29/10 6:01 PM
ous return to the elusive track and has plans for finishing out the season with a string of similar victories. In an effort to learn more about the man behind the helmet, we asked Billy a series of questions about his mindset and background. Overall, Moyer is one of the coolest, smoothest and most successful drivers in motorsports today and will undoubtedly go down in history as a dirt track legend. While “Mr. Smooth” has no plans to retire anytime soon, his son Billy Moyer Jr. is
BillY MoYer
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN RACING? I got started racing motorcycles for fun with my uncles Karl Moyer and Jerry Watters WHAT IS YOUR FONDEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY? Probably when I got my first mini-bike EARLY RACING MEMORY? The second time I ever raced, I knocked the flagman off of the flagstand at Oskaloosa. PROUDEST MOMENTS ON AND OFF THE TRACK? Winning the first World 100 and when “Little Billy” was born WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T RACING? Working in the family business of selling cars
already raring to show the world what he’s capable of. The 22-year-old started driving his own #21 in 2006 and quickly adopted the name “Kid Smooth.” Billy Jr. won his first A-Main at the Poplar Bluff Speedway in Missouri that same year and has since competed in World of Outlaws Late-Model Series events and other high-profile races. Will he ever be as fast as the original Mr. Smooth? Senior certainly hopes so. They already have a trophy room picked out. PPN
DID YOU EVER EXPECT YOUR CAREER TO TAKE OFF LIKE THIS? No. What started out as fun ended up making me a good living DID YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RACE PAVEMENT? Yes WAS IT SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO PURSUE? WHY/WHY NOT? No. I love dirt racing and have a lot more freedom this way. Asphalt was never something I wanted to do. WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU FEEL FANS DO NOT KNOW ABOUT YOU OR THE RACING LIFESTYLE? How much work is involved in keeping my racing program going the way that I like to keep it. It’s a lot of hours. FEW PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE SOME INJURIES FROM YOUR MOTORCYCLE DAYS AND ASTHMA. HOW DO YOU HANDLE THESE CHALLENGES WITH THE DEMANDS OF RACING? I try to stay in pretty good physical condition. After my back and knee surgeries the doctors explained how important exercise was to recovery. With my breathing problems I just have to keep medication close by. WHAT HOBBIES DO YOU PURSUE WHEN YOU HAVE FREE TIME? Riding my Harley, dirt biking or playing with the dune buggy 10 MINUTES BEFORE A RACE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? Reviewing our shock and spring setup and tire selections DO YOU SOCIALIZE WITH OTHERS IN THE RACING COMMUNITY AWAY FROM THE TRACK? WHO? WHEN YOU NEED SOME ADVICE OR A SECOND OPINION, WHO ARE THREE PEOPLE ON YOUR SPEED DIAL LIST AND WHY? CJ Rayburn – feedback with the car Bill Schlieper – motor questions Jimmy “Pup” Thomas – tires WHAT ARE SOME WORDS YOU HEAR USED TO DESCRIBE YOU, AND DO YOU FEEL THESE ARE ACCURATE? Quiet – yeah, it’s accurate Smooth – I like to think so!
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 47
47
8/29/10 6:01 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
Billet
Power
When It Comes to Circle Track-Ready Blocks, Dart’s Billet Components Provide an Excellent Platform
48 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 48
8/30/10 9:14 AM
T
he term gets bandied around a lot. “Billet” components are defined by experts as parts that were created from a single block of material. That is a fact lost in many advertising campaigns that allude to their products being billet quality without actual billet construction – a case of promising a lot without ever really delivering the “goods” in terms of strength and reliability. Rest assured, that Dart’s billet blocks are just what they promise starting with a 600-lb block of 6061 aircraft grade aluminum whittled into a small block engine form. From the initial shaping, the material is then heat treated to penetrate the surface of the material making it strong and yet retaining the lightweight features. It is then final machined to the owner’s requirements from there by the engine builder. These blocks avoid the porosity problems found with cast blocks where small gas bubbles are emitted during the curing process creating a less dense component and other inherent problems not found with billet construction. So why would circle track racers require such a high tech piece when there are so many quality cast aluminum components on the market? Simple. With most late model racing applications, the block is actually part of the chassis, an integral part of the entire vehicle and one of the weak links for many when racing. Simply put, cast blocks are often not up to the task. Just ask Jack Cornett of Cornett Racing Engines in Somerset, Kentucky - engine builder to the current top two racers in
Dart’s Billet Block provides the benefits of super strength with its 6061 heat-treated aluminum core and spread bore technology allowing for greater material between the cylinder bores.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 49
49 8/31/10 11:54 AM
These engines see a lot of stress and the cast blocks just can’t handle it. You are not going to break or crack one of these billet aluminum blocks To take best advantage of the spread bore design, Dart’s nine-degree valve angle cylinder heads allow for raising of the port floor for increased flow and a flatter combustion chamber for better, more powerful combustion.
The Dart Iron Eagle iron cylinder head (above) is the perfect budget head for the grassroots racer looking for performance and affordability. Likewise, the Dart SHP block (below) delivers great overall strength and compatibility with a wide assortment of high performance components.
World of Outlaws late model dirt competition, Josh Richards and Darrell Lannigan. States Cornett, “ With the cast blocks we were experiencing a lot of cracking of these engines especially in the motor mount area. These engines see a lot of stress and the cast blocks just can’t handle it. You are not going to break or crack one of these billet aluminum blocks.” In addition to the benefits of the tougher block construction, Dart set about creating a block in a spread bore configuration – spreading out the bore centers to provide even greater strength and ultimately better breathing with these state-of-the art components. In essence, the bore centers on the Dart billet small block Chevy engine are moved from 4.400-inch to 4.500-inch – that’s a big deal. When tandemed with Dart’s 9-degree valve angle cylinder head ,you have the best of all worlds. “In the high end late model racing arena, the spread bore racing engines have become the norm for a lot of reasons but especially because it allows engine builders to generate a lot more power and increase bore sizing,” states Jack McInnis, VP of Marketing for Dart. “When you are talking about building a 430cid small block Chevy engine for racing you want to be able to increase the bore size rather than increasing stroke. With the spread bore spacing it also allows you to get a better head gasket seal between bores that that is critical with these engines.” To meet the new billet block cylinder spacing, a new cylinder was required. To that end, Dart looked for ways to improve breathing and determined that a 9-degree valve angle would provide a much straighter, raised floor, better flowing port design (standard small block Chevy valve angle is 23-degrees). Big block style canted valve heads for the small block have replaced the standard in-line cylinder head in NASCAR due to their increased performance. The new 9 degree Dart head offers performance comparable to splayed valve heads but maintains the ease of use associated with in-line valve heads. Notes McInnis about the Dart billet block, “with a casting, no matter how careful you are there is always some core shift and internal porosity from expanding gas from the process – it is just inherent. With billet blocks you get the most strength working with an extremely dense single piece of material. Best of all you don’t have to compromise as these blocks are infinitely customizable with full or half water-jacketing, camshaft and lifter placement, etc. You are really only limited by the components you can come up with to bolt on to it.” For Jack Cornett, the benefits of the Dart spread bore billet blocks are greatly appreciated and have netted some impressive results. Concludes Cornett, “we dyno test all of our engines to ensure they perform as promised. They have all run extremely well.” PPN
Source
Dart Machine www.dartheads.com 248-362-1188
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 51
51
8/29/10 6:02 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
RACE
The
King California of
After a Frightening Crash, Jonathan Allard Comes Back Fiercer Than Ever
52 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 52
8/29/10 6:03 PM
a
fter surviving a vicious Sprint Car wreck in March 2010, Jonathan Allard is extremely thankful for the safety advancements seen in the sport of Sprint Car racing during the past few seasons. The accident occurred while competing in the third heat race with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series at the Groppetti Automotive Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, California. While racing for position on the opening lap Allard and another car came together off turn four, which launched Allard’s machine into the catch fence and resulted in him flipping violently down the front stretch. “It really touches me with how many calls and texts I got, and I just want everybody to know I really appreciate the support. I remember the first bit of impact, and right away I knew I was in trouble.” The former two-time King of California is also very thankful for a number of companies he uses that help with safety, including BulterBuilt Performance, Bell Helmets, A.R.T. Chassis and Hooker Harness. “It really says a lot about the safety innovations and the quality products these companies make when someone can walk away from a crash like that,” Allard said. “These people and companies spend a lot of time and money developing new ways to keep us safe, and it definitely pays off in a situation like this.”
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 53
53
8/29/10 6:03 PM
The accident ended a frusr g k c a r trating weekend for Allard that rtsP o p had the makings of being a good T va lO e h one while racing with the world’s best winged Sprint Car drivers. lv ysig b n o w te a h Friday night saw him start on the r e d n o tisc a h front row of the opening heat n rivd a stc e h g u o race with Jason Meyers and sP p rS o M e yth easily dominate all 10 laps for . tn ia c so the victory, but an opening lap incident where he was forced l A ? u o d n sta rive into the wall put an early end vs d a C rin S p o e fth to the 35-lapper. On Saturday W e h Allard was the fastest driver in T trsp o warm-ups and backed that up by g rc h d sa e tiu n o qualifying third fastest in the field r la A 8 0 2 .In m su e behind only Lucas Wolfe and ir e lyth n Craig Dollansky. s n o m a h c e ltip u With the accident behind him n ld fG isto rh a -ye 3 Allard and the Williams team ris.A S g ln h C e ta repaired Red Line Oil Number 0 ir h tk lso Sprint Car, he got back to work s e C rin p S w tla u fO winning races, including a sweep lG u h 5 d e tio c n a of California World of Outlaws lvr stS in m h fC o e c a R p u events. y w d e p rS la o The Chico, California, native is about as far from your stereolP a 7 1 e th g in u ryd o typical Northern California racer ifi as you can get. Unlike most of r o l-sp iO L R e th d n the wine and cheese crowd the u d e k c tC rn p sS m ila Monterey Peninsula is known for, Allard spends most of his track time flying sideways slinging dirt with a high-compression small-block screaming in the
b background. Allard was recently p presented with the 2010 Motor S Sports Press Association Open W Wheel Oval Track Driver of the Y Year Award, a prestigious honor t that he won by a single vote in w what is considered one of the t toughest categories voted on b the Motor Sports Press by A Association. What makes the 33-year-old d driver stand out? Allard is one o the top Sprint Car drivers in of t West. He joined the Williams the M Motorsports Team in 2005 and c continues to add to his racing r resume. In 2008 Allard became o only the third driver to capture m multiple championships in the 2 23-year history of the Golden S State Challenge Series. Allard a also took third in the World o Outlaw Sprint Car Series of s sanctioned 55th annual Gold C Race of Champions at Silver Cup D Dollar Speedway. After picking up a huge vict tory during the 17th annual Pac c Sprint Fall Nationals, Allard cifi a the Red Line Oil-sponsored and W Williams Sprint Car packed up and sailed south – really far south – where they scored a trio of wins in New Zealand. After returning from “Down Under,” Allard
54 November 2010 || ppndigital.com PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 54
8/30/10 9:15 AM
“It was one of those things where you only get one shot to do something, and when I saw those cars going different directions, I thought, ‘Here we go,’ ” said Allard, who eventually finished 11th after going to the work area. “It just didn’t work out in our favor in the end, but Kyle Larson did a great job, and we have to congratulate him on the win.” marked his 41st career win at the Chico bullring. Over the July 4th, 2010, weekend Allard competed in the Golden State Challenge 410 Sprint Car Series and set the quickest lap time of the event. In fact, so far in 2010 Allard has competed in six overall events at the Silver Dollar Speedway and was the fast qualifier five times. He started from fifth in the opening heat race and once again put his machine on the ragged edge of the track and charged forward to make a beautiful pass by Alissa Geving and Bud Kaeding up high on lap three to take the lead. He then checked out from there and captured the win to continue his perfect weekend up to that point behind the wheel of the Red Line Oil, Platinum Powder Coating, BulterBuilt, K&N Filters No. 0 mount. After drawing the six-pill for the dash, Allard had his work cut out for him if he wanted to keep the perfect streak going, and although he eventually didn’t get the win, he did move all the way up to second behind winner Kyle Larson. Unfortunately, just when it looked as if Allard had taken the lead and had a chance to score another win, everything came to a halt in turn three when contact with a lapped car resulted in the left rear area being severely damaged on the 0 sprinter and ended his bid at the victory. “It was one of those things where
you only get one shot to do something, and when I saw those cars going different directions, I thought, ‘Here we go,’ ” said Allard, who eventually finished 11th after going to the work area. “It just didn’t work out in our favor in the end, but Kyle Larson did a great job, and we have to congratulate him on the win.” Allard and the Williams Motorsports team are now scheduled to hit the road for a number of weeks trying to gain laps at different tracks with some of the bigger races coming up as the long Western summer goes on. “We’re really excited for this trip to race some different tracks and compete against a lot of various drivers that we usually only get to see a couple times a year,” said Allard. “We had the car about as good as you can get it last weekend, and that definitely gives us confidence going out on the road so, hopefully, we can continue making the right decisions out there.” He may not be your typical Sprint Car driver, but Allard managed to walk away from one of the most brutal wrecks in modern dirt track racing history, dust off his firesuit, straighten out his car and get right back on track, where he has scored a string of victories. It’s a testament to both the current technology used in the sport and the mindset of a man who has worn the title, King of California. PPN
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 55
55 8/30/10 9:16 AM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
SPOTLIGHT
BaCK To The
fUTUre
The “New” Lunati Is Rapidly Moving Forward by Returning to Its Past By Jim Hill
e
ven the most successful businesses sometimes find themselves adrift and losing their grasp on the marketplace they previously prospered in. In such situations revitalizing a company with the customer base it serves often requires returning to the basics. This is the case with one of the performance and racing aftermarket’s most popular companies, Lunati. Since the late 1960s Lunati has served racers and engine builders with highquality camshafts and valvetrain components. During its first 20 years of growth it was strong and steady, anchored by the one-on-one, personal service that became a Lunati trademark. That prized service and expert advice helped Lunati grow from a small operation to a sizeable entity in the performance and racing aftermarket. Then, due to changes in ownership and management Lunati lost its way in the market. As a business Lunati Cams mirrored e the personal phiith w m c u rly a ’s e o losophy of its founder,, former drag racer Joe Lunati. Joe began by running in NHRA’s A/Modified Sports class, which ran in Street Eliminator. Although mostly backyard built, Street Eliminator cars were engineered with considerable intelligence, craftsmanship and ingenuity.
Joe’s early success came with a little J small-block Chevy-powered, Devin-bodied, tube-chassis Modified Sports car. Joe captured Street Eliminator titles at the 1964 and 1966 NHRA Nationals. In 1967 he stepped up to Funny Cars. Lunati’s “Dixie Devil” sported
Joe Lunati – the obvious founder of the company – was an innovator and a racer as well.
56 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 56
8/29/10 6:03 PM
rf o tw e .T n la p is h c tlb u m a s d n rie t. a c fd rs e m o g ra h c n w o its d e h w ily t,p e rk m a c g a e rtm o p s d n lir a c o ig a rm p S e th n s u c o t e rk a r g to im .F s o g in c ra e th r p td s o J in g e r p liy a u q s b e th g n c v y l,fid a n o rs e r e m to s u u g rd e n h c m lity a rf o w d ile k r p rk fw o y n .M s 0 9 t1 la e h r e c rg h o b in d te a . g in k c ra New digs. The Lunati corporate headquarters are located r m A g a fc o s d in w e h in this facility in Memphis, Tennessee.
o of his plans. The two remained ffriends and mutual business custtomers for decades to come. By 1970 Lunati Cams had crea ated its own niche in the racing c cam market, primarily with weeke end sportsmen drag racers and llocal circle track racers. Lunati’s ffocus on the Sportsman racing cam m market was a wise one that enabled h him to grow and branch out to o other racing categories. From the b beginning Joe insisted on produciing the best quality products with p personal, friendly service for every c customer. With a shop filled with high q quality machinery and a highly s skilled workforce, Lunati grew into a profitable, sizeable operation by tthe late 1990s. Many of the workers w were weekend racers who particip pated in both drag racing and circle ttrack racing. During this same time period tthe winds of change in American business produced a major impact on the racing and performance aftermarket. Most notably, this impact came with the
With a shop filled with high quality machinery and a highly skilled workforce, Lunati had grown into a profitable, sizeable operation by the late 1990s. Many of the workers were weekend racers who participated in both drag racing and circle track racing. a fiberglass 1968 Camaro body and homebuilt, nitro-fueled, emergence of a private equity investment firm and its hunger supercharged big-block 427 Chevy. The money offered in for growth. Funny Car racing allowed Joe to build and campaign his Kohlberg & Company was founded in 1987 by Jerome car on a weekend racer’s budget. Joe’s low-buck creation Kohlberg Jr. and James Kohlberg. The company specifically went all the way to the semi-finals of the NHRA’s brand-new targeted “middle market” business acquisitions in the $100 Funny Car Eliminator. Joe’s performance made many take million to $500 million range. Kohlberg & Company bought note. Such early success in the rarified world of nitro racing Holley in 1998 and quickly went on an aggressive company was certainly heady stuff. However, the inherent dangers and buyout campaign that saw it capture Hooker Headers, upwardly spiraling expenses convinced Joe to hang up his helmet and head in an entirely different direction in 1968. During his lengthy racing career Joe learned the secret to making power in any race engine was in the camshaft. He was particularly intrigued with trying different lobe profiles to gain an advantage. In those years he worked closely with Crane Cams. Joe would run a new cam and on Monday call Harvey Crane with the results, good or bad. This arrangement helped Lunati win races and Crane sell more cams. It was also a chance for Lunati to carefully measure and take note of which cams worked the best. At the time Joe worked for a production engine rebuilder. In the evenings he used the shop’s cam grinder; it was there that Joe ground his first cams. In 1968 Joe made the decision to open his own cam grinding shop. He called Harvey Crane and told him At any major race watch for the Lunati trailer equipped with experts ready to help.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 57
57 8/30/10 9:45 AM
r ig h .T rs o r e c u L n b ls o ig h .T k a rm fte ’ y d h n u a e frm its o r p d ic m a n y fO ro e g a n (M c h u ,“L d v )b tis p r’ c R h ‘T o k n e b s y a lw ifrm lb w k d s th e g n a c u o r m o s e tik a h w n r fr c s e d y n a p m o r g n e tk y lw s a r e b to s u ’ k w rx fo itm d n y e h l,u n b v fy e m o s th d a tr lis a o r u s n e o
a go part v m o c ,th rs ld u b ie g n Lunati stocks a significant inventory of ready to numbers camshafts and has the ability to build custom camshafts to your specifications quickly.. Nitrous-Oxide Systems (NOS), Weiand Manifolds and then Lunati Cams. Joe sold his namesake company when Kohlberg & Company made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Such generous buyout offers were typical from Kohlberg & Company. After years of hard work Joe had earned his reward, but it remained to be seen what the new owners would do with the company. A difference in management style and a basic change in business emphasis led Lunati to become a company greatly different from the one Joe walked away from. Some of this
group with one major advantage over their predecesg sors. This group was comprised of individuals who s were already highly experienced in the performance w aftermarket. Their goal has been to bring Lunati back a to t its former status as one of the industry’s most dynamic and prosperous firms. d When asked for his view of the new Lunati, Derek Scott, (Manager of Operations) observed, “Lunati has S always been known as ‘The Racer’s Company’ where a you y can get honest and knowledgeable information on o what it takes to make more power and go faster from people who are racers themselves. Because the f company does come from a racing background, it c has h always taken great pride in going that extra mile just to be sure that its customers get the right parts j they need in time for next weekend’s race. It’s too t bad b that some of that may have been lost, but the goal is to restore that trust with the customers. g “As ‘The Racer’s Company,’ we are working hard to t ensure our primary customers, the racers and engine builders, get the best customer service and e products possible. We know what it’s like to be out there racing, and we want to see our customers win.” The new owners also brought with them financial resources that enabled Lunati to immediately step up and acquire additional high-tech equipment and computercontrolled machinery. That meant increased accuracy for all products, plus absolute repeatability, regardless of the quantity produced. Lunati is poised to take full advantage of the technological advancements in the machine tool industry. Such positioning perfectly suits the new Lunati, which now has the flexibility and resources to focus on the ever-changing world of hard-core products and their application to racing. The new Lunati has already doubled its technical sales
Lunati’s line of products aimed at the street performance market has already begun to reap the benefits from this ramping-up of personnel and manufacturing capabilities.
change came from the desire to restructure Lunati into a company that would better complement the other Kohlberg & Company acquisitions. During this time of change much of the basic philosophy that made Lunati a success was abandoned. For many years Lunati had served the needs of the racer, engine builder and small to medium-sized warehouse distributors. A healthy percentage of Lunati’s sales were also direct to the consumer. The new management team had different ideas. Part of this change was to discourage direct sales and shift the company’s emphasis to more wholesale distribution. During this time many of the Lunati employees left the company. Others were dismissed. Lunati’s once solid workforce and strong technical base became significantly eroded. In the high-stakes world of high finance many major deals are made with heavily leveraged financing. These deals are made with the idea that continued growth will enable the acquired firms to meet their payment obligations. When the business climate is sunny, all goes well. However, a recessionary period can make it difficult or even impossible to meet the financial expectations of the investors. Facing staggering quarterly payments, Kohlberg & Company decided it was time to divest one of its holdings. In late 2007 Lunati was sold. The new owners were an investment
and customer support staff to bring back the support Lunati was once famous for. The new workers are knowledgeable people with hands-on racing experience. As before, there’s an over-emphasis on service and support to those who compete at all levels of sportsman and pro racing. This allows Lunati to break out of the box with the goal of improving product lines and giving racers and engine builders an edge where it counts: at the finish line. Lunati’s line of products aimed at the street performance market has already begun to reap the benefits from this ramping-up of personnel and manufacturing capabilities. Among the product lines that received an upgrade is the successful Lunati Voodoo Cams line. Even today, plans continue to call for expansion and improvement across the Voodoo product line to provide even more horsepower, torque and RPM capabilities for street-driven cars and trucks. Lunati’s expansion already includes new valvetrain products such as lifters, valve springs, spring retainers, pushrods, valve stem locks and rocker arms. The company stays current with expanded component coverage for overhead cam designs that are attractive to modern musclecar owners. No cam company, new or old, is more qualified to envision and implement such a revolutionary advancement than the new Lunati. With its stellar past heritage, a dedicated management team and ample financial support, the future looks bright for Lunati. PPN
58 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 58
8/29/10 6:03 PM
ALISSA GEVING,
18-YEAR-OLD SPRINT CAR DRIVER, IS THE REAL DEAL A Young Woman With Winning Ways By Bobby Kimbrough
A
sk not for whom the exhaust roars, it roars for thee. Flowmaster and its legendary exhaust tone are riding high in California Sprint Car circles by sponsoring 18-year-old Alissa Geving for the past two years. Alissa is currently in fourth place in the Golden State Sprint Car Series, having stepped up to the tougher traveling series this season with a goal to be in the top five season standings at the end of the season. With only one event left in the 2010 season Alissa is on the threshold of meeting that goal. Alissa has already assembled a host of honors in her short Sprint Car career. In 2007 at age 15 she became the youngest female in the world to win a feature event in a fullsized Sprint Car. She also claimed the 2008 Rookie of the Year honors in the Civil War Sprint Car Series. In 2009 Geving won the Track Championship at Petaluma Speedway, becoming the youngest female racer to win a championship title in winged 360 Sprint Cars. If these achievements were not enough, Alissa capped last year’s season by graduating from Ursuline High School with honors with a grade point average above 4.0. This intelligent beauty with the “girl next door” natural good looks is the real deal in Sprint Car racing. Geving is now a two-time Petaluma Speedway champion and on the verge of finishing well within the top five of a highly competitive touring series. We wonder what’s next for the racer and how high the ceiling is for her talents. PPN
Sources
Alissa Geving www.chick-o-motorsports.com Flowmaster Muffler 800-544-4761 ww.flowmastermufflers.com
ALISSA’S LIST OF ACHIEVEMENTS
2005-2007 • Earned first career win in a Sprint Car at Petaluma Speedway, becoming the youngest female driver in the nation to win a Sprint Car feature at 15 years old. • Earned four feature wins overall • Rookie of the Year, Antioch Speedway • Rookie of the Year, Petaluma Speedway • Earned the prestigious “Paul Tyler Rising Star Award” from the Motorsports Press Association • 2006 All Star Driver of the Year in Outlaw Karts • 10 Feature wins; 25 Heat Race wins; 4 Trophy Dash wins; 62 Top 10 finishes • 2005 Rookie of the Year 250cc class • Petaluma Speedway All Pro Sprint Car Track Champion • Became the youngest female driver, nationwide, to win a Sprint Car championship at 16 years old • Rookie of the Year, Hoosier Racing Tires California Sprint Car Civil War Race Series 2009 • Petaluma Speedway All Pro Sprint Car track champion • Became the youngest female driver, nationwide, to win two winged Sprint Car titles at the age of 17 • Graduated, with honors from Ursulin High School in Sonoma, California • Began attendance at Chico State University, Chico, California • Participated in the invited NASCAR Diversity event in North Carolina as one of the few drivers selected in the nation to attend the weeklong driver showcase • Became the first female driver to win a USAC wingless Sprint Car race at an event at Petaluma Speedway
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 59
59
8/30/10 1:22 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
Elite Race Solid Roller Lifters
THE NEXT GENERATION
LIFTER COMP Cams Produces a New Design for Racers and HighPerformance Enthusiasts
T
he one constant when it comes to racers is that they are always trying to push the limits. And one of the first places they look is usually the engine. After all, the surest way to beat the guy next to you is to put more horsepower to the ground. The only problem is that when you push the horsepower limits you often wind up with broken parts and a very expensive repair bill. Now COMP Cams has responded with a new solid roller lifter that will help racers, engine builders and horsepower freaks get more power dependably without breaking the bank. Called the Elite Race Roller Lifter, the new COMP lifter is a clean sheet approach, developed to be the most technologically advanced unit in the market. It’s designed to withstand the punishment dished out by high-rpm race motors in everything from dirt track racing to drag strips to endurance events. And that’s more important than ever, considering the extremely aggressive camshafts many engine builders are now using that make good power but also put tremendous stress on the lifters and the rest of the valve train. Of course, other companies already offer high-end solid roller lifters; the difference here is the COMP lifters ring in at about half the cost of other brands while also incorporating cutting edge design technology and newly developed features. “A few years ago this kind of lifter technology only went into 24-hour races and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, but as things have progressed we realized there are a lot of other applications that can really use a high-quality solid roller lifter,” explains Billy Godbold of COMP Cams. “Especially when you
think about teams that are racing on a more real-world budget – dirt late model teams for example, or sprint cars or drag racers – they want to be able to put that part in there and run the race without having to worry about it.” COMP begins by constructing the body of these new lifters from 8620 alloy steel and uses a four column design – rather than the common thin-walled solid body – to improve rigidity while keeping the weight low. The unique four column design also does away with the traditional oil band, which helps reduce wear in the lifter bore. Finally, the bodies are REM-finished for a highly polished surface. This may seem like an unnecessary step, but COMP engineers found that polishing the bodies removed any sharp edges left from machining that could create stress risers, and the smoothed body causes less wear in the lifter bore and improves the lifter’s ability to shed excess oil. But it’s the guts of the lifter where the biggest improvements
60 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 60
8/30/10 3:26 PM
to a needle bearing roller system, the axle is so small that durability becomes a big concern. COMP also experimented with DLC coatings to cut friction in bushed rollers, but the resulting gains were still short of the precision needle bearing design. In terms of eliminating friction, maximizing durability and delivering the highest value possible, the COMP carefully designed and developed precision needle-bearing system is still the way to go. “The axle is an extremely high-quality tool steel,” explains Godbold of the roller design. “Then with the larger diameter, the load can be spread over a larger area, which really helps. And also, the roller itself is unique. A lot of other companies use a hardened tool steel wheel, but that can wind up being too brittle. We went with a very high grade carburized steel, which is more flexible. By adding that flexibility, again it helps spread out the load a little bit more, and what you wind up with is a lifter that has excellent durability.” And that is no idle boast. Godbold says that during durability testing the Elite Race Roller Lifters went through a grueling eight million cycle stress test. “To get that we had to spend a week with them in the Spintron cell,” he says. “First we started out with four pairs of the Elite Race Rollers in one bank and a mix of our other lifters and some competitors’ lifters for the other four. And we were testing under some pretty harsh conditions. We were using an aggressive cam profile and spinning the engine up to valve float to really put some shock on the lifters. “In order to get to the eight million cycles, we went through two Small Block Chevy Spintron blocks. We had to replace the block because some of the other lifters that used a traditional oil band were wearing out the lifter bushings. We even had a fire in the dyno cell when one of the other lifters simply wore out and got so hot it caught the oil on fire! “Then, after those eight million cycles we took the Elite Race Lifters out, and they still looked good, so we put them in a big block and did a couple million more cycles simulating drag racing
The new COMP lifter is a clean sheet approach, developed to be the most technologically advanced unit in the market. have been made. The roller rides on the industry’s largest axle that’s 0.400 of an inch in diameter and cut from a special tool steel. This means that 23 needle bearings – rather than the usual 16 – are used to disperse the load so a failure is less likely. Unlike most other lifters, the axle is also pinned on both sides. This actually makes it a stressed member of the body and keeps the ears on the lifter body from flexing under load. The large diameter axle also created a unique opportunity of which COMP engineers took advantage to drastically improve the oiling system. Instead of directing the oil to the side of the axle and hoping it works its way to the needle bearings like most lifters, the Elite Race™ Roller Lifter floods the center of the hollow axle with pressurized oil and then feeds the needle bearings from a hole in the center of the axle. This ensures that the bearings have a constant flow of cooling oil protecting them at all times. Interestingly, COMP went with a needle bearing design while many in the industry have shifted to a bushed roller lifter. While many may be tempted to simply go along with what may seem to be the next big thing and produce a “me too” lifter, COMP engineers decided on a needle bearing roller system after extensive R&D into both designs. Put simply, COMP says that needle bearings are still the best way to eliminate heatproducing friction. To minimize friction with a bushed roller system, you must cut the diameter of the axle, but by the time you’ve eliminated enough friction to even become comparable
runs. These lifters performed incredibly well and didn’t fail during that testing. Plus, they are also easy on the lifter bores, so the blocks in which they are installed should show less lifter bore wear, too.” On the top side, COMP also added a few innovations to the pushrod seats. The seats themselves are removable and can quickly be swapped out. This means that if you decide you need a set of lifters with offset pushrod seats to clean up the valve train geometry, you can quickly and inexpensively convert these lifters without having to purchase a new set. The seats also feed pressurized oil to the pushrods, so you can actually use the orifice in the pushrod seats to customize the amount of oil going to the rockers and springs. “We’ve really taken a complete look at how we can build the very best solid roller lifter possible for our customers and come up with a completely new lifter,” Godbold says. “And by that, I mean cost, too. We didn’t cut corners, but we also didn’t build in any unnecessary costs. There are some companies that have coated lifter bodies, but these bodies did extremely well in our testing, so we decided to put our investment into the roller and axle. “I think these lifters are a really good investment. They give a race team a real chance without having to spend a fortune. Plus, they are rebuildable, so if you take care of them they will just about last forever. Then you can take that money you have saved and put it somewhere else to give you that leg up on the competition.” PPN
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 61
61
8/29/10 6:03 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
Chevy Power Bill Tower’s Historic Collection
62 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 62
8/29/10 6:03 PM
to v a ’d e h s
B
ill Tower has done it all. If there were a checklist of personal adventures e he’d have to m have just about ticked all of the boxes. From o racing the American Bandstand-sponsored Top Fuel “Rat Trap” digger in the late 1960’s to working on the Space Shuttle launch program, Tower is a man of many talents. A GMI trained engineer, from 1965 through the mid 1980’s Tower worked for Chevrolet Engineering along side his boss, the legendary Vince Piggins. Tower is extremely active today still working with GM on exotic products like RO-something engines for NASCAR and even doing a little shake down on race cars with his good buddy and accomplished racer/car developer Ron Fellows. But enough with the name-dropping clichés, Tower is the real deal with some of the most significant street and race cars ever Zora Ark us Dunto v drove beach a the Bill M t Dayton a in 195 itchell-b vette is 6. Three uilt Corv the reco SR ette SR2 rd setter on the and weig 2’s were built in ’56 but T hs in at an incre ower’s C dible 19 or00 poun ds.
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 63
63
8/29/10 6:03 PM
Tower’s most recent restoration is this 1973 Chevy Malibu, which was driven by Bobby Allison that same year on the Winston Cup trail. He located it and restored it to full race condition. This was the last year of the 427cid engine displacement in NASCAR.
There were only five real Grand Sport Corvettes built in 1963. This one was originally driven by Roger Penske and tuned by one of Tower’s great friends, Bill Scott.
built. The central Florida-based engineer has built his collection of ultra rare, highly desirable Chevrolet-built racecars over the years buying these vehicles back when no one wanted them. Most of the vehicles are restored to absolute original glory by his own hand including engine building and chassis set up. His GM-Proving Grounds-tested L88 Corvette was purchased many years ago as was the case with the Penske/Hall Grand Sport, the Bill Mitchell SR2 (which Tower used to drive legendary Air Force pilot Chuck Yeager around the Indy 500 oval back in 1986) and a very unusual prototype Monte Carlo SS. And if you’re ever lucky enough to visit his place, don’t be talking money with the man. These cars are his prized possessions – not commodities to be transacted. As he says, “if I sold them, I wouldn’t have them any more.” While the Chevrolet collection is amazing and highly coveted by the Corvette Museum curators, it may be his cool collection of Chevy NASCAR racers that put this collection over the top. The Skoal Bandit Monte is plenty cool as is the last Tim Richmond Chevy (he is finishing up the aero on the car and plans to reset the closed course lap speed record at
Talladega). The Bobby Allison Coca Cola is significant as the last 427-powered Winston Cup ever created. But the crown jewel of the collection is one that draws a crowd whenever it rolls out of his trailer. For anyone who knows anything about NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt Sr. is a god. “The Intimidator” was one heck of a driver and his “Pass in the Grass” move against Bill Elliott down the front stretch at Lowes Motor Speedway back in 1987 has been voted time and again as the most exciting moment in NASCAR history. The real deal Monte Carlo sans grass stains – as verified by the Banjo Mathews serial numbers – resides in Tower’s garage. Best of all, the car runs amazingly well luckily owned by a guy who really understand engines.. In testing at Daytona, the car clicked off over 190mph laps testament to the performance of the car and the talent of the driver. Tower is a throwback - and a mystic. A guy who knows where he’s been and looks to the future with state-of-theart NASCAR engine development. His stories are incredible. His cars – beyond that. PPN In case there is any question about the validity of the Tower “Pass in the Grass” Monte, here’s Bill with his famous aero machine at Lowes Motor Speedway in 2007. Oh, and by the way, Tower is still involved with Chevy racing engine development – well beyond the RO7 engine. Don’t kid yourself, when the NASCAR boys start breaking engines – Tower’s phone starts ringing.
64 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 64
8/29/10 6:03 PM
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 65
65
8/29/10 6:03 PM
POWER & PERFORMANCE NEWS
10 QUESTIONS
h n w o rstm a e
t g u iy d :H s N c n a fm P r& e w o
Ten QUeSTionS wiTh riCharD ChilDreSS
r
e ichard Childress n sio e is one of the best-known names in racing. His storied career as a racer and team owner is well known to most NASCAR fans. His yyears as team owner saw the development of a dynasty in the Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s years, winning seven Winston (Sprint) Cup championships for Richard Childress Racing (RCR). With the loss of Earnhardt at Daytona in 2001, RCR had a few tough years but now they are back, stronger than ever with a three-car organization (possibly four cars in 2011). Each car has a driver, crew chief and team members that can win any given race on any given day. It has been a stellar turnaround and the real winners are the fans that will see strong performances from the RCR stables now and into the foreseeable future. P Power & Performance News: How did you get started in racing? Richard Childress: I got started when I was a kid racing at the Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, NC. I got a $20 taxi and put roll bars and other stuff in it and went racing. It was a $99 claim division – we had fun. P&PN: Who was your biggest influence in racing? R.C.: It’s hard to name just one. There are so many that have been an influence to me, but I guess if I had to point to one person it would be Bill France Jr. He influenced a lot of us early in our racing careers. P&PN: What is your most memorable moment racing? R.C.:I really can’t name one. I could maybe narrow it down to three: our first Winston Cup win was one. Ricky Rudd was driving. Another would be our first Winston Cup Championship, which came with Dale Earnhardt Sr. driving. Of course, the other one is Dale’s Daytona 500 win. P&PN: Your teams have become a racing icon, what makes your cars better? R.C.:It’s the people that we deal with and the technology that they make available to us. When I think about our engine program, it’s people like Scooter Brothers and his company (COMP Cams) that have helped make a big difference. I remember years ago we flew over to Memphis and they gave us help when most people wouldn’t even talk to us. We try to never forget those that have helped in our success. P&PN: Your teams have seen a rebirth this year. What made it happen? R.C.:There are several things. We have a lot of new people
and we’ve beefed up our R&D programs, for both engine and chassis. We have made a lot of personnel changes that have gone in the right direction. Another thing is that we now have three drivers and three crew chiefs working really well together. P&PN: If you were not doing this, what would you be doing? R.C.:I would probably be doing stuff in real estate or I might like to do stuff in the outfitter business. P&PN: If you could have a conversation with anyone living or dead, who would it be and why? R.C.:It would be with my dad. He passed away when I was five and I never knew him. If I had the chance, I would like to talk with him. P&PN: What do you like about being in racing? R.C.:I really like the thrill of the sport. It’s also about being around the fans. The fans are great. P&P: What is the biggest change you have seen in NASCAR? R.C.:Without question it’s been the growth of the sport and the technology. P&PN: What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a team owner in Cup racing? R.C.:Stay the hell out of it! No really, just know what you are getting into. Know the business before you do it. There is so much to this business and you have to be sure it’s what you want to do.
66 November 2010 || ppndigital.com
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 66
8/29/10 6:03 PM
Power & Performance News || November 2010
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 67
67
8/29/10 6:03 PM
PPN-1011-032-063.8.20.indd 68
8/29/10 6:04 PM