Drag Racing Scene Summer 2015

TRUCK/TRAILER LICENSING

ARE YOU LEGAL?

SPORTSMAN REPORT HEADS-UP WITH STRANGE ENGINEERING

PEAKING AT

THE RIGHT TIME

TECH EXCLUSIVE

WIRING TERMINAL DO’S & DON’TS HELMETS – PROTECT YOUR HEAD

DUANE SHIELDS

VOL. 1, ISSUE 2 PUBLICATION OF XCELERATION MEDIA DRS2015-2

DragRacingScene.com

LARRY DIXON: AND HE WALKED AWAY

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In This Issue Drag Racing Scene Vol. 1, Issue 2

Features

22 A RIDE TO DESTINY 32 STRANGE HAPPENINGS 38 COMPETITION JUNKIE 46 GO YOUR OWN WAY 62 TRAVELING TEACHER 84 SO CONFUSED 94 NO JOKER

Steve Williams turned a bike ride into a career Jeff Strange tells his side of the story

54

DIAMOND FOUND

Menditto’s spotted potential at salvage auction

Duane Shields learned quickly that he loves racing Larry Morgan blazes his own trail Roy Hill opens new schools

Legal issues surround tow rigs

ATI may have been the best poker hand ever

46 GO YOUR OWN WAY

Larry Morgan blazes a new trail

2 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Tech

36 STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT 44 GET HOOKED 60 GOT TO HAVE SWAG 66 WITHSTANDING FORCES 70 GET YOUR REAR IN GEAR 80 GAME OF THOUSANDTHS 90 LIFTER LIFESPAN 98 LEANING OUT 102 STRONG CONNECTION 106 TORQUE TRENDS Ins and outs of torque bolts

The next generation of data logging

28

PROTECT YOUR NOGGIN’ Helmets are more than just a hat

A new way to fix fuel filters

Stronger pushrods for fuel cars

Importance of gear oil viscosity Valve clearance is getting tight

A little maintenance goes a long way Different methods to tune your setup New aluminum rods make the grade

50

Where converter technology is heading

MID-TERMS

Not all wire terminals pass

Departments

4 GOING DEEP 6 DRAG NEWS

Letter from the editor Things we think you should know about

8

DIGITAL GUIDE

Drag racing apps, sites, and social media

10 SOCIAL SHOUTOUTS

Your online comments on Drag Racing Scene topics

14 VIDEO REWIND Cool videos we found online

16 PEAK PERFORMER

Tim and Beth Hyatt

18 REMEMBER WHEN

Run what ya brung

20 TRACK TESTED 110 DIALED IN 112 LIFE AT 1320 An emotional time

Drag racing defined On to the next race

Vendor Midway Stock Bellhousing Browell Bellhousing..................................... 72 RR BB-2 XTRA Brodix............................................................... 73 CHEETAH XtremeAction Valve Bodies Turbo Action................... 73 Flexplate Turning Tool Meziere Enterprises................................ 74 X-Style Pistons CP-Carrillo....................................................... 74 RPM-Activated Switch JEGS.................................................... 74 Quick-Connect Carburetor Kit Jiffy-tite.................................... 75 Melonized Distributor Gears COMP Cams............................... 76 LS-Style High Output Coil Set FAST......................................... 76 Smart Power Battery Backup Racepak.................................... 76 10-inch Ultra Case Strange Engineering................................... 77 LS Performer Intake Edelbrock................................................ 78 Big Brake Kits Aerospace Components.................................... 78 Enforcer One Systems FireAde................................................. 79

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 3

e: johnd@xcelerationmedia.com

Giving up Giving up is never in a drag racer’s mentality. None of us ever like to throw in the towel. It’s just not in our DNA. Persistence might be a better word. Or maybe ignorance? Regardless, there isn’t a racer who has battled a demon for a lot longer than when a sane person would have given up. Admit it. We’ve all done it.

But there have been a number of people who have had to, for lack of a better word, retire from their sport. Football greats Steve Young, “LT” Lawrence Taylor, Joe Montana, and many more, all realized their bodies couldn’t continue to take the punishment of a 16-week NFL schedule.

Baseball players are somewhat in the same group. Somehow, the body quits allowing a person to hurl a fastball or swing a bat the way they’re accustomed.

Golfers don’t necessarily have to give up the sport, but come to the realization that those sub-par scores just aren’t there any longer.

What’s the cause for this? It’s that once a year thing that happens to everyone: A birthday. Fortunately, that really doesn’t affect drag racers that much. Like golf, drag racing is a game you can play well into your later years. Unlike golf though, you can still win the “big ones.”

Thanks to “Stat Man” Louis Bloom for this info, but Bobby Warren did just that at over 70-years young when he won the 2004 Bristol NHRA national event. Warren Johnson’s victory at the 2010 St. Louis NHRA event, at 66 years old, currently makes him the oldest winner in the pro categories. And let’s not forget John Force, who turns 66 this May and is still terrorizing the Funny Car troops.

However, there comes a time in everyone’s life when you realize you’re not as sharp as you once were for one reason or another. I was once told that I couldn’t compare myself to certain “young guns,” to which I took — and still take — offense to. But to a point, there is some truth.

When I was in my early 20s, the only thing going through my head when I pulled to the starting line was total concentration on the task at hand. Life has a habit of getting in the way though. Sure there have been plenty who have “retired,” but in most cases it isn’t because they can’t “hit the tree” any longer. Most get tired of the daily grind. On the professional level, those who have stepped away from the sport do so in most cases because of financial limitations regarding sponsorships.

But the question is “when is it time?” For those of us who are what I consider to be gearheads, those who got that proverbial “needle in the arm” at a young age, quitting sometimes isn’t an option.

And for those who have quit, most will readily admit to a severe case of withdrawal.

Sometimes though, sanity prevails. After all, for most this really is just a hobby, one that can consume you in every sense of the word. Walking away is usually not related to some of the same reasons Anderika and McEwen noted. It’s usually not related to a lack of competitiveness because, as we noted earlier, this is a sport that you can still enjoy well into your retirement years.

Look at Chris Karamesines: At over 80-years young, he’s still out there traveling at over 300 mph in his fuel car. While he’s not exactly on the list of potential winners, I doubt it’s because of his age. More than likely, it’s a financial reason as that class requires mega-bucks and even more.

But again, “when is it time?” For everyone, it’s a different answer. What’s the saying? “I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.” Maybe that’ll also be the time to hand over the keys for my race car. DRS

Staff Group Publisher Shawn Brereton Editor John DiBartolomeo Senior Editor Jon Asher Contributors Auto Imagery Richard Brady Joe Davanzo Mike Galimi Dan Hodgdon Bill Holland Phil Hutchison Dave Kommel Ron Lewis Dave Milcarek Gary Nastase Todd Ryden Scott Woodruff Advertising Dave Ferrato 504.237.5072 Brett Underwood 704.896.1959 For advertising inquiries call 901.260.5910.

Production Art

Hailey Douglas Jason Wommack Zach Tibbett

Drag Racing Scene is published quarterly to promote the growth of drag racing as well as recognize the parts and services from participating manufacturers. The magazine consists of dedicated information from partner companies with the mission of disseminating unfiltered editorial on companies, products and services directly to drag racing participants and fans.

Editorial content and advertisements for each issue can originate from partner companies participating in the magazine.

Drag Racing Scene is a hybrid of content that was originally published at DragRacingScene.com and original content that was created for this quarterly print magazine. Magazine distribution occurs through direct distribution from parent company Xceleration Media and partner companies.

Drag Racing Scene is a property of Xceleration Media. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written consent from Xceleration Media. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

Cover ON THE

The Emmons boys from Texas and their Lucas Oil-sponsored cars are always a threat to win regardless of the event.

TRUCK/TRAILER LICENS ING

ARE YOU LEGAL?

SPORTSMAN REPORT HEADS-UP STRANGE WITH ENGINEERING

PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME

DUANE SHIELDS

VOL. 1, ISSUE 2 PUBLICATION OF XCELERATION MEDIA DRS2015-2

DragRacingScene.com

LARRY DIXON: AND HE DRS2015-2.indd 1

WALKED AWAY

TECH EXCLUSIVE

WIRING TERMINAL DO’S & DON’TS HELMETS – PROTECT YOUR HEAD

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Drag News PRESENTED BY

DRAW celebrates 30th anniversary Celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2015, the Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW) has provided emotional and financial support for injured drag racers, which has been their sole mission since Day 1.

It all began in 1984 when Shirley Muldowney suffered an horrific accident at the Grandnationals in Montreal. Various members of our community handled the recovery fund and eventually asked the question, “If we can help one racer, why not organize our efforts to help all injured racers.”

The end result has been a 30-year effort. Their only problem has been not being made aware of accidents.

“If anyone hears of a drag race accident regardless of the class or track,” DRAW’s Rosalee Noble pleads, “please get a hold of us somehow, because we want to help.”

With an effort such as this, fund-raising becomes a priority. Their annual Tracy Winters Memorial Golf Tournament helps to bring in major funds each year. The event was held on the Wednesday before the Amalie NHRA Gatornationals in Florida, it brings together racers and fans for a day of relaxed competition and fun.

With sponsorship from Mail Terminal Services, JW Performance, Jeff Taylor Performance, Don Schumacher Racing, Amalie Motor Oil, Clark Head Gaskets, Gibtec Pistons, GRP Connecting Rods, Hartman Machine Works, Holley, Mickey Thompson Tires, Summit Racing Equipment, Winberg Crankshafts, Carlyle Tools, Edelbrock, National Speed Directory, Port-A-Tree, and Drag Racing Scene, golfers teed it up with fun in mind but understand the need to raise necessary funds.

This year’s tournament found typical outstanding Florida sunshine and in the end, the big winners were (once again for probably the umpteenth time in a row) Jeff Strickland, Brent Lewis, Mickey Whaley and Jeff Adkinson.

A big thanks go out to the women (and men) of DRAW who donate their time for a great day of fun. For more information about DRAW and their “Fast Help For Fast Friends,” visit drawonline.org.

Tedesco notches first NHRA victory at 4-Wide On the surface, it appears as though Mia Tedesco and her Hirata Family Racing team dominated the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals with their C.A.R.S. Protection Plus/WeFindParts.com backed A/Fuel entry. The team qualified on the pole with a staggering 5.22 elapsed time, and went on to win the event. Domination, however, was not the word the 21-year old driver used to describe her outing.

Instead, the descriptions that she provided repeatedly included words like “lucky,” and “blessed.”

Regardless of what she calls it, the Murrysville, Pennsylvania, driver broke through for her first NHRA national event win in a career that has included a number of high dollar bracket race wins and final round

6 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

appearances with her Super Gas and Super Comp cars. And with the win, the celebration in the team’s camp was legendary, beginning with her father Mike and mother Cindy jumping for joy.

Despite earning the biggest win of her driving career, Tedesco’s day was not done. In addition to handling the driving chores of the Hirata Family A/Fuel dragster, Mia was also behind the wheel of her familiar C.A.R.S. Protection Plus backed Cavalier Super Gas entry, which she also drove to a semifinal round appearance in that class.

The C.A.R.S. Protection Plus/ WeFindParts.com team will continue racing the alcohol car all year with an eye on the championship.

Get schooled in high performance

Densmore wins Founders Award Dave Densmore, a friend and contributor to Drag Racing Scene, and one of the most visible and respected public relations specialists in motorsports, was presented with the Founder’s Award during the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame banquet held last March in Gainesville, Florida. Densmore was introduced by long-time friend and business partner Steve Earwood and 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force. For nearly four decades, Densmore has been the spokesper-

son for the top names in drag racing as well as both top series.

“I have been lucky in my career to work with some amazing people. My fellow PR peers are some of the best in the business. I have to thank so many drivers from Kenny Bernstein, Raymond Beadle, to John Force plus so many more,” said Densmore.

Other notable Founders Award winners include Wally and Barbara Parks (2001), Jon Asher (2006), Bill Bader (2007), Bill Doner (2012), and Kenny Youngblood (2014).

Before victory lane, before the time runs and eliminations, before the hard work in the shop, and certainly before the education, comes the passion. You can now turn that passion into a career at the University Of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) in their High Performance Motorsports Degree Program.

From drivelines to engine building along with fabrication and welding, the school prepares students for entry-level positions in the high performance motorsports industry by teaching them the necessary technical skills being used in the industry today. The seven acre high performance motorsports complex is the only one of its kind in the world, featuring cutting edge technology and equipment in addition to an outside test track.

Graduates from the program are currently employed in a number of positions within the sport of drag racing as well as in other motorsports venues.

For more info, visit unoh.edu.

®

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Social Shoutouts FACEBOOK / TWITTER / SOCIAL MEDIA

We recently posed the question below to the 79,000+ fans of the Drag Racing Scene Facebook page. Emotions run deep within the drag racing community on this issue and the responses were wide ranging as drag racers don’t hold back. Below is a hand-picked sampling of the best responses. Got an opinion on this matter? We want to hear it at www.facebook.com/dragracingscene or via any of our other social media channels listed below.

QUESTION With the debate over the Street Outlaws television show versus the NHRA earlier this year, what is your opinion on how it was handled and the TV show itself?

C7 Heaven

RICHIE VAIL

POPULAR

GARY QUATTROCCHI

FEATURE

The NHRA has done great things for drag racing over the years. They can also be a little over-bearing with things. What those guys do away from an NHRA event should be their business, as long as they don’t have an NHRA decal on their cars for the world to see.

NHRA needs to figure out what Street Outlaws is doing right that so many people like it and figure out what the NHRA is obviously doing wrong and make it work at NHRA tracks.

Here are some additional articles that didn’t make the print issue, but are worth checking out.

Search for these titles at DragRacingScene.com.

C7 Heaven KBX Performance Builds Ultimate Calling Card

TECH

KEITH MCELMURRY

Fast(eners) & Furious

No way in my opinion can anyone in their right mind even use the word “street” when referring to the cars on this show. It’s just a staged, scripted, so-called reality show.

Plain and simple fact.

COLUMN Who Is To Credit For Drag Racing?

JEFF ARNOLD

Street Outlaws is not racing. NHRA was founded to keep racers safe and get REAL racers off the streets. Outlaws is a stupid show. NHRA is a sport where families participate. Where my dad took me and I learned sportsmanship, how to win with class and how to lose with class. And I learned that hard work leads to winning. Not trash talk and who has the biggest wallet.

ARTHUR KALTENBACH

It has nothing to do with if the show is fake or not. It’s what it represents that the NHRA has a problem with. As a long time sportsman racer I don’t have much good to say about the NHRA but on this one I am with them 110 percent.

FRED CARLIER

Opinions are like a**holes... everyone’s got one. If people spent as much time worrying about themselves as they do everyone else, they’d solve more of their own problems.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION FACEBOOK

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12  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Blurred lines

The scene at the starting line in Las Vegas turned into a mixture of colors flashing by at incredible speeds as racers prep their cars for a run down the track.

Photo by John DiBartolomeo

Video Rewind

RACING / PRODUCT / ENTERTAINMENT

Video Rewind is where we point out interesting videos found on the Internet — whether historical, funny, dramatic or technical. We like them and thought you might, too.

Scan QR code to subscribe!

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Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with our original and curated video content that is updated by the Drag Racing Scene editorial staff. youtube.com/DragRacingScene

See The Thunder

You can certainly feel the thunder of eight to ten thousand horsepower, but this video from our friends “Down Under” will show you just what it looks like. youtu.be/omqdpzeacF4

Steering Wheel Mishap

Having the steering wheel come off in your hand is never a good thing, but Jeff Lutz manages to pull it off (not exactly a good choice of words) and gets stopped safely. youtu.be/ilaBdBCUaOo 14 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Personal Tour

Buddy Wood gives you a tour of the new Sunset Performance Race Engines and explains how it came from the same Sunset Racecraft began by his late friend Tracy Dennis. youtu.be/yDegQOhUlpk

Another Steering Wheel Mishap

Another issue of the steering wheel coming off. This driver keeps his cool, gets the ‘chutes out and the car stopped without any issue.

WARNING: Do NOT try this yourself! These men are professionals! youtu.be/qlGZ5rr_v6A

Lights Out 6 Blow Over

With footage pulled right from the DVD of the Lights Out 6 event this past March, Free Life Films caught this amazing nearblow over of Dewayne Mills’ Camaro. Aahhhh, the power of turbocharging! youtu.be/QQgN3Q_O6us

Tim & Beth Hyatt

PRESENTED BY

The PEAK Performer Award is given to an individual who has proven him or herself as a High Performer in the sport of drag racing.

16 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Not far from the shores of Lake Erie in northern Ohio, outside of Cleveland, sits the town of Thompson, home to Thompson Raceway Park. Opened in 1958, the track is responsible for the careers of many racers from all over the country. However, it was one of the town’s residents whose own life might have been most impacted and today Tim Hyatt, along with his wife, Beth, have become a staple in the drag racing community.

Together, the Hyatts have been a fixture on the NHRA Manufacturers Midway for a long time. The Midway, once home to dozens of manufacturer’s trailers, used to be THE place to see and purchase products up close, as well as receive service.

The Hyatt Racing Services trailer is the last bastion of that type of support for racers in all categories. But it all started back in that tiny hamlet of Thompson.

“We were always intrigued by the noise coming from that track,” says Tom, one of the four Hyatt brothers — Dan, Tim, Mike, and Tom. “We finally talked our mother into dropping us off there when we were young and I guess it stuck.”

Each of the brothers at one time or another ended up working at the track, with Tim eventually becoming the starter for a number of years. After graduation from high school, a position with the local Ford dealership ensued for Tim who continued to dabble with race cars.

In the early 80s, Tim partnered with Tom on their second race car together, a Super Gas Vega. With Tom behind the wheel and Tim manning the wrenches, the pair succeeded on all levels. Tim finally took a turn behind the wheel but component failure caused the car to make a hard right-hand turn. It struck his opponent and caused numerous injuries for Tim that somewhat sidelined his driving career along with his employment at Ford.

A fellow Cleveland friend, Bob DeVour had been running the Mr. Gasket Midway service trailer and asked Tim to take a ride with him. That ride transitioned Tim into the position of track service specialist, a job he continues to maintain to this day with his own Hyatt Racing Services trailer.

“Tim is very diligent in his work ethic and he has learned the clutch business very well.” DeVour says. “In addition to servicing clutches at the track, his trailer is a home for a lot of the speed equipment manufacturers who have been around for a long time.

Each of them respect Tim’s abilities and know how hard he works to satisfy their customers.”

Tim and Beth have been married for a long time, but more than that they are partners in an operation that has grown over the years. The two work closely side by side, which doesn’t always work for a marriage, but it certainly has for the Hyatts.

A son and daughter, Chris and Anna, from Tim’s previous marriage also help to keep the wheels rolling in the right direction. A direction that finds Tim’s expertise in high demand and has him traveling all over the world. His clutch set-ups are a part of the famous Chevrolet COPO Camaro race cars.

Named to the Car Craft All Star Drag Racing Team in 2000, and a members of the East Coast Drag News Hall of Fame, Tim and Beth Hyatt have earned the title of PEAK Performers through their hard work.

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Run What Ya’ Brung

O

ver the years that I have been shooting drag race cars, one unique thing has stood out to me as far as the cars involved. The diversity in body styles and backyard mechanical ingenuity is very unique to our sport.

It’s almost as if you can have any style body, slap this or that engine in it, and run it at drag strips all over this country. Okay, you do have to pass a safety inspection which includes the safety gear you as the driver are wearing, but other than that, you’re good to go.

I suppose it shows my age, but when I first went to the drags it was a more relaxed form of racing. The cars of that late-’50s and early-’60s era of drag racing would be considered crude by today’s standard of look-alike or clone cars.

To me, the cars back then had an individual’s ingenuity built into every one. Sure the tri-five Chevy bodies all looked the same, but even so each car was slightly different.

This is what made going to the drags a unique experience back then. I always liked the cars with the straight front axles and the mag wheels, let alone the paint color or the paint scheme... Some were just plain gaudy, but others were from an artist’s dream or fantasy.

Even the lettering of these cars was unique, as some were applied by a lettering professional. Then there were those applied by the owner or a friend who sort of added his rendition of what the lettering should look like.

Early drag cars were what (or how) an owner/driver wanted them to be, and on top of that most were home brewed, meaning everything that could possibly be done by the owner was done right there in his garage. Need larger wheel wells to fit those huge slicks? No problem with a cutting torch and tin snips. Same goes for the hood if the tunnel ram and carbs, blower, or injection tubes were going to stick through that hood.

I always loved the addition of ladder bars that could be seen under the car. This of course was before wheelie bars became so popular, but it was a pretty neat touch and it worked too. The headers were the other feature, where they exited the car, or in some cases where they were incorporated into some of the body work and then out. Most of these things were standard fare back in those days.

18 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

The fact remains that early on we saw many different body styles running at tracks all around the country. There was the usual from Ford, Chevy, and Mopar cars, but there were Hudsons, Anglias, Studebakers, the list goes on. All, as I said, unique to the sport.

These guys lovingly worked on these cars and created them to race by adding this or that tweak, with the hopes it would give them an advantage at the strip. Sometimes these tweaks worked and sometimes they didn’t. But the fact remains, that back in those days backyard mechanics all over the country would bring their car to the track with one thing in mind, try to get as much out of that car as you could!

The drag racing of today does have a variety of cars running in different classes, but when it seems one body style works better than the others, pretty soon a wealth of cars with that body shows up and dominates. Think about it, there are very few full-bodied cars in Super Comp as an example, because dragsters are the usual norm. That’s not to say there aren’t a few in that class, but over the years the dragster seemed to be the answer, so what you end up with is a plethora of clone dragsters.

It really wasn’t that way originally. Each car seemed to be as unique as the owner/driver was, and that truly made the sport itself unique as well. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with it, and enjoyed going to the digs. It’s also been nice to think about those days gone by and to Remember When. DRS

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An emotional time

I

am really excited about having a true father-son effort in the NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Series for the 2015 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season. Troy Coughlin Jr., who we know as T.J., will join his dad in the professional ranks.

I have known T.J. since birth, nearly 25 years now. Some of my earliest memories of him at the race track are of him watching his dad and uncles from behind the fence, because he was too young to be on the starting line.

From time to time we would sneak him up there, but more times than not I would hear over my radio (since I listen to the NHRA frequency before we make runs to see where oil downs occur and how bad they are) from the tower that “Troy’s boy is out there again.” The head of security would then look at me, because he knows I am listening, and I would acknowledge that I will take of it.

T.J. has always been interested in racing, like many members of the Coughlin family. Back when the shop was on Jeg Sr.’s property and he lived down the street, T.J. was always close behind when one of the JEGS rigs pulled into the shop after coming back from a race.

He wanted to be around the guys on the team and help however he could. It always made me happy to see the little guy with the huge smile on his face and how genuinely interested he was in racing. From time to time he would just hop in one of the cars, likely dreaming about driving one day.

T.J. started out racing Jr. Dragsters when he was old enough, and later got licensed in one of his uncles’ Super Comp dragsters. He proved to be a quick study behind the wheel and always had a flair for the dramatic.

He’s already won a handful of NHRA national events, and two of them happen to be victories at the biggest race of the year, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. He won the 2013 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division 3 Super Gas championship and a number of high-dollar bracket races, so he knows how to win.

T.J. would always ask Uncle John, Uncle Mike, and Uncle Jeg plenty of questions, and they answered them all. But they also challenged him to think on his own. I have walked into one of our trailers countless times where his Uncle Jeg was challenging him to come up with the answer, just like a teacher.

T.J. has had some of the best teachers to learn from, and some of the best racers in the country are his dear friends. He

20 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

has earned respect from people both on and off the track.

He has turned out to be a great racer, but an even better person from my seat in the stands. He has been extremely respectful every step of the way.

And now, this kid who watched from the fence, just hopped right over it into the big leagues. Seeing him make his license runs in a 3,000 horsepower Pro Mod car was awesome. He looked like someone who had made hundreds of runs with a very calming approach.

The two of us have talked a lot about working with the media — something he is understandably a little nervous about. He told me he was more nervous about Media Day at Gainesville than he was about getting his Pro Mod license!

When he told me that I just laughed, but he was serious. I told him to be himself and to have fun with it. I told him that he has dreamed about being in this position his whole life, and he should enjoy it. I also told him that I am here to help, along with his dad and his uncles and his entire family.

I am sure when T.J. pulled his bright yellow JEGS.com Chevrolet Corvette around the corner of the staging lanes and into the burnout box at Gainesville for the first time, it was a surreal moment for him. I fully expected his dad to be on the emotional side during T.J.’s first round of competition.

This will be the beginning of the next generation of Coughlins waving the JEGS banner in drag racing on the professional level, and it could not be with a better guy. DRS Scott “Woody” Woodruff is the Director of Motorsports and Media for the huge JEGS empire. His work to color the world yellow and black has been successful, judging from the looks of the sport.

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BICYCLE RIDE FOR A

ONE S

hortly after a move to southern California in the mid-’60s, all it took was a bicycle ride past a now-defunct Arco Richfield gas station and Steve Williams was hooked for life. Today, as the Chief Engineering Officer at K&N Engineering, Williams is responsible for a number 22 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

For Steve Williams, that’s how it all began

of K&N’s motorsports efforts in addition to becoming quite a racer in his own right. With his finger on the pulse of the sport, Williams is outspoken on a number of subjects, but it all began with that simple bicycle ride.

“That gas station on the corner was a hot bed,” Williams says. “It was liter-

ally a Mopar drag race club where guys would hang out and work on their cars.

For some reason this town [Riverside, California] that we moved into was a Mopar town and one of the guys at the station was dating my older sister. They would go to all the tracks in the area like Lions, Irwindale, Orange County

Daughter Shelby, wife Janet and Steve Williams always seem to have smiles on their faces. The Riverside, California family are firmly entrenched in the sport of drag racing from not only a racer’s standpoint but also in Williams’ position with K&N Engineering.

and they finally let me tag along after I’d begged them.

“I was just a kid who would go by the station and fill the air in my bike tires, but I always wanted to know how things worked, so I’d hang around there and help them work on their cars, mostly just cleaning parts.”

By the time he was old enough to drive, the southern California drag racing history had begun to dry up.

Lions, Irwindale, Orange County and others were being shut to make way for the booming real estate industry.

That left few places for aspiring drag racers to congregate, but the closures

did little to quell the passion.

In the mid to late-’70s, G Street in Ontario, California became the place to be on late Friday and Saturday nights. Located directly behind the main straightaway of the now-defunct Ontario Motor Speedway, sometimes up to 1,500 people would congregate Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 23

Competing in two classes, Super Comp and Super Gas, can only be accomplished successfully with the help of crew chief and friend, Travis Hodges (right). It’s Hodges’ job outside of the cockpit that gives Williams the confidence to turn on win lights.

to race and watch the spectacle of speed take place.

“By the early ’80s, I had a 9.20 all out race car that we would run on the street,” Williams said. “However, by that time the police were all over it and it was becoming a real problem. Cars were being impounded. People were arrested. It was getting bad. But I’m telling you, back in those days, it was the spot for street racing in southern California as was Shoemaker Road in Orange County, and Feebe Road in Long Beach.”

Williams began doing some circle track racing in the SoCal area then, but drag racing was never far from his mind. A college education ensued with an eventual teaching degree, but teaching positions were rare and Williams embarked on a construction business partnership building homes.

“That’s where I got talked into circle track racing, but it just wasn’t drag racing,” he says. “The acceleration isn’t the same, you were always fixing the bodies and it just wasn’t for me.”

Eventually, Williams came back to drag racing with his first “real” race car built from a pile of fiberglass by Norm Portor. His first race was an NHRA divisional event in Bakersfield, California in 1990. By the end of the weekend, Williams was standing with the first of many Wallys he has gone on to win.

24 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

“That was the hook which set it all in place,” he laughingly says. “I’m thinking then, ‘this ain’t that hard,’ but now some 25 years later, I’ve gotten my a** kicked more times than none.”

Competing in both Super Comp and Super Gas, Williams’ statement of “…more times than none” might not hold up in the court of public opinion.

With nine wins on the national event level in 15 final round appearances plus numerous divisional event wins and championships, he has become somewhat of a favorite regardless of where he unloads his cars. Or more accurately put; where crew chief and friend Travis Hodges unload the cars while Williams spends an inordinate amount of time in his position with K&N Engineering.

As for his construction company, Williams sold the business when his partner retired. A short career owning a crankshaft repair business ensued, but ended when his biggest customer purchased the business.

The year was now 1996 and Williams had nothing to do when a former construction company customer, Jerry Mall, approached him with a job offer.

At that time Mall was the owner of K&N and also owned a number of hot rods which Williams had also worked on.

Eventually, Mall offered Williams a job which included days off to go racing;

more or less the perfect scenario.

“K&N is an amazing company,” says Williams. “Mall had purchased the company from the founders, Ken Johnson and Norm McDonald, and he had great people working there but he wanted my help. I was hesitant to go to work there, because sometimes working for your friend — which is what Jerry had become to me — ruins friendships. But he said ‘I need help. Work for me for a year and if it doesn’t work, no hard feelings.’ Now almost 20 years later, I’m still there.”

Working alongside CEO Steve Rogers has enabled Williams to build on his own business acumen and help to move the company from just an air filter company to one which has become the world’s leading manufacturer of washable performance air filters and air intake systems.

“A business is only as good as the people who work there,” Williams says.

“Everyone from the guy who takes the mail in, to whatever position you want to name, it’s only going to be as good as the people who work there. K&N’s

brand has always been about doing the right thing and we have a lot of hard working people here.”

“If you buy something from us and are unhappy with it,” says Williams, “We’ll give you your money back. No questions asked. That’s just the way we are. We don’t want you to be unhappy. We’d rather give you your money back and have you say ‘I didn’t like the product, but that’s a hell of a company.’

And you’re going to remember that and one day it will pay off for us. That one person we give their money back is going to tell ten people, and those ten people will each tell ten more, and so on. That’s our philosophy.”

A member of the NHRA Sponsor Council as well as a racer, Williams is as passionate about drag racing as he is about K&N. “We’re living in a period now that is unique to most all of us,” he says. “The concerns we have today in the sport are the same that many other sports franchises have. It’s easy to be critical, but in all honesty, the problems we face are not just singular. They’re a combination of multiple things happening at the same time.

“For us, it might be a little different,” he adds. “The car culture is waning in this country. There are a portion of people in the United States

A staunch supporter of the sport, Williams knows that without the backing of the many contingency sponsors, the plight of the sportsman racer would be much harder.

who either don’t like or don’t care about cars anymore. I’m not saying that cars are going away, but there is data today to back up the fact that teenagers are less interested in getting their driver’s license than we were.

That hurts our sport and we have a

challenge to recreate a passion or love affair that the automobile can teach you discipline, learn how things work, and respect. Let’s face it, the automobile is an engineering marvel. But we have some people who if the automobile went away today, it wouldn’t

After three runner-up finishes at what could be his home track; Auto Club Raceway at Pomona; Williams finally got that monkey off his back with a win at the 2015 version of the Circle K NHRA Winternationals, adding to his collection of Wallys.

bother them. That’s challenge No. 1 we need to overcome.

“I know some might not like this, but where would we be now had there not been Jr. Dragster racing? How many times do we attend an event and there are 20 or so kids racing?

So we have had programs which seed our sport, but I just don’t think it’s enough. I think collectively between us all, we have a responsibility to create a higher level of interest in our sport. A great question to ask ourselves is ‘how can I help?’

“In my opinion, what I’d like to see done are more Jr. Dragsters competing at a national event. We need to be able to seed our program. Even if we had big bucks Jr. Dragster races. Look at the Spring Fling series of big buck bracket races. They bring in a lot of racers and that same thing could be done for Jr. Dragsters.

“I’m not insinuating that we eliminate anyone from a national event.

All I’m asking is ‘where is the carrot on the stick that gets the young 6-7-8year old to this type of racing?’ I get tired of hearing the comment ‘we can’t do that,’ when the question should be ‘how can we do this;’ whatever ‘this’ might be.

“There are lots of ideas out there but as I said earlier, COLLECTIVELY we need to put our heads together to 26 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Thanks to her dad, Shelby Williams has held more Wally trophies than the average 12-year old.

ensure this sport is around for a long time to come.”

Oftentimes, we all become so emotionally attached to something that we just make minor tweaks thinking it will correct a wrong.

Williams says, “That same thing happens in business all the time. It only works for so long before it becomes outdated and requires a wholesale change to the program. I think we’re at that point in drag racing now.

“I love Pro Stock,” admits Williams, “but I wonder if it will be here in five years. And the question is ‘why not?’

Do we not have new ideas to have a super quick ultimate door car category in drag racing? I don’t think anyone is willing to take a risk, and I know it can be painful, but someone needs to.”

Steve Williams just might be that somebody. He has seen and lived the problems and is not afraid to ask “Why not.” And we all should be doing the same. DRS

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THE

OL’ BRAIN

Helmet technology has come a long way

W

hat’s the old adage? Buy a $10 helmet if you have a $10 head.

How true.

Today, there have been quite a lot of studies on safety and justifiably so. One look at the photos of race cars in the ’50s and ’60s might have you wondering how more racers weren’t killed or injured.

Not to say that safety wasn’t a concern, but with today’s technology, a lot more information has led to survivable accidents. In fact, your odds of being injured in a race car accident are far more in your favor than driving your street sedan to the grocery store.

While a lot has changed in terms of protective gear worn by racers, the one constant has always been a helmet.

28 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

The ol’ brain bucket has been on the heads of racers a lot longer than fire jackets, gloves, and any other safety garment you can think of.

While that constant has been the helmet, don’t think for one instant that the helmet itself hasn’t changed.

Helmet technology has evolved due in part to the studies many organizations have been associated with.

The most common reasoning for wearing a helmet might be to prevent an injury when your head hits a solid object, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Studies have shown the damage is not from the hard hit but rather the sudden stop.

Some of you might be aware of this, but your brain is actually floating

around inside your skull. That sudden stop when your head impacts something causes the brain to shift which is how concussions occur.

According to the Snell Foundation (the leading expert in helmet testing) during a fall or crash the head is traveling at a certain speed. Since the head has weight and is moving, there is a certain amount of energy associated with it.

When the helmet, along with the accompanying head, impacts an unyielding object (a rock, a roll bar, wall, curb, or the ground) the hard shell takes the energy generated by the falling helmet (head) and spreads it over a larger portion, specifically, the internal foam liner.

N BUCKET

Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo The foam liner then starts to crush and break which uses up a lot of the energy and keeps it from reaching the head inside.

Depending on how fast the head is traveling, and how big, heavy, and immovable the object is, the faster the head slows down, the more energy is present. In short, everything slows down really quickly.

A helmet will effectively reduce the speed of the head, which reduces the amount of energy transferred to the brain.

The whole process takes only milliseconds to turn a potentially lethal blow into a survivable one.

Helmet certification testing is done on a five-year cycle with more stringent

Helmets have come a long way over the years with one thought always in mind: Maximizing energy absorption to lessen impact to a driver’s head.

The Snell Foundation is charged with the testing of helmets affixing an approved sticker inside each helmet as accepted by the two major sanctioning bodies in drag racing.

testing every time. Sanctioning bodies allow helmets to be used for 12 years following the Snell date. For example, a SA2010 helmet (which is the latest iteration) will be allowed until 2022, at which point it will be outdated and no longer accepted for competition.

In reality though, most helmets will be replaced on average, every five years. Helmet degradation occurs due to normal wear and tear, in addition to hair oils, body fluids, and even styling changes or wants.

Also, advances in materials, designs, and production methods will prove a noticeable change in protective performance during that period.

“Over the years, the sheer sizing of helmets has increased,” says Kyle Kietzmann of Bell Racing. “In the ear-

ly days, there might have been a halfinch of liner in them, where today the liners have increased in size, in order to withstand the energy of an impact.

In some cases, now we’ve got anywhere from 1- to 2-inches of liner thickness depending on the helmet. What this means is that the helmet shell itself has gotten larger.”

Patrick Utt of RaceQuip says, “Helmets (just like anything that you bolt onto a race car) have evolved over the years. The Snell testing specifications become more stringent with every fiveyear cycle.

“Initially the higher standards caused larger, heavier helmets to be produced, but new materials and manufacturing technologies have allowed manufacturers to refine the build pro-

More and more racers are opting for a full-face model helmet that further protects the driver’s face in the event of an accident.

30 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

cess to where the helmets are now lighter than in the past.”

One example in the new SA2015 spec due out late this year is the additional reinforcement for attaching points of the head and neck restraints being widely used today.

“For 2015, the helmet shell must be reinforced for those attachment points and they are now in a standardized location,” Kietzmann says. “In addition, there is testing done to assure those attachment points stay in place.

“The construction process of the materials used to construct not only the outer shell, but also the internal liners have changed dramatically.”

“It’s no longer just a fiberglass shell, but rather a combination of materials produced through compression molding to come up with a product that is stronger and safer than before.”

Besides SFI Foundation specifications, which mirror the Snell Foundation specs, there are two classification standards acceptable for use in drag racing, M and SA. M stands for a motorcycle classification while the SA stands for Specialty Automotive. There is also a K classification which is used in karting.

“It is important to note here that M helmets are built completely different than SA helmets,” Utt says. “M helmets are not designed to take an impact against a roll bar and you can build an M helmet shell out of a thermoplastic material.

“Of course they have different impact standards and are not fire retardant either. We do not recommend the

While helmet manufacturers have sizing charts on their websites, nothing beats actually trying on the helmet.

use of an M-rated helmet for auto racing even if your series, class, or track allows it.”

There are several tests performed

by Snell in order to approve a helmet.

Each of the tests are done strictly as a measurement of how a helmet reacts during an event to protect the user’s brain. The tests do not include any responses of the neck or body as they react during a crash.

Some of the tests include retention strength, stability (how well the helmet will stay on), penetration resistance, chin guard strength (if applicable with a full-faced helmet), face shield integrity (if applicable), and most importantly impact energy management.

The SA standard also includes a flammability test, which isn’t performed on an M helmet. The SA and K standards also include a roll bar impact test while the M standard does not.

“Typically we’ll send Snell seven helmets, six of which they destroy in testing while the seventh is kept as an archive model,” Kietzmann says. “From time to time they’ll also purchase helmets off the shelf from various dealers and test them for random sampling to maintain the standards.

“We also have our own test lab in-

house so that we can test new models, as well as maintain our own standards.

But we can’t certify our own helmets.

Our testing lab is for our own quality control and knowledge.”

Over the years, carbon fiber helmets have become the rage.

“A lightweight or carbon fiber helmet has the advantage of slightly less weight on your head should you have an impact which would result in less G-loading,” Utt says. “All the helmets are built and tested to the same standards, so there is really no advantage of one material versus another other than weight. The weight factor is mostly important to racers who spend an hour or more in the car during a race — like oval track and road racers. The lighter weight is less likely to fatigue the neck muscles.”

Kietzmann adds, “All of our helmets use a certain percentage of carbon fiber. Those built with a strictly carbon fiber shell are very popular but still a very small percentage of sales today.”

One of the biggest questions asked by racers is “I just dropped my helmet.

Does that mean I should replace it?”

Generally, the answer would be no. Of course, frequent dropping or

spiking a helmet on the ground or other hard surface may eventually deform the bead liner and degrade the helmet.

The real damage comes from when the helmet, with a head inside, contacts an object. It can be difficult to determine if a helmet has been damaged but if you suspect it has been compromised, it’s best then to simply replace it.

One of the most important facets of helmets from a racer’s standpoint is purchasing one that is the correct size.

For a helmet to perform properly during an impact, you need to choose one that is the proper size, based off the manufacturer’s sizing charts, so that it will stay securely on your head.

Once you’ve tried it on with the chin strap tightened, you should not be able to shake your head side to side or feel the helmet move independently. If it does, then the helmet is too big.

They might all look the same, but helmets have come a long way over the years, and it’s all about protecting that valuable commodity, your head. DRS Source: Bell Racing, bellracing.com; RaceQuip, racequip.com

Head Studs & More!

While ARP will once again be an NHRA Major Sponsor and posting in 2015 for head studs/bolts, there are many other premium grade ARP fasteners that can help improve the performance and reliability of your race car. They include:

• Rod bolts • Main studs/bolts • Valve train fasteners

• Driveline bolts/studs • Engine & Accessory fasteners • Chassis & Suspension bolts

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From Stock to Top Fuel, NHRA World Champions Rely On ARP Fasteners!

Tony Schumacher – T/F Matt Hagan – F/C Erica Enders-Stevens – Pro Chris Demke – TAD Steve Harker – TAFC David Rampy – Comp Austin Williams – Stock Edmond Richardson – S/C Luke Bogacki – S/G Peter Biondo – S/S

JEFF STANGE As the president of Strange Engineering, Jeff Stange grew up in the business under the tutelage of his father, Bob Stange, founder of Strange. Jeff has taken the company further through his ability to listen to his customer’s needs and wants.

This past winter, Stange’s stand in regards to the NHRA Contingency Program raised quite a few eyebrows and rather than rehash what he said on social media, it’s best to simply say that he was Jeff Stange quite vocal. It’s his form of “tough love” that some might not want to hear, but still needs to be said.

We sat down with Stange first to get his background and finally his insight in the sport and the direction he sees it going.

How did you get your start in the business?

It was around my freshman year in high school where I worked some odd jobs in the business to make some money. I’d work outside doing landscaping and cleaning up jobs. I did whatever was necessary.

Remember this was over 30 years ago. Strange was busy early in the year but by the July and August, racers were out racing and therefore business slowed up somewhat.

How has this changed today?

Today we’re busy all year long. Back then when we’d get slow in the racing end of things, we’d also do regular machine shop projects for other companies. So it wasn’t really that we were slow, it’s just that the direction somewhat changed.

We were just getting into CNC machinery then, as they were very expensive, but it has really grown in that respect. Today we have two shifts, 25 CNC machines in-house, as well as 32 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

some hybrid conventional machinery.

So a lot has changed in that regard.

At what point did the business become steady and less seasonal?

Sometime in the 90s, which at that point I was running the company, but we started to expand outside of the hardcore racing market and introducing axles and other components for the street market.

Race axles were starting to find their way into street machines and they were never intended for that type of application.

A race axle has a very hard flange so it doesn’t work well on the street where side loads play a part during cornering.

In a straight line, they’re optimal for resisting bending loads, but it’s a different story when you’re talking about cornering, pot holes, and the like.

Our street axles are induction hardened which is much more forgiving for street and street/track vehicles. And we’ve become very diversified in that professional drag racing is just a small part of the business, and drag racing in general has been surpassed by other performance markets.

Strange Oval, which is something we started a couple of years ago, is very strong and we have a separate person who runs that end of the business based out of Charlotte.

Most every NASCAR Cup team uses at least one of our products — 9-inch case, axles, drive plates, and the like. It’s ever expanding and very engineering-driven.

Let’s get to the elephant in the room and talk about the NHRA contingency program which you’ve been quite vocal about.

I was pretty upset about it in trying to get some sportsman programs going last year, and it just seemed to me a money thing with an organization which really wasn’t dedicated to fixing or repairing it.

It’s not an easy thing, but as far as the Manufacturer’s Midway is concerned you’ve got entities like the U.S. Army, Traxxas, Harley-Davidson, or whatever who are doing well, and no disrespect to anyone, but it’s become more of a circus atmosphere.

I can’t fault NHRA for that, because they’re doing what they feel they need to do to get people in the stands and entertain them. I understand that.

But from a contingency sponsor standpoint, it doesn’t make sense for us to be out there, because most sportsman racers do not visit the pro/ midway side. The demographics of the spectator crowd have changed over the years, with less target customers for us and other high performance manufacturers.

There was some talk about you pulling out completely from the NHRA Contingency program.

Pulling out this year would not have been fair to the Hyatt racing trailer, which transports our displays and service products to all NHRA national events. To replace our spot on such short notice would not have been fair to Tim and Beth Hyatt.

The Hyatt’s have been very loyal to us, so we wanted to ensure they had ample time for a replacement.

We will not be on the Midway in 2016 and will review, towards the end of the year, if NHRA has made enough changes to give its contingency program a better value.

To be absolutely clear, we WILL have a contingency/reward program(s) for our customers that race NHRA — no matter what we decide.

At what point did you join the Contingency Program?

Sometime back in the 80s. We always encouraged racers to run our decals and we’d pay them if they won. We started paying for axles and then

expanded it to struts, shocks, and whatnot.

We also had the Perfectly Strange program which did very well for us as far as branding the company.

For a company like us where we have axles, struts, brakes, shocks, driveshafts, and other core products, to be involved in the traditional NHRA contingency system for each one of those becomes costly. NHRA doesn’t provide enough benefits, which they could, to be a good value.

And in the case of axles, you’ve got guys running them for 10 or 15 years, so you’re paying rewards programs based on that. It is limiting because you want the winners to get paid, but the reason Perfectly Strange was created was because we wanted to give more racers money who might not

ever get the chance to win on a regular basis.

That’s really where we’re headed with our programs; to be able to reward our customers that have our products, not only at a national event but other races as well.

You’ve always managed to support the sportsman racers over the years. What have been your goals with that?

As far as drag racing, I grew up in it and there are a lot of people where it’s not just racers, it’s more of a family where you take care of each other because there is an understanding.

As a group, they definitely drive sales for us. And because I grew up here, I don’t have that sense of obligation in other areas, but in drag racing I do.

We don’t spend money where it doesn’t make sense, but in drag racing it does, so that’s why we do it.

be absolutely clear, we WILL have a “Tocontingency/reward program(s) for our customer’s that race NHRA — no matter what we decide. ” What was your goal regarding contingency awards going into 2015?

I attended the Yellow Bullet Nationals at Cecil County Dragway in Maryland last year and I was very impressed with the crowds and racers. They’re every bit as passionate about what they do as anyone.

We’re the title sponsor for Cecil County’s Outlaw Street Shootout, which is a year-long series. We’re going to play around with a Perfectly Strange program for that track also.

As for the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional race they have at Cecil County, we’re going to try to have a special Strange program for that one event.

In addition, we’re going to work more on our social media campaigns and work with the local tracks on more of a grassroots level.

I spent a lot of time last year walking the pits and I learned quite a bit in talking with the racers.

Is there something to be learned from the Yellow Bullet Nationals?

I was blown away. There were 600 or so cars and we didn’t have any kind of

34 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

formal survey or such, but everyone that I spoke with, there was not one person who said anything negative about Cecil County or the race.

What really struck me as odd was that I don’t think there were more than a handful of racers that even raced NHRA. They were all very enthusiastic, a lot younger in general and had a very refreshing outlook on racing.

I do believe there is something to be learned there.

Why did it appear more relaxed than an NHRA event?

The racers in different venues are just having more fun. I think you get back to the organization.

There are so many things that could be done in a goodwill effort which would make things fun again.

You could probably sit down with a handful of racers and throw out ideas, which probably wouldn’t cost very much, but still garner a lot of good will. A lot of times it is a very simple fix to make it a good experience.

I think they’re trying, but only time

will tell. Sometimes people will listen but not really hear what is being said.

I can only tell you that when I walked around the pits last year, I was somewhat shocked at how negative racers were toward the organization [NHRA].

In some cases, there were racers who were at a divisional but had no desire to go to a national event. And that was supposed to be part of the reasoning for attending a divisional.

You seem to have gotten quite a bit of support from your Facebook post. What were your feelings towards that?

It should be obvious that I am getting that much support in the terms of people who are leaving the program and/or not attending events.

Maybe we should have some sort of think group in order to hash out ideas.

In my company I listen to my groups before I make a difficult decision.

If it’s an engineering change, I listen to my engineers. A sales decision?

Same thing. It’s completely logical to approach it in that manner. But there has to be a willingness to do that. Without it, there becomes a perception of not caring.

I don’t know their structure, but I know the end result is that it’s broken.

I know there a lot of manufacturers and racers who would be willing to give their time to help make this better.

I’m not really looking for something that would directly benefit Strange Engineering, but rather something that would grow the sport, and could be a benefit to everyone.

Where do you see drag racing, or even motorsports in general, being in 10 or 20 years?

I don’t know, but it would be hard for me to believe there would be data to prove they have had strong growth on the sportsman level in a long time.

I think when you look at the median age you can see that. But when I look at the other types of events, it was surprising to me how many didn’t want to have anything to do with NHRA events. So I think that’s rather positive for our future.

If someone could pick up some key tracks and put on a really good sportsman show, they could do extremely well. But it has to be prestigious enough. People will always want to race the top competition, whether it’s an NHRA or big bracket race or the Yellow Bullet event.

I just think it’s gotten a little less prestigious to get a trophy under the NHRA banner than it used to be.

I’m making a generalization here,

but most of the racers we speak with will tell you it’s just not the same anymore. Which could be because there is a blemish on the organization.

Again a generalization, but what’s important is actual recognition by them.

I know that National Dragster has recognized this and earlier this year announced a change in their editorial style toward sportsman racers. Time will tell if they follow suit, but at least they’ve recognized it and have decided to act on a change.

Racers are proud and like to see their name in print. It blows me away

when I see what a sportsman racer has to do to compete from a time, money, and commitment standpoint.

That’s probably why I have somewhat of a soft spot for those racers.

You just walk through the pits and you can see and feel it. I don’t know how they get it done and then have a job or family to go to during the week.

For most, it’s just a hobby, so the question I have to ask is why would you want a hobby where you get treated poorly? I don’t mean hobby in a derogatory sense, but it is just that for most. DRS

STRETCHING

Out W

hen it comes to measuring the desired preload applied to a rod bolt there are essentially three methods: torque, torque angle of deflection, and stretch.

But since most of us don’t have a robot at our disposal to administer torque angle, we’ll focus on the two that most racers and engine builders employ, using a torque wrench or a stretch gauge.

Most of us grew up using a torque wrench, graduating from having a simple beam style, to a more sophisticated “clicker” wrench, to the latest generation of digital designs. As one might expect, the accuracy of the gauges, and ability to set precise limits, has improved dramatically over the years.

That said, torque wrenches are delicate instruments that must be handled carefully and used properly to assure they 36 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Torquing or stretching rod bolts: That is the question Words/Photos Bill Holland provide accurate results. They should also be calibrated regularly (ARP offers a free torque wrench testing service at all NHRA National events).

But despite using the most precise and accurate torque wrench on the planet, achieving the proper amount of preload is a gamble at best.

The culprit is the phenomenon known as “preload scatter.” That’s because there are varying degrees of friction inherent in the rod’s threads, the fastener lubricant, and the bolt itself.

And when you tighten any rod bolt a significant portion of the energy is spent overcoming friction. As such, when the wrench indicates that you’ve reached a desired torque reading it doesn’t mean it’s all been spent preloading the bolt.

To mitigate these factors, knowledgeable engine builders have had to

“cycle” the bolts in the rods, torquing, loosening, and re-torquing a bolt several times. Only then, would they be comfortable of having a reasonably accurate preload. This process is much like burnishing or lapping-in and puts unnecessary wear on the bolts and rods.

Of course, the folks at ARP have long been aware of the perils of “preload scatter” and devoted significant time and effort to developing a fastener lubricant that reduces friction and is very consistent.

ARP Ultra-Torque fastener lubricant has been extensively tested and proven to provide 95–100 percent accuracy with the first pull (and any subsequent one) of the torque wrench. It’s far superior to other commonly used lubricants, such as oil, moly, EPL, and “peanut butter.”

Torque wrenches can vary in accuracy and hence become a problem when you’re attempting to maintain the proper bolt stretch. ARP offers a free torque wrench testing service at all NHRA national events.

ARP’s Ultra-Torque fastener lubricant is far superior to other commonly used lubricants, such as oil, moly, EPL, and “peanut butter” when it comes to repeating torque values.

There are three methods to properly preload a bolt. The proper method for most engine builders is measuring the amount of stretch, most important when it comes to rod bolts.

It’s important to remember that a fastener acts much like a spring to achieve preload; it must be stretched. And the “rebound” equates to clamping force. For a typical 220,000 psi small block Chevy rod bolt to have 16,000 psi preload it will be stretched .0055 to .006 of an inch. The material the bolt is made of (ARP manufactures rod bolts from a variety of materials than have from 200,000 to 280,000 psi tensile strengths) and size will have a bearing on the preload and stretch needed to achieve the desired clamping force.

Clearly, the one way to ensure accurate preloading is to measure the length of the bolt after it’s been tightened using a rod bolt stretch gauge, endeavoring to match the specs set forth by the rod and/or bolt manufacturers.

It’s obviously necessary to measure each rod bolt prior to assembly so you can determine the amount of stretch applied. Additionally, it’s important to keep an accurate log of each rod bolt and measure them upon engine disassembly for routine maintenance. If the length of a rod bolt in its relaxed state has grown by .001-inch or more it has been yielded and must be replaced.

This brings us to the TTY (Torque-to-Yield) rod bolts employed by auto manufacturers for several decades now. The bolts are engineered to be yielded on initial assembly and are preloaded using robotic equipment and the torque angle technique. They are NOT intended for re-use, as they’re yielded.

And they’re certainly not designed to withstand much more abuse from higher horsepower and torque than what’s stock.

Rod bolts are the most critical fasteners in an engine. And not sufficiently preloading them, or applying too much preload, can lead to catastrophic results. According to the engineers at ARP, the majority of rod bolt “failures” can be attributed to improper preloading.

Using ARP’s Ultra-Torque fastener assembly lubricant and/or adding a rod bolt stretch gauge to your toolbox can pay dividends in the long run. It’ll also give you peace of mind every time you make a pass, knowing that the rods aren’t apt to be exiting the engine on the run. DRS Source: Automotive Racing Products, Inc. (ARP), arp-bolts.com

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 37

QUICK

Learner Duane Shields is hooked on the competition

Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo

38  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

T

he sport of drag racing has included people from many different backgrounds. Some are car guys (and gals), while others are hooked to the competition the sport affords while still being addicted to the automobile.

In Duane Shields’ case, it was the latter that has convinced him to further his competition education after a successful career as a motocross and sand drag competitor. As a youngster, the motocross “thing” worked well before finding his enjoyment behind the wheel of a sand dragster competing in and around his Las Vegas home.

Formed in 2012, Shields joined the PEAK sportsman sponsorship team that included (left to right) Dan Fletcher, Sherman Adcock, and Jay Payne, a long-time friend of Shields.

“My uncle Hap, and my dad Lee were really the instigators of my whole racing career,” Shields says. “My parents were more into motorcycle racing, but they enjoyed my sand drag days.

We had an old asphalt front engine dragster that we converted with an injected small block nitro combination.

We raced as a family, competing a half a dozen times each year, but we had a lot of fun.”

The proprietor of Short Line Express Market, a line of convenience stores around Las Vegas, Shields wanted to move into a more professional style of racing. Obviously living in Vegas he had made several trips to the local drag races, as well as forays to the southern California area, which prompted his move to the asphalt.

“I attended Frank Hawley’s school in ’96 just to see if I liked it,” says Shields. “Naturally that was a problem, because I did like it, and eventually purchased a used blown alcohol dragster. We really didn’t know what we were doing. It was a new experience for us, and we found out how to blow up a lot of stuff those first couple of years. We also learned the hard way that we had purchased some rather tired equipment, but we really didn’t know any better.”

“In 1998, I purchased the entire car and parts from Gary Turner when he retired,” says Shields. “That real40 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

uncle Hap, and my dad Lee were “My really the instigators of my whole racing career. ” ly changed our program. Sam Shockley came on board and that helped us in what to look for, especially from a maintenance and tuning standpoint.”

Fortunately, Shields is a quick learner eventually breaking through for his first national event win in 1999 in Sonoma, California.

“It was an awesome event, we went from having won just a handful of rounds, to winning an NHRA national event,” says Shield. A second-place finish in national points in 2002, with a blown alcohol car — which included setting the national record — convinced Shields that their learning curve had accelerated.

“It was around that time, I became convinced that the injected nitro A/Fuel combination in the class was somewhat quicker,” he says. “In speaking with some of those owners running that type car, they had mentioned there to be a substantial cost savings also. When I would look at what I was spending to run the blown alcohol car, I was having a hard time justifying the ‘fun factor’ for the amount of costs to operate a top caliber team. At that point I had to make

a decision to either quit or switch cars. I chose to switch.”

Shields sold the blown car at the end of 2003 and purchased Tony Bartone’s A/Fuel car, winning at his first race out — The Gambler NHRA divisional race in Las Vegas — with the new combination.

“Unfortunately, we struggled after that, we made some adjustment errors that probably screwed us up,” Shields says. “We struggled for the next year and maybe a couple of times questioned the decision to switch, but it was still the right decision. Even after some rule changes in the class that kept things in turmoil, our determination never wavered. As die-hards, we just take it step by step, learn and correct as we go along.”

Duane’s dad, Lee Shields, passed away in 2010, which changed Duane’s outlook as to where to race.

“We ran most of the races on the west coast,” he says, “traveling maybe as far east as Indianapolis. We had always raced as a family, and when my Dad passed, I wanted to sort of change where I raced. It was that reason, as to why we now almost exclusively race on the east coast.”

Racing early on in the southeast division of NHRA, Shields now competes in the newly formed Eastern Region of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. The change must have done him good, as Shields scored the Top Alcohol Dragster national championship in 2011 along with the Division 2 championship.

“Racing back east actually works better from a scheduling standpoint,” he says. “We have a lot of friends across the country, so we’re able to leave the car and transporter back east. Usually when the transporter leaves in February, it won’t come back to Las Vegas until October, when we run the national events in Vegas and Pomona.

There’s a lot of airfare involved but that’s okay, my lower truck cost offsets the higher airfares.”

Drag racing is always a struggle.

Sometimes it’s one step ahead and two steps back, but Duane Shields and team are, as he says, die-hards.

“In 2012 my crew chief, Dana Hopewell, left and we struggled for a year or so before he came back in ’13,” Shields says. “It took us a while still to get our tune up straightened out, but we’re pretty happy where we are now, and we’re having fun, which is the main thing!”

Like many other classes, races are sometimes won in the pits and Shields’ crew, which consists of Dana Hopewell and his wife Sheryl, Bill Jones, Jason Lopes, Jerry Beasley, nephew Larry Shields, and Joshua Green, are some of the best.

A serious competitor, Shields admits that having fun is also an important facet, and there’s no more fun to be had than when you’re winning races.

Having fun also means winning races and besides the championship, Shields currently has 20 NHRA national event wins in 37 final round

appearances. Add in several divisional wins and divisional championships, and it is plain to see why he’s having fun.

Besides Hopewell and Hopewell’s wife Sheryl, Shields is assisted by Bill Jones, Jason Lopes, Jerry Beasley, nephew Larry Shields, and Joshua

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Green. Both Jones and Beasley have been associated with Shields since his sand drag days and in fact, Beasley is a childhood friend of Shields.

When the PEAK sponsorship was coming into being, longtime friends Jay and Shelly Payne, suggested they speak with Shields, which culminated in the sponsorship of the Shields Racing Team.

“They’re a great company to work with,” Shields says. “Regardless of who we had as sponsors, we always tried to give them a good value and more than they ask for. PEAK has quality products and it makes it easy for us.

“I know it’s been said before, but when the John Force sponsorship came about,” Shields adds, “they came to each of the sportsman teams and extended our contract, because they wanted us to feel confident in their support. They believe in the sportsman classes and that’s important. They’ve got a great product and like any other company, they look for a good return.”

With a clear head on his shoulders, along with the support of PEAK, his crew, and friends, there’s no doubt that Duane Shields will land anywhere else but the winner’s circle again. DRS

Prior to running, Shields can always be found scoping out the track surface.

HOOKING

UP M

SD and Racepak go together like Abbott and Costello, John and Paul, or in our case, Sox and Martin.

Even before they were owned under the same corporate umbrella, the two companies worked hand-in-hand in the pits and sometimes out of the same support trailer (as they do today).

It makes perfect sense that these two companies work so closely, as each of them are involved in technologies that can intimidate racers and builders alike — electronics and software.

Whenever an engine stutters or an elapsed time suddenly is off the mark, racers are digging into their data recorder looking for a reason or pulling off ignition parts and running over to the support trailer to have things tested.

When MSD developed its next-generation programmable ignition system, the Power Grid, its brain trust got to44 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Connecting a MSD Power Grid to a Racepak data logger unleashes a wealth of valuable information Words Todd Ryden/Photos John DiBartolomeo gether with the Racepak crew to see what the two could do together.

The Power Grid has its own data recording capabilities, but it is limited to ignition data only. You can’t add sensors and other information with the Power Grid, however the data, such as timing and step retard activations is very useful for racers.

The result was to add a Racepak V-Net connector from the Power Grid’s electrical harness. By using Racepak’s common V-Net tee connectors, the Power Grid will share ignition data with the Racepak so racers can review important ignition information from their DataLink II software-equipped PC. To share the MSD data, a racer needs to be using a Racepak with V-Net capabilities, such as the line of IQ3 dashes or the Sportsman, V300 series, or V500 type data recorders. Also,

make sure to be using a version of Datalink II software that is 3.8.0 or higher.

One thing to keep in mind is that each channel from the MSD will take up a channel on the Racepak, so depending on your recorder and the number of sensors you’re using, you can select the data you wish to record.

The Power Grid records 19 channels of ignition data, 13 of which can be shared with a Racepak.

Two of the most useful values to share are engine rpm and ignition timing. The benefit of using engine rpm is that you’re getting it straight from the source and can compare it with the driveshaft rpm of the Racepak. This can help sort out transmission or converter questions for tuning purposes or diagnosis.

As for the ignition timing, you’ll be able to review exactly where the ignition timing is during a run to en-

The Power Grid Ignition Control can be used with most MSD ignition systems including the 6-, 7-, or 8-series ignitions as well as the Pro Mag. Basically, you can make any ignition system laptop programmable along with data acquisition. But that’s only the start of great diagnosis.

The V300SD can tell you just about everything when it comes to your car’s performance, depending on the sensors you install. Now that it can talk, or at least listen to what the MSD Ignition Power Grid says, you can review more ignition and timing data than ever before.

In this screen capture of the DataLink II software, the blue trace at the bottom of the screen is the ignition timing through the entire run. The retard steps are programmed with the nitrous stages that correspond with the traces above showing the activation points of the retards. At the top right of the screen are the various Power Grid channels charted.

To get your Racepak and Power Grid talking together, you’ll need a V-Net tee-cable such as this 9-inch version, part number 280-CAVM-T009.

sure step retards or other timing map specifications are programmed in relation to other sensitive engine and chassis setups.

One important value that isn’t shared with the Racepak is the ignition in/out data, but is available to be viewed on MSD’s View software. This information shows each trigger signal into the ignition box as well as each output from the ignition. As you might have guessed, this is a gigantic file and there is just too much data to stream/ share over to the Racepak.

The advantage of reviewing this data on the Power Grid’s View software

receive (such as battery voltage and CAM Sync status) and when it comes to getting ready for the next round of racing, there’s no such thing as too much data.

If you have a Racepak and an MSD Power Grid in your race car, there is absolutely no reason not to get them talking to each other. All it takes are a couple of key strokes and a V-Net harness.

It’s great to have two leading companies sharing information for the benefit of racers! DRS

platform is if there’s a miss or ignition problem going down the track. By recording every trigger event, you would be able to identify exactly when it occurred. This is an important diagnostic tool to determine an issue with the crank trigger, pickup, or wiring.

The Power Grid records each pass with no extra setup, unless for some reason the acquisition activation is turned off within the MSD View software. There is no benefit or reason to deactivate this feature though, even when you’re connected to a Racepak.

Remember, there are still a few channels the Racepak software doesn’t

Source: MSD LLC, msdperformance.com; Racepak, racepak.com

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 45

LARRY MORGAN

HEADS IN A NEW

DIRECTION Words Jon Asher/Photos Jon Asher & Carol Johnson

I

n the film Galaxy Quest, (A mustsee for any fan of Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica or Babylon 5 because it’s a hilarious send-up), star Tim Allen’s go-to line is “Never give up! Never surrender!”

That, ladies and gentlemen, epitomizes Larry Morgan’s approach to drag racing in five simple words.

Despite long odds, competitors with far deeper pockets and raging paranoia

that someone might actually see something — anything — under their towel-covered engines or curtained rear ends, Morgan continues to go his own way, with a plethora of loyal fans who hang on his every word and deed. And oh, those words.

Morgan was once fined $5,000 by NHRA for having offered his opinion about a race track. He didn’t make a statement of fact, he simply voiced his

feelings — and since when do we punish people for voicing their feelings?

Never mind. (Get out your red pencil Mr. Editor, ’cause we wouldn’t want to offend anyone, would we?)

Unlike his peers, the ropes around Morgan’s pits are merely for show, and his fans know it. There are no restrictions in his camp. You look at and ask about anything, and you’ll usually get an answer. It might be humorous. It

Before I’d even done a burnout — and you can quote me on this — Brian Wolf got moved [by Ford], and I was (expletive deleted). might be a smart-ass rejoinder and it might even be informative. But you will be heard, and you will get a response.

As everyone reading this magazine knows, Morgan struggled for the last several years trying to run a Ford Mustang in Pro Stock. The formal announcement in the middle of last year that Ford was pulling out of professional drag racing caught many by surprise, but Morgan wasn’t among

them. He’d seen the writing on the wall months earlier.

“Had I known what was going to happen, I never would have switched over [from a Dodge],” Morgan says. “It wasn’t Brian Wolf’s fault. He was in charge of the Ford program, and Jim Cunningham wanted to build a Ford engine and run a Mustang. We worked together, and then the Ford guys came

down to my shop and asked me if I’d change [to a Ford]. I agreed to do it because I figured they’d be around for the long haul.

“Before I’d even done a burnout — and you can quote me on this — Brian Wolf got moved [internally by Ford], and I was (expletive deleted). The guy they put in charge hated drag racing.

That guy ought to be in charge of the dumpsters at Ford — but I’m not sure he could handle that — and you can quote me on that, too!”

Part of Morgan’s frustrations are the result of his knowing that Cunningham didn’t take money from Ford, he brought money to them to help get a program started. The plan never came to fruition and Cunningham passed away in 2014.

Morgan estimates that over the course of the Ford program he invested more than $3 million in hardware, development, and testing with no financial backing other than promises from Ford.

“At this point I’m not even upset about it,” he says. “What’s the point?

I’m just sorry I ever made the decision to switch over from the Dodge. What happened to me and everyone else with a Ford is what you get when the person in charge doesn’t like the activity they’re supposed to be running. It could have been a good program.”

After battling through a year in which he was a back-half qualifier at best, and made just one quarterfinal round appearance, he knew he had to make a change, and with General Motors once again showing some support for the class, the direction in which to go was obvious. But, unlike previous efforts, Morgan is not using his own power plants, instead relying on rental engines from Gray Motorsports.

“If I’d’ve decided to run my own engines it would have cost me about a half-million to get started,” he says.

“I didn’t think I could’ve gotten up to date quickly enough, no matter how much money I might have had. The other thing is that to succeed you have to have people who really want to work hard, really want the challenge, and I didn’t think I had anyone like that.”

Morgan adds that he’s unlikely to ever re-kindle his Pro Stock engine program because “there’s just not enough money in NHRA Drag Racing.”

Always a forward-thinker, Morgan’s seriously concerned about the future of Pro Stock and drag racing itself.

“It just costs too much money to run these cars,” he says with conviction. “I don’t think we’ll ever see 24 cars trying Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 47

One of Morgan’s biggest supporters these days is FireAde owner Ron Thames.

Opening the doors after the burnout gets the smoke out of Larry’s eyes before the run.

to qualify for these races again. Believe me, there are a lot of cars out there, a ton of ’em, but the guys just don’t have enough money to run ’em.”

Morgan blanches when considering the ultra-pricey hardware that’s somehow been allowed to migrate into the class.

Shock absorbers for $18,000(“I’m one of those guys who rents ’em for $1,000 a race.”) and rearend housings costing $250,000 have widened the gap between the haves and the wish-they-hads.

“Some of this stuff never should have happened,” he says. “Really, you can call me stupid for continuing to do this, because I can’t really afford it either. I’m convinced Warren [Johnson] was right. Unless some major changes are made I think there’s real trouble ahead.”

Morgan acknowledges that when he was a kid he went to the track to try and figure out which were the best parts, and how to set up a car. Even with declining interest in cars among young people, which has been well documented, he believes the secrecy that’s commonplace in Pro Stock is a huge negative.

“Why would a fan come around when there’s nothing to see, and most of these guys won’t give someone an honest answer about what they’re running?” Morgan says. “If you want fans to follow what you’re doing, or just fol-

How can you prove every run isn’t a great one? Just check the look on Morgan’s face as his wife, Diane, hands him the time slip.

It’s been a number of years since Morgan has had some serious horsepower under the hood. With his new alliance with Gray Motorsports and the backing of FireAde, his enthusiasm this year is through the roof.

48 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

low the sport, you’ve got to entertain ’em, let ’em see stuff and answer their questions. Hiding everything is (expletive deleted).”

Morgan’s Jerry Haas-penned Camaro carries major sponsorship from FireAde, a prominent aftermarket fire suppression company whose “official” name is Fire Service Plus, Inc.

Morgan has no qualms about journalists or fans watching what he’s doing. “There are no real secrets out here,” he says.

Founder Ron Thames signed Morgan to a major sponsorship program after a dinner meeting following the second Las Vegas race last year. Even in his sponsorship negotiations Morgan’s outspokenness is astounding.

“First of all, even before we talked, I’d used the products — and I’m not telling you why I needed it — but I know the stuff works,” Morgan stated. “That’s important to me. But, I told Ron that getting involved in a major sponsorship program was going to be costly. I didn’t want him to go into something without understanding what it might entail.

“FireAde was already involved with Roy Hill, but Roy’s not running in a Pro category right now, so his publicity opportunities are kinda limited. I hate to say that ’cause I love sportsman, but they’re just not going to get you any TV time. I’m really a sportsman racer who just happens to be running Pro Stock.

“NHRA has actually been using FireAde extinguishers with the Safety Safari for the last three years, so they’re pretty familiar with the company and their products.

“I told Ron that if I get interviewed I’m going to tell whoever it is that FireAde is the exclusive fire extinguishers

With newfound power, Morgan is once again poised for the winner’s circle. “It feels good to let the clutch out now,” he said earlier this year.

used by IHRA and is also being used by NHRA. That ought to get some notice!”

Morgan sees his new Camaro as the means to an end — the winners circle. Everything he’s doing right now is geared towards that. While he’s loathe to admit it, the constant struggle with the Ford sapped his energy and even some of his will, but that’s all in the past.

But even Morgan, one of the most positive people in drag racing, couldn’t have foreseen what happened the fourth time he put the car on the track — he decisively won the NHRA FourWide Nationals in Charlotte.

“I had over 200 text messages by the next morning,” he told Drag Racing Scene. “It blew me away.” DRS

There is a difference in wire terminals Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo

T

op Fuel, Pro Stock, sportsman classes, bracket cars…

What do they all have in common? Wiring and the accompanying wire terminals that terminate the wire and connect it to the various electrical components used in any race car.

There are scores of ways to connect the wire to a device, but as usual there are right ways and wrong ways. In addition, there are numerous types of wire terminals on the market which fall into that same right and wrong classification.

The most commonly used are what we’ll term as “hardware store terminals.” These are the crimp style of connectors found on the shelves of every auto parts and hardware store in the country. These are manufactured with a very soft (and cheap) copper material that is plated to resist corrosion. These terminals are meant to be crimped onto the wire with the use of a special tool. However, the tools required for this type of job run the gamut from inexpensive to a quality product.

50 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

The inexpensive tools somewhat perform the job, but do so in a manner which might not offer a quality finish -- a finish which will cause you a headache somewhere down the road.

“When we terminate our wiring kits we do so using very expensive crimping machines,” says Joe Pando of MSD Ignition. “They give us a very high quality crimp that will last for years under normal circumstances.”

The next best thing to MSD’s crimping machine is a tool they offer called the Pro-Crimp Tool. The tool uses interchangeable jaws for use on a number of different styles of wire terminals including spark plug wires.

“The Pro-Crimp tool is the closest thing we’ve found to performing the correct crimp similar to our crimping machines,” Pando adds.

For years it was thought that to best perform the connection between the wire and the terminal required soldering.

A couple of problems exist with that scenario.

If there is one common denominator between all types of race cars, it is the wire terminals which make the connection of the wire to the various devices in your car. There are numerous styles available, but like anything else, some are better than others.

Soldering wire terminals might seem like a fool-proof method, but it hardly is of any use in a race car. It causes the connection to become too brittle and will fail in short time.

First of all, and no disrespect to anyone, soldering a wire terminal requires a certain level of skill. You can use too much (or not enough) heat to properly connect the two together. In addition, when using too much heat, the solder can be wicked up the strands of the wire. This creates a very hard connection and one that will not do well when it comes to the vibration in our cars.

“Soldered connections contribute to a majority of failures,” Leon Brown of Brown & Miller Racing Solutions (BMRS) says.

BMRS has been wiring race cars since 1999. Their team of automotive and electronic specialists are experts in the field of wiring. Their race car harnesses are a part of many NASCAR teams and most professional drag race teams, in addition to providing the wiring components necessary for any wiring application.

“No one in our industry solders wires anymore,” Brown adds. “We use very sophisticated crimping equipment, which

Crimping a wire terminal to a wire is the preferred method, but requires the proper tool such as the MSD Pro Crimp tool on the right. The common hardware-store wire crimper (left) doesn’t perform an adequate enough crimp. It might be good for your stereo radio installation, but not when you’re concerned your delay box has the proper connection.

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 51

They might look the same but there are differences. From left to right: a crimped wire using a hardware-store crimper, a wire terminal crimped using an expensive factory mechanical crimper, one with an MSD Pro Crimp tool which mirrors the factory crimper, and finally a wire crimped with a steel terminal and sealed with heat-shrink tubing.

As far as disconnects are concerned, the one on the left is a Weather Pack unit, while on the right is a Deutsch model which uses much preferred terminal ends.

The Deutsch terminal end on the right is manufactured from a piece of bar steel to mil-spec standards while the Weather Pack terminal (left) is stamped. The Deutsch model holds up better under repeated connect-disconnect conditions.

in some cases we had designed specifically for us. But we also will use from time to time, hand tools which are for the intended purpose, in addition to selling those specific tools along with the wire terminals, wire, and shrink tubing. And we always monitor our customers and their applications carefully.

“As an example,we build all the harnesses for the NASCAR teams and it was brought to our attention that the alternator connections would sometimes fail,” Brown adds. “They’re a single wire alternator and use heavy #4 wire, which is crimped to a wire terminal. During the course of a long race, the heat generated under the hood, the amperage going through the wire, and the vibration would sometimes cause a fatigue failure right at the connector. Our fix was to machine an application-specific wire terminal that is first crimped onto the wire insulation and then crimped to the wire strands themselves. This allows for a very strong connection and one which will not fail regardless of the length of the race or the vibration and heat.”

In terms of the ring terminals themselves, rather than using standard hardware-store terminals, BMRS uses and sells nickel-plated steel connectors, which after crimping are covered with an adhesive-lined heat shrink material that protects the terminal end. The adhesive lining helps to seal off the terminal as well as add a certain amount of flexible support.

In addition to terminating a wire with a connector that connects directly to a device, there are instances where a male/female connector is used to quickly enable a device to be unplugged. In cases such as this, once again there are right and wrong products to be used.

Possibly the most commonly used is a simple spade terminal. These are available in a male/female configuration and normally crimped to the end of a single wire. It enables the two wires to be disconnected from one another. In most 52 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Expensive crimping machines are used by Brown & Miller, but are most likely cost-prohibitive for most racers.

cases they offer a quick and simple method, but offer little in the way of sealing the wire and/or the connection from the elements that could eventually create a corrosion problem. When corrosion occurs, it can create a disruption in the amount of current which is supposed to be flowing through the connector. Enough corrosion, and it will cause problems with the device the wiring is connected to.

The next step up from that is termed universally as a Weather Pack connector. These offer an environmentally sealed connection system that is designed to withstand exposure to extreme temperature and moisture situations.

Taking it one step further is a Deutsch connector. Engineered to perform the same function as the Weather Pack system, the Deutsch offers a much preferred contact terminal than the Weather Pack.

In the case of the Weather Pack, the terminal ends are basically stamped steel contacts which can fail after repeated usage.

The Deutsch contacts are manufactured to mil-spec standards and then plated for corrosion resistance. The Deutsch contacts therefore offer a higher quality of contact which will withstand repeated on and off connections without failing. In either case, specialized tools are used to crimp the contact to the wire.

Like most any other race car component, using the proper equipment can make all the difference in the world when it comes to round after round consistency without problems.

The wire terminal you use falls into that same category. DRS Sources: Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, bmrsusa.com; MSD Ignition, msdperformance.com

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DERELIC The Mendittos rebuild a Challenger R/T

54  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

ICT

Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo

A

t age 16 way back in 1978, Fred Menditto had saved his money and purchased a ’71 Plymouth Road Runner, and thus began a life-long love of Mopars.

“I think I bothered the people at the parts counter of the local Plymouth dealership so much that they offered me a job,” Menditto says.

Several years after that, Menditto moved to Florida and once again found employment with a local Dodge dealership. A muscle car aficionado, Menditto traveled to all the Mopar events around the country. As a Florida resident, his one stop at the races was the annual NHRA Gatornationals, some two-and-half hours from his Lakeland home.

“I had taken my wife Lou Ann, son Rick, and daughter Rebecca, to the Gators one year when the kids were young,” he says. “We noticed the Jr. Dragsters and my daughter said she’d like to drive one.

“I’ve had Road Runners, Challengers, and a ton of other muscle cars, all of them show cars,” Fred adds. “But after you get them done and take them to a car show, all you end up doing is sitting under an umbrella and that’s boring. Once I found this ‘racing thing,’ it’s exciting.”

can’t say my son “Italked me into it,

all he needed to do was give me a little nudge and I was all gung-ho to finish it. I enjoy building and doing stuff like this.

”

At 23-years old, Rick Menditto is the lucky one who gets to wheel the family’s racer. The former NHRA Jr. Dragster champion is an engineering student at the University of Florida, and while he understands the importance of an education, drag racing is in his blood.

While not a Mopar, the next vehicle to share garage space at the Menditto home was a used Jr. Dragster. At age nine, Rebecca wheeled the car all decked out in… what else?... Mopar trim.

By the time Rick came of the Jr. Dragster age of eight, he too wanted in on the fun. Before Fred knew it a pair of Jr. Dragsters, in addition to a Jr. Funny Car for IHRA racing, had made its way into their lives. Along the way, they found considerable success. Young Rick was the 2003 NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League champion in the 11-year old class at the Western Conference finals, as well as the IHRA 2004 Jr. Dragster champion.

“I’ve never really raced, but I enjoy building and working on the cars and seeing my kids enjoy themselves,” Fred says. “We traveled all over the country racing those juniors and we had a blast as a family.”

Now a 23-year old engineering student at the University of Florida, Rick Menditto says, “We always spent time with each other. The juniors were a great way for families to stay together and work toward one goal. Every weekend, we were racing someplace.”

Once Rebecca turned 17, with Rick four years younger and still in juniors, Fred built her a Duster for bracket racing. Eventually, Rebecca gave up the seat and Rick found his way into the big cars. That scenario stayed the same for several years before Fred dragged home the derelict you see on these pages. Keep reading and you’ll understand the derelict term.

“After 17 years, I left the Dodge dealership and opened a used car lot,” Fred 56 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

says. “I was at the auction one day and noticed a wrecked Challenger. And I mean wrecked. It had been a rental car and was rolled over in a crash. The only panel on the car that didn’t have a scratch was the trunk panel. It actually had a Certificate of Destruction title so it couldn’t be fixed and sold in the United States.

“But knowing the market overseas,” he adds, “I figured I could turn a profit by selling it there. Once I got it home, Ricky took a look at it and suggested we fix it up as a race car. It was going to require a lot of work, but as long as he was willing to help, I’d work on it.

We took the motor, trans, and whatever other parts out of it we could salvage and sold them to recoup some money.

But I still had this wrecked chassis.”

Buying a wrecked car and building it into a racer has been done numerous times before by many a person. But in this case, this was the epitome of the term “wrecked.”

“I didn’t buy any six-cylinder, hit in the front-type of car,” Fred says. “This was a really wrecked car, but I enjoy this type of work, especially as a family. I don’t mind sitting on the sidelines watching them race. I actually think that if I were to drive the car, I’d like it too much and have to build another one for myself.”

Hopefully the person who had rented this car had purchased the optional insurance policy, because while the car was basically a standard Challenger R/T, it still was only a year old when

We lovingly referred to this car as a “derelict” in the story, and one look at this photo will tell you why. With urging from son Rick, the Mendittos undertook a massive effort to resurrect the Dodge RT Challenger.

A TCI Outlaw shifter is utilized to move the lever inside a Chrysler three-speed transmission, while Mopar Performance gauges keep track of the engine’s vitals.

Yeah, it’s got a Hemi. A 426-inch third gen model built to run with a carburetor on pump gasoline.

An Indy Cylinder Heads version, it pumps out over 700 horsepower.

the accident occurred. In any event, the Mendittos stripped the car down to a base chassis, which required straightening the front clip, then the car was delivered to Steve Miller Fabrications to back-half it for big slicks and install a roll cage.

Once back in the Menditto’s garage, Fred procured a lot of stock interior pieces while he was installing a new roof, two new quarter panels, fenders, hood, and whatever exterior pieces held the whole assembly together. A fairly ambitious project to say the least.

“I can’t say my son talked me into it,” Fred says, “because all he needed to do was give me a little nudge and I was all gung-ho to finish it. I enjoy building and doing stuff like this.”

While all of that was taking place, the Mendittos hooked up with Indy

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Cylinder Heads, specialists in Mopar engine building. Russ Flagel and Ken Lazzeri and the Indy team went to work starting with a Mopar block, topping it off with a set of their own aluminum cylinder heads and a Mopar Drag Pak intake manifold.

Typically, the 6.1 Hemi engine would be topped off with an electronic fuel injection system, but as a project, Indy Cylinder Heads instead choose a Holley 950 single four-barrel as the fuel delivery method.

“They wanted to build a late model engine with a carburetor that could be run on pump gasoline,” Fred says. “That was where Dave Young came in, as he and I have known each other for some time. He coordinated the effort between Indy and us, and even traveled up to Indianapolis to help assemble the engine.”

A Holley electric fuel pump feeds 93-octane pump gas into the engine, but don’t let that fool you. Indy Cylinder Heads knows how to make power and over 700 horsepower allows this 3,350-pound car to print time slips in the high-nine second zone.

“I didn’t want to use the fuel injection, but I wanted all the other car’s features like the power windows to work,” Fred says. “This took quite a bit of finagling because everything runs through the stock ECM. Fortunately I had help from a lot of friends, but it took almost two years to complete.”

A three-speed Chrysler transmission built by Inline Performance takes its cue from an ATI Performance converter and funnels the power back to a custom-fabricated rear end housing stocked full with Strange Engineering components. Phoenix slicks mounted 58 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

After 22 months of massaging, with body work by Chris Taylor and a Silver King Collision paint job, the Menditto’s “derelict” is a beauty.

A set of Strange Engineering coil over shocks help to keep the Phoenix slicks planted during those high-nine second runs at almost 140 mph.

on Weld Wheels rounds out the combination to get the power to the ground.

Between the Menditto family and their friends, completing the project re-

quired a ton of work, but it was definitely a labor of love. A labor that is the embodiment of a family that happens to love muscle cars and drag racing. DRS

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SWAG(ING) System 1’s solution to filters coming unglued

Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo

T

he fuels we use today in our race cars have as much to do with the performance numbers we see as just about any other component of our time. But along with those advances comes a cost.

For those using methanol as a fuel source, the corrosiveness of that particular fuel can cause some headaches.

Racers in some categories will often add a lube of sorts to the fuel, but in classes where the fuel must pass a check by the sanctioning bodies, the use of a lube nullifies those readings.

“In classes where a straight methanol is used it’s really necessary that you flush the system if you’re not going to run the car every day,” says Mark Mittel of System 1 Filters. “You can flush it with straight gas or some type of lube, 60 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

but if you leave the methanol sitting in there, the corrosiveness of the product can have an effect on hoses and even the aluminum components of your fuel system.”

This is where System 1 found a problem and a fix.

The typical filter media found in canister-style filters is put together with a combination of stainless steel screens that are available with a variety of micron openings. Those screens are attached to stainless caps by way of an epoxy glue.

“Most teams might not have the necessary manpower it takes to disassemble, clean, and flush their fuel systems between races,” Mittel says. “And in time, the methanol softens the epoxy used to glue the filter together eventu-

Swaging is a method of inserting the filter medium into the end cap and then use dies to bend over the edges of the cap to lock in the filter. ally causing it to come apart. The epoxy works fine in just about all applications with the exception of methanol.

“We originally talked of eliminating the epoxy and by way of furnace brazing, weld the screen to the end caps,” Mittel adds. “But it just wasn’t really cost-effective in addition to the brazing having a tendency to wick up onto the screen, which eliminates some filtering capabilities.”

The filter on the right was glued with an epoxy while the cutaway of the filter on the left shows the new style of swaging the filter media to end cap.

The typical filter cartridge is put together by gluing the filter media to a stainless steel cap. System 1 has found that in time, methanol fuel can have a debilitating effect on the glue/epoxy causing the filter cartridge to come apart.

In speaking with several technology companies involved in tooling, questions about “swaging the filter together” were brought up. “[Swaging] is a method of inserting the filter medium into the end cap and then use dies to bend over the edges of the cap to lock in the filter,” says Mittel.

“It was a process that had been used in

very high pressure applications but, until we hit upon it, had been done by hand.

The process we’re using is done on a lathe and pushes the end cap material into the filter material locking it in place.

“We still utilize the old method of epoxying the filter media but eventually we’ll replace it with the new method,” Mittel added. “For oil filtering applica-

With filters available in a wide variety of micron openings, eventually all of System 1’s filters will be changed over to use the new style of swaged filter cartridges.

tions, the epoxy method is fine but every once in a while, you’ll drop the filter on the ground accidentally and it will knock the filter apart. This new swaging method will eliminate that and it’s really about giving our customers a better product.”

And giving customers a better product is really what it’s all about. DRS Source: System 1 Filters, system1filters.com

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 61

AVENUES

NEW

Roy Hill brings his school to two new places

I

t’s not your usual drag race event.

In fact, it doesn’t even closely resemble one with the exception of the crowds and the enthusiasm for performance and bling. But it’s an event that Roy Hill and Roy Hill Drag Racing School is excited about.

“This was the first time I’ve ever been to Bike Week in Daytona, but I can tell you that I am surely impressed,” Hill says. “The people who come here are all about looking good and enjoying the performance of their motorcycles. And when you really break it down, that is what drag racing is all about.

“Sometimes as racers, we don’t look beyond our small world, but these people here are the type of group we 62 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

need to expand into,” says Hill. “And that’s why I decided to bring one of my school’s Mustangs to put on display at Bruce Rossmeyer’s Daytona Harley-Davidson dealership during Bike Week this past March.

“The amount of publicity we received there was incredible and in fact, Rossmeyer’s was so impressed that they have signed on to be an associate sponsor of my Jr. Dragster school.”

This year marked the 74th edition of the annual Daytona Bike Week, a 10day festival that annually brings in over 600,000 people who revel in the festivities, which include motorcycle racing, concerts, parties, and street festivals.

For Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson, the event is much more than just

Bike Week. Rossmeyer’s sprawling dealership includes not only a 109,000-squarefoot showroom, but also Destination Daytona, a facility consisting of retail shops, restaurants, hotels, condominiums, as well as other event facilities.

“These are the people we need to bring over to the drag races,” Hill says.

“We’re working on a program to bring our school to Orlando Speed World Dragway in the future, and we’ll also bring over Rossmeyer’s customers to teach them how to race their motorcycles safely at the track.”

Hill has also been expanding his Jr. Dragster schools and will be involved with five Jr. Dragster races this year at separate facilities which is where Rossmeyer’s gets involved.

The annual Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Florida, brings in over 600,000 people annually, many of whom take the time to visit Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson dealership and its sprawling Destination Daytona facility.

Jr. Dragster racing teaches racing fundamentals and discipline. Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School Jr. Dragster program takes it one step further.

“Beginning this past March, we teamed up with five tracks which run big Jr. Dragster races and we’re putting on a school the day before the event begins,” Hill says. “Each entry will receive a free T-shirt with our sponsor’s logos, and with the purchase of an aerosol can of FireAde product they’ll also get another free shirt. FireAde is a fire-extinguishing agent that everyone should have in their trailers or motorhomes.

So it’s really a win-win for everyone.

“I’ve been teaching students from all over the world. Young and old. But our future depends on our youth. That’s why I’ve chosen to expand my Jr. Dragster school to include stops at Atlanta Dragway, Atmore, Alabama, Bristol Dragway, Orlando, Florida, and Rockingham Dragway in North Carolina.

“The Bristol event will be held in conjunction with the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League Eastern Conference Finals,” Hill adds. Once school is out for the summer, we’ll ramp up our Jr. Dragster program even further” “Just like our partnership with Rossmeyer’s to teach motorcycle racers how to race which will bring a lot more of those people to the track, we need to do

The Jr. Dragster program brings families together. It’s all about fathers helping sons, mothers helping daughters and vice-versa.

the same with our youth,” Hill continues. “I’ve had to re-program my Jr. Dragster school because teaching youth is a lot different than dealing with adults. I have to get down to their level and actually become their Uncle Roy. Their attention span is different and while we have to keep it fun, we also need to show them just how important it is to be serious about drag racing.

“My programs have always been about taking care of our customers,” Hill adds. “It’s important to give them

Shelly Rossmeyer Pepe, managing partner of Rossmeyer’s, said, “We’re looking forward to working with him to expand our whole line-up of activities for our customers.”

more than what they have paid for, and that includes our sponsors too like FireAde, Alsco, Coca-Cola, Hughes Oilfield Transportation, and of course, Bruce Rossmeyer’s Harley-Davidson.”

Shelly Rossmeyer Pepe, managing partner of Rossmeyer’s, says, “It was a real pleasure to meet with Roy and to see all that he has to offer. We’re looking forward to working with him to expand our whole line-up of activities for our customers.” DRS Source: Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School, royhillsdragracingschool.com

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 63

More Power. More Control.

MORE RACER SUPPORT. XFI™ Engine Management Systems Give Hardcore Drag Racers The Power To Customize & Control Their Engine Setups For An Unmatched Edge.

FAST™ engineers have listened to the needs of racers. The result is two systems designed to control and maximize setup. Pair each one with an ever-growing tuner community and expert tech support and you have the capability to fine tune like never before.

XFI SPORTSMAN™

XFI 2.0™

The brand new XFI Sportsman™ Engine Management System is a bank-tobank, fully software-tunable EFI system perfect for those who want more control than EZ-EFI 2.0®, but a simpler option than XFI 2.0™ Fuel Injection. It requires a laptop and includes FAST™ C-Com® software and necessary cables.

The revolutionary XFI 2.0™ features advanced forced induction, power adder and race controls including two separate, fully programmable sequential rev limiters for staging or boost building with six options for activation, four priority assignments and a user-selectable sequential or random mode of rev limiting.

• Utilizes intuitive FAST™ C-COM® software for racer-friendly tuning

• Proven Adaptive Learning technology allows automatic fuel mapping

• Supports boosted engines, offers timing control & nitrous retard

• Time-based, closed-loop boost control for accurate boost management

• Speed Density & Alpha-N fuel strategies for absolute consistency

• Proven Adaptive Learning technology allows automatic fuel mapping • CAN network support provides plugand-play operation

INDUSTRY’S BEST TECH SUPPORT

Whether you’re at the shop, the track, or somewhere in between, FAST™ is there to help you with experienced, knowledgeble technicians.

Stores Up To 4 Tunes

NEW

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From Internet forums to the racetrack, XFI™ users are everywhere to help you get your vehicle dialed in just right.

TOTAL CONTROL FOR UNMATCHED PERFORMANCE AND CONSISTENCY

XFI™ systems feature full tables to monitor fueling, acceleration fuel, timing and air/fuel targets. A user-configurable auxiliary input channel and full-function data logging are also included.

• Progressive, 4-Stage nitrous control eliminates need for external controllers

• Patented transbrake creep function for precise turbo staging control • Coil dwell control optimizes performance on COP applications

BUMP STAGER

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Provides improved staging accuracy by allowing users to access the patented “transcreep” function found in FAST™ XFI™ without the added expense of converting the vehicle to a full XFI™ system. This enables the vehicle to move forward slowly during staging, creating a higher degree of repeatability than racers are able to achieve manually.

#EZDOESIT

COMP Cams® Leads The Way In Custom Camshaft Technology Building a winning engine is serious business. Top racers and motorsports professionals rely on COMP Cams® to create the best custom camshafts for their applications.

With four decades of cutting-edge technological advances and unparalleled customer support, COMP® is THE industry leader you can trust.

Quality begins at the door. Each piece of core material is thoroughly inspected when it arrives. Our new “Sportsman” tool steel core material is the most advanced in the industry and can be processed faster than traditional materials. COMP® can quickly create custom cams to spec for any engine using the latest engineering and manufacturing methods. Top quality is ensured with a series of precision and quality evaluations throughout the entire process. COMP Cams® offers many Special Services that include Xtreme Surface enhancement - the highest-quality finishing process available - and precision Adcole Profiling that can measure all 16 camshaft lobes up to 0.00001 of an inch for complete accuracy.

It doesn’t stop there. COMP® Quality extends well beyond the finished product. A highly knowledgeable Tech Support staff brings decades of experience and a passion for racing to make sure you get the absolute best cam for your application, while answering questions quickly and effectively. COMP® also offers fast turnarounds for time-sensitive racing situations. COMP® Quality, COMP® Care. That’s a winning combination.

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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT

BUILDING A

BETTER

MOUSETRAP Manton Pushrods attempts to bulletproof an explosion 66  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

W

ithout a doubt, the most explosive engines on the planet are those which are fueled by nitromethane – be it in a Top Fuel dragster or Funny Car. Depending on who you speak with, 8,000 to 10,000 horsepower (and we’d like to see the dyno which measures that) is enough to propel a little over roughly one-ton vehicle to speeds over 300 mph in just 1,000-feet of track surface. But it’s also enough to place those engines always on the verge of destruction. It’s the job of the various manufacturers of fuel car components to build products that will withstand the forces exerted on those parts.

Where most engines will use hollow pushrods for oil to travel up through, a fuel car engine utilizes a different style of oiling for the upper valvetrain.

These engines are also the most explosive ones on the planet.

Manton Pushrods understands that responsibility. It involves not just building a product, but also keeping tabs on it in the event of a failure, which requires going back to the drawing board and building a better mousetrap.

“We supply pushrods to a number of the fuel car teams as well as alcohol, Pro Mod, and sportsman cars,” says Al Perkins of Manton Pushrods. “We noticed a problem, and it really was only surfacing in the fuel car ranks. It was an area where we just tried to extend cycle life of the component, and we did that by going to a better material.”

Most pushrod engines use hollow pushrods where oil travels up through them to lubricate the rocker system. A fuel car engine is different, as there is no oil fed up though the pushrods. The rocker system and top end of the engine is lubricated by oil pressure fed up through the block and cylinder head, so a solid pushrod or bar can be used.

A lot of the advances made from increased rpm can be attributed to stiffer pushrods which better translate the camshaft profile to the valves. It’s why we’re seeing 9,000 rpm Super Stockers and 11,000 rpm Pro Stock engines. There is an almost unbelievable amount of deflection in a pushrod, and fuel cars are no different. But because no oil is fed up through the pushrod in a fuel car engine, it leaves the door open for a solid bar, which some or most utilize.

“Rather than use a tool steel H13 material for the center section of our fuel car pushrods,” Perkins says. “We feel an S7 material is better suited for the center column. The S7 has better shock resistance characteristics. We then offer various tips machined from an H13 material. This makes it an all-tool steel pushrod. We first drill the end of the bar and then press the tips into the hole.

“The hole in the end of the bar was always drilled deeper 68 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Because no oil travels up through the pushrod of a fuel car engine, most will utilize a solid bar of steel. Manton manufactures its fuel car pushrod center sections from an S7 tool steel material and the various pushrod tips to fit different styles of rocker systems, are built from an H13 material.

than necessary to be able to shorten and repair the tool steel pushrod using an 8620 tip end.”

The problem came into being whenever extreme cylinder pressures would arise, such as when a cylinder went dead, and the boost goes up to 70- or 80-pounds. Attempting to open the valve into a cylinder with high pressure can be very hard, which forces extreme pressure on the valvetrain components.

Extreme pressure always finds the weak link and in this case it was the pushrod tips, which Manton changed by going from an 8620 material to the H13 required for the fuel cars.

noticed a problem, and it “We really was only surfacing in the fuel car ranks. It was an area where we just tried to extend cycle life of the component, and we did that by going to a better material.

”

“The way we built them before, the shoulder of the pushrod tip would ride against the end of the bar,” Perkins says.

“In most cases there is nothing wrong with that design, but for something like a fuel car engine, we needed to rethink the process.

“What we ended up doing now, is to only drill the bar to the length of the pushrod tip and allow the tip to bottom out in the hole, in addition to the top shoulder. Actually we do leave about .003-inch gap at the bottom to allow for some compression. There is also a radius in the bottom of the hole which matches the radius on the bottom of the pushrod tip.

It all matches together to form a very solid pushrod.

“It does take quite a bit of machining, accuracy, and hand-fitting to do it this way. Of course we can’t shorten the length of the pushrod, but it makes for a stronger design,” says Perkins.

Building a better mousetrap always requires ingenuity and after all, ingenuity is the cornerstone of drag racing. DRS Source: Manton Pushrods, mantonpushrods.com

Manton’s new fuel car pushrods have the bar drilled to the exact depth of the pushrod tip and radiused at the bottom to match the radius on the bottom of the tip.

The pushrod tips are first machined from tool steel, then core hardened, followed by an iron nitrite process for the outside, and then the tip’s shank is centerless ground for a proper press fit into the pushrod’s center section.

UP

Gearing

Words Lake Speed Jr.

Gear oil viscosity: Does your weight make the grade?

V

iscosity is the most important property of a lubricant, and this is especially true of gear oils. But did you know that a 20W-50 motor oil is the same viscosity as a 75W-90 gear oil?

Most people think that a higher SAE means that the viscosity is always higher, but the SAE gear oil grades run parallel to the SAE motor oil grades. Another example is that an 80-grade manual transmission fluid is the same measured viscosity as a 30-grade motor oil. This is why some synchronized transmissions call for 30-grade motor oils.

So what does this have to do with drag racing? Well, several things...

Just like motor oils, gear oils get thinner as they get hotter, so knowing 70 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

your gear oil temp will help you maximize the performance by selecting the right viscosity.

A fully synthetic gear oil also reduces drag, so that frees up horsepower and increases acceleration.

So how do you decide the right viscosity gear oil? First, gear oil viscosity choice is always determined by power and the weight of the vehicle.

The rule of thumb is that the higher horsepower and heavier cars need a higher viscosity gear oil, like a 75W140. On the opposite end of the spectrum, lower power and lighter vehicles can use a lighter gear oil like a 70W-80.

It is also important to note that hypoid rear gears require a GL-5 or higher

rated gear oil. The GL rating reflects the amount of extreme pressure (EP) additives. As a general rule, a GL-4 gear oil — regardless of viscosity — has 50 percent of the EP additives of a GL-5 gear oil.

Since nearly every rear gear in a drag car is a hypoid gear unit, don’t use a GL-4 in the rear gear. While a GL-4 may work fine in a manual transmission, don’t trust your rear gear to a GL-4.

Speaking of transmissions, the vast majority of drag racing trannies are automatics, and you should never use gear oil in an automatic transmission.

When it comes to choosing an ATF, the same power and weight rules apply. The

The rear gears in a differential are termed as hypoid gears where the axis of one (ring gear) does not intersect with the axis of the meshing gear (pinion). As such, they require a special lubricant with extreme pressure additives.

Matching the gear oil to your power and weight requirements is the best way to ensure long life from your rear gear assembly.

lighter cars and lower horsepower cars should use a 20-weight ATF (type F, like the ATI Super F, is the best choice for drag racing). As expected, the heavier and higher horsepower cars should use a heavier ATF like a 30-weight.

Choosing the proper viscosity synthetic gear oils and tranny fluids will extend the life of your gears and transmission as well as lower your ET.  DRS Source: Driven Oil, drivenracingoil.com

Never use a gear oil in an automatic transmission. The same rules apply here to matching your choice of oil to power and weight requirements.

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene  71

Drag Racing Scene has compiled a list of some of the hottest new products to hit the drag racing market. On the following pages of our Vendor Midway, be sure to check out the variety of racing products offered. Product and company contact information is provided should you see something you wish to purchase — and we know you will.

Stocked Up

Browell Bellhousing, Stock Bellhousing Browell Bellhousing has been custom building SFI-certified aluminum and steel bellhousings for all motorsports applications for a long time. A new addition to their line is a steel bellhousing specifically necessary for Stock Eliminator racing as well as any other class that requires the use of the stock chassis floor pan. Built to the same specifications which Browell is famous for, the Stock Bellhousing meets all SFI 6.1W specs and fits most popular transmission bolt patterns. Each Browell bellhousing is built from select materials and manufactured to exacting specifications. Available in standard black powdercoated or a variety of colors. browellent.com 765.447.2292

72  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Better Flow Brodix, RR BB-2 XTRA

With the introduction of the RR BB-2 XTRA, BRODIX adds to their already popular Race-Rite series. This new head features a 365cc rectangular intake port that flows over 375 CFM, (the 100 percent CNC ported version flows over 400 CFM)! Other features include: 2.300/1.880 valve combination, 119cc combustion chambers (available CNC ported), and 75-pound weight savings over iron heads. As with previous Race-Rite offerings, the exhaust ports remain in the stock location eliminating header or manifold interference. The Race-Rite series is the answer for less hassle during installation. brodix.com 479.394.1075

Clean Neutral

Turbo Action, CHEETAH XtremeAction Valve Bodies Turbo Action’s all new CHEETAH XtremeAction Valve Bodies will set a new standard of performance for race and street cars.

The new valve body has a safe, clean neutral and no need to use the trans brake button to back up the car. Engine braking is also aided in low gear. A clean rear band apply and release makes it great for race or street applications with no roller clutch failure. Several different part numbers fit a variety of Chrysler applications. turboaction.com 904.741.4850

Diamond Racing Pistons is the Official Piston of the PDRA Association Current custom pistonlead time — 15 business days.

With Pro Line Racing Engines and Diamond pistons, Q80 Racing team resets quartermile doorslammer record at 5.46 seconds and 272mph “Diamond’s contributions have been invaluable.”

—Doug Patton, Pro Line Racing Engines

Visit us at our website at

www.diamondracing.net net

for all the latest product information, on, piston building tools, and how to videos.

586-792-6620 x 115

Vendor Midway PARTS / TOOLS / ACCESSORIES

One for the Tool Box Meziere Enterprises, Flexplate Turning Tool

One for the Tool Box! Because they race, and get what it takes, Meziere has produced the best flex plate turning tool on the market. Suitable for 168- and 139-tooth plates, the slim design lets you grab the gear teeth straight, even if you have a mid-motor plate. A combination of hardened steel and alloy steel materials boasts “no compromise” and a polished surface finish is protected by black oxide coating. Positive pulling is finally a reality! meziere.com 800.208.1755

Powerful Pistons CP-Carrillo, X-Style Pistons

CP-Carrillo is excited to introduce X-Style pistons for Power Adder applications. These pistons include the advanced features and improvements that CP-Carrillo has developed through rigorous testing and R&D — while recently winning races in all the alcohol classes. They are ready for IMMEDIATE delivery and are for the most popular Dragster, Funny Car, and Pro Mod type applications.

Manufactured from 2618 T-61 alloy these pistons utilize an “X” forging for added structural support and durability, and can be designed with buttons or wire locks. Includes vertical or lateral gas ports and forced pin oiling. cp-carrillo.com 949.567.9000

74 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Skip the Chip JEGS, RPM-Activated Switch

Skip the chip for accessory activation! For 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, and 8-cylinder engines, JEGS RPM-Activated Switch allows automotive accessories to be turned on/shut off at a preset RPM without using chips or modules. The unit measures 2.5"L x 2.5"W x .90"H, has a 4-digit LED display with two buttons (no need to remove the cover to program), and can function as a tachometer. The switch works with accessories up to three-amps (relay required for three+ amps), and its range is 2,000 to 9,000 RPM. Other features include short circuit protection, overcurrent protection, and high-RPM memory recall. Made in the USA! jegs.com 800.345.4545

Get Connected

Jiffy-tite, Quick-Connect Carburetor Kit Changing over carburetor lines can be time consuming and messy.

Cut down on time and eliminate spills with a Jiffy-tite Quick-Connect Carburetor Kit. The valve technology behind Jiffy-tite’s quick-connect fluid fittings makes changing carburetor lines faster, safer, and spill-proof. Jiffy-tite carburetor kits are ideal for all high performance applications, including drag racing, circle track, street performance, and off-road.

We Make

Cool Stuff Proudly made in the USA

Call (800) 208-1755 or visit www.Meziere.com

Sockets are available in straight, 45-degree, or 90-degree elbows and come anodized in either black and gold or stealth black. Jiffy-tite carburetor kits come standard with FKM (Fluorocarbon) seals but are also available in Nitrile and EPDM (Ethylene Propylene), depending on the fluid running through the system. For a complete seal compatibility chart, please refer to their catalog available for download online. motorsports.jiffy-tite.com 716.681.7200

Vendor Midway PARTS / TOOLS / ACCESSORIES

Better Gears

COMP Cams, Melonized Distributor Gears New distributor gears from COMP Cams provide the universal compatibility often associated with bronze gears for use with any steel, cast iron, or ductile iron camshaft – but without the wear concerns.

COMP Cams Melonized Distributor Gears are designed to work with Big and small-block Chevy, Ford 302, and Ford 351W applications.

The melonizing nitriding process was originally developed by OEMs, including GM and Ford. As opposed to bronze gears, melonized versions are less wear-prone and feature better timing accuracy and higher strength than any other universally compatible distributor gear option. The greater wear resistance and higher precision of COMP Cams Melonized Gears also provide less spark scatter (more accurate timing) than is possible with a bronze gear. compcams.com 800.999.0853

Fast Coils

FAST, LS-Style High Output Coil Set This LS-style ignition coil set from FAST supports significantly higher horsepower than OEM coils. The new FAST XR-1A LS-Style High-Output Ignition Coil Set is designed specifically for high-compression naturally aspirated, boosted, or nitrous-equipped applications making more than 1,000 horsepower. This horsepower range is far beyond the capabilities of OEM coils. The spark energy of the FAST coils is comparable to CDI (capacitive discharge ignition) systems without the need to convert. The Smart Coil design also requires no ignitor module. The FAST XR-1A LS-Style High-Output Ignition Coil Set delivers up to 44,000 volts, 103mJ of energy, and supports a maximum of 19 amps of current and 17 volts. It is designed to work with all OEM equipment, as well as FAST products that support coil-near-plug applications, such as the XIM and EZ-LS ignition controllers. fuelairspark.com 877.334.8355 76  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Got Your Back

Racepak, Smart Power Battery Backup The Racepak V300 and V500 series data recorders are the mainstay of the sportsman racing market. The new Smart Power Battery Backup units are designed for use with the Racepak V300 and V500 series data recorders, and mount directly underneath the data recorder without modifications. The battery ensures an uninterrupted power source in the event of accidental power loss to the recorder. More than just a reserve power supply, the Power Backup contains a microprocessor capable of determining when the vehicle is running, then supplying 20 seconds of reserve voltage when loss of external power is detected. In the event of an accident, the ability to continue to log data after the point of impact is critical, and these battery backups make it possible. racepak.com 949.709.5555

House Your Gears

Strange Engineering, 10-inch Ultra Case Strange Engineering, the leader in driveline and suspension for over 50 years, is proud to offer fully assembled Ultra Case assemblies with 10-inch ring gears. The Ultra case third members will bolt-in to most aftermarket 9-inch Ford style housings and are designed to handle the most demanding of applications. The unique pinion support is specially designed to fit the 10-inch pinion and offers superior strength and rigidity to the overall assembly. Other options include chromoly u-joint straps, 1350 and 1480 pinion yokes, magnetic sensor collars, load bolts, and more. Gear ratios available include 3.89, 4.11, 4.29, 4.71, 5.43, 5.83, and 6.20. strangeeng.net 847.663.1701

Vendor Midway PARTS / TOOLS / ACCESSORIES

Lightweight Manifold Edelbrock, LS Performer Intake

Edelbrock is excited to expand its LS intake manifold line to include the new Performer RPM LS3 for L92, L76, and LS3 engines.

The Edelbrock Performer RPM LS3 intake manifold (#71197) is designed for use with Gen IV LS engines equipped with LS3, L92, and L76 rectangular port cylinder heads. The Performer RPM LS3 is ideal for anybody looking to build a carbureted LS2 or LS3 engine in the 1,500–6,500 rpm operating range. It features a highrise dual-plane design, combined with a plenum that has been optimized for square-bore carburetors, for maximum power and a broad torque curve. Edelbrock’s advanced casting techniques allow for a lightweight casting that weighs 14 pounds. The Performer RPM LS3 includes a provision for mounting an MSD Ignition Timing Control Module, along with passages for routing the coil wire harness, for a clean look. edelbrock.com 310.781.2222

Stop Quicker

Aerospace Components, Big Brake Kits Now available from Aerospace Components is a Big Brake Kit in 13-, 14-, 15-, and 16-inch diameters. When you absolutely need big brakes to get you stopped, these kits use large four-piston calipers with six-piston calipers an option. Rotor thicknesses are available up to 1 3/8-inch, in either drilled or slotted variations, and nickel-plated for wear resistance and looks. All kits come with billet aluminum hubs and hats and are available in 12 anodized colors with Grade 8 hardware used throughout. All Aerospace Components products are made in the USA. aerospacecomponents.com 727.347.9915

78 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Put it Out

FireAde, Enforcer One Systems FireAde, the recognized global leader in fire extinguishing products, also has available several EnforcerOne extinguishing delivery systems to complement their line. The EnforcerOne product line has a broad range of products starting from personal fire extinguishers to backpack units, to full industrial extinguishing units for all applications. From small portable three-gallon units to large 200-gallon units, EnforcerOne products armed with FireAde provide an effective, environmentally-friendly fire extinguishment solution. EnforcerOne has developed a line of products that are effective, easy to use, easy to refill, easy to maintain and reasonably priced. The three-gallon units are perfect for race trailers and shops which delivers a foam structure designed to stick to horizontal and vertical surfaces thus providing a vapor barrier between the fuel and air. The smaller units are very versatile and can even be mounted to the wall for greater accessibility and safety. When powered together, EnforcerOne and FireAde create a new benchmark in the industry. “Don’t fight fires… extinguish them!” enforcerone.com 678.788.8413

CLEAN &CLEAR How to measure piston-to-valve clearance

T

his is the golden age of horsepower and among big changes that are leading this charge are better cylinder heads and more aggressive cam lobes. Big cams mean towering valve lift numbers. In the most recent Engine Masters contest, all top five finalists ran no less than 0.750-inch lift and some exceeded 0.850! Not too long ago, those might have been NHRA Pro Stock numbers. Clearly, as cylinder heads improve flow capacity, valve lift will continue to escalate. As lift escalates and combustion chambers get smaller, piston-to-valve (P to V) becomes tighter. The way to find out that your valves don’t clear the pistons is not after the engine locks up from a bent valve.

Let’s start with a quick run through of what’s happening inside your engine. In the closing stage of the exhaust stroke when the piston nears top dead center (TDC), the exhaust valve is closing while the intake is just opening. This is com80 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Words/Photos Jeff Smith

monly referred to as overlap. Think of this as the piston is chasing the exhaust valve closed while the intake valve opens into the piston. So first we should establish what makes up minimum P to V clearance. In the past, the standard safe clearance recommendation for most street engines was 0.100inch for the intake valve and 0.140-inch for the exhaust. The exhaust valve clearance is generally spec’d wider because if at high rpm the exhaust valve bounces off its seat at closing, it’s possible it could smack the piston, so added clearance is necessary. If engine speeds are not high and the engine builder is confident that the valve train can be controlled, then tighter clearances are possible down to perhaps 0.070-inch on the intake and 0.100 on the exhaust. But as engine speeds increase, wider clearances can keep you out of trouble.

According to the Reher & Morrison engine building and blueprinting book, it recommends a more precise rule for cal-

Checking valve-to-piston (V to P) clearance isn’t difficult, but necessary especially when building a high performance engine with a big cam with lots of lift. Building a custom engine means you must make sure those valves will clear the pistons.

Each cam manufacturer will recommend a specific position for the cam based on the intake centerline. This position tends to be the most accurate way to locate the cam. For example, the cam card will list the intake centerline as 108 degrees after top dead center (ATDC). We won’t go into the procedure for degreeing a camshaft as that subject has been well covered.

If you are considering changing the intake centerline by either advancing or retarding the cam, you will need to perform the P to V measurements at all of the considered intake centerlines. Advancing the cam moves all the valve events earlier, which would reduce the intake V to P clearance and increase the exhaust. Retarding the cam will do the opposite.

The Clay Method

culating intake P to V is total deck clearance plus 0.010-inch.

So with a steel connecting rod total piston-to-head clearance of 0.040-inch, then 0.040 + 0.010 = 0.050-inch for the intake valve. On the exhaust side R&M recommends 1.6 to 2 times the intake clearance. This makes the exhaust side 0.100-inch or 0.080 if you’re brave. These recommendations are more specific and take into account aluminum rods versus steel rods by using deck clearance. R&M recommends a total deck clearance of 0.035 to 0.040 for steel rod engines and 0.055 to 0.070 for aluminum rod applications. These are general recommendations and certainly will vary with more specific builds, but these numbers are a great place to start for a strong street engine.

What to Do First

Before we begin to measure P to V clearance, we must be certain of where the camshaft is in relation to the pistons.

Let’s start with the easiest method for determining P to V, but only if the heads are already off the engine. Frankly, the only specialty tool needed is some modeling clay – which you can borrow from your kid’s toy box. Place roughly a 3/8-inch thick lump of clay in the piston intake and exhaust valve reliefs. Lightly coat the valve faces with oil to prevent the clay from sticking to the valves. Now assemble the heads with a previously compressed head gasket. The most accurate test is to fully torque the entire head, but we generally only torque the head bolts around the cylinder in question.

If your engine is equipped with hydraulic lifters, these will compress under load, so the best procedure is to substitute a set of mechanical lifters. Assemble the intake and exhaust pushrods and rockers and then set the lash at zero if you’re using a hydraulic cam. If the cam is mechanical, set the lash at the adjusted hot setting as specified in the accompanying chart. Iron does not expand as much as aluminum so these changes to cold lash are based on the thermal expansion rates of aluminum versus iron, making the lash clearances a bit closer to the hot settings.

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 81

Make sure you use a compressed head gasket or if the gasket is new, you will need to fully torque the head in place. With a used gasket, full torque is not necessary. Retain the head with at least five head bolts torqued to 50 ft-lbs to load the head properly.

Before measuring for V to P, it’s best to know exactly where the cam is positioned, which means you must degree the cam so you know its centerline position. Here, we are using one of Comp’s professional degree wheels, which is larger and therefore more accurate.

For even more pics and charts search “Clean and Clear” at DragRacingScene.com.

With clay in place over the valve reliefs, rotate the engine several times. Note that the valves have created a depression in the clay that we’ve cut in half with a razor. In this case, the depth clearance was 0.220-inch for the intake but only about 0.090-inch for the exhaust.

Also note that the radial clearance for the intake appears to be tight – it is difficult to measure but appeared to be about 0.080-inch. This may require more accurate measurement.

If your engine uses hydraulic tappets, you will need to substitute a mechanical lifter to ensure accurate valve lift. You can create a solid checking lifter out of an old hydraulic lifter (either flat or roller) by removing the internal hydraulic piston and shimming the pushrod cup in place with small washers. This will create an accurate lift curve for measuring P to V.

Once lash is set for both the intake and exhaust valves, you can now carefully roll the crankshaft over at least four revolutions to allow the valves to run through their entire lift cycles. With that complete, disassemble the valvetrain and remove the cylinder head and bring the piston up to TDC. You will notice that the valves will have pushed into the clay, revealing the amount of clearance. There are several ways to measure this. You can use a dial caliper to measure the depth or you can cut the clay in half with a razor blade and then use a dial caliper to measure this depth. If you look carefully, the clay may also indicate the radial clearance between the valve pockets and the valve although often this can be difficult to measure accurately. Most street piston manufacturers 82 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

If you do not want to remove the heads, you can still check V to P by using a dial indicator, magnetic base, and checking springs on both valves. Place the indicator plunger on the valve spring retainer (Intake shown here). Rotate the engine to place Number One piston at 10 degrees ATDC. Zero the dial indicator at this valve lift and use the rocker to open the valve until it contacts the piston. The amount of additional lift displayed on the dial indicator is the intake P to V clearance. You may want to rotate the crank 5 degrees on either side of 10 ATDC to find the tightest spot.

will place more than adequate valve reliefs in their pistons so that machining is not required.

There are several limitations to this procedure. First, it is not highly accurate although this is only necessary when the clearances are very near the minimum. Most street engines

end up with over a 0.250-inch of P to V clearance, which means accuracy isn’t critical. As mentioned, radial clearance – the clearance between the outside diameter of the valves and the piston reliefs is important. We talked to engine builder Kurt Urban and he prefers 0.060 just to be safe because engines with really short skirt pistons can move around quite a bit. We will run through how you can measure for this clearance in a moment using a homemade tool and a dial indicator.

The Dial Indicator Method

If removing the heads from the engine is not practical, you can measure P to V with a couple of checking springs and a dial indicator. First, remove all the spark plugs and install light checking springs on Number One intake and exhaust.

Next, determine exactly where TDC is with a degree wheel because you will need to place the piston 10 degrees before and after TDC. Once this is established, set up the dial indicator on the exhaust valve to measure valve lift from the spring retainer. Slowly rotate the engine clockwise by hand until the piston is 10 degrees BTDC. The exhaust valve will be on the closing side of its lift curve. Zero the dial indicator and then push down on the valve end of the rocker and record the amount of travel before the exhaust valve contacts the piston. This amount of movement is the P to V for the exhaust valve. Now rotate the engine to 10 degrees ATDC and move the dial indicator to the intake valve. Zero the dial indictor and then depress the intake valve with the rocker until it too hits the piston. Record this value as the intake clearance.

If P to V clearance is close to or at the minimum, you may want to consider performing this test again except with the

intended valve spring package. High spring pressures will create deflection in the valve train that can change the P to V. This test will also require some kind of lever tool to compress the spring once it is in position.

Checking Radial Clearance

If the outside diameter of the valve appears to be close to the edge of the piston valve relief, this will require more accurate measurement. The important measurement is the valve centerline relative to the valve relief in the piston. We found this trick in the Reher & Morrison Engine Building book where David Reher recommends cutting the head off of a valve and having a machinist mill one end to a point.

Then with the piston at TDC and the head in place, use the valve stem to mark the valve centerline in the piston. As an example, let’s use an LS engine with 2.165-inch intake valves. Dividing the valve diameter in half to establish the radius, this gives us a radius of 1.0825. Duplicate this distance on a pair of dividers and then scribe a radius from the piston centerline. If there is less than 0.050 to 0.060 inch between the scribed line and the vertical wall of the valve pocket, this will require machining to increase the clearance. If the clearance is more than 0.050 – the clearance is good and you’re ready for assembly.

Taking the time to measure P to V cannot be over-emphasized. It’s also the kind of thing that all good professional engine builders do as a matter of course. While these procedures may seem intimidating at first, they are simple to perform and worth the time it takes – if nothing else just for insurance against disaster. DRS Sources: COMP Cams, compcams.com; Reher-Morrison Racing Engines, rehermorrison.com

CLEAR AS

That’s exactly what licensing is about for tow rigs Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo

I

t must have been a long winter. You can tell because racers took to the Internet bulletin boards seemingly more than ever. Aside from the Street Outlaws versus NHRA dust-up, possibly one of the most talked about issues was the ever looming Commercial Drivers License (CDL) issue as it pertains to racers. It almost appears as if the entire racing fraternity is in a panic over laws they believe as new and impending (neither correct) regarding CDLs and other towing issues. When the truth is that there is no more reason to panic today any more than at any other time in our lives.

84 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Some of the questions: I have a dual-wheel pick-up truck and tow a 36-inch enclosed trailer with my dragster inside. Do I need a CDL? I tow a 24-inch trailer which carries a 9,800-pound GVW and my Super Stocker with my motorhome that is registered as a recreational vehicle. Do I need a CDL? My pick-up truck and enclosed trailer weigh more than 26,000-pounds. Do I need a CDL? The answer to these and many of the other questions is… Probably. But it’s such a gray area that is more open to interpretation than just about any

other question on the face of this planet, which just might be the salvation for anyone being stopped and detained.

Therein lies the problem though, because everyone seems to “think” they know it all when in fact, it’s doubtful even the people in charge of enforcement know the answers.

At last year’s PRI Trade Show, the Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC) hosted a round table discussion on the subject of licensing with regards to race trailers and the like. The three-man panel consisted of Kyle Fickler of Aeromotive, a racer

highly recommend everyone obtain a “ICDL. It won’t make you legal, but it could help to at least allow you to utilize some of that gray area to your advantage. ” himself; Kip Rhoton, who runs a trailer on the NHRA Manufacturers Midway as well as a former law enforcement officer and a racer; and Lonnie Troyer of ShowHauler, a manufacturer of motorhomes.

It was explained by Troyer that years ago the recreational vehicle industry lobbied for an exemption from a CDL requirement for a legally licensed recreational vehicle. The understanding was that to require a CDL for every senior citizen who decided to tour the country in an RV would severely limit sales of those units. He

suggested the racing community attempt to do the same.

Rhoton disagreed though, noting that the ship has sailed on that opportunity in part because of insurance companies looking to limit their losses when an accident occurs. Troyer agreed with that scenario and understood the massive effort it would take to tackle that subject.

The Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) is quite aware of the concerns and as such has been attempting to lobby officials on the state level to make them aware of

the inadequacies of the rulings.

This gray area exists because there is a lack of understanding with many of the rules and regulations on the books. The Pennsylvania Commercial Drivers Manual specifically states: “You do not need a Commercial Driver’s License to drive military equipment while in military uniform, certain fire and emergency equipment owned by a fire company, or recreational vehicles, implements of husbandry, or certain motorized construction equipment.”

Seems pretty straight forward so far.

But there is also an exemption listVol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 85

The myriad of tow rigs being used today can be rather confusing when it comes to answering questions about legality.

ed in accordance to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rules which questions an exemption to ruling 390.3(f)(3) for the “occasional transportation of personal property by individuals not for compensation nor in the furtherance of a commercial enterprise” apply to a person who occasionally use CMVs to transport cars, boats, horses, etc., to races, tournaments, shows or similar events, even if prize money is offered at these events.

The Guidance further states: “The exemption would apply to this kind of transportation, provided: 1) The underlying activities are not undertaken for profit, i.e., (a) prize money is declared as ordinary income for tax purposes, and (b) the cost of the underlying activities is not deducted as a business expense for tax purposes;

and, where relevant; (2) corporate sponsorship is not involved.”

Read into that what you’d like, but the real fact of the matter is that a very large percentage of racers are traveling up and down the nation’s roadways illegally. Can you get legal? Absolutely.

But the costs involved will follow along the same lines as any other commercial vehicle, tractor-trailer, etc. This means that your relatively inexpensive RV registration will increase exponentially when registered as a commercial vehicle which also will be reflected on your insurance bill.

The fortunate part about the gray area is that it could just benefit the racer. We can almost assure you that with all due respect, most law enforcement personal are as confused about the legalities of towing your racer as you are.

The concern of proper licensing is such a hot topic that the Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council (MPMC) hosted a round table discussion at last year’s PRI Trade Show on the subject of licensing with regards to race trailers. The consensus? There was none.

86 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Let’s look at it from their point of view.

The fact of the matter is that you are racing for money, regardless of how you declare it on your income tax forms. To be stopped on the side of the road and proclaim to the officer that you only race for trophies will pretty much insult their intelligence, which will become your first problem.

Advice No. 1: Don’t insult their intelligence.

I’ve been stopped a number of times over the years and almost every time have managed to drive away unscathed. “Almost,” because the one time I was disrespectful (or at least that’s what the officer said I was), I left there with a $500 over-length ticket and had to have a shorter truck come and move my trailer. Obviously I failed to adhere to Advice No. 1.

Placing this lettering on the side of your truck/trailer might make you feel better, but it probably isn’t going to mean much to the long arm of the law, nor is it a fix-all. If it were, every tractor-trailer on the road would letter it on.

The next issue is a CDL. Technically you might not need one. However, should you be involved in a traffic fatality, you can be assured you’re going to end up in a court of law, if only in a civil suit. Despite the fact that you might be in the right to drive a vehicle over the 26,000-pound limit and/ or a trailer with over a 10,000-pound

Not exactly the best feeling in the world when you’re on your way to enjoy yourself at the races.

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The 26,000-pound limit for a CDL also includes trailers with over a 10,000-pound Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR).

GVW without a CDL, you can bet that issue will surface which can be ruled against by a jury of your peers.

Advice No. 2: Get a CDL license.

The fact of obtaining a CDL is no harder than taking an additional written test followed by a road test.

In most cases there are very little downsides to obtaining and carrying a CDL. Obviously there’s the slightly extra dollars to renew your license each period. There is also the possibility of increased points against your license for a traffic citation in addition to a decreased blood alcohol limit for a DUI stop, both of which you shouldn’t be doing anyway.

Along with the license, having a medical card is another part that is renewable every two years. Most racers will already have an NHRA/ IHRA racing license which requires the same type of medical exam at the same two year interval. So obtaining the CDL medical portion with your racing license is a no-brainer. Having a CDL does not mean that you have to carry and fill out a log book, nor does it mean you having to pull into scale houses.

“I highly recommend everyone obtain a CDL,” Fickler says. “It won’t make you legal but it could help to at least allow you to utilize some of that gray area to your advantage.”

Oftentimes without a CDL, a racer could be parked by a law enforcement officer on the side of the road which can severely curtail your trip and the enjoyment you meant it to be. By having one it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll drive away scot-free, but it just might make a huge difference.

One issue with regards to obtaining the CDL could come at the time 88 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

In most cases it’s not necessary to pull into the various weigh stations across the country, but be sure to adhere to the actual wording of the signs.

Signage on the side of your trailer may or may not indicate corporate sponsorship which (and we hate to keep using this term) may or may not fall in line with Federal Motor Carrier regulations.

But by just having your company name on the side of your trailer doesn’t always mean you’ll get a visit by an enforcement officer.

of your road test. In most states, you must take the road test with a commercially-registered vehicle. This could become a problem if you’re attempting to use your personally-registered vehicle, be it a motorhome, pick-up truck, whatever. However, in the state of Pennsylvania, we were told that if what you’re using for your road test is over the 26,000-pound number and is what you intend to drive with your CDL license, then by all means, that’s what you take the test with. It might take a little bit of elegance (for lack of a better word) when discussing this concern with your local motor vehicle department, but once it’s done, you’re good to go.

Of course, just having a CDL is not the end of the story. It’s also wise to make yourself aware of the vehicle

requirements. Obviously taking care to make sure your vehicle is in tiptop mechanical shape; tires, exhaust system, belts and air lines where applicable, etc. Also, it’s not a bad idea to carry a fire extinguisher along with a set of road flares.Your trailer should also be in the same good shape with special attention to trailer brakes, tires, etc. Enclosed trailers should have their load (cars, tools, fuel canisters, and the like) properly tied down.

There is also the issue of overlength. The rules change from state to state but in cases such as Florida, an over-length permit is available at a very reasonable price, and requires nothing more than filling out some paperwork.

And of course there is always the

issue of signage on your trailer which may indicate sponsorship that flies in the face of the aforementioned Guidance: “(2) corporate sponsorship is not involved.”

Having signage on the side of your trailer does not indicate sponsorship as we all know. However it is one of those issues which could signal a roadside visit with the long arm of the law that might require a little bit of explaining. Will you win the argument?

Hard to answer yes or no.

So what is the answer? There is none.

For the foreseeable future, this issue will continue to be a hot topic. Does it mean you should panic? By all means, NO. There is nothing to panic about any more than at any other time.

Will we suddenly see hordes of race rigs pulled to the side of the road and detained? Probably not. Bear in mind that our circle track cousins are in the same situation as well as the many other enclosed trailers hauling God only knows what. Again, not a reason to panic.

If there were somewhat of an answer, it just might be for you to follow Advice No. 1 and No. 2 above. Don’t insult their intelligence and Get a CDL. DRS

In addition to licensing, making sure your truck/trailer is in good shape with proper inflation and tread depth tires, along with carrying road flares and a fire extinguisher is certainly not a bad idea.

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LIFT IT UP Proper care and maintenance can extend roller lifter life

O

ne of the biggest concerns racers have had in the past has been the care and maintenance of a set of mechanical roller lifters in an engine. Racers have agonized over a lifter’s lifespan for years.

When a lifter fails, it can cause a whole lot of damage ranging from simply a lifter failure, to a ruined cam, to bottom end rotating assembly damage when the hardened roller bearings scatter into the crankcase. In some cases this can be catastrophic to an engine and amount to an expensive bill.

As is usually the case, the aftermarket has come to the rescue, and today roller lifter life has significantly been extended. But they still require some common sense approaches to their use.

Starting with the most obvious, simply making sure a lifter moves freely up and down in a lifter bore isn’t enough.

90 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

“Too loose or too tight will significantly shorten a lifter’s lifespan,” says Chase Knight of Crane Cams. “It’s necessary to verify the correct lifter bore to lifter clearance as per your application.”

David Chamberlain of Lunati adds, “You want to have about .0015 to .0017-inch clearance with a cast iron block and .0011 to .0013-inch with an aluminum block. It’s also important to keep an eye out for lifter bore taper and roundness as well. This needs to be within .0002-inch.”

In addition to lifter bore clearance, check that the lifter guide bar, or its attaching buttons, do not contact the top of the lifter bores (or anything else), preventing the wheels from contacting the base circle of each lobe. Be certain that the slots in the guide bar have sufficient travel when the lifters are both on the base circle, and also

Mechanical roller lifters have been a source of concern for racers for a number of reasons. However, with the proper installation and maintenance there is little to be concerned with.

Roller lifters consist of a solid body and a roller bearing (made up of a set of needle bearings) where it rides on the camshaft. Rather than the needle bearings, there are also roller lifters which utilize a bushing.

Words Joe Davanzo/Photos John DiBartolomeo

when one is on the base circle and the other is at full lift.

If there is not adequate travel in the guide bar, failure will soon occur.

There are a number of different styles of lifters available today ranging from inexpensive models to over-thetop pieces. Knowing your application and matching the lifter to your needs is the best way to assure a long life from that component.

“First off, we offer four different types of solid rollers,” Lunati’s Chamberlain says. “We have the Horizontal Bar or Pop Up as some refer to them. We also carry the standard vertical link bar style, and finally we have our upgraded pressurized oiling vertical link bar solid rollers, both with needle bearings or a bushed style bearing. Each kind of lifter has its own place.”

Besides pressure-feeding oil to the lifter’s needle bearings, the latest hot ticket involves the elimination of those needle roller bearings and the use of a bushing for the axle to ride on. The jury is still out on these, but they have seen increased use over the past couple of years.

“The bushed lifter also has direct oiling which is more for all-out race applications that are running lots of spring pressure and high rpm,” says Chamberlain. “Because it is bushed, it has more contact area than a needle roller bearing.

“The upgraded pressurized oiling lifters with the needle bearings are ideal for street guys and more aggressive race applications. These lifters are designed to directly oil the axle and the needle bearings, which greatly improves the longevity and durability of the lifter.”

“The reason I said this is good for street applications is because street stuff usually sees a lot of idle time or low rpm, which is the hardest on a solid roller, because it doesn’t get as much splash oil,” Chamberlain continues. “Something to think about is that a street engine, just by definition, is going to see more cycles and the lifter always sees the same spring pressure no matter what the rpm is.”

Besides your standard vertical link-style lifters, both Crane and Lunati offer their classic pop-up roller lifter, which uses a set of springs and a horizontal bar that “pops up” out of the Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 91

Pop-up lifters use a horizontal link bar and are useful for quick cam changes.

Proper clearance is a must. Blocks can be bored and bushed with a bronze bushing that is honed to the proper dimension.

The link bar between two lifters keeps the rollers aligned with the cam lobe. Be sure to check for link bar clearance against the block when the lifter is down on the base circle of the cam.

lifter bore when the valve spring tension is released. Available for small- and big-block Chevrolets only, they’re especially handy when it comes to cam changes because they eliminate having to remove the intake manifold in order to remove the lifter from the bore.

However, they’re limited to the use of a 3/8-inch diameter pushrod in this day an age when pushrod diameters seem to be going way past that. These are also manufactured with an 8620 steel body and use the same bearing assembly as the top of the line units. Usually limited to use in applications with relatively light valve spring tension, there are a number of high-winding Super Stock engines utilizing this style, as they are the lightest units out there.

The oil-pressurized mechanical roller lifters were designed for very high spring pressures in addition to highrpm use. As Chamberlain mentioned earlier, most lifters are lubricated by splash oiling, which is done by the internal engine’s rotating assembly, but the pressurized models are a bit different. They divert some of the oil that is feeding to the pushrod (and ultimately the top of the engine), through a tiny orifice in the pressurized lifter directly to the roller needle bearings in the base of the lifter.

Developed for serious racing applications, the pressurized oiling system of these lifters provides constant lubrication through the axle and to the needles. This reduces wear in the axle and dramatically increases the durability of the lifter.

A couple of do’s and don’ts now.

92 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Prior to installation, lifters should be soaked in oil to allow the lubricant to work its way into the roller bearing.

“Do not use oil restrictors in the lifter oil galley, as lubrication and heat dissipation are needed for best results,” says Knight. “Do not run more valve spring pressure than is sensibly required for your application, especially in street applications. Having 800 pounds of open pressure in your street machine that doesn’t see over 7000 rpm will quickly lead to premature wear. In street and marine applications, try to avoid periods of prolonged idling, particularly when combined with high spring pressures.”

Chamberlain agrees with the statement of “no oil restrictors,” especially when using bushed lifters rather than the needle bearing type. “They need all the oil they can get,” he says.

Due in part to limitations with pushrod to intake port clearance, it’s often necessary to use lifters with an offset pushrod cup. This allows the pushrod to be offset from the center of the lifter bore, moving it over to increase pushrod-to-intake runner clearance.

“Lifters with offset pushrod seats will have a shorter lifespan than those with centered seats,” Knight said. “The constant side loading of the lifter, and the load put on one side of the bearings takes their toll.”

When installing a new set of lifters, bear in mind that they were assembled at the factory with the bearings packed with an assembly grease. There is some controversy as to whether that grease should be washed out or not, but at the very least,

When removing a used set and questioning their re-use, take care to inspect the body and rollers for any damage.

Rotating a used roller against a hard surface will allow you to inspect for any rough spots which would indicate replacement is necessary.

your new lifters should be soaked in engine oil for a period of time, after which you should rotate the lifter wheel to ensure oil saturation in the bearing pack.

When removing a set of lifters, proper inspection can go a long way toward making the decision to reuse them.

“When removing the lifters, make sure they come out freely,” says Knight. “If they’re tight coming out of the bore, chances are they are spread out at the bottom. Most likely in that case, severe hammering of the valvetrain has taken place which should require further inspection.

“Assuming no obvious failures, verify that the guide bar is not bent, and its attaching buttons are secure,” Knight adds.

“Visually inspect each lifter body for damage or undue wear.

Rotate each lifter wheel in both directions, checking for hard spots while also making sure the contact surface of the wheel

has no damage (usually from debris caught between the lobe and the wheel).

“Hold the lifter body in one hand, and grasp the wheel with the other. Try to move the wheel up and down to check for radial clearance. You shouldn’t have more than about .002-inch. Then, hold each lifter upright, and roll it back and forth across a clean, dry, flat surface (a sheet of paper can be used for ‘traction’). Both feel and listen for anything unusual.

It should roll smoothly, with no ‘clacking’ of the needles. If you’re satisfied with everything being fine: clean, soak them in oil, and reinstall.”

Nothing lasts forever, but good maintenance and a well matched combination of components will certainly extend the life of your roller lifters. DRS Sources: Crane Cams, cranecams.com; Lunati, lunatipower.com

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GAMBLE

How a winning hand in poker turned into a winning hand in business Words John DiBartolomeo/ Photos ATI Performance

M

ost owners of companies began their ventures with a lot of soul-searching and hard work. Obviously having a passion for a particular line of business is important, as is even just a simple plan.

Or you could take the approach Jim Beattie of Automotive Transmissions Incorporated (ATI) Performance Products chose and win the business in a card game.

“When I got discharged from the Navy, I opened a little auto mechanic shop outside of Washington D.C.,” Beattie says. “A friend of mine, John Miller, had a transmission shop and we used to play cards at night. He wanted out of the business and I always wanted a transmission shop, so I won it in a card game. True story.”

The actual shop was located in a small 1,800-square-foot building with no lifts and not much more than a degreasing machine, but it was all Beattie’s.

“The shop was small, but we had an unbelievable business from all the taxis in the area,” Beattie says. “The first thing I did was put in a lift and it was $165 to rebuild the trans and converter and it was guaranteed for a year. I think we were doing every taxicab in D.C. It was unbelievable. We had cabs everywhere.

“It got to the point where when we were too busy to fix them all, we’d take them off the tow truck, put them on the lift, drain the oil — which would be burnt to a crisp — pull the pan, throw away the filter. Put the pan back on, fill it with oil, and send them on their way, telling the owner ‘save your money Mr. Jones, ’cause it’s going to cost you.’ I had three 94 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

It didn’t look like much but this is where it all started for ATI Performance. 1,800 square feet of space that for most of the time housed dozens of Washington D.C. cabs waiting for transmission rebuilds.

trans builders and one guy who would remove and replace the units and he’d be rolling around on the floor before we got a lift.”

In the mid-’60s, there happened to be a state policeman who would frequent the shop. He was a drag racer who couldn’t seem to keep a Torqueflite transmission together behind his Hemi engine. One thing led to another, and Beattie

soon found himself in the performance transmission business.

A friendship ensued with a local machine shop and before he knew it, Beattie had the necessary equipment to cut open and rebuild converters.

“We got this big old lathe and a welder and then we were able to do our own converters,” Beattie says. “That was really the nastiest part of the business because it seemed like you couldn’t buy a decent converter.”

With no actual personal experience in racing, Beattie learned it all as he went along, similar to how he did everything else.

“I was a car guy, kind of,” he laughingly says. “My first car was a ’47 Packard that burned more oil than gas. I went straight from high school to the Navy. Spent boot camp in Michigan, then went to Aviation Machinist Mate Helicopter school in Memphis, got my choice of duty stations and chose the Anacostia Naval Station outside of Washington D.C. I was actually born near Pittsburgh, PA, but stayed in the D.C. area after I was discharged.”

Around the mid-’70s, Beattie became further ensconced in racing with a ’68 Chevelle that he spent a considerable amount of time swapping Turbo 400 transmissions in and out of.

Not liking the breakout categories, he partnered with Al Segrini on a Funny Car, the Black Magic Vega. A win at the NHRA Summernationals the first year was a highlight and the first time it had been done in NHRA, but it also allowed Beattie to develop the first weather station for racers.

A true worker, one of Jim Beattie’s first products was the CW3 converter welder that, in later years, has become quite sophisticated and used all over the world by a number of converter builders. A bonder, balancer, and leak tester has added to the converter rebuilding line of products.

Beattie was a pilot, who for years would fly his own turbo-prop plane to a number of races, so he understood the importance of weather. He is still licensed as an airline transport pilot.

“Density altitude really hurts the performance of an airplane,” Beattie says. “So we began to use the same density altitude program used for planes on the race car. I think we probably would make about 30 runs in the fuel Funny Car without ever pulling the cylinder heads because we knew how to tune it by the weather.”

1975 brought about a second Black ’Stang driven by Pee Wee Wallace. The two team cars ran a number of match races all over the country.

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 95

Since the early days, ATI has grown to include 27 CNC machines in addition to dozens of manual machinery used to build all of their products in-house.

Converter building still requires a somewhat personal touch and converter technicians are well aware of their customer’s needs.

“After we won that first national event I began to lose interest. I finally leased the car to Segrini before we parted ways,” Beattie said.

All the while, ATI was building a name for itself both in service and products.

Despite his Funny Car involvement, Beattie understood the need to support those who supported them, and it wasn’t uncommon to find the ATI support trailer at a number of races across the country, with Beattie and his wife Lynn manning the displays.

The explosion of bracket racing during that time became another avenue for ATI to shine with products directly related to that style of racing.

96 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

That support continues today, especially in light of the announcement to self-administer its contingency program.

A part of the NHRA Contingency Program since 1977, ATI decided to discontinue their participation in 2015.

In a letter to the racers, the company said, “What ATI will NOT discontinue is its support and payments to the racers who compete in the NHRA National and Divisional Event races and will continue to support the racers who support the company.”

As for its past, with the expansion into more performance related transmissions, Automotive Transmissions Incorporated officially became ATI Racing Transmissions, Inc.,

eventually transitioning to ATI Performance Products.

Besides simple transmission and converter building, Beattie designed the first of his Compu-Flow Valve Bodies which added to his Treemaster Converter, as well as other products. Today, ATI manufacturers every part it uses or sells in-house including all the gears.

Operating in the same small shop where it all began, albeit with several additions, Beattie finally found an 18,000-square-foot building outside of Baltimore on the Beltway.

“By then, we were operating in about 5,000 square feet, so this made a huge difference for us,” Beattie says.

An expansion on that building eventually added up to 28,000 feet, in addition to a 13,000-foot building across the street that is used for distribution and storage.

Twenty-seven CNC machines operate under ATI’s roof on a daily basis, churning out transmission cases, converter parts, crankshaft dampers, and all the parts to make them run. Another 12,000-square-foot of leased space is used for storage.

One development of its line of transmission components was related to what Beattie felt was the most important facet of automatic transmissions — that being a converter welder.

“Prior to that, a person would have to put a converter in a lathe, dial indicate it to maintain its concentricity, tack weld it together, then remove it and weld it completely,” Beattie says.

“It was so time consuming, it was ridiculous.”

The ATI CW3 Converter Welder removes all the aggravation, eliminates all the guesswork, and produces a perfectly true, leak-proof converter far superior to OEM quality.

The line of converter rebuilding equipment has also been expanded to include other tools necessary for that line of work and is used in a growing number of converter shops. There are over 150 of these machines in use around the world and a newer, larger CW4 is being assembled now.

In the mid-’90s, NHRA mandated the use of an SFI-approved harmonic damper in certain classes. Already holding a U.S. Patent for a damper, ATI purchased torsional testing equipment to better learn how harmonics inside an engine can be controlled.

Jim’s son J.C., then 17, was the person who learned to operate that equipment and still does today along with his other duties.

The ATI Super Damper is used on every NASCAR Sprint Cup engine and is probably the most commonly used damper in the high performance engine world. The Super Damper was on the top three class winners at the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona.

“I’m always amazed at how many we sell because nothing really wears out in them,” Beattie says. “Each unit is completely rebuildable. The NASCAR teams will put about 3 million cycles on them, with a cycle equal to one complete revolution of the engine. They then replace the rubbers inside and they’re good to go again.”

Today, while Jim still oversees the business, it is run by J.C. with help from Jim’s wife, Lynn. As he was growing up, J.C. began a circle track career behind the wheel of a go-kart and eventually, an ASA stock car. However, with drag racing being the majority of the business, J.C. turned his sights to the straight line, competing today with a Dodge Drag Pak Challenger and a COPO Camaro.

Jim’s daughter Candace owns an oyster bar on the water at Fells Point in Baltimore. Her restaurant, Thames Street Oyster House, was recently voted one of the top 15 oyster houses in the country. Two other children from a previous marriage,

James C. Beattie, Sr. 1941 – 2015 Shortly after we sat down and listened to Jim Beattie’s story about the company he loved, he passed away unexpectedly.

He was a mechanical genius, with a love of cars from an early age. Jim liked to go fast. There was nothing with wheels that he couldn’t make go faster. His driving record was a testament to that fact and he was no stranger to driver rehabilitation school.

Married to his wife Lynn for 39 years, they each took turns driving the other crazy, but there was a deep abiding love that glued the relationship together.

Jim is survived by his heart-broken wife, brothers, children, grandchildren, a great grandchild, and an adoring and hard-workJim Beattie ing staff at ATI, in addition to a whole lot of friends. Funny and heart-warming stories are flooding in.

“In lieu of flowers find somebody whom you love, throw your arms around them, and tell them that you love them,” Lynn says. “Do it right now. Time is fleeting. You never know when the last hour will be upon you. Jim’s came unexpectedly and much too soon. We miss him so much.”

Richard and Tricia, are older and elsewhere in the country with Richard owning a converter repair facility in Nashville.

With over 50 years of experience in the motorsports industry, ATI has been a leader in development since day one.

With the current crop of high horsepower vehicles making the transition to a Turbo 400 transmission, Beattie developed a new T-400 trans brake valve body with a clean neutral that also hap-

pens to set instantly, even at idle. This all in addition to a lock-up converter for even quicker elapsed times.

The business has come a long way from that small 1,800-square-foot shop, the one which came about from a game of poker. Suffice it to say that one big gamble has paid off quite well and certainly one you can bet on to be around for many years to come. DRS Source: ATI Performance, atiracing.com

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SWEET SPOT Three Different Methods to Fine Tune Your Setup 98  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

K

nowing when your engine is rich or lean can make a big difference in how it runs. Being able to properly find that happy medium between these two extremes is an art form, which might now be easier than ever due to the types of measuring equipment on the market today.

In years past, the only way to determine rich or lean was to “read” the spark plugs. At the point of combustion in a cylinder, a certain color burns itself onto the insulator around the electrode of the plug. Smart racers are able to interpret that color and determine a number of things, most importantly how rich or lean the combustion process is.

An engine too lean means that not enough fuel is added to the incoming air, with too rich (or fat) the opposite.

Reading the spark plug used to be the only way to tell.

However, to properly read a plug requires the engine to be shut off clean with the carburetor wide open at the end of a run. The idea here is to be able to check the air/fuel mixture at wide open throttle.

Driving the car back down the return road and to your trailer can color the plug with the leaner or darker mixture of the idle or low-speed carb or injector circuit.

Often times a racer would carry a spare spark plug and wrench with them and change the plug at the end of a run which allowed them to return to the pits and “read” the plug at their leisure.

A light tan color on the insulator meant all was right in the racer’s world, but the ability to determine “slight tan” to anything else took years of practice.

Using a lighted magnifying tool used to be the only way to accurately read a

plug, as its magnifying capabilities along with the internal light allowed you to look closely at the insulator.

Enter the exhaust gas temperature (EGT) sensor: A sensor mounted in the exhaust header measures the temperature of outgoing gases inside the header tube.

Readings in the 1,000- to 1,400-degree range give the user information as to the condition of the combustion in the cylinder head chamber. Too much fuel (rich) has a cooling effect on the temperature causing it to be closer to the 1,000 number. Too lean and the temperature rises.

When a cylinder isn’t firing properly, the number is very cold simply because there is very little or no combustion and all you’re doing is flushing the air/fuel mixture right out the exhaust port.

This is pretty evident with a nitro car. When you see an abundance of fuel pouring out of a header tube on a run rather than seeing a flame, that is simply raw fuel dumping out of the engine, because there is no combustion in that cylinder. The only way to make heat is through the proper air/ fuel mixture and a flame started by the firing of the spark plug.

The problem with an EGT reading is that it is simply taking a temperature reading of the exhaust at whatever point you have it mounted in your header. That temperature can be quite a bit different than the actual temperature inside the combustion chamber.

The differences can be attributed to the sensor placement in its distance from the chamber, along with any outside ambient air which might be rushing past the sensor. For these reasons, an oxygen sensor (O2) is quickly becoming the tool to use for determining rich or lean conditions.

“In my opinion, EGTs are not as useful as O2s, because they are much more subject to engine combinations,” says David Page of FAST. “In air/fuel ratios, at wide open throttle, just about every combination will run great at 12.8–13:1.

“EGTs on the other hand vary widely depending on compression, fuel octane rating, valve timing, and ignition timing. So what is really hot for one engine may be normal to cool on another.

“That being said, all data is good data and EGTs are one more piece of information a tuner can use when trying to balance the overall performance of an engine between cylinders.”

Thankfully we now have oxygen sensors which measure the amount of oxygen versus the fuel content of the burnt gasses.

Oxygen sensors have become the new wave when it comes to determining rich or lean conditions of an engine.

Spark plug reading still might be the best indicator when it comes to determining engine tune, but it takes a certain talent. Using info gained from an O2 or EGT sensor in addition to the plug reading is the best way possible.

An exhaust gas temperature sensor is mounted in a header tube and measures the temperature of the burnt gases at that particular spot in the exhaust. That sensor can either be permanently installed or simply installed in a hole drilled in the tube as shown in this photo.

An oxygen sensor does not measure the actual oxygen level though, but rather it determines the difference in the oxygen level between the outside air and what is in the header tube. This is why an oxygen sensor must be calibrated by allowing it to normalize in the open air prior to its use.

“One value of monitoring O2 sensor readings is that you may find better acceleration by making the engine richer at some points in the rpm range, and leaner in others,” Page explains.

“A benefit to using an O2 sensor per cylinder is that with EFI, you can work to balance all cylinders in an engine.

In the more advanced EFI systems, we are now able to do this over the entire rpm range.”

In the case of an EGT sensor, more times than not the highest temperature will only be at the finish line, whereas an O2 sensor can determine readings throughout the run which can be used to better tune a combination.

“Because of differences in intake runner shapes and lengths, [as well as] header primary tube shapes, siz100 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

The location of the O2 sensor in the collector is critical to getting a proper reading. If it is too close to the end of the collector it might be pulling air in from the outside due to reversion.

es, and lengths, the different cylinders will have different airflow characteristics,” Page adds. “One cylinder may be comparatively better, then worse, then better again throughout the rpm range than other cylinders.

“Using our XFI 2.05 engine management system as an example, the tuner is now able to trim the fuel — not only cylinder-to-cylinder, but also vary these trims across the rpm range to match the airflow of that cylinder — all made possible and confirmed by O2 sensor data from each cylinder.”

Throttle stop racers can benefit from the use of an O2 sensor as a way to determine the proper fuel mixture during the throttle stop period. This can have quite an effect on consistency, which is of paramount importance to all racers.

In general, O2 readings are thought to be perfect in the 13.5 range, however, most race cars will usually want to be run a little on the rich side with readings in the high 12.0 range.

Methanol-powered cars run richer and recalibrated readings in the 5.5–6.5 range are what to look for.

Placement of the O2 sensor will mean a lot when it comes to what type of readings you get.

We see a lot of O2 sensors mounted in the header collector. While you may think this will give you an indication of rich or lean on that entire side of the engine, this might not be true.

“One consideration in the discussion of the placement of an O2 sensor in the exhaust system is how close to the exit of the collector the sensor is located,” Page says.

“A race engine with a lot of camshaft overlap will have a good deal of reversion (in and out pulses) at the collector that will pull some fresh air into the collector at low-exhaust velocity.”

As far as placement of the sensor in a collector, Page offers some tips.

“Try to keep the sensor in the upper half of the collector section to protect it from any condensation that

The ideal situation is a full set of O2 sensors mounted in each header tube but the costs of such a system are still rather high.

accumulates in the bottom of the collector,” he advises.

“As far as primary tubes go, I don’t know of any scientific formula for optimum placement, but about 8–10 inches from the exhaust port is good for just about anything. Any closer than that and the heat may shorten the life of the sensor.”

Page also notes that incorrect readings can come from other areas.

FAST’s stand-alone Air/Fuel Meter can be used to determine air/fuel ratios, allowing for playback of the run without the need for a laptop computer or data-logging system.

“An exhaust leak — even a small one — can skew the readings toward the lean side, so it is important to make sure the header gaskets are in good shape and that there are no cracks in the primary tubes,” he says.

Ultimately, a full set of O2 sensors mounted in each header tube — the same distance from the port — would be the ideal situation.

The cost of such a system can be prohibitive for racers though, so there are alternatives.

Whether you use an EGT or O2 sensor, or just “read the plugs,” knowing the tune of your engine is the only way to achieve low elapsed times. Having the tools to accomplish the task is the key. DRS Source: Fuel Air Spark Technology (FAST), fuelairspark.com

Help your fellow injured racer The Drag Racing Association of Women (DRAW) is a non-profit organization that provides financial and emotional support to qualified individuals involved in drag racing accidents at a track. DRAW’s motto is “Fast Help For Fast Friends” and our sole mission is providing financial and emotional support to qualified individuals involved in a drag racing accident at a track. Since 1985, DRAW has paid over $4 million that has helped 825 families.

WANT TO HELP? Does DRAW sound like something you’d like to be involved with?

Head over to drawonline.org to show your support through donations, by helping at fundraisers, or volunteering at events.

POWER CONNECTION CP-Carrillo rolls out new aluminum rods for nitro, alcohol engines

I

t’s obvious that the turning of the crankshaft is what transfers power to the rear wheels. However, that revolving hunk of steel only rotates through the up and down motion of the pistons through their connection of a … connecting rod.

Over the years, connecting rod technology has increased in the same fashion as many other components in racing. However, while the goal with most components has always been to increase performance, the goal of connecting rods has always been strength.

In simplistic terms, a camshaft will generally help to make more horse102 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

power, while a connecting rod, which might be able to increase power, is more or less designed from a strength standpoint.

After all, once that connection between the piston and the crankshaft is lost, so goes the ability of the crankshaft to keep spinning.

In the connecting rod industry, we’ve gone from steel to aluminum to titanium and back to steel in some cases.

When we speak about connecting rods in the most brutal engines, those being fed nitro and the supercharged alcohol combinations, aluminum rods have always been the staple. The shock

loads to the rod requires some sort of cushioning effect, which is not possible with a steel connecting rod.

With over 50 years in the connecting rod industry, CP-Carrillo specializes in rods for all types of motorsports, in addition to many different custom applications. One of those custom applications is its new line of nitro and alcohol connecting rods.

“With our expertise in connecting rods, it was the right time for us to venture into that market,” says Richard Batchelor, Rod Sales Manager of CP-Carrillo. “Carrillo had considered it for some time and now that we are

Words/Photos John DiBartolomeo teamed up with CP Pistons, it just made sense.”

For obvious reasons, the company’s nitro and alcohol rods are two different entities. Alcohol Funny Car, or dragster engines, produce roughly 3,000 horsepower. Nitro cars on the other hand will produce 8,000 to 10,000 horsepower depending on who you talk to.

In any case, they’re simply time bombs waiting to explode. The amount of force exerted on the connecting rod is quite a bit different.

“Our alcohol rods are produced from an oversize forging of 7178 aluminum material and they are machined

CP-Carrillo’s nitro and alcohol connecting rods begin with a forging which has a better grain structure than beginning with a billet chunk of aluminum.

with a pocket in the side for weight reduction similar to what a steel rod looks like,” Batchelor says. “Our nitro rods are built with a material that has a

higher tensile strength and lower elongation percentage. That rod is also a solid rod with no pocket machining, all done because of strength.”

Vol. 1, Issue 2 / Drag Racing Scene 103

The first step in the process is the rough boring of the piston pin hole and the bearing hole. The rod is then faced off in a lathe to facilitate proper mounting in a CNC machine.

Hard as it may be to comprehend, the connecting rod in a nitro engine will actually compress a slight amount.

Teams will set up their piston/rod combinations according to rod length.

“It really depends on how much they compress and how long a team will run a rod based on their combination,” Batchelor says. “Some teams will continue to run the rod when it compresses .007–inch to .009-inch, while others will toss the rod when it shrinks by .004inch. The alcohol rods don’t compress like that, in part because there is less force on the rod itself, even though they spin their engines higher than a nitro engine. Nitro engines are pretty much running on full detonation all of the time.”

A lot of engine components today are manufactured from billets. Blocks, heads, pistons, etc., are all being machined from solid chucks of aluminum.

While there are some billet connecting rods on the market today, CP-Carrillo has taken a different approach and designed its alcohol and nitro rod line using a forging material.

“In a billet connecting rod the grain flow of the material runs straight up and down,” says Batchelor. “When you machine a hole in the material either on the pin or bearing end, you actually disrupt that grain pattern. When a rod is forged with the holes roughed in, the grain pattern forms itself around the hole which makes for what we consider to be a stronger product.

“We take it one step further and actually 100 percent machine our rods.

That’s where the term ‘oversized’ comes from, in that the forging is larger than what we eventually end up with. This gives us a little more versatility should a person want a thinner rod or one with 104 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

Serrations on the cap and rod facing surfaces helps to keep the big end from moving and becoming oblong.

Each connecting rod is fully machined to the customer’s specs on racks in a CNC machine.

Each set of rods are installed on a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) which verifies each and every dimension and is linked to the rod’s serial number prior to shipping.

a different shape. This also allows for a better looking part that we polish from an oiling and aesthetic standpoint.”

Each set of connecting rods are custom built and therefore can be machined in a number of ways. Depending on the team, they’ll go through as many as 20 to 30 sets of connecting rods a year. Alcohol teams might not go through that many, as sometimes budgets will dictate how many sets of rods to order. But again, it could be as many as five to eight sets a year.

In most cases, connecting rods are damaged by something else, either a dropped valve or burnt piston. In any event, the bearing end can become ob-

long and cause the bearing to seize up, at which point the rod becomes junk.

Serrations cut into the mounting face of the rod and cap help to eliminate that.

Piston pin size is also different on a nitro rod as the pin size jumps from 1.094-inch to 1.156-inch. The bigger and heavier pin is not necessary for an alcohol engine. Those pin sizes are also fairly standard across all manufacturers of pistons for those type engines.

Having the proper tool for any job is a necessity and CP-Carrillo’s connecting rods are what it takes to live in the environment where nitromethane and alcohol fuels the beast. DRS SOURCE: CP-Carrillo, cp-carrillo.com

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TORQUE

TALK Latest trends in race converter technology

106  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

T

he torque converter is one of the most important parts of any automatic vehicle that makes its living on the drag strip. The converter connects the engine to the transmission in such a way that it transfers rotating power from the engine to a rotating driven load — the transmission’s input shaft.

Each converter is a fluid-coupling device that also acts as a torque multiplier during initial acceleration via parts known as an impeller pump, stator, turbine, and cover. While each part is integral to how a converter works, it is stall speed that most drag racers are concerned with.

Stall speed is the rpm at which the torque converter begins to transfer the power from the engine to the transmission. The proper converter stall speed is based on an engine’s lower rpm range — or where it starts to make power. As a result, racers will select a stall rpm higher than the engine’s base rpm range, as this will help get the stall rpm into the engine’s sweet spot.

A high-stall converter is paramount in a drag racing application because racers want a component that will allow the engine to operate in the range

where it’s making the highest power.

However, they also want these converters to have the least amount of slippage possible under heavy load — which can result in excessive heat and wear.

We spoke with the torque converter experts at the Ashland, Mississippi-based TCI Automotive to get an idea of how they help racers select the best converter for their application, as well as what they see coming down the road.

TCI Technical Specialist Kevin Winstead explains that vehicle usage, power level, tire size, and weight of the vehicle are all important factors to consider when selecting a converter.

“All these things [need to] come together for us to recommend the proper torque converter and determine where the rpm range is that they need to operate in, how much torque multiplication this thing can produce, and how

efficient we can make the converter,” Winstead says. “There’s always a certain amount of slippage in a non-lock-up racing converter and we want to keep that in mind whenever we are making a high-stall converter.

“It all starts with the power curve of the engine and determining how much power that thing produces and where it’s produced at,” he adds.

Much like camshafts, converters are built with the slightest nuances dependent upon application. But their creation is not a complete crapshoot.

The TCI team is well-versed in building converters for a variety of drag vehicles. Winstead says that if he’s creating specs for a 350c.i. NHRA Stock Eliminator car for instance, it will make peak engine power in the 6200–6500rpm range, will require a smallish eightinch torque converter, and will most likely need to stall in the 5600–5800 rpm range.

On the other hand, if the TCI team is working with an Outlaw 10.5 vehicle or Pro Mod that’s producing 2500–3000 horsepower, they need to start with a much larger 10-inch diameter core that will harness all of that energy without excessive slippage or heat buildup.

Jeff Reed handles direct race support sales at TCI and has been with the company for 31 years. He explains that the sheer amount of data now available to racers has made both his and Winstead’s jobs more difficult over the years.

Racers are now monitoring elements like converter charge pressure, transmission slippage, transmission line pressure, and even figuring out ways to dump oil pressure as they go down the track. They also know how hot their transmission fluid has to be on the starting line, because temperature affects stall. The hotter the fluid is, the more stall in the converter.

Reed says that because racers are more knowledgeable than ever, many of his customers are looking for his help to make their racing packages just a little bit better and more efficient, because in drag racing thousandths of a second can make all the difference.

Reed adopts this philosophy in his own work as well.

“In order to stay competitive in all types of racing — bracket, heads up, or class — you’ve got to constantly [come up with] better parts,” he says. “There’s always something better is the way I look at it. Don’t be content with what you’ve got.”

Besides his work at the track, Reed spends a lot of time perusing various message boards and other websites to stay abreast of what racers are running, and what they are looking for. A great deal of the information he has gleaned has even found its way into TCI’s racing components.

Winstead agrees that much of TCI’s new product offerings are the direct results of what he and his colleagues are seeing in the drag racing market as a whole.

108 Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

to stay competitive in “Inall order types of racing you’ve got to

constantly come up with better parts.

There’s always something better is the way I look at it. Don’t be content with what you’ve got.

“As far as the all-out race stuff, we’re seeing bigger cubic inches, we’re seeing more efficient turbos, just more power in general,” he says. “And that dictates the size of the converter we have to start with. The more power that these guys are producing nowadays mandates that we use a larger-diameter torque converter assembly just to be able to harness all that energy without excessive slippage.”

Over the last couple of years, TCI has worked on some new designs in its all-out race torque converter offerings.

”

An update to the stator allows for less slippage, while a new mechanical diode is much stronger than the sprag assemblies that have been used for years. Finally, TCI is also testing some new cores that are larger in diameter than previous offerings and are showing a lot of promise as far as reducing slippage and increasing efficiency. The team has been testing these components on some very fast, turbocharged drag radial cars that make 1500+ horsepower.

Reed also does a lot of testing on his own car — a 1993 Mustang with

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taining race wins, but also eventually selling similar parts to customers that will give them an advantage on the track, too.

“I use my car as a test bed a lot,” Reed says. “I don’t mind at all; it’s just fun. I learn from it, plus I get to have good stuff in there all the time.” DRS

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a 377c.i. turbocharged, small-block Ford. He races in a variety of classes around Memphis and north Mississippi, and is currently running an experimental 9 3/4-inch bolt-together torque converter. The bolt-together aspect makes it easy for him to make a variety of changes while he is at the track. The end goal is not only ob-

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112  Drag Racing Scene / Vol. 1, Issue 2

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