Stanton Racing Engines in Nicholasville, Kentucky, is known for its USAC Midget and Sprint engines. While once predominantly a Mopar/Dodge house, three years ago the company began to build/rebuild Toyota USAC Midget engines, taking over the work from California-based Toyota Racing Development (TRD).
Erik Milholland manages Stanton’s racing division, and travels with the USAC circuit, handling any powertrain Read more…
Tony Gentilozzi is the sole engine builder for RSR Jaguar, running the combined GT class in American Le Mans Series (ALMS) competition. He’s racing against other factory teams that have far more resources than he does and, in many instances, far more cars from which to learn.
The Jaguar XKR engine is a 5 litre of about 500 hp, using a pair of air restrictors (29.92 mm) that keep his useable Read more…
In the world of NASCAR regional touring series, ’spec’ or crate engines are the way of the present and the future, making it difficult for teams and drivers wanting to use open engines to compete on a level playing field. The sanctioning body readily gives advantages to the small-block crate while making it difficult for engine builders to be competitive with their own engine builds.
Mike Neff handles two jobs in the Funny Car category of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing - he is both the chief tuner and driver of the John Force Racing (JFR) Ford Mustang that currently tops the Funny Car points ranking and is the first car to qualify for the Countdown to the Championship play-off of six races, which starts after the Mac Tools US Nationals.
Neff handles the dual role easily, as he performed tuning Read more…
Wayne Gaskamp, of Long Beach, California, builds drag boat engines for driver Mike DeClark’s National Jet Boat Association (NJBA) boat, F Bomb, which set the records of 7.15 s Elapsed Time at 144.46 mph on the water at Bakersfield, California, in April 2011.
The boat runs in two classes of this series, the seven-second class and the unblown fuel jet class. It’s leading the latter in points after three events and is in second Read more…
In Time Attack, a popular form of road racing in the US, the objective is not to compete wheel-to-wheel but rather to set down the fastest lap possible. According to Rob Cardona, manager of WORLD Racing, Toyota’s Scion brand official team, “It has a bit of road racing with a bit of a drag-racing element to it, going for a time slip without racing each other.”
While cars in any particular class will be on the track at Read more…
When Bob Vandergriff Jr decided to take his operation full-time in the National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Drag Racing Series Top Fuel category, he also made the commitment to change his tune-up combination in order to run with the balance of the field more readily.
According to crew member Rob Hauser, “We’re trying to adapt to a newer, more late-model tune-up for 2011 than we used in years past; we’re going with what a lot of the other teams are running.” Read more…
When Rhys Millen Motorsports (RMR) decided to field a car in the 2010 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, it upgraded its Formula Drift engine to compete in the rarified air of the famous Colorado mountains and built an all-wheel-drive closed coupe, the RMR PM580, to contain it. The car and engine were completed in four months; there were only two tests before the climb.
Using Hyundai’s Lambda 3.8 litre naturally aspirated V6, as found in the production Genesis coupe and sedan, Read more…
Jim Dunn is a throwback in the modern world of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing. Operating his professional Funny Car team on a budget that would embarrass amateurs, and doing so without computers, Dunn manages to procure sponsorship from good firms like dog food manufacturer Canidae and keep driver Paul Lee qualified in large Flopper fields.
Dunn has been using Bill Miller Engineering (BME) pistons and con rods for at least 15 years, he says. “Well, I tried Read more…
One series where engines see tumultuous life is the World of Outlaws winged sprint car campaign in the US, with 60 contests coast to coast that keep competitors far away from their engine builders - sometimes for a month or more.
So to help their customers in the field, Shaver Specialties Racing Engines (SSRE) of Torrance, California, chooses a robust Mahle Motorsports piston of 2618 alloy that’s coated with phosphate; skirts are coated with Mahle Read more…
