Sounds a lot like Penske and the pushrod Ilmor. Find a loophole in the rules an exploit the crap out of them. Got to love a 209cid 2v pushrod motor (on 55in boost) making 300hp more than the rest of the field. About the good-ol-boy thing: sorry, I hear the stereotype enough, that I feel compelled to explain to people the error of their ways. Robert N. Eaton spoke forth with the blessed manuscript: > Mike Garfias wrote: > >Also, the nascar engine shops are anything but drunken good ol boy > >rednecks. > >They don't operate the way the stereotype says they do. They are > >scientific > >in their approach to finding power, and all extremely intelligent. > > > My use of the the term "good-ol-boy" was not meant to be pejorative; it > was merely a nod of the head recognizing that many, if not a majority of > stock car racers are of Southern extraction. Nor was it meant to > denigrate their accomplishments. I am astounded at the amount of power > and reliability they wring out of an engine that was designed primarily > as a passenger car engine rather than a strictly racing car engine. > They play their game exceedingly well under the rather restrictive rules > that they elect to follow. > > I am reminded a little of AMA motorcycle racing in the late forties and > the fifties. Before WWII Harley and Indian dominated the track racing > scene, Indian beating Harley more often than not, but both bringing the > side valve engine to a fairly high state of tune. But in 1949 Indian, > after a disastrous series of management decisions, went belly up. To > take Indian's place a wide selection of British machines became > available. Those that were not two-stroke tiddlers, almost invariable > had hemispherical combustion chambers, with radially disposed valves. > This was an improvement in efficiency, and the high octane gasoline > available allowed them to use much higher compression ratios than one > could achieve with a side valve design. Hence more available horsepower > for a given displacement. > > The AMA in its wisdom (and to keep Harley competitive) limited the ohv > engines to 500 cc, and the side-valve engines to 750 cc. The Factory > racing Harleys, with their pie-plate flywheels, their swiss-cheese > con-rods and their skeleton pistons, were extremely sudden and rowdy > bikes, and competed well against the smaller English machines. The twin > cam Norton Manx was not allowed to compete in class C racing at all. > > I guess it all comes down to what rules you want to run under. > > Cheers, > > Bob Eaton > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss