ROUSH YATES RAMPING UP FOR PRO STOCK DEBUT
If you can think of the 2010 NHRA schedule as a series of battlefields, then it shouldn't be too hard to fathom how one engine builder is sizing up the competition looking for just the right time and place to make their assault on the Pro Stock class.D-day is coming. The field of battle is the Pro Stock class. The army is lead by Justin Humphreys driving an all new Ford Mustang. All that is left to be done is to pick just the right beach to release the horses.
Roush Yates Performance Group is moving into the NHRA arena.
If you can think of the 2010 NHRA schedule as a series of battlefields, then it shouldn't be too hard to fathom how one engine builder is sizing up the
D-day is coming. The field of battle is the Pro Stock class. The army is lead by Justin Humphreys driving an all new Ford Mustang. All that is left to be done is to pick just the right beach to release the horses.
Roush Yates Performance Group is moving into the NHRA arena.
With encouragement from Ford and a desire to move beyond the stock car arena, Jack Roush and Doug Yates through Roush Yates Engines, know also as Roush Yates Performance Group, will have a competitive Pro Stock engine making laps in the coming months.
Jeff Clark, a former gas man on Dale Earnhardt Jr's Chevrolet and now the National Sales Director for Roush Yates Engines, is leading an effort to move Roush Yates Engines into venues outside the fences of stock car racing. For the past year, Clark has worked to secure a customer for a Roush Yates Pro Stock power plant. His search led him to Justin Humphreys, or to be more specific, Virginia Humphreys, Justin's mother.
After months of contact between the two parties a deal was finally cut.
“Day one,” said Clark, “was a commitment from Virginia Humphreys.”
With the necessary equipment needed already in place, Clark need one thing, “We needed a customer. We needed someone to get into the game with us, and Justin Humphreys was recommended by a few people from the Ford side. Larry Morgan is very involved. He made a high recommendation on Justin Humphreys. (That) led to a series of conversations with his mother, Virginia. She is very involved in the business, RaceRedi Motorsports. They wanted to make a step that was going to help take him to the next level as far as racing.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
The approval of Virginia Humphreys took Roush Yates Engines plans to build Pro Stock engines from the drawing board to the build shop. Humphreys has run and will continue to run engines prepared by Roush Yates from last years parts. The plan is to have a Ford Roush Yates engine in the car before the start of summer – May to be exact.
It was Roush's previous involvement in drag racing and Yates desire to diversify the business which served as the blueprint for this particular effort.
“Jack Roush had a great history in drag racing,” explained Clark. “That’s where his engine expertise started. Doug Yates has been very, very visionary in going after diverse markets. The drag race category was one we thought we could get into, as competitive as it is, and really prove our technology and our knowledge base in engine building.”
Timing was everything on this deal. Both General Motors and Chrysler (Dodge) were in serious financial trouble – both filed bankruptcy – and continued involvement in drag racing was in serious doubt. That opened a door Clark and Humphrey would eventually walk through.
“I think it leveled the playing field,” explained Clark when queried if the financial problems of GM and Dodge helped further the Ford program. “In years past GM and Dodge, these groups have come in and put a lot of money in different markets. Ford was turning their backs on (Pro Stock). They didn’t have a product to put in that area so with that being said with the money being pulled back from manufacturers it put everybody at the same playing field; a level playing field to where we could get in with our technology and know-how and really make a difference with our service side of it.”
Horsepower is critical to any engine program; however the ability to service the customer is a close second in the minds at Roush Yates.
“That is one thing I will give Doug credit for … he has really serviced and over-serviced the customer. I think that’s how he’s been able to keep a lot of his customers in the engine categories with the ARCA Series, the Nationwide, the Camping World Truck series, and even in the Cup garage with the gaining of the Petty Motor Sports program. It’s about service. Yes, he builds a phenomenal engine but it’s also about the follow through with service and Doug has always emphasized that with all of us.”
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
With a deal in hand, the next step was gathering parts and pieces.
“When that happened that was day one,” said Clark. “It led to gathering of parts. We took on a lot of the other engines he had to learn and find out what they were up to as far as the level of parts and pieces and technology they currently had and also assess (the data) and find out what can we introduce to make it better.
“Within about a three-week period we had to do a lot of homework - quick and fast. Also, we needed to make relationships with a lot of parts vendors. It’s a lot of the same people we deal with in the NASCAR engine divisions but it’s getting in the waiting line. Pistons and cam shafts become a priority when you haven’t really brought a lot of business; it’s a tough uphill battle.”
Getting in line for quality parts wasn't Clark's job.
“George Gable has been very instrumental in that, George is the program director for Roush Yates engines. Technically that’s what our title is over there it’s Roush Yates Performance Group and it’s led on the hands-on side by George Gable and he oversees the first motors for drag racing, Daytona Proto-Type, Dirt Late Model, Sprint Car 360 and 410. There are a lot of categories that are growing over there. Also, the off road Trophy Truck which is typically Baha-1000 and also the short course racing. There are about six categories right now that he is in charge of with program leaders and head engine builders in each category, but George is our nucleus there. The specific program leader on the Drag Racing is John Calis. He’s got extensive background with Ford. He’s been at Roush Yates Engines for about 15 years and worked with Ford probably 10 years earlier before he came on board with Roush Yates.”
While waiting for fresh parts, Gable and his steam started the analysis process. They needed to understand what is most important in a Pro Stock engine versus a stock car engine.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
“Right now the emphasis it’s a lot more intricate on the Cup level. The parts, pieces, the rpm ranges, the durability factors that we’d have to get require a lot more time and focus. I’d say in the beginning stages it was very similar to building a new Cup engine. We had to go through some sort of learning curve. It was George and John getting their hands on these parts, really studying them.
“They both have really good drag racing backgrounds but nothing within the last five years to keep them current other than communication with engineers or other racers that can help us get up to speed. So they had to really get involved with a lot of hands on and a lot of late hours working on these assemblies of the current engines which is great homework and a great knowledge base to go forward with our engine.”
The Roush Yates Pro Stock Engine will be unique. Even though Larry Morgan is also leading a Ford engine building program and the two parties talk, Roush Yates is going in one direction, Morgan possibly another.
“Everything is our design,” said Clark about the parts and pieces beyond the block and cylinder head castings. “And that’s where we can really put a lot of our technology in and knowledge base from the Cup level. A lot of our cylinder head designs, our combustion chamber designs, will be effective in a larger displacement. It’s things we’re really excited about because we really feel we can improve and the littlest amount of power helps a lot on their series. It's so competitive. Like we talked about, the time brackets thousandths of a second to determine a field. When you can add 20, 40, 60 horsepower it is a big deal and we honestly feel we can improve that engine by at least that much starting out.”
Those are huge claims of horsepower gains which won't come easy. The Pro Stock pits are some of the most secretive in the NHRA pit area. Information isn't just handed out like penny candy.
“You are a 100% correct on the secretive side and that’s what’s been the biggest hurdle getting started. To the get the information, to get our engine built, to give Justin something to start with and once we gain all the knowledge and put things together we will probably share some with Larry Morgan being he’s a Ford-backed deal but other than that we are going to be very secretive.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
 |
Click to visit our sponsor's website
“It’s almost like the old school racer days of this NASCAR garage and we haven’t forgotten how to keep secrets, so it’ll be fun. You know Robert (Yates) and Jack have really been good at teaching us a lot of the ways just to be quiet be humble and carry a big stick. That’s always been their way and it’s also respectful when you’re out in that market. You’re not there to show off. You’re there to compete and respect the other competitors and that’s what we're after here. We have to earn our own respect by respecting the other guys around there.”
Clark found out quickly that just being in the Ford family wasn't going to go but so far.
“I think you have your families of information share, again with Larry Morgan. Larry Morgan is really good with us, but he said, 'OK I will never lie to you but sometimes I just won’t tell you the truth' and that’s how he handles things. And you respect that, that’s how those guys are; it’s kind of a code they live by.
“Sometimes there’s questions you know not to ask and again it’s about earning your respect and as you spend more time and get I think more immersed into that market as we plan to do for long time I think we’ll be able to learn some things and we’ll share some things you need to share. When it comes down to a part failure or if it’s an advantage. You don’t want to see another Ford team have a failure because of a bit of information you may be able to share with them. If it’s something you learn on your own hard work yes, you’ll keep that a secret but you’ll share some things to keep people from having a detrimental failure and hurt their racing.
“It’s kind of a code of ethics that you’ll do that and we even do that here in the Cup garage. A lot of the engine builders will share information whether it’s a bad run of metal that's gotten through or a valve spring or something. You never want to see someone out of competition because of a parts failure. You want to beat them because you had the best stuff against their best stuff. So that’s what I am getting at there.”
That's always been what Jack Roush and Doug Yates have been about – beating the other guy's best stuff with their best stuff.
| {loadposition feedback} |
