Keith will be at the crate engine seminar at PRI, and I recently caught up with his current thinking on crate engines a year after the 2005 Dorton Crate Engine Manifesto. (Those are my words, not his.)
I posed questions to him about crate engines, and have paraphrased his comments below. Any words in quotes are his direct commentary.
How did crate engines get their start?
They started ramping up when GM began to push them as a supplier to oval track racing. They had a whole series, the ASA, where they first incorporated them. The other OEMs have followed that lead.
Crate engine advocates have plenty of reasons for using them. How do you respond?
“It all sounds good, but it is hogwash. Crate engines eliminate different brands on the engines – they are not a Ford or a Chevy or a Mopar engine anymore. And they eliminate 
the branding and components from the aftermarket – Crane, Comp Cams, Edelbrock, etc. They finally eliminate engine builders.”
Don’t crate engines level the playing field because everyone has the same amount of engine power?
“We had two “identical” GM crate engines on our dyno and there was a substantial difference in the engines. They were not uniform. One was 25 HP better than the other right out of the crate. And that was before any basic tuning.” (Adjusting ignition timing, etc.)
Won’t tamper-proof crate engines reduce cheating?
If a team has the resources, they will find a way around anything. He knows of a racer who competes in a crate engine class. This racer buys up to three or four crate engines and then has them all dyno-tested (not cheap) to find the one with the most power. Then sells off the rest.
But won’t using crate engines keep racing costs down?
“It is a myth that engine costs are a big percentage of total racing costs. The longevity of an open engine getting freshening is cheaper or closer in the long run. And you’re not
obsoleting the engines a racer already has.”
Racers are telling him that racing’s overall costs are up: towing and fuel and tires and pit passes and feeding and housing a crew are rising costs and they are driving the price of racing up more than engine costs. Car counts are shrinking because the payout at tracks is so low that teams can’t even meet their tire bills – so why race? Crate engines don’t fix low car counts. They are not a magic bullet.
What about the optional crate engine being phased in the Grand National East/West series?
“When it was first announced, it was going to cost $13,000 assembled. Now it costs $23,800. It comes from one supplier, Gary Nelson. It can be bought as a kit, which is supposed to make it different from a typical crate engine from one builder. But the rules say all you are allowed to do is wash the parts and assemble them. No valve job, no honing the block. How long will that engine last? It’s optional to run the crate engine, but your old open engine has to use a 390 CFM carb. The crate engine gets an 830 CFM carb. That is leveling the playing field?. As of December, according to one of my customers, these crate engines are on back order and he can’t be told when they will be available.”
Is there a place for crate engines in racing?
“At the very entry level of racing – Street Stocks and the like. They are good in the 350HP range of racing. I did a spec engine for 14 years – for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. When there is no competition, a crate engine works great!”