Well, there were quite a few of them gathered at a hastily organized open forum meeting at PRI to discuss crate engines usefulness, or uselessness, at the short track racing level.
 The PRI Show had a very well attended and lively open forum on crate engines. (Glen Grissom photo) |
The meeting was the brainchild of Richard Iskenderian, of long time aftermarket camshaft manufacturer Isky Racing Cams, and Bill Schlieper, head of Pro Power Racing, which builds some of the top dirt Late Model race engines in the country. Steve Lewis, the head of PRI, supplied the meeting room and threw in his support – that seemed prudent since there was a lot more exhibition space taken up in the PRI Show by individual parts manufacturers than the Big Three auto manufacturers.
Although, I have to tell you I’ve never seen the manpower and space devoted by GM to crate engines since I’ve been going to the PRI Show – I started in the ‘80s when I worked in the booth for one of those individual aftermarket manufacturers. Bill Schlieper noticed too – when he spoke to the assembled he waved the new GM Performance Parts catalog and declared it had 30 pages specializing in crate engines! I thought he was going to pull out his lighter and burn it on the spot.
I think everyone attending was surprised at the turnout. Certainly it was standing room only, and many of the major racing engine builders were in attendance. Keith Dorton, head of Automotive Specialists also gave a short recounting of how he tried to organize such a meeting almost two years ago. Let’s just say the “No Crate Engines” stickers he passed out then got him pilloried by some.
The upshot of this meeting? Lots of open discussion from many sides about the issue: from aftermarket manufacturers, racers, engine builders, track promoters – no OEMs though.
Here’s an overview from the notes I took:
Richard Iskenderian certainly sees few benefits to crate engines and considers them a threat to free enterprise.
Bill Sclieper advocates establishing a separate nationwide paying points fund to support racers and tracks that stay loyal to open engines – if every one of the manufacturers on the PRI floor put in $5,000, you would instantly have a counter-incentive to run a crate engine.
Keith Dorton put it bluntly: “GM sold its soul to the devil.” All of the supposed advantages of crate engines do not work in the real world – they are not less costly, they are not the salvation for car counts, they kill brand equity (certainly if you’re not GM) and brand loyalty, and crate engine parts and assembly are inferior – at every level they’ve been introduced – to a custom built engine (over their lifespans).
Steve Lewis noted that racing, and indeed his PRI Show, is based on innovation and competition. The soul of racing is that Racer B is trying to get around Racer A in front of him. He pledged to use his PRI efforts and magazine as a conduit to get info out about the issue.
We’re already doing that at OvalTracking.com, and will continue to do so. We have a vested interest in the survival of the performance aftermarket, too.