The crew here at Hawkins Speed Shop has grown again. In the past few months the guys in the shop have been preparing our house dragster fo its new driver. I’d like to take this time to introduce to our customers Jordan Ray. Jordan is the grandson of our store owner Jim Ray . He is a intelligent soft spoken sixteen year old who has been working around the shop part time last fall and full time this summer. Jordan showed an interest in drag racing and made some commitments in his schedule and to the store to go racing.

We have modified the dragster to get Jordan comfortable in his first race car. The guys in the shop removed our 750 hp race motor to opt for a GM ZZ 383 425 hp crate engine. Just like most things in life you have to crawl before you can walk. Jordan has responded very well to the car and has posted his best  quarter mile time of 8.97 seconds. Look for Jordan and Hawkins crew at local dragstrips in our area.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted to our blog, for those of you that look forward to new posts I apologize. After pondering about some current events involving accidents and race track safety issues I have some ideas that might need to be looked at. First off my thought and prayers are with Scott Kalitta’s family. Truly a sad moment in racing this year.

After looking at the videos of Scott’s crash and several overhead views of the track I feel one of the contributing factors was the short run-off are of the race track. Overhead views show the barrier on Scott’s lane curving inward at the safety run off are. The track to me appears to have an insufficient shut-off are for the quarter mile runs at over 300 mph.

Secondly we had a problem with our little local dirt track. USAC was supposed to run  a midget race as part of the Indiana Midget Week. My intention is not to get into the legal aspests of the end result which lead to USAC pulling out the day of the show saying the track was unsafe but rather propose and idea to keep these two incidents from happening.

Anyone in motor sports today has heard of the SFI foundation. It certifies most of the safety equipment in motor sports today along with the FIA. Maybe we need to have tracks certified for the types of racing the can accommodate. I don’t believe all drag strips can handle top fuel cars nor do I believe all dirt oval tracks can handle World of Outlaw sprint car racing. We need different levels of tracks just as if we have different level in safety equipment. I am not sure who should make these specifications, maybe the FIA or the SFI or a new group made of experts in the motor sports field.

One would think this work would be done to get the appropriate insurance for the tracks. As in the case of our local dirt track it was insured and USAC had inspected it prior. One thing for sure we need to preserve the safety of our racers and fans.

Today we had a Jasper Engine salesman stop in the store. While his main priority for calling was to drum up business he had some good information to share on the Dex Cool class action law suit. I felt this was good information to share with our customers as well. So here we go with whats going on.

Engines involved within 7 years of initial vehicle delivery or 150,000 miles:

1. 1995-2003 3.1 and 3.4 liter engines

2. 1995-2004 3.8 liter engines.

3. 1995-2000 4.3 liter engines

Payout:

1. Covered repair made within 5 years after initial vehicle delivery-up to $400, or up to $800, if repair bill was more than $1500.

2. Covered repair made in the 6th year afteer initial vehicle delivery-up to $100.

3. For a covered repair in the 7th year after initial delivery-up to $50.

To file a claim , visit this website: www.dexcoolsettlement.com

Print off the settlement claim form from this website, fill it out and submit the following information:

1. Proof of ownership (copy of vehicle registration card,proof of insurance coverage, title certificate, bill of sale or lease agreement).

2. Proof of repair (repair shop invoice or receipt).

Mail to: Dex Cool Litigation

c/o The Garden City Group, Inc.   

P.O. Box 9239

Dublin, OH 43017-4639

I know this doesn’t cover all the problems but it does help.

The guys here at Hawkins Speed Shop want to share some tips for you gearheads to help you keep your cool. Cooling seems to be a big issue during the hot summer months hopefully some of these tips will help you out.

-Where do you locate your temperature sensor? Never run your sensor in the block or head! The ideal location is in the intake manifold at the water neck prior to the radiator return.

-If you are having a overheating problem ask yourself is it on the highway or in traffic?

    If your problem is in traffic chances are it is not a radiator problem.If you are overheating on the highway you may possibly be running too small of radiator.   Ask yourself if you have changed pulleys…if yes see if it is under-driven. Pulley systems need to be ideally over-driven by 30%. I.E. if the crank pulley is 10″ you need a 7″ water pump pulley.

-Fans

    Mechanical fans must have a shroud! Also, the fan needs to be halfway into the fan shroud for optimum cooling performance.

    Push vs. Pull-Simply put…is it easier to push a rope or pull a rope? A puller fan is always better when you can fit it, if you have no choice and have to run a pusher style fan you must use a fan shroud.

-DexCool (the “pink stuff”)-Do not use! Dexcool eats up manifold gaskets and deposits get stuck and jammed clogging the radiator. The ideal fluid is ethylene glycol and  distilled water. Remember tap water has minerals and conducts electricity.

-As a guideline use 1 square inch of radiator core per horsepower.

Hopefully these tips will help you have a cooler summer. Have a safe and fun filled summer.

The Hawkins Speed Shop website continues to grow and generate interest among racers and rodders alike. Our great customer base is what makes us grow. We can not thank our loyal customers enough. We are a small business and do not have the tens of thousands of part numbers on our site like many of the big boys do. To serve our customers better we would like to hear from you. We would like our customers to let us know what parts they would like to see added to the Hawkins Speed Shop site.

Wilwood is a compnay that is always developing their product line. We constantly get information on new or changing products several times a year from them. Recently Wilwood has announced the release of their New Superlite 13 and 14 Inch Rear Disc Kits with Drum Parking Brakes. These kits feature an internal shoe parking brake system that is cleanly hidden. You have your choice of HP smooth faced rotors or the new SRP Black Electro Coat rotors. The calipers are available black, red polished or other custom Wilwood color by special order. For the open wheelers Wilwood has a new asphalt midget front brake. The system uses a new compact 4 piston billet caliper, corrosion free 1.25″ piston that reduce heat transfer to the pads, quick clip pad retainers allow for fast replacement of top mounted pads and a 3.50″ centered mounts that adapt to many brackets for common spindles.