DODGE: Back On Track! BY TOM NASH accomplishes the ‘impossible’ by designing and building an engine for NASCAR’s ultra-competitive

Winston Cup Series in only six months. Dodge courtesy Photo

n June 9, 1985 at Pocono Dodge wore the “crown.” But after the /Hendricks Racing Raceway, John Good the glory days faded, Dodge abdicated Team that dominated the Winston Cup drove his Dodge to a lowly the throne and slipped off into history. Series in the ’90s. Evernham’s proven 30th place out of 40 quali- Now, after an absence of more than ability in every aspect of Winston Cup fiers. Shortly thereafter, 15 years, Dodge has decided to jump racing made him the logical choice. As a Dodge decided to pull out back into the fray. Faced with the daunt- result, he was named as the first of sev- of NASCAR racing because of the costs ing task of designing and creating a rac- eral team owners, and would be an inte- Oinvolved, plus the fact that no Dodge ing program from the ground up, the gral part of the development program had won a race in over seven years. company first needed to find a leader to from start to finish line. The decision was a bitter pill to help design and develop the vehicle Evernham and his racing experts swallow. After all, Dodge had domi- that would be put on the track. It would would sit down with Dodge’s engineer- nated NASCAR racing throughout the have to be competitive or the program ing staff and coordinate with NASCAR’s ’70s with such outstanding drivers as would be doomed to failure. And, it regulators to work out every detail along , , Bobby Al- would have to be done in record time. the way. Instead of being handed a ve- lison, , Neil Bonnet and, Fortunately, the first man that Dodge hicle to race and specifications to meet, of course, . If Petty was approached to manage the program was they were actually working together the “king” of NASCAR, then surely , former crew chief for with the sponsoring factory and the gov-

22 March 2001 erning association to create a new-from- the-ground-up racing machine. This “one-team” approach extended to the other Dodge racing teams of and . As soon as Melling Racing and came aboard, they, too, became part of the one-team dynamics. Dodge, as part of DaimlerChrysler, began to look at every possible re- source at its disposal to accomplish the job at hand. Every company that performed outside work for DC

would be considered for how it could Dodge courtesy Illustration contribute. Each department within DaimlerChrysler’s Digital Modeling Assembly (DMA) computer program can the corporation would be utilized to “virtually” create components, then assemble them into an entire engine, as this its fullest—from advanced design to image shows. Guided by the data, prototypes are then produced with a laser.

March 2001 23 DODGE: BACK ON TRACK!

Photos: Tom Nash Tom Photos: The freeze plugs and access port plugs The engine block on the Dodge NASCAR V8 is cast and tooled to produce even of the Dodge V8 are sealed with O- wall thickness for consistent cooling. Coolant temperatures in the block rings and retained with circle clips for won’t vary more than 3° during actual race conditions. rapid access to the engine’s interior. prototyping to testing. The outside ’s manager of NASCAR En- main job is “making sure the race companies and internal departments gine Programs, treated us to a tour of teams don’t run out of parts.” He’s that help DaimlerChrysler create the six-man race engine shop deep even delivered engine blocks from passenger and trucks would be within the Technical Center in Auburn Michigan to race team shops in tapped for their expertise to help cre- Hills, Michigan. Part of Chrysler’s in the back of his ate the Winston Cup cars. NASCAR program in the ’70s, Flack pickup truck when they were needed explained the development of the Win- in a hurry. He also will stay in touch The Engine Guys ston Cup engine that will be used in with the teams to see what engine Two of the resources Dodge thrust in- the new R/T. changes or alterations they suggest. to the program immediately were Ted Roger Doll has been in race engine Flack and Roger Doll. Flack, Daimler- development for 25 years. He says his Starting From Scratch Since NASCAR rules require that the manufacturer supply an approved en- gine block, cylinder heads and intake manifold, the Dodge team began the daunting task of designing and build- ing these components on Oct. 14, 1999. It sounds like a lot of time—493 days until the race on Feb. 18, 2001—but the amount of de- signing, casting, testing, altering and tweaking required is so long and com- plex, it seemed impossible to achieve. NASCAR also requires that the en- gine be based on a standard (stock) production engine displacing a maxi- mum of 358 cubic inches and having the same bore centers, deck height, in- take manifold height and camshaft cen- terline location. It must be made of cast iron and be fed by a carburetor. Alu- To improve the race engine’s durability, piston squirters with special banjo minum heads are mandated, although fittings are used to spray the underside of the pistons with cooling oil. “hemi” heads are no longer allowed.

26 March 2001 Dodge decided to base the Winston panies Dodge used to create the parts. The Dodge engine block is the on- Cup engine on its durable 5.9-liter To date, about 400 engine blocks ly deep-skirt design in NASCAR and truck engine. The company addition- have been cast, as each of the ten was cast as a so-called “open deck,” ally supplies valve covers, head gas- race teams will build 25 to 40 engines which allows tooling to shape the out- kets, water manifolds, water pumps for the season. The engine blocks are side of the cylinder as well as inside and fuel pumps to its race teams. It’s prepped (about one per day) at the the bore to produce even wall thick- up to the individual teams to use DC engine shop before being ness and thus more consistent cool- whatever parts they prefer to com- shipped to Dodge’s team parts ware- ing. Flack says that coolant tempera- plete the engine. Usually, these parts house in Concord, North Carolina. ture within the block varies by no more come from sponsorship agreements. During the initial meetings with Evernham’s racing pros, Flack and his crew brought advanced engineer- ing specialists to discuss and design— on the spot—exactly what the race teams needed. This is where applying all the re- sources of a large car company pays off. DaimlerChysler’s corps of design engineers specialize in computer-aided engineering (CAE), computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacture (CAD/CAM), high-tech modeling and “rapid prototype modeling” systems, which actually build a solid model of each part designed by the computers. These systems create the parts out of multiple layers of paper or blocks of plastic. After the part has been created by a computer program called Digital Model Assembly (DMA), the data is transmitted to the rapid prototype sys- tem, which uses a laser to sculpt the part to exact dimensions. This comput- erization cuts the design and develop- ment time to a fraction of what was needed in prior years. Quick—and Fantastic— Results The results were phenomenal. Work- ing together with the race teams, DC engineers were able to create a proto- type intake manifold that could be tested on an engine in only nine days. A cast-aluminum version took only four weeks to go from computer screen to dyno. Later, when the process was improved, actual manifold production took just 12 days, start to finish. Testing time is also minimized as fit and function can also be accom- plished during the modeling stages. None of this could have been accom- plished, however, had not the “one- team” approach been extended to the lo- cal pattern, casting and machining com-

March 2001 27 DODGE: BACK ON TRACK!

2001 Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Series Teams & Drivers

Evernham Motorsports ...... #9 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T ...... #19 Dodge Dealers Dodge Intrepid R/T Bill Davis Racing ...... #22 Caterpillar Dodge Intrepid R/T ...... #93 Ultimate Dodge Intrepid R/T Petty Enterprises ...... #45 Sprint Dodge Intrepid R/T ...... #43 Cheerios Dodge Intrepid R/T Buckshot Jones ...... #44 Georgia-Pacific Dodge Intrepid R/T Melling Racing Stacey Compton ...... #92 Kodiak Dodge Intrepid R/T Chip Ganassi Racing Sterling Martin ...... #40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T

Jason Leffler ...... #01 Cingular Wireless Dodge Intrepid R/T Dodge courtesy Photo than 3° during normal race conditions. the tappets, valves and rocker arms to a and intake manifolds are used at the Oil flow for lubrication and cooling is cavity in the rear of the block, where super speedways, where restrictor critical to race engine life and operation. the oil is, then scavenged out. plates change the way the engines As Roger Doll puts it, “Keeping the val- Among the other unique features of breathe. NASCAR allows Winston vetrain together at over 9000 rpm is a the Dodge engine block are access Cup teams to use five different intake major accomplishment.” With most ports for the oil and water passages. manifolds, for various types of courses. NASCAR engines, plumbing is added Freeze plugs and access plugs are They’re presented for approval to to supply oil lines for piston squirters sealed with O-rings and held in place by NASCAR, who keeps them for inspec- and tappet bathing. But the Dodge en- circle clips, rather than screw-in threads tion and comparison to manifolds used gines are designed with separate cast-in and/or epoxy. This affords quick and by the teams at the races. Manufactur- galleys for tappets and piston squirters. easy access to the engine’s interior. ers usually supply three, with two These channels allow oil to flow over Different combinations of heads coming from aftermarket suppliers.

Left: The Dodge V8’s cylinder heads are cast and tooled for minimum weight and maximum strength. Right: Alloy valve seats and a central plug location improve durability and promote better swirl of the air/fuel mix.

28 March 2001 The entire Dodge engine project only took nine months from the first drawing, through the six-month build- ing process, to NASCAR approval. Although the project of designing and building the Winston Cup Dodge Intrepid R/T cars was accomplished by using the resources and methods used in creating production vehicles, Dodge hopes that some of the things they learned during the Winston Cup project will trickle down into the cars and trucks you and I drive every day. By the way, NASCAR rules require that factory parts be available on the open market. If you’re considering get- ting into Winston Cup racing, the block will set you back $4000, cylinder heads go for $1000 and intake manifolds cost Here a fully assembled Dodge Winston Cup V8 awaits shipment to one of the $500 to $600 apiece. Good luck! Dodge team race shops. The entire engine project took just months to complete! Visit www.motor.com to The life expectancy of a Winston Cup necting rods are good for 1500 to 3000 download a free copy of this racing block is about 3000 miles. En- miles. As cylinders wear and need to be article. Copies are also available gines are rebuilt after every race with rebored, a shorter stroke is used with by sending $3 for each copy to: Fulfillment Dept., MOTOR Magazine, new pistons, rings, rocker arms and the bigger bore to maintain the 358- 5600 Crooks Rd., Troy, MI 48098. valves. Crankshafts, camshafts and con- cube limit established by NASCAR.

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