Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Lets pretend that there is an engine builder. This builder sells the engines and makes enough money to build himself a engine that we will call a HOUSE ENGINE. This house engine is given to a team to compete against the customers that paid for engines. Good idea???

Its called a sponsorship. Happens with every company in sprint car racing.

you are jumping to the conclusion that the motor builder will not build the same stuff for his customers as they build for themselves. also that the "house motor" will be better than what a paying customer will buy.

i would say reputable builders will build the customer the most competitive motor they can afford.

you also assume that the customers can have a car set up and driver that are equal to the "house motor" team.

that is a lot of variables.

i have also seen that the house motor is also used at times as the R&D motor, that doesn't always make it the fastest or most reliable.

to indy and beyond!!

Its the motor builders money wrapped up into the house motor so they should be able to do whatever they want. If they're a respected builder then none of their customers will worry about not getting the best stuff for their money.

"Winged or non-winged its all about 
the sprint cars for me!"
http://mattmusselldesigns.daportfolio.com

I am pretty sure I know where you are going with this and I am about 99.9% sure which engine builder you are talking about. Anyways, here is my .02 cents on this.......this so called engine builder that you are referring to has become pretty succesful in the sprint car world. By becoming one of the best he has spent most every Saturday night at the track developing the best sprint engine money can buy. Engines can be put on dynos and numbers can be given but are they really true tack numbers....not really, I have yet to see a driver that has had their picture taken in victory lane because their engine won the dyno contest. This engine builder has done thousands and thousands of hours of research and development in the shop and at the track. Therefore, by having this house motor program it has paid off huge even for the competitors purchasing the same engine. Now, lets discuss the "Same Engine", if this so called engine builder decides he would like to build your engines for you, he is going to give you different options available.......it basically, how fast do you wanna go? Now, with all this wealth of information, I would have to say the "House" motor has been very instrumental to the development and advancement of the so called engine builders program. This so called engine builder found a team that has turned many laps around this famous half mile that he fealt would be essential to the development of his program and by the results, I would have to say it has worked out for the best. Remember, this was just my opinion and as I stated, I am assuming I know what engine builder you are talking about.

Alan DeHaai

Omaha, NE

I believe I know which motor builder is being referred to as well.

Here's my take. There has ALWAYS been someone driving a "house" motor for multiple engine builders over the years.

I remember when Mike Brooks drove the House of Horsepower "house" motor when he drove the Mickow (TMC) Sprinter in the 80's , remember when Sammy ran the Gaerte "house" motor when he ran the TMC car?

Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Aaron Ott is running the Ott "house" motor in PA. Same goes for cars, parts and pieces. Sammy runs Super Shox and I highly doubt that Tod Quiring is paying a dime for them, it's in Super Shox's best interest to give them to him, they'll sell shocks to guys that think that's why there are getting beat. Dale Blaney is running the Ti22 / GF1 "house" chassis. Without having "house" motors, chassis, shocks, etc., nothing could ever evolve and get better as no one that is racing would want to "try" something new, they want to stick with what they know works.

Listened to Winged Nation Today, sounds like Brian Brown has Parker doing his 360 Engines (tell me that Brown can't beat Garner @ Knoxville even though Garner runs Al Parker's "house" engine).

I remember back in the 1980's when a MAJORITY of the local cars @ Knoxville ran Parker Engines (in the 410 Division) and they won a lot of races as I recall (although that TMC car was awful hard to beat no matter who was behind the wheel with the House of Horsepower "house" engine.

To me, it makes no difference. What amazes me is that even though the "house" engine of Parker's is in Garner's car, they have had very little trouble (as in, an MSD box went bad earlier this year, but other than that I don't think they've had any engine or part failures in 4 YEARS).

IMO, EVERY engine manufacturer, shock company, chassis company, etc. should have a program such as this. You don't get better at making your product by just doing the same ol', same ol' for years and years....Gaerte learned that the hard way, they starting just being a shop and got behind in the technology side. The last couple of years, Joe Gaerte put the 3G car together and has drivers like Shane Stewart and Stevie Smith running it and getting feedback to make his engines better which is the only way their business can survive (if you don't get better, you go out of business).

Sprint Cars Do It On Dirt!

A "house" motor may also have experimental parts in it, make it more subject to failure.

The reason why they do "house" motors is so they (Parker, Gaerte, Ott) can provide their customers with better information, reliabilty and repeatability. When they have something to try they have a base of information to compare that is consistent and viable. If Parker doesn't have one guy that is his base he would not be as accurate when customer X asks a question or is having a problem, i.e. dirty air, gearing etc.... The dyno only tells them so much, it doesn't always relate to HP or speed at the track... When Al asks Clint about how something feels, he is getting this infomation compared to his base, he likes it, new basis... His way of investing in research and developement...

BTW, the reason why Clint and Al have been so successful isn't because Al is building "special" motors for him that aren't available to all of Al's customers, it is however because of ALL the pieces are working together at the same time, motor, driver, chassis, and crew or maintenance... Clint and Al's success comes from the ability adjust to the conditions and repeatability of the tuning, motor, chassis, gear, and driver to those conditions....

Anyone that is selling engines for racing will have to sell a quality product that the teams believe that they can use in order to win a race. No one is going to buy an engine thinking this is only going to get me close to 10th place. I think that the information that is used in building engines is invaluable to the developer and can help them to develop a house engine that could be potentially better than the original style of engine sold. The one thing that I am sure of is that none of these engines are going to be sold in the buy here pay here car lot down on the corner. I am sure that any of these engines, either house or standard are going to cost an arm and a leg, and probably both!

ACCC
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