SALEM, IN – Sealed Engine Alliance Leaders (S.E.A.L.) came together Tuesday morning to dyno crate engine packages used at last weekend’s ARCA/CRA Super Series powered by JEGS event at Anderson Speedway. While crate engines have been used to win many races through the years at Super events, last Saturday was the first time a crate engine powered car found victory lane at the high banked ¼ mile speed plant.
Following the race last Saturday night, CRA officials took the crate engines of winner Cody Coughlin, and runner up Mason Keller. Coughlin’s car utilized a box stock Chevy with factory seals and allowed external upgrades. Keller utilized a MEP 425 Ford. For Tuesday’s dyno testing, officials also brought in a brand new, in the crate, Chevy 604, with no upgrades.
Officials taking part in the dyno evaluation were CRA’s Chief Technical Inspector Eddie Chew, Southern Super Series and SRL Chief Technical Inspector Ricky Brooks, CRA’s Director of Operations Greg Wood and McGunegill Engine Performance’s Sean Brincefield. Engine builder Phil Harper was planning to attend, but was unable to make it at the last second. The engines were run on the dyno at the independent facility owned by Evan Jackson.
The effort to check these engines had multiple purposes. One, was to verify they were in compliance with the guidelines set forth for these engines. Another was to gather more data for S.E.A.L., whose goal is to unify the crate engine racing community even more, with similar rules across the country.
According to all of the leaders present, all of the engines put on the dyno were found to conform to the performance standards expected for those packages. Additionally, prior to the dyno runs, Chew performed Whistler and Cam Doctor checks, verifying the packages met the guidelines for cam profile and compression. Those checks were performed in the presence of Keller’s crew chief and DeWaine McGunegill of McGunegill Engine Performance.
CRA’s Chew noted, “We are pleased to have the additional data we have and appreciate Ricky joining us for this process. Combining all of the data we have with what Ricky has gathered will help us make more unified decisions for crate racing in 2021 and beyond.”
The racing veteran further noted, “we found some areas we think we can address going forward, and in fact, after these tests and evaluating lap times from this past weekend, we can make an immediate change to the weights for Redbud 400 on July 13th. All cars will race at the same base weight (2800 lbs) regardless of engine package.”
CRA’s Wood closed out the comments on the day with, “Evan Jackson and his staff led one of the best back to back to back comparison efforts seen by those present. The S.E.A.L. committee would like to thank him and his staff for their outstanding effort.”
Champion Racing Association Press Release
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