The Bucket List..............Check

Just as the title says, Sandy completed something from his racing bucket list. That accomplishment would be running in the 4.20’s. He actually ran in the 20’s on two out of the four runs with the best run of a 4.255 @ 168.20. That is a career best elapsed time and speed for the 462 cubic inch small block.

The ADRL race at Rockingham, NC was rained out before the first round but was considered a success for the Roush/Yates team. Yes, we ran in the 4.20’s for the first time, but more importantly, we made four passes in a row without having to abort. Sandy is finally sorting out the clutch combination and it could not have come at a better time.

Since Rockingham is a relatively close track, we had a lot of friends show up. Some of those friends were Sandy’s co-workers at Roush/Yates Engines. These guys got to see Sandy in his element. They got to see the truck and trailer with the awning out for the first time. He also had the new Roush/ Yates banner hanging up on the back of the trailer. This was a hot item. The banner stopped a lot of people, who would then walk into our pit area to see what was under the hood. This allowed for a lot of engine networking, which is what Sandy is especially good at. Not only can he build horse power, tune it and the clutch and pretty much do everything else, he has a way of communicating with the people. People want to do business with him because you can trust what he says. Just a quick thought. Sandy reminds me of the old school pro racer of the seventies, but the current day version. He drives the rig, drives the car, tunes and services his car, performs maintenance on everything, and does all the networking just so he can race.

Since the race was rained out, it will continue next weekend, September 24 & 25, at Norwalk, Ohio. ADRL does not race on Sunday, so this is why the race was not finished this past weekend. At the ADRL events, you park on Thursday with three rounds of qualifying on Friday and then one round of qualifying and racing on Saturday. So if the race is rained out, it is made up at the next event on Friday.

Sandy and I have great memories of Norwalk. In 2005 we won the IHRA World Nationals in Top Sportsman for our first national event win together. It was the first time we had run in the sixes on every pass to win. The dial in on the car was a 6.94. Small block cool. When we won that race, it was just the two of us and it was a lot of work. Now he has the 5-speed in the car, and if it’s just the two of us going this time and servicing the clutch, it may be a long weekend.

Sandy will have something figured out. He always does. It was great to see our friends at the Rock and it will be great to see some old friends at Norwalk. So, if you are not busy next weekend, the more the merrier.

Don

What's Been Going On?

What’s been going on with Sandy Wilkins lately? Well, there has not been a lot of racing going on. Since taking on his new job, Sandy has only been to a hand full of races, which was the ADRL race in Richmond and a couple of Big Dogs. The last Big Dog at the first of August went pretty good. The first pass was a 4.42 and it was not a good pass. We came back for second pass and shook the tires to end up on the outside of the field. Sandy made a few adjustments and we went back out for a test run. The car ran a 4.30 @ 167 which was our best pass to date with the 5-speed, but watching the car and looking at the computer, it still was not a good pass. It’s funny how you are never satisfied. Now remember, all this is own 10.5 tires. This whole set up, which consists of a small block with nitrous, liberty 5-speed and 10.5 tires has been challenging, but Flea want quit until he has made it work. Small rewards with a lot of work.

As the photo shows, this is some of Sandy’s equipment from his old shop, loaded up and headed for Mooresville. His old shop has finally been closed up and there is no turning back now. Sandy has been in his new house now for about a month and some of the equipment will end up there. His shop beside his house is one we would all like to have. A 50 x 50 shop dedicated to nothing but your race car. Way cool. Finally being able to have a place of his own too work on the car will be a tremendous help. Even though working on the car at Roush/Yates is pretty cool, it is nothing like your own place.

Sandy has also been working with Justin Humphreys and his new Ford Pro Stock car. They tested at Budds Creek, Maryland several weeks back and it looks like they are going to do some testing locally this week in hopes of a U.S. Nationals debut. The engine is making competitive horsepower, so everyone is excited about the future. I hope everything goes good for these guys during testing so the Fleabag can relax a little. Relaxing may be short lived, as Sandy may be traveling out to Indy to help with the pro stocker that week as well as in Charlotte next month.

As far as Wilkins Motorsports, Sandy is looking at doing a little testing of his own in the next few weeks to get ready for the ADRL race in Rockingham, NC on September 10 and 11. He will be doing a lot of racing as I mentioned before, but it will be split between working and his own program. First, going to Indy for a long week with Humphreys, then running his own car at Rockingham, then to the NHRA race at Charlotte with the pro stocker and then he wants to go to the ADRL race in Norwalk, Ohio the next week. Sounds to me as if he is burning the candle on both ends. It is hard to keep the grass mowed when you are never home. But hey, he is doing what he loves.

Anyhow, I hope everyone is doing well and good luck at the track.

Don

Roush-Yates Open House.

We haven’t been to any races since Virginia but the Sandflea has been busy. After Virginia, we came back with a wounded engine, but had to put that on the back burner due to the open house at Roush-Yates the following Wednesday. At the end of the day of the open house the guys pushed the car around back and started taking the engine out of the car. Sandy said he is not quite use to all the help. I mean these guys knew he had a wounded bullet and just took it upon their selves to get started on it. Service with a smile. The engine had broken some rocker arms and had backfired through the carburetors. Everything has been fixed, so now Sandy has to find the time to reassemble the engine.

The open house was an outstanding event. It was invitation only that included a lot of high profile racing people. It is in the heart of Nascar country, so of course a lot of Nascar guys were around. The open house was for existing and potential new customers. Sandy had quite a few of both there and from what I saw, I think they were all impressed. The picture of what looks like an office is actually the assembly area. You will notice an opening into each work area where a designated person assembles his engine. This may be drag racing, nationwide and cup, dirt track, or the 24 hours of Daytona engines. All this done in an area cleaner than my kitchen.

There was plenty happening outside as well. Along with Sandy’s car on display, there were world of outlaw cars, modified cars, dirt trackers, and an occasional cup car. But to me, the most interesting car on the grounds was the brand new Ford Mustang Pro Stocker of Justin Humphries. He and his family were in attendance enjoying the meet and greet with everyone. The car itself is a work of art and I can’t wait to see it go down the track. I think Sandy said they should have the engine on the dyno this week. If it produces the horse power they are predicting, it should be a contender from the very start.

Speaking of high profile people, this picture is of the three main people. You have Jack Roush, who spoke a lot about his drag racing in the early days. He talked about the Maverick he and Wayne Gapp ran in Pro Stock and the championship they won together. I myself still have, I think a 1973 Gapp and Roush Ford Pinto Pro Stock model car that is from back in the day. I also have a Barry Setzer Vega Funny Car, Don Prudomme’s Army Chevy Monza and his Army Top Fuel Dragster. I don’t think Prudomme actually had an Army Dragster but they did make one. I also have an Al Segrini Black Magic Vega Funny Car. Oh well, enough about that. Back to the three main men. You have Roush, then the general manger George Gable who brought Sandy on board and last but not least Doug Yates. Doug talked about where the company is going in the future and what fun they had getting there. His dad Robert Yates was also on hand.

There was a big crowd on that day and the main thing you had to worry about was the camera bulbs flashing. A lot of picture taking. Among the picture takers, you had Van Abernathy from Drag Illustrated taking pictures as well as Sandy’s mom Freda, who took this picture of the best looking guys on the grounds. There was great food as well as some signature Roush-Yates wine that was produced by Lucien Wilkins (Sandy’s dad) vineyard. It is Spencer Mountain Vineyards in Boone, NC. A fun time was had by all and Sandy thanks everyone who attended. See you guys at the races.

Don

ADRL Virginia!!!

We went to Virginia for the ADRL race last weekend and oh boy what a fun time. This was my first ADRL race since I was on the injured reserve last year. We left around lunch time on the Thursday before the race from Sandy’s new work place, Roush-Yates Engines. This was pretty neat because I got to take a tour of the new place which is beyond awesome. I thought I needed to take my shoes off before I went in. It was that clean. Roush-Yates Engines had a open house yesterday and I will have some photos of that next week.

We finally got on the road and got to the track around 6:30pm. We got the awning up, serviced the car and had supper with Todd Tutterrow and friends. Friday we woke up to another beautiful day and the cars were on the track at 9am. Now here is where the fun started. When we had a power glide in the car, we made a run and then serviced the engine and were ready to go again. Now this 5-speed has added way to much fun to the program. This is how it goes. You make a run, come back and dismantle the car. We still do the engine maintenance, but now we have to pull the transmission and clutch out every pass. We also were trying to figure the rear gear out, so it came out every pass on Friday. So, you make a pass, disassemble car, put it back together and make a pass, repeat tear down until you have made 3 runs. By now we are all starving and ready to pass out. We don’t have people hanging out with us, wanting to fix us food and bring drinks. I suppose we are too far down on the totem pole for that. And all I brought was cheese-its, gold fish and pop-tarts. What? Is that not healthy enough for you? We did go to Chilies’ later on that night thanks to Brian King’s persuading. Anyhow, we made it through the day by making one decent lap of a 4.38 @ 159. It drove through the clutch, which is why the mph was down and it was only on one nitrous system. We think if we can get the clutch right it will go 4.20’s on one system.

Sunday the cars were back on the track at 9am. They wanted to start everything earlier due to rain coming in later in the evening. On our last qualifying run we broke two rocker arms that slowed us down to a 4.60. The 4.38 we ran the day before qualified us 16th. So now we get to run the #1 qualifier Chuck Ulsch who has been running in the 3’s @ 200mph. No problem. Long story short. We did not have enough air gap in the clutch and rolled the beams causing a red light. Sandy’s competitor goes up in smoke giving us a win if Sandy had not red lighted. The excitement doesn’t stop there. About 200 feet into the run it breaks two more rocker arms and backfires through the carburetors knocking the scoop into a position that doesn’t look too good. We have all of the sudden developed a rocker arm problem. I am sure the guys at Roush-Yates Engines will solve the problem.

Anyhow, we are not where we want to be but in time we will get there. The neat thing about the ADRL is you cannot leave the race until it is over. So after our loss we got to hang out and see some of the racing. Pretty awesome stuff. We got everything loaded up and hit the road toward home around 7 pm. About 30 minutes down the road the bottom fell out and it was pouring rain just as they had said. We stopped to eat around 9pm and with all the work we did over the weekend we could only make it to Burlington, NC before it was time to sleep. We did make it back to the shop around lunch time on Sunday to end a very exhausting weekend.

I think the next race Sandy will be attending will be the ADRL in Michigan in June. With all the work we have to do now, some of you guys need to go with us to the next one. Later.

Don

In Case You Missed It!!!!

Yes sir. The Sandflea started his new job this past Monday at Roush-Yates Engines. It was a move that surprised a lot of people and even Sandy has had to take a step back look at what has happened.

Sandy has been involved with oval track racing for many years, beginning with his first job at Charlie Long Race Engines. While drag racing, he met long time sponsor Signal Seals and Fasteners in Mooresville, NC. Sandy was involved with their day to day process for about 6 months and while there, he made many contacts in the NASCAR comminutity that eventually led to his current position.

One of the people that Sandy created a relationship with was George Gable, the general manager at Roush-Yates Engines. George has a passion for drag racing and has helped steer Roush-Yates Engines into the drag racing market. George has put together somewhat of a super team of engine builders that will build and service every type of engine. Roush-Yates Engines is known for their superior Ford engines and Sandy will have his hands in their new Pro Stock Engine. What a lot of people may not realize is Sandy has several customers that have set NHRA and IHRA records in the Super Stock class with his own Ford engines.

I think George saw in Sandy what a lot of other people have seen. That his knowledge of making anything he touches better, along with a likable personality will make him a valuable asset to the Roush-Yates team. Sandy is excited about this new venture that has unlimited possibilities. So come join us at the races to share in the excitement. Plus, with this new 5-speed and all the work that comes with it, we could probably use the help.
Don

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Sandy Wilkins Joins Roush-Yates Engines as Drag Racing Program Manager
Mooresville, North Carolina based Roush-Yates Performance Engines recently announced heads-up racer and engine builder Sandy Wilkins will head up their drag racing engine program. Wilkins, a longtime drag racer, started his racing engine business in 2006 and recently expanded into lightweight wheelie bar wheels and other racing parts. Wilkins also has a knack for driving and has competed in IHRA and NHRA Top Sportsman and ADRL Extreme 10.5 classes. At the wheel of the Wilkins Motorsports Cavalier he has six Top Sportsman wins in twelve final rounds. In 2005, Wilkins was runner-up in IHRA Top Sportsman points and was the NHRA Division 2 Top Sportsman champion in 2003.

Photo Credit: Wilkins Motorsports
While known for his expertise in small block Chevrolet engines, Wilkins will soon be working his magic on small block Ford powerplants and heading-up Justin Humphrey’s NHRA Pro Stock engine program. Roush-Yates Engines is currently building Humphrey’s GM powerplants for the RaceRedi Motorsports GXP while developing the new Ford Pro Stock engine for a new Mustang scheduled to debut mid-year. Roush-Yates is also working with Steve Matusek on a turbocharged Pro-Modified Ford powerplant based on the 500 cubic inch Pro Stock block and heads.

“I look forward to the high performance technology that Roush Yates Performance Engine Group has to offer” said Wilkins. “I always wanted to have the means to do everything I think I can with an engine. Now with the help of George Gable at Roush Yates I have the ability to develop and implement these ideas.”

George Gable, General Manager for Roush Yates Performance Engine Group, is looking forward to having Wilkins on the build team. “Sandy Wilkins is a proven engine builder that can help take our drag racing engine program to the next level” said George. ”Introducing our engine program into drag racing is something that everyone at Roush Yates Engines has worked hard to achieve and we are very proud to have Sandy Wilkins join our team.”

The addition of Wilkins to the Roush-Yates team shows that Doug Yates is serious about expanding the NASCAR engine building powerhouse into new markets. Roush-Yates employees 170 engineers and technicians who design parts, build, test, and service over 1,500 Ford racing engines a year. The company’s engines compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, ARCA, NHRA Pro Stock, Grand-Am, FIA GT3, Dirt Late Model and Sprint cars.

Testing/Racing Again!!!

We went to Dunn-Benson Dragstrip last weekend to do some testing/Top Dawg racing. It was a long day for me. I live three hours from Sandy, so my day started at 6 am and ended at 3 am Sunday morning. I was on the road at a quarter till 7 and sitting in his drive way at a quarter till 10. Let’s head to the track. Well, it got real cold the night before and apparently the batteries in the big truck only last a year. So off to AutoZone we go for fresh batteries. An hour later we are on the road to Benson where our clutch advisor, the one and only Jeff Dobbins is waiting.

Sandy had already removed the clutch prior to arriving to the track. When we unloaded the car, Jeff took the clutch to his pit area to surface the clutch. We then assembled the car to get ready for our shakedown run. On the first run, Sandy was real smooth doing the burnout. He staged and brought the rpm’s up and dropped the clutch. It bogged again, but came to a stop with no problem. He backed it up and staged again. Same thing but it rattled the tires real hard. He shut it off and coasted off the track.

Back in the pits, we went over everything and made a few adjustments to the clutch and went back up for the 1st round of qualifying. Again, Sandy did a great burnout. I backed him up and check the wheelie bars and he is ready to stage. He drops the clutch, with a .034 light I might add, and the cars leaves better, but again goes into severe tire shake. He clicks the engine and coasts off the track. Once back in the pits, the service begins again.

Now Dobbins and Sandy both have a theory of what is happening with the car and the clutch. They know what needs to be done, but we can’t make those adjustments at the track. So, Jeff thinks we need to surface the clutch again so it want be so aggressive. We took the transmission out again to service it while Sandy made some engine adjustments. Just as we buttoned everything up for the 3rd run, Jeff noticed that the steering rack bar was broke at the weld. This is not good. So racing/testing was over for the day.

Even though we did not get to make another run, I do think it was a blessing in disguise. Sandy could have wadded his car up if he had gone down the track. He now has the steering rack fixed and has the clutch ideas he and Jeff discussed implemented, so testing may be in order this coming Saturday. Hopefully this will be the weekend he gets to pull the chutes.

Here is a recap of some of the pictures. 1. The first pic is of the new and improved hood scoop that had to be replaced after the first test session at Piedmont Dragway. We will get it painted after we go down the track successfully three of four times. 2. The second pic is where the steering rack broke. This is never a good look on a race car. 3. This pic is the world’s largest business card. This sign was along the wall in the staging lanes. Sandy didn’t even know that the sign had been put up and was a pleasant surprise. 4. Here are the two master minds, Jeff Dobbins and Sandy Wilkins, talking it over in the staging lanes. 5. This last pic is the winner of the Top Dawg that night, Brian Williams in his good looking Wilkins Racing Engines powered Pontiac. Congrats.

That’s a wrap. I will update you guys next week on how the testing went this weekend.

Have a blessed Easter.

Testing at Piedmont Dragway

Let’s talk about some testing. The Fleabag loaded up last Sunday and headed to Piedmont Dragway in Greensboro, NC to test his new toy. What is his new toy you ask? No, not a new car. No, not a new big block engine. Sandy is still running the small block. It is the new transmission. How about a Liberty 5-speed. Sandy figured he wasn’t working enough on his car, so why not put a clutch in it. This thing is hot. If you are a gear head like me, just seeing the 5-speed in the car makes it look fast.

So, how did testing go? Once at the track, we went over everything with the clutch and we talked about what our jobs were. It was myself, Brian King and Phillip Belvin helping the Flea. The one thing that we emphasized was, if anything happens; make sure to turn the power off to the car. So, we towed to the line for our first run. Since I did not get to go racing last year, there were a few things I had to get caught up on. One was the R3 neck support. I had to hook the restraints to his helmet for the first time. Two, was the practice of standing away to the rear of the car during the burnout. This is the law in ADRL apparently. And then the third thing was to calm my nerves since I haven’t been on the starting line in a while. You would think Sandy would be more nervous than me since he was doing something different, but he didn’t show it.

His first burnout with the clutch went really good but the car died when he came to a stop. Sandy said that when he pushed in the clutch, the car felt like it picked up speed. He doesn’t have the drag of the convertor to slow the car down now. He has backed up now and Brian has set the wheelie bars. Sandy turns on the pre-stage bulb and Phillip turns the computer and shocks on. Sandy rolls in and puts it on the rpm chip and drops the clutch. The engine bogged a little and he went to 3rd gear and shut it down. A 4.82 come up on the board. Ok, so now he has the butterflies out and we will turn it up the next pass.

Without the help our clutch advisor, we went over everything the best we could while taking way to long. Now don’t think we are ignorant, we are just out of our comfort zone. But we got in touch with our guy and made the changes that we needed and headed to staging.

The burnout went even better than the first pass. Sandy backed up as I talked him into the groove. The guys did their thing and Sandy turned on the top bulb. He brought the rpm’s up and turned on the bottom bulb and put it on the chip. Sandy dropped the clutch again and the car bogged worse than the first pass. At the lowest point of the bog, KA….BOOOM. Off came the hood scoop in a lot of pieces. The engine had a major back fire that took out the scoop and cracked the front end as well as cracked an intake runner. The thing that caught my attention is Brian running up to the car and turning the power off. Smart move just in case there is a major issue.

Of course Sandy’s feelings were hurt, but I suppose it is part of the learning curve. He is already working on the car to see if anything else is in need of repair. As far as his return or debut, that has been postponed a couple of weeks. If you have an extra carbon fiber hood scoop lying around, we are taking donations. Other than that, work goes on at Wilkins Racing Engines while the racing program is hold until repairs are made. As far as racing, we will probably be a spectator at the Charlotte race next weekend. Hope to see you there.

Don

Not Ready Yet

Sometimes when people get use to something, they can’t live without it. For me, it is my family and some drag racing. Apparently for Angel Miles, it is the Wilkins Motorsports Blog. After motivation from her, the blog continues.

As the headline says and the picture shows, Wilkins Motorsports did not make the Division 9 opener at Farmington Dragway. Why, use ask? Well, it seems that Sandy has been quite busy this winter working on new engines and refreshing the old ones. He has been blessed with a steady work load in this not so good economy. He has the engine down for a little refresher and the transmission out for a large upgrade. Other than that, when the time will allow, he will get it back together in time for the spring races.

Let me tell you about our NHRA Winter Nationals experience. Well, that’s it! Me, Sandy and Chuck Chapman were scheduled to leave out Friday morning February 12. When we got to the Charlotte airport, the sweet lady told us that all flights into and out of Dallas/Fort Worth was cancelled. Apparently there was a foot of snow in Texas. I was trying to save us a little money by having a connecting flight and it bit my in the butt. I am still trying to collect money from the nice hotel in California. What did I learn from this? Book a direct flight next time.

As you can see in the picture of Sandy’s truck, everyone has gotten some snow this winter. I hate snow. Because of it, I got screwed out of seeing the Circus and having my boy’s birthday party. I’m not bitter, just tired of losing money. Back to the truck and trailer pic. Look at how nice the trailer looks with the new Chapman Auto Body colors. I can’t wait to see the truck and trailer at the track with the awning out and the sun bearing down on it. You want hear me complain about the heat this summer. Damn you Global Warming.

Now if you need a complete small block top end kit, Sandy has some components for sale. It has Brodix canted valve heads and a sheet metal intake. If anything in the picture interest you, give him call. Sandy has deals going all the time.

I want to congratulate Steve Corker on his win this past weekend at Farmington Dragway in Top Sportsman. His uses Wilkins power in his cars. Sandy and I hated to miss the race, but at least Wilkins Motorsports was represented. It was a beautiful weekend for racing. The Flea will be there soon.

I want to say thanks to Angel Miles for helping move the blog along. That’s why she is in a leadership role. Because when Angel speaks, people listen.

Don

Is It Time to Go Racing Yet?

Yes sir!! That is the question. Is it time to go racing yet? A racer starts to get itchy when the weather gets up around 65 degrees. After a couple of weeks with the weather in the teens, anything above 40 is a heat wave. With the start of the IHRA season next week, a lot of racers get to enjoy sunny south Florida. Good luck to all.

Well, as Sandy posted last week, you know he has been skiing and spending some time with family and friends in the mountains. He has also gotten his truck trailer painted. I have posted a few pics showing the paint guru Chuck Chapman performing his magic. Chuck did an awesome job in a short amount of time. Who says paint and body guys are slow.

Sandy, Chuck and I have decided to start the racing year off in new way. We are heading to Pomona, California for the 50th running of the NHRA Winter Nationals. I am kind of a history buff when it comes to drag racing and what better race to attend than the 50th Winter Nationals. We fly into Ontario on Friday around lunch. I think we are going to hit a couple of sites, such as the NHRA museum, maybe John Force Racing and we may take Sandy to Hollywood to get his star on the walk of fame. On Saturday we will head to the track for the day and that night we may go to a legends event at a nearby hotel. This will be drivers from the past 50 Winter Nationals doing a question and answer session as well as telling stories. Interesting to me, maybe not to the Flea and Chuck. Who knows what we will do. Fun no matter what.

Sunday we will be at the track all day seeing some great racing action. Hopefully that weekend will be rain free. Last year they had a ton of rain. They got one qualifying session, and eliminations were finished the following Wednesday. We fly out Monday morning, so racing better finish up on Sunday. Either way, we are getting our racing started earlier than usual and that’s a great sign for me. Every day is a great day for me.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Take care of you.

Don

2010

Well here we are in 2010. It's a new year and i hope things are looking up for everyone!

My first day of 2010 was spent at JJ and Suzie White's house eating collard greens, fat back, and some black eyed peas. OK so this is the first time i engaged in the tradition of eating these items, but as bad as 2009 was i figured it couldn't hurt. As you can see from the picture JJ added some dimes to the collards. Supposedly if you get a dime in your collards you will have a prosperous year, therefore he made sure there were PLENTY of dimes!!!

This past weekend was spent taking care of some business and a little pleasure. I dropped off my tow rig at Chuck Chapman's body shop for a little touch up on a couple of items that needed attention. Chuck and his guys jumped right on the project and i expect to pick it up next weekend. This picture shows Chuck doing his thing.

I left Hickory and headed North to Boone. The North Carolina mountains had been receiving allot of snow and cold weather over the past couple of weeks so some friends and I decided to hit the slopes! We went to Sugar Mountain on Saturday and skied from 12:30 to 8:00pm on Saturday night. And yes....it was cold, exactly ZERO degrees when we finished Saturday night. The picture is from the top of Sugar Mountain while it was snowing.

Its a new year, new things to come, so keep your eyes out for upcoming announcements.

Sandy