Tech Tips and Tid Bits
10-4 GOES DRAG RACING
By Troy Miller - Our Teen Correspondent in Colorado
Trucking and drag racing are two professions which are almost synonymous with one another. Both of them require an incredible amount of technology and development to be successful, and even more directly, the two assist each other. Trucks are needed to haul the cars to the races, and the truckers hauling them get to watch the incredible machines fly down the track. Recently, that relationship grew even closer. 10-4 Magazine is proud to be the latest sponsor of V. Gaines and his Kendall Motor Oil Pro Stock Dodge Stratus for the 2008 NHRA season.
V. Gaines is one of the most respected racers in the pro stock series of the NHRA, finishing in the top 10 for the last two years in the POWERade Drag Racing Series. Like many drag racers before him, Gaines has developed his own distinct team in the field. With his reputation as a self-starting, learn-as-you-go type of racer, Gaines is still considered a rookie among some of the thirty and forty year veterans of the series. Gaines, however, learns as much as he can from every season, making sure to compete at all 24 of the NHRA pro stock national events.
Gaines began in the Sportsman Series, and eventually moved up to the Pro Stock class. To him, due to the fact that pro stock racers rely on what some call “all motor” power because no turbochargers or superchargers (or any other quick-horsepower methods) are used in the series, he considers this class to be the purest form of racing. The car’s engines are limited to a 500 cubic-inch, naturally aspirated set up. V’s Kendall Oil Dodge Stratus features a complete carbon-fiber MOPAR body, a chrome-moly tubular chassis, a 500 cubic-inch Dodge Hemi with two four-barrel Holley carburetors and a 5-speed gearbox. Gaines never touches the clutch, except at the starting line, when he releases it to get the car moving. Shifting is a straight forward and back, non-H pattern, style. Pumping out 1,400 horsepower, the car can go 0-210 mph in 6.60 seconds.
One of the main differences between the top fuel classes and the pro stock classes of the NHRA is that the car’s engines do not receive a full rebuild after each run in the pro stock races. Most of the cars will have the clutch replaced, and information on the run is taken from the car for fine-tuning, but unlike the top fuel classes, the cars are not always running with fresh pistons and cranks on each pass. Due to these limits on the class, horsepower increases from season to season can be as little as 3-5 horses and time reductions on runs can go into the 1,000ths of a second.
This level of competitiveness means that every great racer needs a great team behind them for support. Clyde West, as well as many of the other mechanics and members of V’s team, has been with him from the start. They have endured some tough seasons, but they have also enjoyed some great wins. This team is based on the ideal that they want to improve their racing and learn along the way, and they certainly have done that over the past twelve years. In 1997, V. made his first career final-round appearance, and then in 2000 he recorded his first ever career victory in Dallas.
Every racer has a favorite track, and Gaines does not deviate from this pattern. Although he has had success in places like Dallas and Indianapolis, Gaines enjoys racing in his own backyard at Bandimere Speedway, just outside of Denver, Colorado, near his home in Lakewood, Colorado. Up on “Thunder Mountain” (as they call Bandimere), Gaines has had the opportunity to meet and learn from, and sometimes beat, some of the magnates of the pro stock racing series. But Gaines is not just a racing man, he is also a businessman.
V. Gaines has spent the majority of his life building a business. Over the past 30 years, V. has taken his family distribution business all the way to the top. His focus on business goes outside the normal box most CEO’s operate in. Diversity has been a huge part of V’s vision. The Western family of companies includes several different types of transportation and manufacturing businesses. V. loves to go racing on the weekends, but he never leaves his businesses behind – he just changes hats and begins to run a different type of business. But no matter where he sets up his office, success is never far behind.
But V. has not always been at the helm of a large company. He began washing trucks when he was 13, and eventually found his way to the late NorthWest Transport Service (NW) out of Denver, Colorado – another trucking outfit associated with sports (they once owned the Colorado Rockies baseball team). V. remembers his days as a trucker, and specifically remembers his favorite truck – a 1962 Diamond T backed by a 220 Cummins and a 10-speed Fuller Roadranger transmission. V. has also maintained a great marriage for the past 40 years which has produced three children of his own and four grandchildren
Between races and during the off-season, the car rests at V’s north-Denver garage. At the facility, the car often receives a full tear-down and rebuild, making sure that all parts needing replacement or servicing get the attention they need to produce a competitive car for the next race. All of the work on the car is done in-house at this facility. But the car and driver are only part of this story.
Every car needs to get to every race, so every team needs a transporter – and Gaines has one of the most beautiful, tricked-out transporters on the circuit. It only makes sense. After all, he owns one of the best trucking companies in the west, and this company, Western Distributing Transportation Corp. (WDTC), is known for being the cleanest large fleet around. V’s transporter is a 2005 Peterbilt 379X driven by Duane Radcliff. Duane has driven for the team for the past four seasons. The rig features a 625 horsepower twin-turbo C-16 Cat equipped with a Pittsburgh Power computer and an 18-speed Eaton transmission. Some of the truck’s custom features include polished aluminum front fenders from Peterbilt, a drop visor, shudder-style grill and 10-inch exhaust pipes. A whale tail wing on top of the sleeper finishes off the truck’s chrome. The truck is painted in a glossy black and features decals of sponsors, mainly Kendall Oil, plastered on the truck. Behind the sharp tractor is a 56-foot race trailer built by Elite out of Minnesota. The trailer features a picture of V’s car, as well as the Kendall Oil logo and the logos of other sponsors, including the newest sponsor, 10-4 Magazine.
We at 10-4 Magazine admire both the professional drag racers, including V. Gaines, and truckers, and are proud that we have been given the opportunity to become part of both of these professions. If you happen to be at an NHRA POWERade Series race this year, look for V’s black Peterbilt in the pits and stop by to say “hello” and to pickup the latest copy of 10-4 Magazine. They will be available for pickup in V’s pit area at every race. We have always been told that 10-4 Magazine goes fast out there, but we never figured it would be going over 200 mph! We are looking forward to V’s 2008 season, and wish him the best of luck and safety at all of the tracks and races this year.