NEWSBREAKJohn Lypen

Winning On and Off the TrackA few years back, RickyHaynes was looking for anew way to get back into rac-ing. He approached BobMcCracken, general manag-er of Town & Country Ford,with a novel idea. Haynes,who had been working atTown & Country for about ayear as a service technician,promised McCracken that if

the dealership provided a ve-hicle for him to race, hewould donate all his win-nings to charity.

The recipient of this kind-ness was to be VanderbiltChildren’s Hospital, a popu-lar cause in the Nashvillearea. The two men sat downand came up with a “Racingfor the Children” program,wherein the dealershipwould match Haynes’ win-

nings, thereby doubling thedonation to the hospital.

While Haynes didn’t winany races that first year, hewon the hearts of racing fansat Nashville Speedway USA,and all those involved withthe hospital. Last year, hewas named “Most PopularDriver” in the SuperTruckSeries at the track.

Haynes has become a pop-ular figure in the public’s eyes,

and the dealership has wonnew customers, but the bigwinners in everyone’s opinionare the children who benefitfrom the ingenious plan.

Haynes still dreams of get-ting a ride in the NASCARCraftsman Truck Seriessomeday, but for now is con-tent to know that his efforts,and those of the dealership,have provided so much tochildren in need.

When Ricky Haynes drives the Town & Country Ford Truck in the SuperTruck series this year, don’t look for his familiarNo. 98. A new radio station in the Nashville area will sponsor Ricky’s car as No. 104.5.

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Dream Team ’99The Snap-on Dream Team isthe name given to a selectgroup of motorsports’ topcrew chiefs and head mechan-ics from almost every majorform of racing. This year, thethird annual gathering tookplace at Daytona InternationalSpeedway. The seven crewchiefs, racing’s elite technicalexperts from all differentforms of motorsports, repre-sent some of the most success-ful teams in the world.

This year’s honorees areTony Eury, Sr., NASCARCrew Chief for Dale Earn-hardt, Jr.; Kevin Hamlin,NASCAR Crew Chief for theRichard Childress RacingNo. 3 GM Goodwrench Ser-vice Plus Chevy Monte Carlodriven by Dale Earnhardt;Robin Hill, CART Chief Me-chanic for Juan Pablo Mon-toya and Target/Chip GanassiRacing; Tim Kohuth,NASCAR Truck Series CrewChief for Ford; Dick LaHaie,IHRA, NHRA Drag RacingCrew Chief for Doug Her-bert’s Snap-on Tools Top Fu-el Dragster; Rick Rinaman,CART Crew Chief forPenske Racing, driver AlUnser, Jr.; and Mark Smith,Hydroplane Racing CrewChief for Dave Villwock’sMiss Budweiser Hydroplane.

“The Dream Team is agreat way to bring the crewchiefs together to shareideas and knowledge abouttheir own forms of racing,”said Carl Johanson, motor-sports marketing manager atSnap-on.

Midsize SaturnsAt the same time that an in-genious new three-doorcoupe is providing a much-needed shot in the arm forthe division’s sales figures,Saturn has announced thefirst-ever major additions to

its product line.Later this year, two mid-

size models will join the Sat-urn lineup when the all-newL-Series sedan (LS) andwagon (LW) make their pub-lic debut at North AmericanSaturn dealers. The newfamily of larger cars is in-tended to face off with suchstalwart competitors as theCamry and Accord.

The L-Series will offer anall-new 2.2-liter, 16-valvefour with vibration-cancelingbalance shafts, plus an op-tional 3.0-liter, 24-valve V6.Four-wheel independentsuspension, ABS and dual airbags are standard, with afull-range traction controlsystem optional. Both thesedan and wagon will retainSaturn’s dent-resistant poly-mer body-side panels.

IndyCar ‘Top Wrench’For the first time in its eight-year history, the Champi-onship Association of Me-chanics (CAM) IndyCar Se-ries “Top Wrench” awardwas bestowed on a pit crewchief for the second year in a

79March 1999

Saturn plans to enter the competitive midsize market later this year with the all-new L-Se-ries sedan (shown) and wagon. A 2.2-liter four is standard, a 3.0-liter V6 optional.

Daytona International Speedway is the setting this yearfor the third annual Snap-on Tools Dream Team of motor-sports crew chiefs photo shoot. Clockwise, from bottomleft: Rick Rinaman, Kevin Hamlin, Mark Smith, Tim Kohuth,Tony Eury, Sr., Robin Hill and Dick LaHaie.

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row. The award, sponsoredby Snap-on Tools, was pre-sented at California Speed-way in Fontana to RobinHill, pit crew chief for theTarget/Chip Ganassi RacingGroup. CAM is an associa-tion for the crew membersof CART/Indy Lights/For-mula Atlantic and the IndyRacing League (IRL).

“I’m honored to receivethe award for the secondtime,” said Hill. “My teamdeserves a lot of credit—ifyou have the best peopleand tools, you get the bestresults.”

The award honors themechanical achievements ofa chief technician who hasdistinguished himselfthroughout the racing sea-son. A similar award, alsosponsored by Snap-on, isgiven to an Indy 500 crewchief at the race in May.Both winners receive a$5000 product award and aspecial Snap-on tool storagechest.

Hill joined the Target/ChipGanassi team in 1995 and isthe crew chief for acclaimeddriver Alex Zanardi. Togeth-er they’ve won consecutiveCART PPG championshipsand are considered one ofthe leading teams in racingtoday.

Honda Hybrid Almost ReadyHonda unveiled its V V hy-brid prototype vehicle at the1999 North American Inter-national Auto Show in De-troit in January and an-nounced plans to introduce aproduction version of its gas-electric hybrid later this year.

The company says thatthe V V will achieve morethan 70 mpg in combinedcity/highway driving and willmeet California’s Ultra LowEmission Vehicle (ULEV)

standards, as well.The Honda V V power-

train represents the contin-ued evolution of Honda’s In-tegrated Motor Assist (IMA)powertrain concept, which

was first introduced in thecompany’s J-VX concept ve-hicle at the Tokyo MotorShow in 1997.

The Honda V V employsa 1.0-liter, three-cylinder,

lean-burn VTEC engine incombination with an electricmotor/generator and a bat-tery pack. The gasoline en-gine is used as the mainpower source under all driv-ing conditions, with the bat-tery-operated electric motorproviding additional powerduring acceleration.

A sophisticated electronicspackage handles the auto-mated charging, engine assistand electric current genera-tion so that the entire processis completely transparent tothe vehicle’s occupants.

The V V prototype alsoputs a host of weight-savingtechnologies to work, includ-ing an aluminum frame andsuspension, plus body panelsof plastic and aluminum, allof which results in a total ve-hicle weight of less than2000 pounds.

Despite its light weight,the V V will have a fullcomplement of safety, com-fort and convenience fea-tures, including automaticclimate control, antilockbrakes, electric powersteering, dual air bags,AM/FM cassette stereo,digital instrument panel andan Immobilizer theft-deter-rent system. The V V isscheduled to go on sale laterthis year as a 2000 model.

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A production ver-sion of Honda’s V V hybrid proto-type vehicle isexpected to hitshowrooms laterthis year. Athree-cylindergasoline engine,working togetherwith an electricmotor/generatorand a batterypack, powers thecar.

Robin Hill, pit crew chief for the Target/Chip GanassiRacing Group and driver Alex Zanardi, is the first-evertwo-time recipient of the Championship Association ofMechanics (CAM) IndyCar Series “Top Wrench” award.

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Thermometers at the TrackWe’ve always been impressedwith noncontact infraredthermometers but neverreally considered how usefulthey might be at the racetrack. Raytek Corp., a leadingmanufacturer of the devices,says that many top race teamshave come to rely on noncon-tact thermometers to accu-rately diagnose and test cru-cial systems and components.

Obvious uses for the ther-mometers include checkingtire and radiator tempera-tures and checking for exces-sive CV joint and brake heat.But at the track, they’re alsoused to measure track surfacetemperatures to adjust chas-sis setup for specific trackconditions.

“It really is a fantastic tool

that has hundreds and hun-dreds of uses because of itsability to take temperaturesquickly and from distances,”said Dick Rahilly, an enginebuilder for Petty Enterprises2, a NASCAR Winston Cupteam owned by Kyle andRichard Petty.

Noncontact thermometersare also used to determinecockpit temperatures for driv-er safety and comfort. “Youcheck the floor temperaturesto make sure you’re not goingto fry your driver,” saidRahilly. “We don’t like thetemperature to exceed 120°.”

Martin Pare, an engineerfor Tasman Motorsports, aleading CART team, saysthat he uses an infraredthermometer in the shopwhen designing and buildingnew parts.

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Raytek Corp., a leading manufacturer of noncontact infraredthermometers, says that many race teams have found thedevices indispensable. Tasman Motorsports uses a RayngerMX4+ to check track surface temperatures (above) andspecific areas of the engine compartment (below).