I
am neither a golfer nor a golfing fan, but even I have
heard about Tiger Woods. It seems there isn't a national
magazine, television news program, or newspaper that
hasn't featured golf's latest multimillionaire. Woods'
success on the links has brought even greater success on
his business ledger, with personal endorsements for
everything from credit cards to sport shirts.
I
know that buying a set of Tiger Woods golf clubs will
not make me as good a golfer as he is. I have no
illusions that owning a Mark McGwire baseball bat or a
Michael Jordan basketball will make me a sports
superhero. Unfortunately, some racers don't understand
that buying the parts used by successful drivers does
not guarantee a place in the winner's circle.
I'm not
against heroes or endorsements. When I was a novice
racer, I read the ads and articles in National DRAGSTER
avidly to see what the fast guys were using. For a time,
I had the mistaken belief that if I just had the same
camshaft, the same cylinder heads, and the same tires as
my heroes, I'd soon be basking in glory. I eventually
found the flaw in that logic when I observed that some
racers could win with parts that seemed hopelessly
outdated, while other teams couldn't win even with the
best of everything. I realized that while good |
equipment
is a prerequisite for winning, it is the skill and
knowledge of the people turning the wrenches and driving
the car that ultimately make the difference.
In a stick-and-ball sport, the importance of skill is
obvious. No weekend golfer seriously believes that
buying a set of Tiger Woods clubs will ensure an
invitation to the Masters tournament. I know that
wearing Michael Jordan's shoes won't help my three-point
shot. Drag racing, on the other hand, is a mechanical
sport. The emphasis on hardware tends to overshadow the
importance of experience, tuning ability, and simple
racing savvy.
I was
recently reminded of the importance of the human element
when I compared the on-track performance of two
Reher-Morrison Super Series big-blocks. The engines were
virtually identical, and were run in similar cars on the
same 1/8th mile track. In spite of the similarities, one
car was consistently quicker than the other.
I don't know the exact reason for the difference in the
performance of the two cars, but I know it wasn't a
significant difference in horsepower that was
responsible. It might have been a case of a
malfunctioning torque converter, an incorrect suspension
setup, a bad
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