BilI:
hope you have some success finding what you are looking for. Your dad was a kind man and was instrumental in my development as a car builder and a crew chief. He would question my answers and make me think again and again about a project we would be working on.
He hired me when DiGard racing was formed and we worked in the shop behind Bobby Allisons house in his race shop. Bobby's dyno was an airplane engine with a propeller on it and Mario wood look for any excuse to put a motor on, just to hear it run, i'm sure.
He had told me about the computer print-outs that Petty had from Jim Rathegeb at Chrysler. It was a 'book' that would allow you to completely take all the springs and shocks out from under the car and reinstall another set of 'stuff' and still maintain the same front roll couple distribution, while altering the ride rate. When I asked about getting to see that 'book' for the Ford chassis, he just laughed and said that was only for Petty's use, and said why don't you make one for us.
I took him seriously and embarked on a research project that lasted several years and did result in a book on vehicle dynamics that has yet to be published. He was instrumental in introducing me to the more knowledgeable folks in NASCAR and the respect those folks had for your dad gave me a foothold on obtaining some very good information. He was always encouraging to me and would include me in on anything that would help me gather information for my project.
During the result of some of our late night conversations while working on the Heenan-Froude Dyno at Smokey's, I convinced him to let me build our upcoming Daytona car on a short track chassis because of the rough surface and install a body at the super speedway inspection heights. That resulted in winning the pole for both the 500 and the 400 in '75 (I think). That car resulted in NASCAR asking the competitors to use side templates, but your dad and I shared a private moment when the car sat on the pole the first time. He had also spent an enormous amount of time with Bill 'Grumpy" Jenkins on the shop Dyno developing a special piston and triple valve springs for that qualifying motor.
Your dad was a visionary and encouraged others to be free thinkers as well. Most folks will already know that your dad developed the glue-on lug nuts and the 'bullet' ends that are still being used to this day. We built a pit wall outside the back of the shop in Daytona on Fentress Boulevard to practice pit stops and when we screwed up he encouraged us to keep working because we would have to do that if we were actually in a race. When it came to the Pit Crew Challange at Rockingham we had just installed new brake pads on Donnie's Chevelle and when he came in hot it locked up the wheels and stalled the motor. We continued to change the tires in silence (because of that training) . I have seen a photo that shows just as I am making the first step up from changing the front tire, there is a wiff of smoke coming from the right side exhaust pipe as Donnie got the engine fired and if you look over the hood of the car, there is your dad with a huge grin on his face. I would give a great deal to be able to give you a copy of that picture. It's priceless! We won the competition that year because of his training and guidance.
At any rate, good luck on your search. If you find any news, It would be cool to read about it here.
If you type in my name (Will Cronkrite) in the photo section, there are two pictures of your dad and I.
