It’s not too early to get involved in the 2008 MAHLE NASCAR® Engine Builder Showdown or throw your interest behind a team, as spaces already are being filled. Multiple teams have signed up for the competition, which is in May, to show off their abilities to build and run a Chevy R07 engine in the shortest time possible. The showdown, a tiered four-round competition, begins on May 5. This is the ninth year of the annual MAHLE competition for NASCAR engine builders. “Fourteen teams have already thrown their hats into the ring and are ready to compete,” says Bill McKnight, team leader – training for MAHLE Clevite. “Compared to this point in time in previous years, this is the largest number of NASCAR engine builder teams having signed up for the showdown, and there’s still plenty of time for more teams to enter the contest. In 2007, a record breaking 19 teams participated in the showdown. We expect to see that record surpassed this year.” Among the NASCAR engine builder teams signed up to date for the Showdown are: McKnight says the MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown is a national showcase for the talent, expertise and competitive spirit of engine builders who are at the top of their game in building race engines for NASCAR Sprint® Cup, Nationwide® Series and Craftsman® Truck series races. Last year, Powerblock’s HorsepowerTV presented a special half-hour program on the eighth annual Showdown. The program aired four times on cable television’s Spike TV network. This year’s Showdown will be more exciting to watch than ever because for the first time in nine years the teams will be tackling a completely different race engine. Instead of NASCAR Sprint® Cup 357-cubic-inch Ford engines, they’ll be building Chevy RO7 engines. “Most of the teams competing this year have never built a Chevy RO7 engine before, so this year’s contest will be especially challenging for them,” says McKnight. The MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown consists of three rounds of preliminary and semi-final eliminations. The final round features the two fastest teams in a face-off to win the Showdown’s grand prize — the prestigious Randy Dorton Memorial Trophy, plus a cash prize of $26,000. The Showdown runners-up team receives $9,000. Overall, the competition awards a total prize package of over $50,000. MAHLE Clevite is holding all preliminary rounds of the MAHLE Engine Builder Showdown at the NASCAR Technical Institute, Mooresville, N.C. The final round of the competition takes place on May 20, also at NTI. |
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