NASCAR WCUP: Kenny Wallace 'drilled' at Darlington, Prepares for Richmond

8 September 1999

CHARLOTTE, N.C., - "I just got drilled - big time," said Square D Chevrolet driver Kenny Wallace as he climbed from his car not even midway through the Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Wallace had been running in the 13th spot before a hard hit from the Ford of Ted Musgrave took him out of contention.

When Elliott Sadler made contact with Steve Grissom in turn three, Wallace was running about 100 feet behind the two combatants. Wallace slowed to avoid the wreck, but Musgrave didn't see the incident in time. He slammed into the rear of the Square D Chevy, sending Wallace into the garage area for repairs. Ninety-three laps later, Wallace returned to the race track to salvage whatever points were still available. When the race was finally called due to rain on lap 270, Wallace was credited as "running" with a 35th place finish.

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Square D Chevrolet driver Kenny Wallace will feel like Tim Allen heading into Saturday night's Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Allen, who played the role of "Tim the Toolman Taylor" on ABC's Home Improvement, was always looking for more power - whether it be for his riding lawn mower or his custom hot rod.

When Wallace arrives in Richmond, his hot rod will have significantly more horsepower than it did back in the spring race. That's a scary thought, considering Wallace just missed knocking Jeff Gordon from the pole by 5/1000ths of a second.

Where did all this newfound horsepower come from? Chuck Evans, Square D Racing's engine specialist, explains.

"There's been some advancement in the port design of the cylinder head, and we've gotten a little more aggressive with the valve train, camshaft and rocker arm assembly. We also found some more power in the oiling system. The amount of power we found - it's almost unheard of these days. It's hard for me to get into specifics about what we did without going off the record.

"This is probably the most aggressive year, as far as the amount of horsepower that's been gained by everyone in this garage, that I've seen in my 11 years in Winston Cup. To keep up, we've decided to push the envelope a bit. We realized we needed more horsepower, but we also wanted to make sure that we didn't sacrifice reliability. Jerry Vess, APR's (Andy Petree Racing) chief engine builder, builds very reliable motors. It's nice for me, because on race morning I shut the hood and don't worry about it. But we had to dig deeper to keep up with everyone else. Our motors are still reliable, but now they're more powerful, thanks to realizing the full benefit of the SB2 cylinder head and the work being done at APR."

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