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The story of

DAN PRESS

By Larry Warren

VERY TIME a race car rolls onto the track accelerating out of it. An accelerometer would
E there are two interesting stories to tell. One sense when the car was through the turn and
is the story of the driver and the other the story activate a power steering pump which pre-
of the car. loaded the sway bar for optimum acceleration.
This is particularly true of Dan Press of Val- Brockers works for an aerospace firm and his
encia, Cal. Press is considered by many to be contact with engineers there plus his own natu-
one of the most innovative driver/mechanics on ral inquisitiveness have led to some interesting (top) Dan's 1981 , complete with roof fins.
the West coast. His 9 years of racing are liter- experiments. Among these were doing a com- (Photo-Rob Parker) (above) Dan Press, one tough
ally a history of the development of a stock car puter analysis of Press's car's suspension and cookie (Rob Parker).
racing technology. the use of aircraft anti skid sensors in the brake
Press. started racing in 1973 in a Chevelle system. winning requires these things, "Brockers says.
which characteristically, he built himself. He did The computer analysis did provide some "Money, effort and knowledge. Sometimes you
quite well from the start, winning Rookie of the valuable information but the anti skid sensors, can get by with any two of these but Dan and I
Year in his first season and finishing 3rd in designed for large aircraft, were too heavy for have found that if you can't have all these, effort
points after winning 7 main events in his race car use. At one point Brockers installed and knowledge can make up for a lot."
second. digital readout load cells in the car's weight Many of the ideas which the two have
In 1976, Press built a Camaro and his career jacks so that he could tell at a glance what each pioneered are now widely used by other racers,
as an experimenter began in earnest. He built a corner weighed. such as the automatic transmission. "Unfortu-
reverse rotation engine to test the theory that The two men who will go to these lengths, nately, we're so busy with the race car we never
the motor's torque reaction would help in the Dan Press and Conrad Brockers, are obviously get a chance to market the stuff we come up
turns. This necessitated among other things, tremendously competitive. "We're not losers." with, like the tire valves." Dan says.
putting a Halibrand quick change on the back of Brockers says. "If we didn't think we had a good Press claims to have developed the now
the transmission so that the drive shaft would chance of winning we wouldn't show up." popular tire pressure relief valves because
turn in the proper direction. "We don't want to just run well, we want to even a short race generated enough heat in a
The car ran well enough although Press fi- annihilate the opposition." "We want to win by 2 tire to increase it's pressure 7 PSI and it's di-
nally determined that any gain from the reverse or 3 laps," is the way Dan Press puts it. ameter by ¾ of an inch, upsetting handling. He
rotation was cancelled out by another of his "Dan is so competitive that he can't get in- found a commercially available adjustable
innovations: the use of a Powerglide flex plate volved in any game or sport just for the fun of it," pressure relief valve which.could be threaded
in place of a clutch. A conventional flywheel/ says his wife Bonnie. "When he took up bowl- into the wheel and preset to the proper pres-
clutch would have allowed the reverse torque ing he wouldn't let up even after he was at the sure so it would bleed of the pressure buildup.
reaction to help in the turn but the 5 pound top of the league. He gets so involved with the The valves worked perfectly, with the tires
rotating weight of the flex plate wouldn't. race car that if it isn't running right he actually maintaining the same pressure and bite
The reverse motor was eventually aban- doesn't feel well. If our daughter sees him throughout the race.
doned but the success of the flex plate led home early from work she says 'Something Dan's sponsors have been very helpful both
Press to being one of the first to use a Pow- must be wrong with the car, daddy's home."' financially and with technology. Sierra Mold
erglide transmission for short track racing. This This dedication has paid off on the race track and Engineering has an extensive machine
was the first of many innovations which Press with at one point Press setting fast time 36 out shop for making injection molds as well as an
and his crew chief Conrad Brockers were to of 38 tries. In 1978 he won 14 of 23 races on his occasional exotic race car part Electrofilm,
develop. way to the Saugus championship. Dan's employer, manfactures helmets, aero-
Perhaps the most interesting device they Even though many of their ideas don't work space lubricants, water bed and aircraft heat-
came up with allowed the car to have 2 chassis out, Press and Brockers know the effort they ers. He has found a way to put most of these to
settings: one for entering a turn and another for put out pays off in the long run. "We feel that good use in racing.
48 STOCK CAR RACING