New Race Partner 

Ilmor Engineering Inc. – the race engine, design-and-build arm of Mercedes-Benz – joins the growing list of Haas racing partnerships with the delivery of three Haas machining centers to the new Ilmor Tech Center in Plymouth, Michigan. This new location will be the home of Mercedes-Benz Motorsports operations in North America. 

By joining Haas as a technology partner, Ilmor gains access to the latest CNC technology, while at the same time providing Haas with a showcase for their products in the Great Lakes region. Ilmor will use the new machines to manufacture and maintain their CART racing engines. 

CART teams using the new Mercedes-Ilmor engine include PacWest Racing, Team Penske, Players/Forsythe Racing, Hogan Racing and Bettenhausen Motorsports.  

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Hauling Haas
Drivers Dig in for Consistency

Cutting-edge technology wins races. Maybe that’s why more and more racing teams are turning to Haas machining centers for the winner’s edge. In fact, it’s getting hard to find a competitive racecar that hasn’t been touched in some way by a Haas CNC machine.

NASCAR/Winston Cup 

Hendrick Motorsports recently took delivery of a Haas HL-2 lathe at their Harrisburg, North Carolina, facility. This new addition to the Hendrick machine stable will join the four existing Haas machines in performing critical machining jobs on heads, pulleys and vital suspension components. 

At press time, Jeff Gordon (#24) and Terry Labonte (#5) were in 1st and 5th place respectively following the Coca-Cola 600. Their consistent top-10 finishes have kept them in the top five slots in seasonal point standings. Even Randy Lajoie (#50), who has taken over for a recovering Ricky Craven, has come across with several top-10 finishes. 

CART 

PacWest entries started the year off with last year’s Mercedes-Ilmor engines, but recently switched over to the new, more compact and more powerful IC108E series powerplants following the Long Beach Grand Prix, where Mark Blundell and Mauricio “Big Mo” Gugelmin finished 7th and 10th respectively. 

In the Indy Lights series, drivers Didiér André and Greg Morris are running hard in their 425-hp, Buick V-6 powered Lola T97-20 chassis. André earned his first podium finish (2nd) at the Nazareth race. 

SCRA 

Troy Cline and C&C Motorsports are currently running in 5th place in the SCRA championship points series. With 87 teams battling for the top slot as “Mud Master,” the C&C team is looking for traction in the “El Niño” bogs that are currently serving as racetracks for the Southern California racing series. “The season is young, and we are in a full-contact sport,” says Joe Custer of the C&C team. “Optimism is ours!”  

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