don bowles, sr.

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WHAT IS
UP WITH... >
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don bowles, sr.
Why Bowles?>> There’s something to be said for aging
gracefully, and then there’s something to be said for
busting down the door, taking names, and kicking some
ass in one of the most competitive classes that the NMRA
has to offer, Crane Cams Open Comp. Don Bowles, Sr., a
former coal mine owner from Madisonville, Kentucky, has
all of those attributes in spades. Bowles, a racing partnerin-crime of the famous “Cat-in-the-Hat”, Jack Roush, has
decades of experience under his belt in the NHRA. In addition, Bowles is intimately familiar with the policies and
procedures of ensuring that this country has all of the
energy it needs to power our cities and towns. While he
sold his company, Charolais Coal, at the beginning of the
year, Bowles still keeps busy by working on his racing
program and bouncing the grandkids on his knee. The
passion that Bowles exudes about drag racing and musclecars in general is evident from the very first words he
speaks, and if you ever find yourself with an opportunity
to do so, you’d be wise to listen. We sure did...
CRANE CAMS OPEN COMP
Comparing racing in Modular Muscle to Open Comp
>> Either one is very difficult, really Since they are both
almost bracket racing, you’ve got the best of the best in the
business. When you look at how we’re qualified, on reaction
time, and then you look at how closely we’re matched up, it’s
better than even NHRA Pro Stock or Funny Car a lot of times.
I enjoy racing with these racers.
Plans to move into a heads-up class >> Actually, that’s
something we’re working on. Right before the Milan race,
we’re having a sitdown with some of the people from Ford,
and Chevrolet, and Chrysler, to try to create another class,
maybe for the NMCA, where you can buy a car right off the
showroom floor, and take it out to race it on a heads-up level.
It seems like all of the Big Three are interested in pursuing
something like this, and I think it would be great for everyone
involved to showcase the 21st-century musclecars in a place
where anyone could buy one and come out and race, like it
used to be back in the ‘60’s.
The choice to run with the NMRA rather than in
the NHRA >> Well, I’ll say that racing with everyone in the
NMRA, and dealing with Charlie [Harmon] and Steve
[Wolcott], is a pleasure compared to racing in the NHRA.
There is no hassle factor. For NHRA, they would disqualify the
car on something silly while you were in the tech line before
you could end up racing the car. At a national event that was
a big problem. They would tear the car down in qualifying,
then tear it down again, and then if you won the eliminator
they’d tear it down a third time, all in one weekend. There was
one instance where they took my carburetor, and gave me a
different one out of the box. I had to take it back to my pits,
dial it back in and set up the jetting. I ended up going a
hundredth or so quicker than with the one I had taken off,
The Bottom Line
018 RACE PAGES
“I’ve proved that the E85 is a benefit, there’s no question that the
car’s performance improved by using it. And the E85 is a
renewable resource. GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all looking at
making their new musclecars run on E85, so we may be seeing
a change soon.”
then I took it back to them and asked them to seal it so I
wouldn’t have to tear the thing down again. It was where
they’d be tearing us down all the time, and we just didn’t need
the hassle.
Running on E85 fuel >> E85 is American – it’s farmers who
produce it. There is an E85/methanol plant in Hopkinsville
that I support, and there are 2600 farmers who own a piece
of it. It’s true American, the way it ought to be. It’s a cleaner
fuel, it’s renewable, and it actually makes a little bit of horsepower. The octane is higher, and the car picked up from it too.
It’s definitely helped us out a bit. There is 15 percent unleaded gasoline in it and the rest of it is methanol, and it’s cheaper than gasoline as well. OPEC, however, is trying to keep it
down, because obviously it hurts their business. According
to them, you have to retool everything in the car to run E85,
but we haven’t found that to be the case. The folks at Roush
thought we were going to have to change a lot of stuff, but I
changed it all over myself and just left it alone. The injectors
in my car are the same as what’s in a Ford GT. I’ve proved that
the E85 is a benefit; there’s no question that the car’s
performance improved by using it. And the E85 is a renewable resource. GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all looking at
making their new musclecars run on E85, so we may be
seeing a change soon. We’re even trying to get the E85
manufacturers involved.
What it’s like having the resources of a company like
Roush at your disposal >> It’s like a dream come true. Of
course, Jack and I go way back. We worked together on
engines and development before Jack was even famous. In
1972 or so, I had the dyno at my place, and now we’ve got all
of the tools in the world. With those tools, there’s no reason
we shouldn’t do well. To have the different people that are
experts in this business, who are the best of the best, it’s a
great thing to have that type of engineering and support.
Guys like Ben Mens, and Leo in Engine Build Services, those
guys are just professionals, and there’s nobody better. I get
in there from time to time to help out too. We have all kinds
of debates on how to do things, including Jack himself. We
still debate just like we always have.
68 years
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SEP. 07