Now that a lot of enthusiast have seen our Quick Racing Honda run at the Chili Bowl with Chase Briscoe behind the wheel, we have had several questions throughout the past few weeks. I’m going to take some time here to tell you why and how Jill and I took this project on. Over the years everybody is always asking how to lower the cost of engines and still stay competitive. The problem is everybody just talked and no one would step up. In 2010 we saw a Jim Stewart Honda engine at the IMIS show and decided it was time do something.
The first thing we did was talk to Kenny Brown of POWRi and asked if we explore this project would he look at the possibilities of allowing the power plant to be utilized in POWRi competition. Kenny then decided to have a midget engine summit and invited all the top engine builders, Emmet Hahn and Tim Engler to discuss the cost of midget engines and what POWRi would like to see to keep the sport growing. After the meeting Kenny gave us the ok to pursue the endeavor.
With the go ahead we then knew we had to get the right people involved. Of course Jim Stewart of Indy had the knowledge and experience with the Honda engine ( already winning with them in the NEMA series in the Northeast) For the Injection Tim Engler was the obvious choice and Dennis Schoenfeld and Mark Brailey at Schoenfeld for the header design.
Now with all the key players chosen it was time to start. It has been a lengthy process and with the financing coming from Jill and I it has taken a little time to complete. We also had Charles ( Doc ) Neal contributing in paying for all the dyno testing for the development.
With over 40 hrs. of engine and chassis dyno testing before we hit the track, it paid off the first night at Macon Il, POWRi show with Gary ( Bubba ) Altig driving it to a 5th place finish the first night out 2013. Now we fast forward to the 2015 Chili Bowl with Chase Briscoe debuting the updates we’ve done and it showed very good results again. Even though we had some bad luck in a racing incident that put us behind the 8 ball the Jim Stewart built Honda proved it is very competitive against the national engines.
Jim Stewart has this engine available in a few different variations. A customer can purchase the national version like what we’ve debuted or he can build a more basic version which will fit great for a team just getting introduced into the midget competition or wanting to builds something that will fit some of the newly revised engine rules like what Badger has put together. With these more economical packages a team can utilize the same engine and just update it with components to make it into a potent national engine without the expense of having to purchase another engine to gain more H.P. if they would like to at a later date.
So now that everybody can see there has been a lot of thought and work that has gone into this endeavor to try and develop a cost effective way to either stay in racing - enter into midget racing with a basic engine that is competitive while also offering an all-out national engine the makes competitive H.P. and is very drivable and affordable. I've attached some photos of the Honda in action and will add more of just the engine package in the next few days.
If your interested in the Honda package and don't want to re-invent the wheel and go thru trial and error my suggestion is to contact Jim Stewart at Stewart Engines in Indy and hit the track running.
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