Bill with friends, Mike Miller & Marilyn

Bill recalls of his early retirement, in 1989 TV personality, Don Johnson had an ocean-racing catamaran with 4 large MK IV supercharged engines that was having durability problems related to fuel starvation. “They developed 1100 BHP each, with 2×4 barrel carburetors on each engine,” says Bill, “and any loss of fuel pressure would cause detonation and a head gasket failure. They were built and maintained in Harold Grady’s shop in Ft. Lauderdale. Convention in those boats was to use two electric fuel pumps per engine. Holley carbs can stand only about 7 or 8 PSI fuel pressure at idle, or they will flood the engine with fuel. At speed, this fuel pressure goes down slightly with more fuel demand. This would give an occasional lean out if there was any problem in the system, or a pump malfunction. As a fix, I recommended they change to belt driven fuel pumps which would provide more fuel delivery as speed increased. This cured the problem.  During this program I went to races at Marathon Key and Key West, Florida, and got to ride in the boat at a test on Lake X in Kissimmee, Florida at over 100 MPH.

people wanting to put Corvette engines into other cars. So I thought I would learn how to build wiring harnesses and maybe that’ll be a thing.”

Turns out the brilliant mind of Chevy big block development had a pretty good idea for his own endeavors as well, and Bill Howell sought out a new outlet to keep himself busy. Not only did Howell Engine Development begin in January of 1988, it did so with a substantial client intact for launch of the new business. “GM contracted us to build EFI wiring harnesses for the Buick V-6 powered Indy Light series cars. In addition to building the harnesses, we attended the race series to trouble-shoot and maintain the harnesses and ECM’s that were used.”

1993 Indy 500

“During this same period, GM paid me to follow the ASA series and promote first Pontiac, and then Chevy body styles. Buick was also actively promoting their V-6 engines and body styles. During this time, AC Delco was a major sponsor of the ASA, which was running exclusively V-6 engines: Buick, Chevy, and Ford,” says the new entrepreneur. 

In 1998, Chevrolet proposed to ASA that they switch to the new Corvette LS-1 engine in basically stock configuration. They would be sealed engines with only a dry sump scavenge pump, cam change, and valve springs. ASA had been looking for an option to leave the V-6 engines, as they were getting more expensive. “We got the contract to build the wiring harnesses and service the systems at the race track. GM ran a test program throughout the 1999 season to develop the package and bulletproof it. They switched the series to the LS-1’s in 2000, and they proved to be easy to tech and bulletproof. We maintained the harnesses and provided tech support for the series until ASA sold it.”

Bill presenting Howell award money

“Also during this time period, we built and maintained the EFI wiring harnesses for the Oldsmobile based V-8 for the Indy car series when they split from CART. We worked with Ned Baker from the Chevy race group on this project.”

Bill with friend, Jack Hahn

And for the past 20 years since, Howell EFI has continued to become a household product in the name of refurb shops, conversion kits, the backyard mechanic, anyone seeking efficiencies in the motors previously listed above, and far beyond. From car rebuilds, to jeeps and off road, to powerboat performance, HOWELL EFI and harnesses not only provide custom-fitted design and harness layouts, but also customer service second to no one. Even more so, originating from an offshoot innovation forged from years of legendary history, development expertise and innovative design, Howell Engine Development is an ongoing salute to one of the pioneers of big block and performance design, immeasurable in the reach and ongoing innovations of automobile performance around the globe. 

These days, one can find Bill in either his Michigan or Florida-based home, still involved in the operations at Howell Engine Development, and still providing his expertise to a variety of customers, relations and friendships he has built along the way. Hats off and limitless congratulations to Bill Howell and his son Matt for carrying on the legacy! 

Not at all ready to sit back in the rocking chair of retirement and feeling he was still too young to sit around and do nothing else, Howell instead began looking ahead and observed the trends taking place around him. “I knew fuel injection was a coming thing. At that time, only the Corvette had port fuel injection – with eight injectors. There were

sources:

Bill Howell Biography

https://www.chevyhardcore.com/features/interviews/first-big-block-chevy/

Part VII

Bill in Grand Marc Car

Howell followed the 1985 ASA series with Trickle and Miller. He did some development with Fischer engines for Miller on bore/stroke ratios, rod length, and crank overall weight. And Miller was unbeatable in most of the races. “We also did some promotion of a lower level ASA series called the ‘Grand Marquis’ series using a lesser-tuned 90 degree V-6, with lots of production parts, and Chevy Celebrity bodies. We were not able to get enough teams to participate, so it was a one-year series. Many more teams switched over to Camaro body style, as Pontiac had no participation in the series,” says the engine man. 

Above: Mario Andretti test drove V-6 Corvette

Below: Line-up of Grand Marc Cars at Winchester

Below: Line-up of Grand Marc Cars at Winchester

Chevy also continued association with the Carson team in IMSA, but switched to V-8 powered Camaro in a different category with Jack Baldwin driving. “We were also developing a turbo V-6 application with Ryan Falconer for a rear engine Corvette in a category for IMSA called Prototype. That team ended up with Rick Hendricks running it.  It was driven by ex-drag racer Danny Ongias and a South African driver,” says Bill. 

“We also developed a Turbo V-6 Indy engine for Ongias at Indy, but ended up not racing it because of oiling problems and insufficient development time. We tested after Indy and ran 200 MPH with it. Plus Bob Frey won the sprint car division of the Copper World races with Neibel’s V-6 car in January.”

Above: Turbocharged V-6 Indy Engine Prototype 

Below: Ryan Falconer at work on Turbo V-6

Chevy reentered Trans-Am racing in 1986. Bill says that, “Herb persuaded the team of Selix, Riley, and Pratt who had won several championships for Ford and Jack Roush to set up shop in Wixom, Michigan and build two V-8 Camaros for TA, with engines to be contracted from Dennis Fisher in California. Drivers were Wally Dallenbach and Jim Miller (financial backer). These cars were beautifully executed except for two features Riley carried over from Roush. The cooling system plumbing design was faulty and there was too much backpressure in the dry sump scavenge system. Both errors were pointed out to Riley before the cars were ever run, but he insisted that they worked at Roush and refused to change them. Both errors cost us race wins before the season was over.  By mid year we had them build a 3rd car using V-6 power and it was introduced at the Detroit street race, driven by Greg Pickett. The V-6 car was so good that Dallenbach wanted his own before the season was over. All the engines from Fisher were outstanding.”

Dennis Fisher at his Dyno

Howell adds that as manager of the engine program, “Riley and Selix were a pain in the butt to work with.”

The 1987 Trans-Am program continued, but Howell had little to do with it. Also that year, Bob Frey won the first of four consecutive Little 500 races at Anderson, Indiana in Glen Neibel’s sprint car. Howell continued updating the editions of the Chevrolet Power catalog and attended the historic races in Laguna Seca, California. 

As the mid to late 80’s set in, GM implemented a reduction in their staffing and overall workforce, and started eliminating jobs. When offered his early retirement exit from the Detroit behemoth, after 26 years of employment, Bill Howell retired from GM in September of 1987. “Chevrolet had a dynamite retirement party for me with friends from all over the US in attendance,” says the legendary engine man.

Retirement for Howell however, did not result in departing his engine expertise. Instead of tires on the ground, Bill was now helping props in the water. The following year,” says Bill, “Herb sent me to Ft. Lauderdale to look into an engine problem with a 7 liter hydroplane owned and driven by Steve David. He had recurring problems with his 465 CID MK IV engine, primarily oiling. His dry sump oiling system was improperly routed, with excessively long lines, and a terrible oil pan design too shallow due to constraints of the hull. Steve modified the hull and Herb had Pro-Motor Engr. (Chicago) build a new engine. With Reher-Morrison cylinder heads and a new oil pan, the engine was more than 150 BHP better. I also convinced Steve to run a rev-limiter to limit RPM when the boat jumped out of the water. At that time, most boat racers were afraid to use rev-limiters, as they were sure the boat would crash if it came back to the water with the activated rev-limiter. They were wrong. As part of this program, I went to hydro races at lake Wheeler, North Carolina, and Montreal, Canada helping prevent further engine failures.”

The introduction of a 229 CID Chevy V-6 in Chevelle and Monte Carlo, and a 231 CID V-6 became Buick’s only production built engine in 1978. “By design,” says Bill, “the Buick had an even firing order every 120 degrees of crank rotation. The Chevy was an Odd-fire design of 108 and 132 degrees of crank rotation. These firing orders were produced by splitting the rod journal and separating the 2 rods on it by 30 degrees (Buick) or 12 degrees (Chevy). This increased the difficulty in manufacturing a racing crankshaft and lowered the potential durability by narrowing the width of the rod bearings. Chevy had no interest in making a racing engine out of their V-6 and Buick had no choice. They no longer had a Buick V-8. In 1978 we also switched our performance engine development from McLaren Engines to a new source named Katech, started by two ex-McLaren employees John Kayl and Warren Friese, located ultimately in Clinton Township, Michigan. This gave us a more focused program which we could direct.”

Due to apparent oil shortages and major increases in the price of gasoline, GM started on a major downsizing of the fleet in 1979. “Our group started looking at performance options on V-6 engines. The 229 was not a viable candidate, but there was a 262 CID version under development (3/4 of a 350) that would be even-fire, so we started design on aluminum heads, and a box style, large plenum inlet manifold for the V-6 engines,” says Howell.

Ryan Falconer & Dyno

Buick was doing serious development on their V-6 as a turbocharged candidate for the 1980 Indy 500 race. Bill’s group began similar development with Ryan Falconer Engines in Salinas, California. Ryan had managed Indy engines for Galles racing at Indy. Hilborn did a fuel injection intake and system for the Chevy V-6, and a second team, Armstrong Mold out of Winchester, Indiana was also interested. IRL rules allowed 209 CID for the turbocharged version of stock block engines. These engines were too small for a full size Chevy V-8, but acceptable for a V-6.   

Chevy checked into a major racing event in 1981 that had been run for several years, on the mile paved oval track at Phoenix, known as the Copper World Classic. The event consisted of 3 open wheel races, midget, sprint car, and Silver Crown cars, plus a late model stock car race. In the midget class any engine of six or less cylinders, no more than 200 cubic inches could be used. “This made our V-6 engine eligible for use,” says Bill. “Using a fuel injection manifold built for Indy turbo use, and a cast iron crank destroked to give us 200 CID, we had Katech build a suitable midget engine. Bob Higman built a new car for the engine, and entered it at Phoenix for the January race with Ken Schrader as driver. The car set a new track record, dominated and won the race, and was promptly outlawed for future Copper World races. But, we proved our point that the V-6 could be competitive and attracted the attention of Glen Neibel who ran a car in the sprint division. We then initiated a program with Neibel to equip a USAC legal sprint car with a larger (280+ CID) V-6 provided he could get a weight break from USAC, which he did. The car was entered into several events, driven by Larry Rice, with its most successful run as a second place finish in a 50-lap race on the mile dirt track at the Indy state fairgrounds. The advantage of the car was in the weight break, allowing higher turn speeds than the regular USAC cars.”

Neibel’s V-6 USAC Sprint Car

“During the year, we concentrated on development of the even fire 4.3 L V-6 for racing, focusing primarily on the cylinder head and intake manifold. We adopted the box plenum cross-ram design that was much easier to use than on a V-8, because the firing order alternates from side to side on the V-6. We also discovered that we could use the 4500 series Holley carb to advantage, along with the box manifold.”

“The Cavalier compact car was to be introduced in 1982, so we approached a stock car builder named Ray Dillon to see if he would build and campaign a Cavalier in the American Speed Association series. This would require ASA to agree to a 200 lb. weight break, which they did. We supplied a J-car body-in-white to Dillon, and Katech built the engines at 265 CID (4.3L),” says Bill. He continues that the car was competitive at several tracks, primarily ½ mile or less, winning one race at the Minnesota fair grounds, driven by Butch Lindley. The car was also driven several times by Pancho Carter. Ultimately, ASA decided not to let the V-6 continue beyond 1981, due to the extra cost to their owners to use both V-6 and V-8 engines.  Plus, neither Ford nor Chrysler had a competitive V-6.

By 1982, ASA and other Midwest stock car circuits had begun limiting the compression ratio of their engines to 9:1, in an attempt to increase engine life. There was much concern that there was no foolproof way to verify the engine CR without disassembly of the engines. Howell says that, “In January, we got a call from the promoter at New Smyrna, Florida, wanting to borrow a device used by GM to measure compression ratio without engine disassembly. It induces air to the combustion chamber with the piston at top dead center, through the spark plug hole, and creates a sound that can be measured in frequency to determine the volume. GM was not willing to loan their device, but I was able to locate a cruder portable device that lab technician, Ken Sperry had developed. I arranged to send it to New Smyrna and went there during Daytona speed weeks to demonstrate it. Later, with demonstration in several engines of different CRs we proved the accuracy of the device. In the summer, Katech and I approached the ASA to see if they would finance development of a more sophisticated device that would be easier to use, and could be marketed as THE WHISTLER. This device has proved its utility and several hundred have been manufactured and sold to racing tracks and teams all across America.” At first NASCAR opposed the device, as they thought their competitors could probably cheat it, however, now they also use it. 

“We also continued serious development at Katech on the 4.3L V-6,” says Bill.  “While investigating a main bearing wear problem, we discovered an improvement in the transfer of oil flow from the main oil galleries to the connecting rods, via the main bearing oil supply. We relayed this information to the 2.8L V-6 engine group who used it to solve one of their problems, and it was also incorporated in the V-8 LS series of engines when they were designed.”

“We also discovered we could go to a complete odd-fire configuration on the 90 degree V-6, allowing us to run regular V-8 connecting rods side by side on a common rod journal. This gave us a firing sequence of 90-150 degrees allowing us to manufacture billet and steel forged crankshafts for increased performance and durability. Thanks to Moldex Crankshaft Co for this,” say Howell.  

Bob Frey & Tom Steyer

“In 1982, we sponsored a team in the IMSA Kelly American series of road racing. The team was owned by Bob Carson and the car driven by Craig Carter. The car was a 1982 Camaro. Using Katech-built V-6 engines, we were able to capture the series championships for 3 consecutive years, 82-84. Also in ‘82, Bob Frey in Glen Neibel’s sprint car, won the sprint portion of the Copper World Classic in January.”

Howell says, “We solved a recurring cylinder head gasket leakage problem on the Small Block V-8 with a new head gasket incorporating a steel O-ring inside the armor around each cylinder bore opening. We cooperated with Fel-Pro Company on this, as they were the manufacturer of choice on the head gasket developed for the Oldsmobile diesel engine in 1980.  This had been a major problem in NASCAR and other high load series.  Acceptance of the new gasket was difficult until Wadell Wilson, DiGard’s engine builder chose to use it.”

Due to the NASCAR team’s reluctance to adopt the Monte Carlo body style, GM decided to design an aerodynamic nose for the car and a new nose configuration was designed and tested in the GM wind tunnel at full size in 1982. “Through an arrangement with DiGard, they built a car that could run either nose and we tested it at Talladega speedway,” says Howell. “The new nose was worth about 8 MPH in top speed, and it was decided to incorporate it as a Monte Carlo option in 1983. A build of 6,000 cars was scheduled with two body colors and one interior color. It was a great success on the racetrack and in the dealerships. Many more than 6,000 were sold. This sequence of events convinced GM management that brand image around racing was significant.

Turbo V-6 Corvette Prototype

In 1983, a number of NASCAR teams switched to Monte Carlo. “To my knowledge,” says Bill, “we were not supporting any of them with parts or money. We continued in road racing (Kelly series) and won the championship. Vince Piggins retired during the year, and Herb Fishel was moved from Buick back to Chevy to run the performance departments. We were doing some turbo V-6 for Corvette prototype racing, and naturally aspirated 2.8L V-6 development with Ryan Falconer for off road truck racing.  I coordinated this on trips to California. We also started developing a turbo V-6 Indy engine at 209 CID with Ryan using new aluminum block and head castings.”

By the mid 80’s, the American Speed Association competitors had been using Pontiac Firebird body styles as their body of choice due to a lower and more streamlined nose configuration, even though they were all running Chevy engines. Herb contacted Dick Trickle in 1984, and Howell contacted Butch Miller teams to see if they would switch to Camaro body style if Chevy picked up their engine costs. They were agreeable. Trickle was using engines from a Chicago builder (Ron Neal, Prototype Engines), and Miller from Grand Rapids, Michigan. 

Howell says, “We switched Miller over to Dennis Fischer, from California. Needless to say, they both continued winning as before. Both teams ran ARTGO races as well as ASA.  This gave us a familiarity with Fischer as a new builder. We also decided to support a 1984 Indy Car program with AJ Foyt to run a Falconer-built turbo V-6 209 CID engine at the Indy 500. We ran into ignition problems, and crankshaft unbalance problems that terminated our program before the first qualifying day. Johnny Rutherford was the selected driver. The crank problem turned out to be caused by the distribution of counterbalance weights on the V-6 crank, which had also been affecting our naturally aspirated race engines. By adding counterweights to the center throws of the crank, we cured a condition that overloaded the second and third main bearings in the engine at high speeds. Thanks to Moldex Crankshaft Co for this fix, he welded up a test crank to prove the principal. Sherman Armstrong in Winchester also attempted to run Indy with a turbo V-6 that they developed. Greg Leffler was their driver. We won the Kelly American series again, too.”

Dick Trickle

Sebring 1968, Bill & son, Matt with Mark Donahue

In 1968, Bill followed Trans-Am and Can-Am races.  “We sold a number of pre-production aluminum 427 MK IV engines to several Cam-Am race teams. These cylinder blocks were cast using temporary pattern equipment that had formerly been used to cast the Chaparral engines by R&D,” says Bill. About this same time, Yunick had been working with Chevy R&D to develop a competitive Chevelle for use in NASCAR racing. “I don’t recall the details, but Curtis Turner drove it in at least one race, and it was destroyed in a wreck and never rebuilt.”

“In 1967, McLaren maintained their engines from Al Bartz’ shop in California. TRACO built and maintained the engines for Penske from California. The first TA race was the 24 Hours of Daytona. With primary driver Mark Donahue, we led the race off and on, but were hampered by slow brake pad changes and got behind the Fords. At 4:00 in the morning, we experienced overheating from a cracked cylinder head, which resulted in a 3-hour pit stop to change it. This had been a recurring failure, which we had not yet solved.”

Thereafter, Bill Howell was able to develop a successful vacuum assist to the braking system that solved the slow brake-change problems, which they put to the test during the Sebring 12-hour race in Florida. “We dominated the TA portion of the race, finishing first and second with Penske-entered Camaros. At all of these races, my job was to connect with other Chevrolet-based competitors to give advice and observe any component problems they may have had.”  

The Yunick Camaro was entered and driven by Lloyd Ruby, but had a terminal engine problem after about 4 hours and was withdrawn.

“After the first regular TA race, Donahue felt that his Camaro could be improved in the handling department.  We arranged for them to bring the car to the GM proving grounds at Milford, Michigan for a few days of testing,” Bill says. By setting up round and rectangular skid pads, Donahue and an instrumentation team from R&D were able to significantly improve the cornering performance and the Penske cars dominated the remainder of the ‘68 season, also winning the championship. “I attended most of the races to tune the carburetors and provide feedback on component durability and performance. One of the major difficulties in Trans-Am was the requirement to run the production oil pan. The Camaro’s oil pan had the major part of the sump in the rear, where oil would normally flow under acceleration.” Notably, the Ford Mustangs, due to chassis design had their sump toward the front of the engine and suffered oil starvation under acceleration, which caused them many engine failures.”

Using the new aluminum 427’s, McLaren dominated the Can-Am series. They developed their own engine hardware including the Lucas-based fuel injection, intake manifolds and dry sump oiling systems. The majority of Chevy-powered Can-Am competitors used similar systems.  The only problem experienced by the new Al engines was confined to cylinder liners not being firmly seated when they were initially installed.  During the winter of 1968, McLaren built a new engine facility in Livonia, Michigan named McLaren Engines, headed by George Boltoff, formerly a TRACO employee. It had a new Heenan & Freude dyno, and was state of the art for 1968 outside of the major auto manufacturer facilities.

1968 Tulsa TA, Donahue and Bill’s brother

“Also that same year,” says Howell, “the Chevy dealer in Colorado Springs contacted us seeking assistance in the stock car portion of the Pikes Peak hill climb event. We had Smokey Yunick build a performance 427 MK IV engine to loan him and we supplied a prototype slap shifter for the transmission. The entire hill climb event lasts about a week, with practice every morning from daylight to 8:00 AM. Vince sent me out to oversee the engine tuning. The car was fastest on qualification day, but the shifter broke during the hill climb, so it was not a complete success.”

Again using temporary pattern equipment the following year, a new Al MK IV cylinder block cast was produced that would allow larger bores and more engine displacement, or a shorter stroke at the same displacement (430 CID). “We supplied them to, and sold them to other Can-Am competitors. McLaren again dominated the series, winning the championship. The majority of engine builders were using fully machined connecting rods manufactured by Carillo Ind. Some of them were experiencing fatigue failure of the bolts. McLaren had tried several bolt sources without success, so they came to us for help. We arranged for Standard Pressed Steel (an aerospace source) to do two sample designs using H-11 tool steel and Multiphase 35 (an aerospace alloy).” Fatigue testing proved their design superior in either alloy, and the racing connecting rod industry has universally adopted MP-35 as the alloy of choice for rod bolts. The alloy has another catchy name or two attached to it now by the con rod makers.

Smokey’s engine in 1968 Pikes Peak, Chevy Dealer in Colorado Springs

In 1969 Roger Penske’s team with Mark Donahue as primary driver, again dominated the Trans-Am. “In cooperation with TRACO we were able to refine their rebuild procedures and gain additional power through the season,” says Bill. “Typical TA engine power level by the end of season was about 450 BHP from 302 CID small block. We authorized Gene White Firestone to build and maintain another Camaro for the series, headquartered out of Atlanta, driven by NASCAR driver Pete Hamilton, and maintained by Jim Ruggles. It raced in a Daytona preliminary race in February (driven by Lloyd Ruby) in competition with a factory mustang driven by Parnelli Jones.  It was competitive, however not successful during the TA season.”

Ford introduced their BOSS 302 engine in ‘69 and it had significantly more top end power, but with their cross-ram intake design, Chevy had a better torque curve, allowing them to be competitive. “Our driver, Donahue, made the difference,” exclaims Howell. “Again in 1969, I attended most of the races, and tuned the engines when no TRACO personnel were there. In 1969 or 70, our group was relocated to the R&D area of Chevrolet Engineering, as they were no longer involved in the Chapparal program. This gave us access to our own machining facilities and additional personnel. I also spent some time at Chris-Craft boats in Ft. Lauderdale, assisting them in adapting a performance 302 V8 engine to one of their 18 foot runabouts.”

Due to impending nationwide emission regulations, the 1970’s began with all GM facilities involved in reduced emission engine and vehicle development and Howell’s group had to step aside, losing access to their dynamometer facilities. “For performance engine development we were now forced to contract our work outside the GM Corp.  Initially, we used McLaren Engines in Livonia, as we had verified the accuracy of their equipment.” Bruce McLaren was killed in a Can-Am vehicle-testing program in England, in the Spring. In addition to Can-Am, McLaren was now competing successfully in Indy car racing using turbocharged Offenhauser engines.

McLaren again dominated Can-Am racing with drivers Dennis Hulme, Peter Revson, and occasionally Dan Gurney.  By now most teams were running at 494 CID and Chevy personnel were developing castings and pistons for use of A390 aluminum alloy. “These engines could run without cylinder liners or sleeves,” says Bill, “and promised greater durability at large displacements. I followed development of this and the sale and distribution of parts to the race teams. A390 aluminum alloy was scheduled to be used in production of the soon-to-be introduced Vega small car, and using it in Can-Am was to advertise its ability.”

The Penske Trans-Am program opted to switch to American Motors and run Javelins in 1970. “We contracted Jim Hall of Midland, Texas to run TA with 2 of the new 1970 Camaros. They built their own race engines. Hall drove one car, and Ed Leslie the second car. The rules for 1970 required the use of NASCAR style, 11 gallon, fuel dump cans which slowed down pit stops and allowed time for tire changes. Because of this, I developed a system to glue the lug nuts to the new wheels using 3M rubber cement.  This eliminated physically handling the lug nuts individually and greatly quickened tire changes. We kept this system secret for most of the season, but it was later adopted by NASCAR, universally decreasing pit stop delays. (First used by Mario Rossi and the DiGard team). Our TA season was less than successful due to team expertise and some engine failures.” 1970 also marked the introduction of power steering to the TA. Ford won the championship with Parnelli Jones and George Fulmer driving. This was the last year of factory Chevy participation in TA.

Bill says, “once the corporation decided that maybe racing wasn’t all bad and it wasn’t going to cost them all their profits, Chevrolet decided that they wanted to keep their heavy-duty performance parts in the catalog after all, so consumers could buy from a dealer.”

Also about this same time, Smokey Yunick embarked on a project to run a carbureted twin-turbo small block Chevy at Indianapolis in the 500. “Herb Fishel in our group, followed that program,” claims Bill. “It was not successful due to the high g-forces on the low-pressure fuel in the carburetor.”

With the success of the Monte Carlo, other NASCAR teams switched to that design in 1973, but Johnson’s was the only Chevrolet supported team. Cale Yarborough drove their Monte to second place in the season standings. Chevy then became interested in NASCAR engine development and returned to their high performance programs, keeping much abreast of the sport and the goings on. 

With the coming advent of the Vega, GM had contracted Cosworth Engineering of England to develop a 2 liter racing version using a Cosworth-designed cylinder head, and the Vega cylinder block in hopes it might be competitive in Formula 2 European racing and US midget car racing.  “As part of the contract, they were to deliver three complete, race ready engines to us,” says Bill of his return to racing duties. “My job was to investigate the performance at McLaren, seek a competitive user in the US, and evaluate the potential for success in this country. The engines were dry sump with a Lucas-based, timed fuel injection, twin cam with four valves per cylinder. Cosworth designed the oil pan, oil pump, cylinder head, fuel injection (Lucas) and internal parts, including gas filled o-ring seals between head and cylinder block.”

“Through a friend in Dayton, Ohio (Marion Tucker), I was able to contact the Shannon Brothers, who owned a Buick dealership, and fielded a competitive USAC midget race car. Their mechanic and car builder was Bob Higman in Lafayette, Indiana.  We were able to install a Cosworth built engine in their car and race it in a special race in Pocono, Pennsylvania and at the Thanksgiving race at Los Angeles. With John Rutherford driving, the engine and car were competitive, and we also learned that magnesium and methanol are not compatible. It ate holes in the oil pan on the way back from LA,” says Bill. “As development continued, we gradually replaced all Cosworth designed parts with US designs to make the engine practical in the US. Working with another car owner from the St. Louis area, Gene Hamilton, we continued development and won some races with Kenny Schrader driving. In the end the engine turned out too expensive for USAC midget racing and never sold well.”

The Cosworth Vega (US version) was scheduled to debut in 1974, but was delayed in production until 1975. It was a pleasant combination of performance and handling, all with 4-speed manual transmissions. Each one had a dash plate with its production number on it. Total production was about 3600 units. Howell provided a write-up on

build instructions and special parts for the Cosworth, and it was featured on the cover of the first official publication of the Chevrolet Power catalog introduced in 1974. Bill’s group continued various experiments on the Vega, to ultimately determine that it was not too impressive.  Cale Yarborough won the NASCAR championship in Jr. Johnson’s Monte Carlo.

When the production version of Cosworth Vega was introduced in 1975, Howell had a turbocharged version in their group. “This was prior to wastegated versions, and digital electronic, but it was impressive in its operations nonetheless,” says Bill.

NASCAR restricted big block engines to the point that most competitors chose to switch to 358 CID small blocks. “Though we had done some 350 development in NASCAR trim at McLaren’s,” says Bill, “we were not aware of any particular shortcomings. I attended the 1975 Daytona 500 with Vince Piggins, to see the state of performance and development.  Our performance was okay, but at least seven Chevy-powered cars had engine failures in the race. Upon return, we immediately started investigating components in this environment. We ultimately decided to prepare six complete engines that we would loan out to competitors in 1976 and learn first-hand what needed to be changed.  The Ford teams had a box type intake manifold with a large plenum that appeared to have more power than the Chevrolets. Jr. Johnson lobbied NASCAR to let him design and have manufactured a similar intake for Chevy, on the condition that any Chevy team could buy one from him. Intake manifold design was virtually unregulated at that time. We purchased six units from Johnson for our 1976 development and durability engines.  Along with the intakes, the carbs were free (limited to a maximum bore size at the mounting flange). Through our testing of various combinations, we determined that fuel and air mixture distribution was going to be a problem, so we developed various modifications to the carb that looked acceptable on the dyno.”

“In 1976, we loaned our NASCAR durability engines to Jr. Johnson, AJ Foyt, DiGard Racing, CooCoo Marlin and James Hylton before Daytona in February,” says Bill. “At Daytona, it became apparent that the centrifugal force in the turns was altering the mixture distribution seriously and only a couple engines were included in the race.  Returning to McLaren, we mounted a development engine at a 45-degree angle on the dyno, simulating 1g cornering forces. We were then able to correct the mixture problem with grooves and dams in the manifold. As an added benefit, we discovered that the stock floats in the Holley carb were restricting fuel flow at cornering loads. I was able to alter the float shape to correct the problem, and this change was adopted by Holley as a float option in their parts list.  As the 1976 NASCAR season progressed, we were able to tear down and evaluate engines with enough miles on them, to sort out several durability improvements. One of significance was the size of the water cooling line from the engine to the radiator top tank. The car builders had been using a #16 Aeroquip hose for this purpose, and it was restricting water flow enough that the rear four pistons in the engines were showing cracks on teardown. This was discovered on our DiGard durability test engine. We continued to do all of our development testing at McLaren

Engines in Livonia. Most NASCAR teams were now running the current model Monte Carlo on shorter tracks and Chevelles at Daytona on longer tracks.” 

Chevrolet did not sponsor teams beyond the Jr. Johnson team, as it was not necessary due to Chevy product performance, and the fact that they were already winning the championship.

In addition to performance engine work, Howell was responsible for all the engine instructions and most of the part numbers in the rewrites of the Chevrolet Power catalog, revised every other year or so. Bill says, “I also fielded phone calls from many of the racing engine builders around the country who specialized in Chevrolet engines whether circle track or road race, but not many drag racers. Ron Sperry, in our group, catered to the drag racers.”

Drivers meeting ASA

In the mid to late 1970’s, Chevy began to pay attention to the smaller organizations running organized short track racing such as ASA, ARCA, ARTGO in the Midwest, and ACT, in the New England area, as they were primary users of Chevy’s heavy duty performance parts.  “Since ASA was the most predominant in the Midwest,” says Bill, “In 1977 I contacted Rex Robbins, who headed the organization, in an attempt to become familiar with their series and competitors. They and most of the other series had recently restricted their engine compression ratios to 9.5:1, and were struggling to find a foolproof inspection method to prevent cheating on CR. This began a long relationship between various GM divisions and ASA with component and brand sponsorships that helped maintain GM as the predominant brand in short track racing.  We maintained contact in various ways until ASA was sold after 2002. We were also requested by Chevy Truck to look into off-road and truck racing in the Western US, so I took a trip to California to visit the off-road manufacturers and watch an event at Riverside. This familiarized us with their requirements. This put us in contact with Joe McPherson Chevy and Ron Shaver engines on the West coast. We were already acquainted with the Champion Dyno facility in Long Beach through TRACO Engineering. Over the years, I met and visited the majority of engine builders and shops in California.”

Above: Jack Ingraham

Below: Darrel Waltrip and sportsman V6 car

GM downsized all its intermediate cars in 1978. The Monte Carlo was now a boxy shape, and the Chevelle had a flat nose on it. NASCAR extended the eligibility of the older Monte Carlo’s for a couple of years, but most GM oriented teams switched to either Buick or Oldsmobile sheet metal to gain a more sloped nose with better down force. “Since Chevrolet was not investing a great amount of money in NASCAR racing,” says Bill, “we had no clout with the race teams. Buick however, was now helping Jr. Johnson and a couple of other teams to get their sheet metal out front and improve their performance image.”