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Keith Black (engineer)
Encyclopedia
Keith Black was a producer of high performance drag racing
engines, often used in Top Fuel
and Tractor pulling
applications.
. People liked his motors, and he quickly started a business out of his garage.
He opened Keith Black Racing Engines in 1959. By 1961 his boat racing exploits included nearly 50 international and national records.
Drag racing teams heard about his boat racing engines, and he was convinced by friend Tommy Greer
to build a drag racing motor for the Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fuel dragster. In 1962 and 1963 the team won over 250 rounds to less than 25 loses. Black spent time in the late 1960s with Roland Leong's Hawaiian Top Fuel dragsters, and in the early 1970s with the Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car campaigned by "Big John" Mazmanian.
Ed Donovan introduced the specialized aluminum engine block for nitro drag racing in 1971; the "Donovan 417" was similar to the 1958 Chrysler 392 hemi. Black's aluminum engine blocks would dominate the market by the end of the decade. The engines Keith Black produces are based on the Chrysler 426 Hemi
, Chevy Big Block
, and Oldsmobile Big Block
designs, but cut from virgin aluminum and built to the customer's specifications.
Keith Black died from complications due to brain cancer in 1991.
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
engines, often used in Top Fuel
Top Fuel
Top Fuel racing is a class of drag racing in which the cars are run on a mix of approximately 90% nitromethane and 10% methanol rather than gasoline or simply methanol. The cars are purpose-built for drag racing, with an exaggerated layout that in some ways resembles open-wheel circuit racing...
and Tractor pulling
Tractor pulling
Truck and Tractor pulling, also known as power pulling, is a motorsport competition, popular in America, Europe , Australia and Brazil, which requires modified tractors to pull a heavy sledge along a 35ft. wide and length of 100 metre or 300ft+ track, with the winner being the tractor that pulls...
applications.
Racing
Black first made a name for himself in the mid-1940s in boat racing. He set a world record in his second time out at Salton SeaSalton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, saline, endorheic rift lake located directly on the San Andreas Fault, predominantly in California's Imperial Valley. The lake occupies the lowest elevations of the Salton Sink in the Colorado Desert of Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California. Like Death...
. People liked his motors, and he quickly started a business out of his garage.
He opened Keith Black Racing Engines in 1959. By 1961 his boat racing exploits included nearly 50 international and national records.
Tommy Greer
Tommy Greer is a professional basketball player from Melbourne, Victoria. He currently plays for the Melbourne Tigers.-References:*http://www.tigers.com.au/default.aspx?s=playerprofile&id=673&team=tigers...
to build a drag racing motor for the Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fuel dragster. In 1962 and 1963 the team won over 250 rounds to less than 25 loses. Black spent time in the late 1960s with Roland Leong's Hawaiian Top Fuel dragsters, and in the early 1970s with the Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car campaigned by "Big John" Mazmanian.
Engineer
Chrysler contracted Black to develop a marine racing program in 1965.Ed Donovan introduced the specialized aluminum engine block for nitro drag racing in 1971; the "Donovan 417" was similar to the 1958 Chrysler 392 hemi. Black's aluminum engine blocks would dominate the market by the end of the decade. The engines Keith Black produces are based on the Chrysler 426 Hemi
Chrysler Hemi engine
The Chrysler Hemi engine, known by the trademark Hemi, is a series of V8 engines built by Chrysler with a hemispherical combustion chamber. Three different types of Hemi engines have been built by Chrysler for automobiles: the first from 1951–1958, the second from 1964–1971, and the third...
, Chevy Big Block
Chevrolet Big-Block engine
The Chevrolet big block is a series of large displacement V8 engines that were developed in the USA during the 1950s and 1960s. As American automobiles grew in size and weight following the Second World War the engines powering them had to keep pace...
, and Oldsmobile Big Block
Oldsmobile V8 engine
The Oldsmobile Rocket V8 was the first post-war OHV V8 at General Motors. Production started in 1949, with a new generation introduced in 1964. Like Pontiac, Olds continued building its own V8 engine family for decades, finally adopting the corporate Chevrolet 350 small-block and Cadillac Northstar...
designs, but cut from virgin aluminum and built to the customer's specifications.
Keith Black died from complications due to brain cancer in 1991.