i called my friend at MSD ignitions..he is scared for his job.
 

i called to ask how he was doing once i heard of the closing of Crane Cams. he said the company is cut in half. 500 employees to 250. apparently, racing is really hurting. anyone hear anything about NHRA? he says, race teams are disappearing fast. i have a 6AL sitting on my bench needing repairs. i should get it in soon. my friend has been involved with racing forever. he says, he doesnt know what else to do.

this economy blows.

B-Ho hates high performance.:D

Wow, scary stuff, Crane, and MSD have been around since I first remember looking under a car hood. I am sure it is not only racing slowing down that is hurting them. I have a good friend who owns a body shop that mostly does high dollar muscle cars//street rods. The last 10 years or so, he has been booked solid. He is finishing up a 57 chevy right now, and that is the last work he has. He may have to do some colllision work to survive. Sad times .

Wow fred, that's pretty scary when you think of it.

Racing right now isn't about driver skill or even R&D. It's about which teams (if any) can actually secure sponsorship.

The economy might kill motor racing entirely in 1-2 years. I expect the LBGP this year will be the last hurrah of a couple of the events/series - possibly even ALMS.

Crane Cams have the coolest logo...guess I should say "had"? This is sad...

Seems like the only industries doing well are the guns and ammo industries.

Give him time, Obama will "fix" that industry too Azasadny.

MSD always seemed a little shady to me. I have an engineer friend who went to work there right of school. He's a gearhead and thought it would be cool, but the salary was a joke.

Shady? How so?

Maybe as we know it now, but I think it'll just reinvent itself into something new, maybe even better.

Watch this video:

<embed src="http://videos.streetfire.net/vidiac.swf?video=58b9218f-c389-4754-90fd-9b57009ba042" width="428" height="352" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>

<a href="http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Top-Gear-Mika-Hakkinen_199772.htm">Top Gear:: Mika Hakkinen</a>

I'd rather see an explosion of that kind of local, grassroots racing, and see more people involved with it, than watch the overcommercialized crap that is barely on TV now.

$0.02

Maybe shady is the wrong word. But they seemed to source very cheap labor (they're in El Paso). Which as a business makes sense, but it makes you wonder where else they're cutting corners.

Awesome video - I agree with you. How cool would it be to have events like that here in the U.S.? Obviously it'll never happen though - liability plus too many control freaks. Maybe I ought to look at Finland more seriously - haha!

That racing track that they were driving on is Ahvenisto, the best racing track I have ever driven on - it is also based in my wife's home town, so i get to drive there regularly :)

Bastard. ;)

What model Benz was the rally car?

Nice video.

Excellent video.

Racing for fun............definately a lost notion in some quarters.