Davis Adds Roush Yates Power to Racing Program

Written by Ian Tocher

SUWANEE, GA — After securing two NHRA divisional titles, five IHRA championships and nearly 100 individual event wins, Top Sportsman standout Ronnie Davis recently made a dramatic change to his program by turning to Roush Yates Performance Engine Group for the horsepower beneath the hood of one of his race cars.

Davis owns a pair of Tommy Mauney-built ’63 Corvettes, with his orange car being a single-frame-rail, Top Sportsman-only machine and his black car a double-frame-rail Pro Mod that he occasionally enters in Top Sportsman competition. The Roush Yates (RY) motor powers the black car.

George Gable, a technical director for Roush Yates, said the company looked “long and hard” before deciding Davis was the right racer to lead their entry into the Top Sportsman ranks.

“Ronnie is obviously a well-known racer who’s had a lot of success over the years and knows what he needs,” Roush Yates Drag Racing Program Manager Sandy Wilkins added from the RY race shop in Mooresville, NC. “He’s also an outspoken individual who can definitely help promote the Roush-Yates brand and product.”

Davis confirmed the impeccable reputation of Jack Roush, Doug Yates and Robert Yates in NASCAR engine-building circles gave him immediate interest when Wilkins called early this year.

“I knew they would have unbelievable facilities, unlimited resources and be a very professional organization, so I was very excited about the opportunity to get involved with them,” the Suwanee, GA-based golf cart dealer said. “So I finally decided to make the move after being with Gene Fulton for 20 years—and I want to thank Gene for all the support he gave me throughout those years—I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Wilkins led Roush Yates technicians in developing a 5.2-inch bore spaced, 822-cubic-inch engine with RY billet heads boosted by four stages of nitrous oxide going through a pair of split-four-barrel carburetors. The new engine combination produced more than 1,550 horsepower on the dyno.

“I’m very pleased with the result,” Davis declared. “It’s the most-sealed-up motor I’ve ever had, with extremely good vacuum, no leakage of any type, and it’s running very strong.”

Initial testing early in June at Atlanta Dragway, near Commerce, GA, allowed only two runs before bad weather set in, but Davis recorded a pair of 6.74 second passes at more than 204 miles per hour straight off the trailer in what he called “pretty bad air” and on a hot, 130-degree track.

“The thing that was most impressive to me was the consistency on both those runs,” he stated. “They were two hours apart, but the eighth-mile time on both was exactly 4.350, identical. And as a bracket class Top Sportsman is all about consistency in running the same number every time, so I was really impressed with that.

“Roush Yates obviously could have chosen just about anyone they wanted to work with and I feel blessed and very happy to be working with George Gable and Sandy Wilkins and the whole Roush Yates crew,” Davis said. “I’m looking forward to getting the Roush Yates name out there and letting the drag racing world see what a world-class motor program can do.”

Davis will have his first opportunity to show off the new Roush Yates powerplant this weekend (July 7-10), at Route 66 Raceway in Chicago, as he competes in the invitation-only 2011 JEG’s Allstars team event for divisional class champions being featured on Saturday during the NHRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals.

Beyond supplying engines to high-profile racers like Davis and Steve Matusek in the NHRA Pro Mod series, Wilkins emphasized that Roush Yates has a growing drag racing engine program that’s dedicated to providing a top-notch powerplant at a fair price to any Sportsman team.  

“Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Quick Rod, you name it, we do all that type of work here. I’ve run 44 drag racing-specific projects through here already this year,” he said. “We can do it all.”

Ronnie Davis Racing greatly appreciates the sponsorship and support of Roush Yates Performance Engine Group, Rock Batteries, J.H. Global Star Golf Carts, Hickory Enclosed Trailers & Race Performance Motor Coach, TracStar Satellite Systems, Goodyear, CSR, VP Racing Fuels, TCI, Moroso, Magnaflow, Hedman Hedders, Auto Meter, Torque Converter Services, Braswell Carburetors, MSD, Penske Shocks, Chapman Auto Body, and Tommy Mauney Race Cars.