Behind the Wrenches ... with Bill Pink

As Richard Petty Motorsport's head engine builder, Bill Pink knows a thing or two about maintaining a steady 'carb' diet.

Much of today's NASCAR is high-tech.

From the front air splitter to the rear deck-lid wing, NASCAR Sprint Cup stock cars sport scores of engineering achievements. Team personnel rely on computer-aided design and manufacturing software. On-board telemetry aids in test sessions. Every race team has flat-screen monitors and satellite dishes on their pit road toolboxes and the list goes on.

Ironically, one of the most unique ways the sport retains some of its romance from the old days lies hidden from the view of most race fans.

We're talking about the carburetor.

Not since the mid 1980's, has a consumer vehicle left the factory with a carburetor under the hood. But on today's NASCAR Sprint Cup cars, four-barrel carburetors are still on the job.

And so is Bill Pink.

With more than 35 years of racing experience, Pink is Richard Petty Motorsport's director of trackside support. He's responsible for powering the ponies for RPM drivers Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Reed Sorenson, and AJ Allmendinger.

Much like a carburetor, you won't find Pink in the spotlight. Instead, he's behind-the-scenes, head under-the-hood, borescope in hand, constantly inspecting for potential engine woes, looking for innovations that will make RPM's fleet of cars faster and better than the rest of the field.

"If there's a problem, they're depending on me to find the solution to fix it," Pink said from the garage at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. "My main role is carburetor, engine and chassis dyno development and I also handle our testing schedules."

On race weekends, Pink works with RPM's drivers and crew chiefs to improve engine performance on the track. Back at the RPM shop on weekdays, the Woodland Hills, CA native supervises an engine department of six.

The group's tall task, you ask?

Build powerful engines capable of producing up to 850 horsepower and running at high speeds at extreme temperatures without failure for several hours at a time.

Sound difficult?

For Pink, it's simply inherited tradition.

"The craft of tuning engines was passed down to me by my father," Pink said. "My dad worked in NASCAR as well as the Indy Racing League, off-road racing and even drag racing where he built engines for great racers like Don Prudhomme."

Pink hails from the muscle car generation ... a self-titled "gear-head" of the 1970's.

He's an old-school racer. So it should come as no surprise that Pink enjoys tuning a simple carbureted engine that's essentially the same 1955 short-block V-8 approaching its 55th birthday.

"What's neat about NASCAR's carbureted engine is that it's so mechanical and it allows for a real 'grass-roots' appeal," Pink explained. "Guys in the weekly racing series are using carbureted engines, too, just like us in NASCAR."

What's so amazing is how something relatively antique in this high-tech era can continue to crank out the horsepower, yet keep the sport of NASCAR affordable and, more important, human -- a contest of people.

That's something that agrees with Pink.

"Wins really don't mean that much to me," Pink said. "It's really all the people in the NASCAR garage -- from the competitors to NASCAR officials -- that make it fun. You spend so much time away from home, these folks become like family. It's the competitive camaraderie that matters most."

In today's modern NASCAR, technology continues to evolve, but it's the people behind-the-wrenches like Bill Pink that keep the soul of the sport alive.