By Camden Proud
WATERTOWN, NY –
David Surace has been around racing for over 35 years. After years of helping out dirt teams, he began to get interest from asphalt teams. As he says, “To me, as long as there’s a race I’m interested”. So he began supplying teams at Oswego with not only the regular parts like Winters rear ends, radius rods, Hypercoil springs, and a whole lot more.
About 4 years ago he saw that a few things the guys were trying to do on their cars could be improved. So he set out to make the racers job easier! “I looked at the front brake brackets on a guy’s car and asked why do you have so many washers? The guy told me that’s how you had to do it to line everything up.” So after some research he found this was a common problem. So he set out to fix it.
“I realized there was a better way of mounting the caliper and rotor on the front of the supers. So after lots of measuring I came up with a spindle, steering arm, brake bracket, and brake rotor floater that all worked right off the shelf with no modifying together. Today many of the cars utilize the parts on their supers. Joey Hawksby builds an amazing car. He’s been great to work with and utilizes many of the parts on his cars. Like I told Joey , all I’m trying to do is make it easier for racers to get their hands on specialty parts. Joey carries most of the parts in stock and racers can get ahold of him or Eagle One if they need something.”
After many years of wanting one, last year Eagle One added a shock Dyno and spring rating to a list of specialized services to offer the racer. DownForce Shocks by Eagle One was formed.”If I only took the chance 25 years ago like I wanted to I’d probably have my own shock company by now. I remember a long time ago telling Bob McCreadie how important I thought shocks were and how much could be gained. He laughed and thought I was crazy. About 2 years later it was right after Super Dirt week and he said “I can’t believe it but your right” . Timmy had put a rear shock on his car that picked the car up half a second! Took it back off just to see if it was the shock and lost half a second!
Shocks have came along ways in the last 10 years in that now racers have learned how to use the information gained from Dyno readings and tune their cars in a more predictable manner. There isn’t a magical shock valving per say that if you put it on your car you win every night. “I tell racers the first key is to find out what you actually have for valving. I’ve had racers think that the valving they had was a certain valving and come to find out it wasn’t even close to what they actually had. I had a customer this year that was terrible one week. We found out his shocks were way off what they should be. Reset them and he went out and won a $10,000 race ” Once it’s determined what the racer has we can see how the car has been handling feel wise and if it’s off get them back to a baseline.
The service we offer is personalized! “I not going to sit here and tell you so and so is running this you need to. Each racers information is their’s and is not shared with other racers.” If a couple of racers wants to share info I have no problem . I’m not here to pass competitors info around. Like I explain to the racers we know what your starting with now , let’s make adjustments to what your car is feeling like to you. No two cars or drivers are exactly the same so let’s get the best possible combination for your car and your driving style. “As a factory authorized dealer and servicer of Ohlins shocks has keep for a busy summer.
David would like to wish all racers and crew and safe and enjoyable weekend. He can be reached at 315-804-5278 or by e-mail at Dsurace330@aol.com to set up a time to get your shocks and springs checked before the big end of the season races.
For more information on Oswego Speedway and Budweiser International Classic Weekend, be sure to visit online at www.oswegospeedway.com, LIKE on Facebook at www.facebook.com/OswegoSpeedway or FOLLOW on Twitter @OswegoSpeedway.
To purchase tickets for this year’s Budweiser International Classic Weekend running from September 1-3, call the speedway box office at (315) 342-0646.
About Oswego Speedway: Oswego Speedway, a sports entertainment company, is a 5/8 mile semi-banked pavement racing oval located off the shores of Lake Ontario in scenic Oswego, NY. Oswego Speedway has been a continuously run weekly racing venue since August, 1951. The premier open-wheel pavement short track cars in the world, Supermodifieds, run weekly at Oswego Speedway making Oswego the only weekly Supermodified racing venue in the world. The Small Block Supermodifieds accompany the full blown Supers on a weekly Saturday night schedule which runs from May through September. Oswego Speedway is mentioned in racing circles as the “Indy of the East,” as no fewer than a dozen past and present competitors have competed at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway including Mario Andretti, arguably the greatest driver of all time, two-time Indy 500 champion Gordon Johncock, along with former International Classic Champions Bentley Warren, Joe Gosek, and Davey Hamilton.