08-16-07: On Thursday prior to Bucky's Nostalgia Nitro Ball at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Washington, Mechatronics COO., Kent Ross invited over one hundred business associates, special guests and employees to an open house and sit-down BBQ at their main warehouse. The highlight for all was an up close and personal look at the 3000 horsepower, 250 mph Top Fuel Dragster his company sponsors.

Arriving early the High Speed Motorsports crew arranged for an all-day display in the parking lot of the Mechatronics Operating Groups facility in rural Preston, Washington. Among those in attendance for HSMS was C.E.O. Dale Singh, C.O.O. Tom Shelar, Walt Stevens, Roger McMartin, Rick Shelar and driver, Troy Green. Under a mix of sunny and overcast skies, a good time was had by all and punctuated by a fire-up with GM of National Precision Bearing, Scott Dumas, in the dragsters seat.

 

10 AM - the 45' HSMS trailer and new motorcoach arrive at the SilverThin facility in Preston, Washington.

 

First order of business was to unload the race car.

 

 

 

Troy Green packs the chutes while the rest of the team gets ready to set up the awning.

 

 

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Up went the awning with Tom Shelar using the car for something other than its purpose in life.

 

 

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Early on the guests poured over the car. Parents and kids alike found the 250" beast fascinating to say the least.

 

 

Troy Green, Dale Singh, Walt Stevens, Tom Shelar and Roger McMartin with SilverThin COO, Kent Ross.

 

Mechatronics CEO, Ed Knopf gets briefed on the car and team from HSMS CEO, Dale Singh.

 

Tom Shelar and Kent Ross chat while Walt Stevens and Troy Green begin taking the engine apart for servicing. Prior to the open house it was decided that rather than just leave the car on display all day, the team would kill two birds with one stone. They would literally show everyone the inner workings of a blown fuel hemi by doing a between round maintenance in preparation for the weekend event at Seattle. The engine had not been torn down after their last run at the Boise Nightfire Nationals the previous weekend so this was a real deal exercise.

 

 

 

 

 

Dale Singh and Ed Knopf.

 

Donna Knopf, Dale and Ed.

 

While the team worked on the car Mechatronics Director of Operations, Tina Aitken,
did a masterful job of keeping the large crowd in hamburgers and hot dogs.

 

 

 

 

Aisles of SilverThin's massive shipping center were turned into an eatery for the occasion. The guests ate first, before the employee lunch hour. The entire staff was also fed the same fare.

Rick Shelar drains the oil in preparation of pulling off the pan to get the pistons out.

 

Throughout the day Walt Stevens and the entire team were willing and able to answer all the questions fielded by the guests and employees.

Roger McMartin gets the heads ready to go back on.

As people finished their lunches the spectator count rose.

This little guys day was made, and possibly a new drag racing fan was born.

Roger McMartin spent all the time needed to talk to the visitors and answer any questions.

 

In spite of the work going on everyone had unlimited access to the "pit".

Even little girls are fascinated with "the seat".

Troy helps another lad into his "office".

Even big kids find the workings of a Top Fuel dragster almost beyond comprehension.

Troy signed autographs on the HSMS handout all afternoon.

 

Troy and Roger put 8 new pistons into the engine. This is a normal procedure even if the pistons that came out appear to be in perfect condition. They will be examined by McMartin and if deemed good will go back into the engine down the road.

The dragster aside, another object of great interest was the new HSMS motorcoach that Dale and Amelia Singh lived in for this Northwest tour. It should be said that "living" in this beauty is far removed from roughing it.

With the bearings checked and new pistons installed the engine was reassembled.

With a guest fire-up on the menu Troy thought he'd do some house cleaning. The drivers seat of a dragster is prone to collect an ugly combination of engine oil and clutch dust that would do a dress shirt no favors.

As you can see, Green takes his clean ups seriously.

With the car clean, the engine fueled and ready, Scott Dumas gets instructions from Tom and Troy about the fire-up procedure.

With his respirator mask in place, Scott was ready for his "experience".

Fire in the hole.....

The fire up was timed around the afternoon break so all the employees could be present. Most chose to keep a distance between them and the unbridled engine.

 

With yellow nitro fumes filling the air the folks started to hold their noses and cover their ears.

After 3 minutes of thunder the engine was shut down and Scott was amped up.

And so ended the show. Scott was in awe and the crowd went back to work shaking their heads. Quite a treat on a normally quiet day in Preston, Washington.

Unfortunately the actual race was completely rained out but all involved agree that the 1200 mile trip was worth it for their day at SilverThin. Read about SilverThin below and if you can use their products please visit their website.

 

Related Story: The Big Print

 

SilverThin Bearings is a division of MECHATRONICS CORPORATION, a privately held marketing, distribution, and manufacturing company that was founded in 1979 to market precision bearings to the aerospace industry. Today, the corporation is comprised of five operating groups that serve diverse markets.

The SilverThin Bearing Group manufactures large diameter thin section ball bearings for the aerospace, industrial, robotics, and distributor markets.

SilverThin bearings are manufactured in the United States in standard configurations, sealed and unsealed, up to 37 inches in diameter. Standard bearings are stocked or in production to meet customer short lead time requirements.

Special bearings are engineered and manufactured up to 37 inches in diameter, some from special materials, to serve the needs of our diverse customer base.

The National Precision Bearing Group distributes airframe control bearings, precision miniature ball bearings, and commercial industrial bearings to the computer peripheral , medical, dental, high technology, industrial, and aerospace markets.

Headquarters for the Mechatronics Operating Groups is located in a 50,000 sq.ft. office and warehouse facility in Preston, Washington. This facility contains a class 1000 clean room with bearing relubrication capability and supports value-added assembly operations with full lot traceability for all operations. The facility has ISO 9001:2000 certification.

The corporation sells through its sales office, sales representatives and distributors in the United States and in various countries around the world. The operating group's websites will give you more specific information about the corporation's products and services.