COMP® Powered Engine Outlasts The Competition

[jjamros]

When it was time for an engine rebuild, IMCA dirt track racer, Joe Hicks, drove over 750 miles from his home town of Lubbuck, Texas, to Procell Performance Center in Orange, TX. He passed a lot of good engine builders along the way. So why did he drive so far? Because the first engine Procell built for him had lasted nine years, and it used COMP Cams® parts.

Procell Performance Center Founders

Mark and Quincy Procell have been in the industry for a long time. Twenty-five years ago the brothers formed Procell Performance Center, and they have been building race-winning engines with COMP Cams® parts since the very beginning. When Joe Hicks asked them to build an engine nine years ago, they again turned to the manufacturer that had been supplying them with high-quality parts for as long as they had been in business.

Hicks raced with the new engine for four years with no problems. In 2005, he took it back to Procell Performance Center to be freshened up. After that, he ran it five more years before deciding it was time for a complete rebuild. So he made the long drive back to Orange, TX, one more time. When the Procell Brothers stripped the engine down, they were amazed at what they saw.

“Basically everything in it was COMP®, and it all still ran,” said Quincy Procell. “The cam just had some wear. The lifters were shaky but still rolled. The pushrods had wear, but were still on size and looked good. You could throw the timing set against a wall and it would probably stick, but it all still ran. Of course, he took care of it and maintained it, and we freshened it up in 2005. But for being in a dirt application for that long, it all looked really good.”

The Dual Valve Springs from COMP Cams® may have impressed the Procell brothers more than any other part. After seeing how well the springs stood up to the abuse of racing, Quincy had this to say, “The springs only lost 30 pounds since we freshened the engine up in 2005. When we put them in they were at 225, when we took them out they were only down to 190. That was really impressive.”

What made this engine even more impressive is that not everything was new when it was first built. The camshaft had been purchased second hand. It already had two years of hard drag race use before Joe bought it for his own engine. After a total of eleven years, first with drag then dirt track use, Quincy was amazed at how good of shape it was in, with just minimal wear.

When speaking of the success of his engine, Quincy said, “You’re as good as your customer will let you be. Joe wanted a good engine so we were able to build him one with COMP® parts, and we were really impressed with it.”