In 2001 after graduating from the University of Northwestern Ohio, Jason started his career at Peterson Spring (PAC).  He has held various roles within the company including being responsible for all engine and fatigue testing for the company’s products.  He has worked in many roles in the company and in 2008 expanded his knowledge base while working at KB Racing for Greg Anderson & Jason Line’s NHRA pro-stock team.  In this role he applied his hands on knowledge of springs, valve train analysis, and engine development improving performance.

After a year and a half of success he returned to PAC Racing Springs as a Development Engineer, where he furthered product and process developments on springs and other valve-train products.  Starting in 2011, Jason was entrusted with heading up the Business and Sales Management of PAC Racing Springs.   PAC Racing is a separate business unit created in 2005 to combine the Racing, Aftermarket, and OEM development efforts for the Peterson Spring Organization.

Jason holds 2 U.S patents for valve-train damping products, and is a co-patent holder with Harley-Davidson on a Thermal Isolation Device.

Jason received the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE) “Bentele” award in 2007 for Engine Technology Innovation and is also the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout award.

Rich Keller has been an engineer within the Champion Spark Plug organization for his entire professional career, beginning in 1980 upon graduation from Purdue University. Throughout his career, the Champion brand has been virtually synonymous with race-winning performance in NASCAR, Formula One, NHRA and IHRA racing. He is based at Federal-Mogul’s Powertrain Energy Group research and development center in Plymouth, Mich., where engineers develop next-generation engine and ignition solutions for the original equipment, replacement and performance markets.

Jon Kaase, the 59-year-old famed race engine builder from Winder, Georgia, will be addressing this year’s AETC conference, his first time as speaker.

Four-time winner of the celebrated Engine Masters Challenge, Kaase says, “I’m looking forward to the opportunity of speaking to the everyday hot rodder at the conference, and I’m hoping to share with him the commonsense techniques we apply to the building of the hot rod engine. Often engine building discussions are complex and can become meaningless to some of the audience. My address will be down-to-earth in the hope I can tell the hot rodder something he didn’t know before.”

Jon Kaase Racing Engines’ achievements are well documented, winning a dozen or more IHRA Pro Stock championships and an NHRA Pro Stock championship. In the past three years they expanded their operation by introducing their Boss Nine hot rod engine and have enjoyed remarkable sales both here in the States as well as down-under in the Australasia markets.

I attended Loma Linda University from 1974 – 1977, majoring in both history and engineering. In 1997 I left school to work full time building custom homes. In 1984 I started the company Empire Construction. In 1987 I purchased an existing machine shop (naming it Precision Crankshaft) that had 11 full-time employees and simultaneously ran both companies until February of 1997, when I sold both Empire Construction and Precision Crankshaft.

I began full time employment in March of 1997 at K&N Engineering, Inc. as a Program Manager of intake systems. Since 2000, I have held the position of Executive Vice President, including Product Engineering and Research & Development. I currently sit on the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) PAAC Committee, the Filter Manufacturing Council, the NHRA Drivers Commission, and the MIC (Motorcycle Industry Council).

As a member of the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors at K&N Engineering , I am instrumental in decision making process for the Company’s direction. In my capacity as Vice President at K&N, I oversee product development and nearly 50-percent of the marketing efforts that help develop the business. At K&N we sponsor race cars, in both NASCAR and NHRA, in divisions where our products are used, largely because we believe racing engines are the most expensive and most crucial element to providing protection. If a consumer sees the engine performance at this level, it just makes good sense to provide that performance capability and long life for their own vehicles.

For me, balancing family (wife, Janet , and our seven-year-old daughter, Shelby), the responsibility of heading K&N’s always-busy Product Engineering and Research & Development department and an active racing schedule is no easy feat. I consider it an honor and privilege to work for a company with such deep roots in racing – one that provides me with the rewarding opportunity to not only work in an environment that I enjoy but allows me to continue my favorite pastime – racing.

Born and raised in northeastern Ohio, I received a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology in ’75 and a PhD from Caltech in ’85.

During my final year at Caltech, I developed a friendship with then owners of Air Flow Research Company, Ken and Phyllis Sperling. They became mentors for me in the aftermarket performance automotive world. In the fall of 1986, I accepted a job with Ken and Phyllis at Air Flow Research. I worked in the machine shop, ran the flow bench, helped in the dyno room, and tried to do relevant research on a very limited budget.

In 1988, my work at AFR attracted the interest of Vic Edelbrock and I entered into an agreement to share information and resources between Edelbrock and AFR. In the fall of ’88, AFR decided to purchase Brownfield company, a cylinder head manufacturer, and offered me the opportunity to buy into the new company. Brownfield’s foundry process was unique and I was given the responsibility to set it up and make it productive. It was a great learning experience for me.

By early 1991, I was looking to do more design work so I accepted a position as Director of Engineering at Edelbrock Corp which I still hold today. My time at Edelbrock has been a mixed bag of projects. The last ten years have been better than the previous ten due largely to working on true race oriented cylinder heads and manifolds. This is my passion and I feel very lucky that I get to pursue it on a daily basis.

As a student at the United States Military Academy at West Point,  Josh chose to study mechanical engineering   to feed his passion for engineering –specifically automotive engineering.  His goal was to serve in the Armor branch of the military, and to get up-close and familiar with some of the most sophisticated military vehicles and technology in with world by working with M1A1 Abrams Tank.   And that is exactly where his education and training at West Point took him.  Upon his graduation in 1999, his dream of becoming a commissioned Armor Officer in US Army was realized, affording him the privilege and opportunity to lead and interact with some of America’s finest and brightest men and women.   It was through these relationships that Josh became more acquainted with all of the different forms of racing that are prevalent throughout the nation.  The marriage of science and team work on a stage of competition where you can clearly and immediately see tangible results of how well or ill-prepared you are enthralled him and set his path for a career in racing.

With a desire to learn as much as he could about the chassis and suspension aspects as well as the engine, he furthered his education in Graduate School at Clemson University where he obtained his Masters Degree.  He studied mechanical engineering and vehicle dynamics.  He was fortunate to have opportunities to work on both racing and military projects and he developed simulation programs that modeled and predicted vehicle ride and handling characteristics.   At the same time, he attended a technical school at night to work with a program that supported USAR Pro-Cup engine builds.

Although all aspects of the race car fascinate Josh, he learned he was most passionate about engines and engine development.  In 2006 he had his first opportunity to work as an R & D engineer in a NASCAR engine shop where he could apply his education and experience to the challenging development of the engine valve train.   In 2009 he was able to realize another dream—the privilege to proudly work at Roush and Yates Racing Engines  in the R& D group as a valve train engineer.  Here he has the thrilling challenge of working on the performance and durability development of the FR-9 engine valve train as well as on other engines and series that RYE supports.

Founder of Arrow Race Engines

As a mechanical engineer, Bill worked for Chrysler Corporation in their 70’s NASCAR program for ten years and then left to start and run his own company, Arrow Racing Engines, Inc, which specializes in high performance engine development in the Detroit area. After selling the business in 2008, Bill currently writes and does consulting work for the performance industry.

Bill Hancock grew up in Virginia racing cars. He went to Vanderbilt University where he got a degree in Mechanical Engineering while building and driving a series of drag racing cars. He was recruited out of college by Chrysler who moved him to Detroit as an engineer. He soon found himself in what he calls the job of a lifetime, working if the Chrysler Race Group as a NASCAR engineer where he worked on the NASCAR and short track Kit Car programs.

Several years later he was selected to manage the vehicle testing area where he was responsible for  testing and race track development of the corporate racing programs. These programs ranged from desert racing trucks, NHRA & IHRA Pro Stock and Super Stock, Formula 5000, and of course NASCAR and USAC stock cars. During this time, he spent time at most of the major race tracks around the country where would rent the track and test for weeks at a time. When he was not at the track, he could be found at one of the wind tunnels or team race team shops.

In the off season, Bill was a speaker at the Chrysler Drag Racing seminar series which again took him all over the country. The race group was disbanded in 1979 when Chrysler suffered through a financial crisis. During this period he took a job with General Dynamics as the Chief Engineer of an off-road military vehicle.

It wasn’t too long before Bill decided to form his own company and return to his racing roots. In 1979 he formed Arrow Racing Engines and soon began doing engine development work for Chrysler.  Aside from doing engine development work, Bill also authored and presented many papers and seminars on Dyno testing. He co-authored a book on Dyno testing with his good friend Harold Bettes and most recently updated John Lawlor’s HP book  AutoMath. After almost 30 years in the engine business, he sold Arrow in 2008 and retired.

He still finds time to do consulting work, speaking engagements, and continues to write.

Chris Osborn – General Manager /Engineer of PAC Racing Springs Division of Peterson Spring

Chris grew up working on cars with his father for most of his early days. He was very active bracket drag racer while he was completing his Mechanical Engineering degree at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Also during this time, he worked for an automotive machine shop learning how to build and maintain engines. This was where he started learning the importance of valve springs both by seeing them broke on customer’s engines and breaking them on his own racecar.

After college, he started working for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, IN. During that time there he worked for the fuel systems technology group and earned two patents for fuel injector and fuel pump developments. During this time at Cummins, Chris learned a great deal about springs and engine operation based on spring performance.

While at Cummins, he participated in a coop program with a professional Indy car race team. Chris worked on various aspects with the race team from suspension design, clutch work and wind tunnel testing. He did participate in the 1996 Indy 500 race crew.

In 1998, Chris started with Peterson Spring as a senior product engineer focused on developing new spring designs, materials and processes. There he worked with many race teams, engine builders, cam and valve companies to develop new spring designs. In 2005, Peterson spring consolidated all of the racing efforts into a new division called PAC Racing Springs with Chris as the general manager and engineer.

Today, PAC Racing Springs, has a tremendous group of talented engineers, metallurgist, technicians and spring makers that are committed to providing the best springs for any racing application.

Dr. Robert Prucka is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University.  His research interests include topics related to the performance, control, simulation, and emissions of advanced internal combustion engines.  Robert is active in motorsports research and is the faculty advisor for Clemson’s Formula and Baja SAE student teams.  He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2008.  There he investigated the development of model-based control strategies for high degree of freedom spark-ignition engines.  In addition to this work, he developed several experimental methods to quantify residual gas fraction and turbulence intensity within a firing engine.  Dr. Prucka received his M.S.E. (2004) and B.S.E. (2000) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan.  He has also worked for the Ford Motor Company.