NHRA Motorsports Museum « Banks Blog

Posts Tagged ‘NHRA Motorsports Museum’

0 - 50 Years in 63 1/2 Feet…

by Doug Stokes

Friday, March 27th, 2009

Azusa, California - - No, it’s not the Bayeux Tapestry, but perhaps it might be considered as the American motorsports equivalent of it.

It’s the colorful 63 and-a-half-foot long, five foot tall, timeline-history of Gale Banks Engineering that stretches a full 50 years and features over 400 illustrations that go all the way back to 1958!

In September of 2008 the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum announced the booking of a special exhibit entitled: “Banks Power … The First 50 Years”. The intent was to honor the pioneer high performance company and its founder/president with an exhibition of accomplishments in both the marine and automotive worlds.

The Banks organization has always prided itself on its heritage and legacy, in fact its promotional materials have often featured a basic timeline that traced the company’s strong history. For the 3,500 square foot Museum exhibit, it was decided to expand and expound on that concept in order to show more of the story behind the company.

The plan involved the use of one of the 60+ foot long cabinet walls in the Museum to start at the beginning and follow the progress of the Banks success story in strict chronological order.

And follow it, it does. From a one-man garage/shop in Lynnwood, California (set up to pay Bank’s college tuition at Cal Poly) to today’s multi-acre design, testing, and manufacturing campus facility in Azusa, California, which employs 200 people, and on to the honor of being named one of only five people in the industry to receive the prestigious Distinguished Service Award from the Automotive Hall of Fame for 2009*. Banks is the first person from the automotive aftermarket side ever so honored in the award’s 68-year history.

The end result must really be seen live and in person to truly be enjoyed. As the “fun” title of this release says it truly is: “0-50 Years in 63 ½ feet”. The story of a lifetime in pursuit of performance perfection in a little over 21 running yards of exhibition space.

Watching Museum visitors look back through the 50 years is nothing short of fascinating. They recall what they were doing, where they were, their own significant personal dates and places as they note the various points of interest along the timeline.

In addition to a beautifully illustrated timeline, the exhibit floor is “well-stocked” with 17 very significant, very real, complete engines, each representing a different phase in Banks’ seemingly endless quest for efficiency. Along with the gleaming engines are a number of significant race record holding vehicles that carry the Banks colors as well. Fastest, quickest, first, winningest … You name it, doubtless one the racing machines on the floor will have done it!

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (except Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day) and is located right at Gate 1 of the Los Angeles County Fairplex grounds in Pomona, California.

For more information log on www.museum.nhra.com.

*The actual Distinguished Service Citation award is a crystal obelisk that’s on display at the “Parks” as part of this exhibit. It has taken a special place of honor at the beginning of the timeline right next to the only trophy that has ever sat on Gale Banks’ desk, a modest little award for an eclectically-controlled robot that got 1^st place in the 1958 Lakewood High School Science Fair. The idea was to sort of “bookend” the first 50 years of Banks Power and point toward the future at the same time.

Tags: Gale Banks Engineering, NHRA Motorsports Museum, Wally Parks
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34 ENGINES

by Doug Stokes

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

I just went out in the shop and counted for myself.

Thirty-four.

There are thirty four engines presently taking up just about every spare square foot of the race car shop floor here at Banks. The crew has been pulling them out of storage for a couple of days now in preparation for a new museum exhibit that opens in Pomona on December 3rd.

I guess that I should have said, “Our exhibit,” because the show at the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is actually entitled: “Banks Power, The First 50 Years.”

Now you know the reason for all the engines. Going back at least forty of Gale Banks’ 50 in the business, they are the living lexicon of Banks Power.

From the latest 1200+ horsepower twin-turbo diesel dragster engines to an early marine engine which was so good that it got itself legislated out of competition, they’re all here, each representing the Banks heritage and that well documented corporate credo to do it better every time.

a race shop full of enignes

There’s the engine that put the Banks Dodge Dakota in the FIA world record book as the fastest-ever diesel pickup through the traps in a two-way average. There’s a tiny Buick V-6 engine that, with Banks turbocharging, started a whole line of production super cars and racecar derivatives and that even powered Indy Cars. There are a couple of early attempts on diesel design that, in the day, were considered radical departures from the norm.

All will be cleaned up, checked over, and shipped across town Monday to take their places of honor on the floor at the museum.

New entries in the engine field include Banks’ long-awaited and much anticipated return to the waterways with its Duramax-based Marine engine. Looking every bit the part, the powerful twin-turbo diesel V-8 “wet workhorse” is almost as stylish as it is powerful. Back now from “touring” major boat shows around the country the prototype is all set to turn the heads of fans in whole new setting.

And then there are the oddities, an early GM diesel V-8 with tall foot and a half intake runners that must have made a whole lot of power way down low in the rev band, and the half dummy/half real engine built for display on the hyper-exotic, one-off Arex rear engine sportscar. Its block and heads are real but the space-age looking water-to-air intercooler that dominates the complete top of the engine is all styrofoam and dynoc.

There are 454’s, 390’s, Fords, Chevys, Dodge/Cummins and other engine brands on. The eldest among them painted a bright blue and the later ones painted “Banks Red”. Here’s an insiders’ tip: anything painted blue was built before the turn of the century (2000) and the “red engines” have all come to life thereafter.

For the historians, Banks did, very early-on, paint many customer engines a bright yellow. However, all of those examples were repainted during the Banks “blue period” and appear that way today.

The most interesting thing about having almost 40 years of Banks Engineering on the hoof and under one roof has been the reaction of the employees. Break and lunch hours have been strolls through a time tunnel that extends back in many cases to before some of the young engineers, designers, and technicians were born. There’s been many a curious look and even more questions for some of the longer-serving employees. The development and evolution that still goes on today can be seen in these historically significant reminders of the company’s longevity.

When something really needs some historic perspective out in the shop the go-to guy is Bob Robe, who last year celebrated 30 years with Banks. Robe has had a hand in every engine designed and produced by Banks since 1977. He also has a multi-megabyte storage unit safely ensconced in his head where he has faithfully filed and cataloged every bit of information about each of these mills.

Bob, who is generally a very popular guy, anyway is now even more revered by the staff. “Yeah, we were trying for (this). But we found out more about (that) … and then we applied it to (something different),” he explains.

Robe understands the relationship pure research, running for records (he’s been in on many of them), and outstanding everyday product effectiveness, and overall quality. He wears a few hats (chief designer, fabricator, occasional crew member) and wears them all quite well.

All of this “Banks’ Biggest Hits” collection (and more!) will be on view at one time at the museum during the multi-month exhibition. Some of the engines will be on leave from “active-duty” (examples of the latest Banks engine mods for trucks and motorhomes) and will be rotated out for trade shows. The good news is that they’ll be replaced by other examples of Banks Power, so multiple trips to the NHRA museum should yield different looks at this fascinating motor-lineage.

Of course, there’ll also be complete Banks racing machines (record-setters all including three red Banks Sidewinder pickups built for three distinctly different purposes: Drag Strip, Salt Flats, and Road Racing).

There’ll be an “illustrated” time line tracing the company history back its first 50 years, and memorabilia ranging from trophies to intake manifolds, and from turbochargers to wooden bucks for parts casting. Hundreds of other “trick” parts and pieces that have been part of the long high performance road that Banks’ has been on will be on view as well.

This will be the first time that Banks has ever been so honored by a museum. In Banks’ own words: “We’ve been on hundreds of magazine covers over the years. (Visitors will see a number of blown-up copies at the museum.) But the real thrill is having the NHRA Museum ask us to be on exhibit celebrating our ‘first’ 50 years in the business,” said Banks. I hope that everyone who can, will get by the museum while our show is there, it’s truly one of the best motorsports museums in the country and we just could not be more proud of our participation there.”