In the late 60’s my younger brother, Paul, and I worked together tuning and driving my 1968 American Motors AMX at local drag strips in the area around St. Petersburg, FL. Though no longer actively involved in the sport, I still enjoy watching and following drag racing. You, no doubt, have seen the cars known as dragsters. A top fuel dragster, called that because they run, not on gas, but nitro methane fuel, can traverse a 1\/4 mile distance in less than 4 seconds and attain a speed of 330 miles per hour while doing so. To accomplish this in a race car of 1200 lbs. requires about 6,000 horsepower. What brand of late model engine do you suppose withstands this torture the best. The answer is none of them. No, there is only one engine ever produced that will withstand the pounding that 6,000 horsepower inflicts. That engine, the early Chrysler HEMI, has not been produced since 1956, more than half a century ago! In the 1950’s an American, W. Edwards Deming taught the Japanese his theories on management of quality. By 1980 the Japanese had taken what an American had taught them and used it to produce some of the world’s finest products. Like those early Chrysler HEMI engines, Deming’s methods have stood the test of time and power some of the world’s great companies today. Sometimes we err by looking only at the latest, when the best is right in front of us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the late 60’s my younger brother, Paul, and I worked together tuning and driving my 1968 American Motors AMX at local drag strips in the area around St. Petersburg, FL. Though no longer actively involved in the sport, I … Continue reading