JON KAASE RACING ENGINES - Key Persons
The twenty-one-year old is an engine builder trained at the School of Automotive Machinists in Houston, Texas and an adept Sprint car racing driver. He's been active in motor sport since seven years of age. In the southeast racing scene, his résumé as a driver includes winning the Quarter midget championship of 2011. In 2012 he claimed the Rookie-of-the-year title in Mini midgets and again in 2017 Rookie-of-the-year in 360 Sprint cars.
Based in Gainesville, North Hall, Georgia he began competing while in the second grade. He had accompanied a school chum to watch him race in Quarter Midgets at Cumming Fairground, and a week later the Taylor family had acquired the 120cc Honda-powered machine, and their life's ambitions had suddenly changed.
In 2012 Taylor switched to the Mini Sprint class that is powered by the renowned 600cc Yamaha engine, and in 2016 he advanced to 360 Sprint cars.
Chris Howe is a cylinder-head porter born in Long Island, New York. Known as a back-room man, if his work, his personality, and his extensive record of success were more widely known he'd be regarded as one of the most prominent head porters of the past thirty-six years. Fortunately, his aptitude for generating efficient airflow within the racing engine didn't escape the attention of Jon Kaase.
As a twenty-one year old, Howe, who had already migrated to the South, was making an impact with Jim Ruggles' racing outfit in Lithonia, Georgia. Ruggles' V6 Buicks became regular winners in the Busch Grand National series, and as they captured records at virtually every track they raced, the young Howe began to distinguish himself in the battle for airflow supremacy.
More consequentially, he gained valuable experience as dominant V6 power triggered the onset of engine restrictions. The 750cfm carburetor was replaced by a smaller 390cfm unit. Then he played a major role in Kenny Bernstein's Winston Cup restrictor-plate program. Perhaps his most vivid memories from the 1980s revive thoughts of Rich Vogler and the cylinder head developments he pioneered for the extraordinary seven-time USAC National Midget and Sprint Car champion.
Since 1992, Howe has devoted his efforts to Kaase Racing Engines. "Kaase," he says, "identifies the critical components he desires in the induction systems, and I replicate them. It's almost impossible to appreciate the true scale of Jon's accomplishments, and that's probably why I still enjoy the work so much."
Howe is a man of remarkable fortitude, even now as he approaches his sixtieth year his work load is undiminished. There's an old saying about cylinder-head porters: "By the time you get good at it you are too old to do it". How did Chris Howe defeat the odds? He started early!
Though Jon Kaase's technical acumen thrives at the heart of his company, he relies heavily on his Operations Manager, Cliff Moore, who plays a crucial and interlinked part of the Kaase story.
An entrepreneurial type and engine builder with twenty-eight years' tenure at the firm, Moore started college as an engineering student, incorporating CAD design and CNC programming. He also attended the University of Georgia, majoring in business classes.
More than an employee of one of the industry's top players, Moore not only has a firm grasp on race engine development but also has been actively involved in drag racing competition. He has served over twenty years as a professional crew chief, including winning 4 World Championships with 3 different Pro Stock teams, tuning the first Pro Stock cars to run in the 6.50's, 6.40's, 6.30's and the 6.20's and has been nominated and awarded Professional Crew Chief of the Year several times. Today, he remains engaged as a Pro Stock crew chief and also serves as a crew member of an off-shore racing team.
To keep the big wheel spinning, Moore serves as board member at various institutions, including a Florida university as well as with an industrial equipment manufacturing company.
Gifted with a wry sense of humor, Cliff Moore, in times of recreation is an avid Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner.
Chris Thomas won the 2015 Engine Masters Challenge Spec Small-block class with a 400cu in Cleveland. The previous year his 600cu in Boss Hemi scooped the Horsepower and Torque award and in 2013 he contributed much to the performance of Kaase's overall-winning 4-valve Mod motor. "I'm not sure I would have won if Chris hadn't been banging away on the keyboard," admitted Kaase. "I gave him no instructions-he did all of that on his own."
Born in Asheville, NC, Chris Thomas grew up an hour's distance southwest in Franklin, and when 18 he enrolled with the Community College in Hendersonville, NC. He studied automotive technology. While there he was encouraged to participate in the ARCA racing series where he served as a front tire changer. It was during this time that the prospect of a career in motor sports entered his head and settled there.
After graduation he returned to Franklin taking work at a local Chevrolet dealership. But he soon tired of its mundane daily schedule and by 2010 had accumulated sufficient funds to enroll in an18-month session at the School of Automotive Machinists in Houston, Texas. Of the three courses on offer-cylinder block, cylinder head and CNC-machining-he enlisted in the first two.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Society of Automotive Engineers
Doug Schriefer is a tuner and speaker/presenter with a 30-year involvement in motor sport.
A prolific contributor of ideas and technical concepts, Schriefer is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and a multi-time presenter at AETC (Advanced Engineering Technology Conference)
Born in Atlanta and a native of Gwinnett County, Kelly McCollum's passions were stirred while competing in Karting events during his schooldays.
In his early twenties, he was hired by Melling Racing, the Championship-winning NASCAR Winston Cup Series race team. Owned by Harry Melling and making their debut at Daytona 1982, they fielded cars for Bill Elliott, who won the 1985 Southern 500 at Darlington, claiming the first Winston Million bonus. At Talladega Superspeedway in 1987, they recorded the fastest qualifying lap in NASCAR history with a speed of 212.809mph. Melling won 34 NASCAR Winston Cup races and the 1988 Winston Cup championship, entirely with "Awesome Bill'.
Melling, and by association McCollum, also prepared racing engines for King Racing. Under the proprietorship of NHRA drag racing champion Kenny Bernstein, King Racing also fielded entries in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as well as CART and the Indianapolis 500; McCollum's work was affiliated with Brett Bodine's car.
Though his father was a banker, McCollum's allegiance was to race car preparation and to competition engines in particular, beginning his career at Brantley Automotive. At Brantley, he engaged in general repairs and engine work for sand drag racing teams and oval track-both dirt and asphalt cars. Bruce Brantley, ‘the complete racer' was inducted into the region's Hall of Fame. McCollum served Brantleys for around seven years.
Logun Smolik enjoys diversity at Kaase's shop and the pleasingly disparate engine-building prospects that routinely present themselves.
Currently, he's preparing high-performance Nissan GT-R and Porsche engines as well as off-shore powerboat and Pro Stock Mountain Motors.
For Smolik, employment at Kaase's is a hallmark-a stamp of authenticity-and he's gratified to have been recruited by the Winder marque and to be part of the team.
Ron Baker is a leading figure in the construction of 800cu in Mountain Motors.
He has built over 20 of these formidable Hemi Pro Stock race engines from scratch, which culminated in twelve championships in a dozen years. Could any engine-building shop imagine a more exuberant time?
Originating from Westlake Ohio, about 15 miles west of Cleveland, "I started liking cars when I was fourteen when my best friend had a 1947 Plymouth with a Pontiac OHV motor and a Cadillac 3-speed manual transmission. I've been crazy about them ever since."
Ron Baker first met the sixteen-year-old Jon Kaase, also from Westlake in 1968 at Bill Rolf's shop, Westlake Balancing. "Kaase was doing transmissions and I did valve jobs; we were part-time."
Unfailingly good company, Baker is a colorful individual, his assessment of technical matters often reflect his laconic and ironic traits in equal measure. To separate his abiding fondness for racing engines, his weekend passions are stirred by roaming the countryside in his motorhome or motorcycle.