What do think about Toyota’s involvement in racing, more from an engineering standpoint than if it’s good for the sport?
BM: I think it’s good for racing in general, but from an engineering standpoint, we need to analyze that part of it for a minute. Bill Davis Race Cars is a factory sponsored Dodge team and Toyota comes into Bill Davis with a truck team. Next thing you know, Dodge has banned Davis from any factory information because Toyota now has an engine that coincidentally looks exactly like the Dodge. Chrysler sues them and wins. I’d say they got quite a deal. A whole engine program developed for the price of the lawsuit settlement. Have you looked at a Toyota and a Dodge Cup engine? They sure look the same. I don’t have any allegiance to Chrysler but that’s probably the only clean-sheet race engine out there. And they got that deal ripped right off.
What else about Toyota?
BM: The fact that Toyota is in racing is good. I think the whole NASCAR business is good for our industry. Hot rods are on television
MC: The only things we don’t get about those cars are their ancient, heavy suspension and lack of electronic controls in the PC Age.
BM: I agree with that, except that if you let them advance, the cars would be going 300 mile per hour. They make them keep a carburetor, you put fuel injection on there with all the computers and pretty soon you got a Formula 1 car. I think in general the whole NASCAR thing has made everyone’s performance visible. You could probably ask your next door neighbor who Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart is and they would know.
ADVERTISEMENT
What do you do when you don’t work, Bill?
BM: I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Between airplanes, race cars, I started playing golf last year and I’m kind of addicted to that, I got these RC nitro cars that I run with my grandkids. I’ve concluded that I have too many hobbies and that I probably shouldn’t work anymore. I have more things that I want to do out of work than in. I’m imagining a winter house in Florida so I can stay warm all the time. I gotta own something there by next winter. Tony Bartone lives over in Delray and he’s trying to talk me into coming down there.
What’s next for World?
BM: What thrills me the most is that of all the things we’ve done, this thing is becoming more and more fun because we’re now in a position to make parts. We have a pretty first class engine shop here. There are Chevys, Fords, big-blocks, little-blocks all over the place. As a kid I used to build models. I walk out there and now and here are the ultimate models and the cool part about all those Chevys and Ford is that there’s not part on ‘em that’s made by Chevy or Ford. We made ‘em all. And now Mopar is now my best friend. They just purchased the tooling for my cast iron block, so we’re making Hemis now and have become the official vendor and we’ll supply them with all the Hemis from now on.
Thanks for letting us in the back room for a few minutes, Bill.
BM: It’s about the ways things have worked out. I’ve been a Chevy fan all my life and here we are making parts for Chrysler and who ever thought we’d go from buying stuff at a dealership and then wind up making our own parts. I’m sitting on an aluminum block in my office here. It was built for Ernie Elliott. You know, you get obsessed with things and then you get out of control.
