Keith Black’s development skills were not only known among racers, they were highly regarded by the Big Three as well. He limited, if you can call it that, his activities to that of an engine manufacturer. We’ve always tried to take the attitude that, if the customer does well, then we do well, so anything we can do, that will enhance his capabilities to do better ultimately we gain from.”Īfter stints with Roland Leong’s Hawaiian Top Fuel dragsters in the late 1960s and the Plymouth Barracuda Funny Car campaigned by “Big John” Mazmanian in the early 1970s, Black abandoned hands-on drag racing. “We provide an ongoing service center for information,” he said of his organization. Many racers can remember long phone conversations with Black, picking his brain for insights, which he readily shared. If what they say makes logical sense, then why not buy?” This information exchange was very much a two-way street. “I accept what people say, if they are the authorities on what they are taking about. Part of what made Keith Black so smart was his ability to take advice from the right people. During the 19 seasons, it won over 250 eliminator rounds and lost fewer than 25! Prudhomme was succinct in his assessment of Black’s abilities: “It was unbelievable how smart Keith Black was.” It took more than a little convincing, but the final result was the famed Greer-Black-Prudhomme Top Fueler. Tommy Greer, a longtime friend, then approached Keith with the idea of running a car together. As his reputation grew, drag racers began to solicit his expertise. By 1961, his boat racing exploits included nearly 50 national and international records. In 1959, he opened Keith Black Racing Engines. My engine business started in my backyard. And then somebody else would say, ‘Well, that ran good, so build me one,’ and someone else would want one, and so on. “I raced boats for a bit myself, then someone said, “Come build an engine for me”, and I built an engine (a flathead Ford) for him. He was a fast learner, setting a world record the second time out on the Salton Sea. I put rings and bearings in it, and when my dad came home, he about croaked when he saw his car al apart in the driveway, and his kid working on it.” His apprenticeship in the world of high performance included stints with Clay Smith, Art Sparks and Cliff Collins.īlack made his name, first in the world of boat racing in the mid- 1940s. When I was about 14,I talked my mother into letting me take the old family car apart. From an early age, he was a hands-on kid: “I always liked to get involved with mechanical things. Born in Huntington Park, California, 1926, Keith Black lived and worked in the Golden State all of his life.
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