Having spent a little time around both Dahlgren and Fox this thread has had
a quirky fascination from the start for me. Ron Shook and I discussed Rich
Fox while driving home from an open road race in Nevada. We had been
fortunate to spend a few hours with him and had enjoyed the visit very much.
Rich, like Dave, operates on his own way of getting from point A to point B.
His approach is to use whatever he finds interesting and worrying it to
death until he has it doing what he wants it to do ... four cylinder
Plymouth heads with dual spark plugs for example. Rich really doesn't have
to justify his approach to anyone because he is the bulk of his pit crew at
any given time.
Dave is the final answer guy who others consult with in a high bucks racing
environment. Most of us wouldn't recognize the equipment he works on
because we only see the cars on the track, at speed. You have to pay $20
and up to get a pit pass to look inside the garage where the equipment he
works on is serviced. He deals with many pit crews and racing teams. Since
he isn't likely to be there when most of those cars are serviced there has
to be a uniformity to the approach he uses.
Other than that, there's a lot of similarities in the two. I just feel
lucky to have been able to meet and chat with both of these guys and pick
their brains when I have a question. The great thing is when they both say
"See you on the salt" it's a promise. I'm lucky that I have some time on
the salt to see these two and many others in action. Having spent my adult
life as a clothing salesman, I'd venture a guess that the collection of
racing tee shirts in Rich's closet would almost be matched by the pit crew
shirts in Dave's ... with his name embroidered on the chest.
Wes
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