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Corey Lind shows his credentials and other mementoes from the speed test at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. |
Sunday, October 21, 2007
By SHAWN HOPKINS - Bulletin Staff Writer
A Patrick Henry Community College student got a chance to be part of history in the making earlier this month, helping in the setting of a land speed record.
Twenty-year-old Corey Lind said he always has been interested in motorsports.
“I love anything with four wheels that goes fast,” he said.
He grew up in Patrick County down the street from the famous Wood Brothers shop and when he was a toddler, his mother would put him down for a nap when the engines were tested in the afternoon. The rumble put him right to sleep, he said.
Lind is studying in PHCC’s motorsports engine program, which uses space at Arrington Manufacturing. When he learned there was space for a student to go along for the record-breaking speed test at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, “of course I jumped on it.”
At the request of Dodge, Lind said, Arrington had built an engine for Russ Wicks’ attempt at breaking his own 222 mile an hour world stock car speed record. Wicks is the only living person to hold more than 200 mph speed records on both land and water, according to Wicks’ Web site.
On Oct. 9, Wicks drove a 2007 Dodge Charger, which Lind described as almost exactly like a NASCAR with a Talladega motor modified with higher gearing, no restrictor plate, a special bumper bar and a parachute for safety, at a Guinness World Book of Records-verified 244.9 miles an hour. It easily shattered his old world record of 222 miles an hour.
Lind went along for the ride with a truck driver who picked up the car from where the body was built in Mooresville, N.C. He then rode to Detroit for wind tunnel tests at the Chrysler Technical Center and finally to the salt flats.
While the test was underway, Lind said, he expected to be essentially a spectator.
“Next thing you know I’m knee deep in salt, scraping salt (from the car),” he said.
Lind said he also got to help with fueling, setting up the parachute and helping Joey Arrington, owner of Arrington Manufacturing, with some tuning and testing tasks.
Though Wicks did not meet his ultimate goal of 250 miles per hour, Lind said it was a rare opportunity to be there when the car screamed across the miles of salt and made speed history.
“It’s unreal; it really is,” said Lind, who still has a cell phone video of the event. In the video, even though it was taken from miles away for safety purposes, one can still get a sense of speed as the car races across the salt flats.
Lind holds associate degrees in science and in motorsports from PHCC and is currently enrolled in the engines program at PHCC, where he learns under retired NASCAR engine-builder Lou LaRosa.
He said his experience at PHCC has been “amazing,” not just working on the engines but also helping build a Late Model Stock car with other students.
Still planning his future, Lind said he would like to work in a racing-related field. He is considering attending the New College Institute to look into its engineering with a motorsports specialization program and obtain a bachelor’s degree, he said.
“I’d love to drive one, too,” he said. |
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