Sid Waterman’s Waterman Racing Components (WRC) was, at 
one time, one of the most well known engine and component building  businesses serving the quarter mile sport.  Things have certainly changed since those heady days of the 70s and 80s, but for the cognoscenti, WRC’s involvement in drag racing is actually more impactful now than it was back then.  For example, the vast majority of competitors in Top Fuel and Funny Car utilize the increasingly popular WRC “gold” fuel pumps, pumps which have yet to reach their capacity.

The “real” difference between now and then is that the company founder simply doesn’t have the time to personally attend as many drag races as he once did.  In fact, for years Waterman was a regular color commentator on the PA system during many races, often offering more insightful – and accurate – commentary than that offered by retired drivers who sometimes lacked the ability to 
actually “see” what was going on with the cars.  Waterman never missed a dropped cylinder or a spinning tire, and when he spoke about between rounds tune-up changes he did so with authority.

The only individual or company to have received two Special Recognition Awards as part of the Car Craft Magazine All-Star Drag Racing Team program, Waterman was acknowledged for his development of the supercharger burst panel and his ubiquitous fuel pumps.

While his components continue to have a major impact on the quarter mile sport, these days Waterman’s three locations (northern California, Indianapolis and Charlotte) are working non-stop in supplying key componentry for almost every form of racing in North America.  For example, WRC pumps were on 146 of 150 entries for the infamous Knoxville Nationals.  They’re also seeing heavy use in 
the NASCAR Busch and Craftsman Truck Series.

As an example of the challenges Waterman must address in terms of keeping his business vibrant he reports that professional drag race teams have purchased 80 #12 shut-off valves in the last year or so, a part he designed and built for drag racing.  One NASCAR multi-car team recently placed an order for 240 of them.  Small wonder a guy who loved, and continues to love drag racing, spends most of his time at NASCAR, Champ Car or IRL races.  The latter two 
series, for the record, feature entries totally dedicated to WRC fuel pumps and other components.

Torco’s Competitionplus.com recently caught up with the elusive Waterman, who filled us in on what he’s been doing of late.

COMPPLUS:  Are you doing anything in drag racing these days?

WATERMAN:  Oh, absolutely.  We still have the majority of the cars 
(using our pumps), including eight of the Top 10 fuelers and at least 
half of them in Funny Car.

COMPPLUS:  Are you personally servicing these cars?

WATERMAN:  As far as that’s concerned, my time at the track has been 
extremely limited this year.  Early in the year I had some major surgery (Editor’s note:  Waterman had a kidney removed after a timely examination revealed the existence of an internal tumor in the organ.)  I managed to recover very quickly from that.

I’ve been heavily involved with a NASCAR project we’re involved with on several different levels.

COMPPLUS:  What are you doing specifically with NASCAR?

WATERMAN:  We’ve designed a fuel pump for them.  We’ve moved the pump from the right front corner of the engine to the rear of the car.  Actually, it was approved by NASCAR two years ago, but as with anything new, it took a while for the teams to accept it.  We’ve had (the Tide) car using the pump for the last year with zero problems.  

At the very first race of this year, the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona, young Denny Hamlin, who’s turned out to be quite a rising star, as well as Tony Stewart, who’s also running the pump, finished first and third.  That really started the ball rolling.

We originally ran the pump off the oil pump with a cable going to the back of the car, which really didn’t create too many problems other than the proximity to the headers and the exhaust system because of the heat.  Now NASCAR has mandated a new smaller flywheel because of the same problems we ran into in drag racing years ago.  The big flywheels, with all that weight, began cracking at higher RPMs, and of course those guys are seeing over 9,500 RPMs for 500 miles.  The smaller flywheels mean a smaller bellhousing, so I approached NASCAR with the idea of running the pump with a cable off the camshaft.

Within a three month period we actually had bellhousings on The Car of Tomorrow with the cable running to the back of the car, which is basically the same concept we’ve used in sprint cars for years.

COMPPLUS:  How soon do you think it will be before the majority of 
starters in a Nextel Cup race will be using your pumps.

WATERMAN:  Well, we’ve pretty much been told by Joe Gibbs that all of 
their cars, which means Tony Stewart, Hamlin and J.J Yeley, will be 
running our pumps exclusively on the Car of Tomorrow as well as on 
their standard cars.  Next year there will be 16 races on tracks one 
mile or shorter for the Car of Tomorrow plus the two road courses in 
Sonoma and Watkins Glen.  After that we’ll just have to see.

COMPPLUS:  Do you have anything new in the pipeline specifically for 
drag racing?

WATERMAN:  Well, right now the fuel pumps we have out there have the 
capacity of going up to 114 gallons per minute (GPM), and right now they’re at about 92 GPM, so there’s quite a ways to go.  However, we are seeing some problems developing that are harder to trace, but under deceleration the fuel’s running away from the pumps, and we’re seeing them run dry.  That’s creating some problems.  We’re working on a way to prevent that from happening.

You know, I really enjoyed my time commentating on the drag races, and I miss being at the track, that’s for sure.  I’m going to miss my first Indianapolis ever this year, but it’s my lovely wife’s birthday, and it’s a big one, and since I’ve missed so many of her birthday celebrations because of the Nationals I’m going to stick around home this year.