Everyone who raced their bikes or quads on the weekend could use some good news, when it comes to actual fuel costs. As we all know, the cost per gallon this week on the local Ohio towns has gone up to $3.99 a gallon. Not too many weeks back the prices were between $3.49 and $3.69 per gallon. The sticker shock of seeing an 11% increase and $3.99 per gallon can sure convince all of us to stay home rather than go riding or racing, so we should take the time to do the real math, and understand that the impact to our weekend activities is not as bad as it appears.
Just picking a typical vehicle used to transport my own bikes to the track, let’s start with a Ford F150. Normally, my truck would get around 12 MPG loaded with a bike and riding gear. Sometimes less if I am hauling more weight or a trailer, sometimes more when I travel light. Let’s say I go to a local track, which for us is about 80 miles from my house:

F150 loaded with bikes: 12 MPG

Fuel cost: $3.69 per gallon

Distance traveled: 80 miles (one way, 160 round trip)
80/12 = 6.67 gallons used x $3.59 (mean average a few weeks ago) = $23.95 (or $47.90 round trip)

80/12 = 6.67 gallons used x $3.99 (today’s price) = $26.61 (or $53.22 round trip)

Net difference: $2.66 (round trip $5.32)

I don’t know about you, but I am not staying home from riding because of $5.32! Sure, we will use slightly more fuel costs in the bikes or quads, it all adds up. But the net cost difference is not as scary as it appears. So everyone, get out and do what you love on the weekend, and do not let the gas prices keep you home until you do the math!

Congress Passes Lead Law Exemption for ATV's & Bikes

After years of hard work by Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and so many others in our industry, Congress has finally passed the lead law exemption for kid-sized ATV's and dirt bikes! The bill now goes up to President Obama to approve. This is a huge win!

Thank you everyone for your work in getting this bill passed through Congress!

Visit Wiseco at the 30th Annual Loretta Lynn's Amateur National!

The peak of amateur racing is coming next week at the Loretta Lynn Amateur National Motocross Championships in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. The event runs August 1-6 at country-star Loretta Lynn's ranch. Stop by the Wiseco booth in the vendor area. We will have our full-line of products on display. We will also have a selection of product and apparel for sale throughout the week.

This iconic race has been going strong for 30 years. Wiseco has proudly been involved with the event since the beginning and continues for the 2011 season. This race has brought up some of the most successful professional riders in the industry. It's always an exciting week! Congratulations to every rider who has won a spot in one of its 33 classes during regional qualifiers! Best of luck during the week!

Kids Just Want to Ride Act

CPSIA ban update! The Consumer Products Saftey Improvement Act will ban off-highway vehicles for kids at the end of 2011. It looks like there may be some momentum gaining on the issue! Let's hope we can get this lifted so kids can ride safely on motorcycles and ATVs. Visit the AMA's website to send a note to your congressman/woman. Check out the latest news at the link below.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Kids-Just-Want-to-Ride-Act-gaining-momentum.html?soid=1101360655061&aid=zHgAM4bNRcA

70 Years- A Legacy of Performance

2011 marks Wiseco's 70th anniversary! In 1941, Clyde Wiseman started making pistons in his garage for some friends and fellow boat racers just outside Cleveland, Ohio. Today, we still make pistons for inboard and outboard marine engines, but Wiseco has so much more to offer today. Wiseco is the leading aftermarket manufacturer of powersports, automotive, and marine pistons. We've also introduced gasket kits, clutch components, valve train components, crankshafts, and connecting rods to compliment our full line of pistons. Champions choose Wiseco.

Wiseco attended the 2010 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, where we rolled out the first signs of our 70th anniversary. It's amazing how far Wiseco has come in the last 70 years to become one of the most technologically advanced companies in the industry. SEMA Show started on Tuesday, November 2 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The crowds were optimistic and interested in finding out abut our new products and what was going on with Wiseco. Even though we've come out with some great new products, including the Nissan SR20 stroker piston kit, 5.0L Mustang, and Pro Tru LS piston kits, everyone still asks about the past. There's no way to count the number of inquiries we had about pistons for the 327, 396, early Hemi's, and early flat heads! The answer? We offer the 327 and 396 as shelf stock product in our Pro Tru sportsman line and have completed many custom pistons for the early Hemi and flat heads as custom product.

Wiseco still has what you need after 70 years. We want to serve you with the latest advancements, as well as provide you with the product to complete your nostalgia rebuild. We have you covered.

P.S. We clicked a few photos of some of the cars at the show. Enjoy!!

Go Pink at the Ironman GNCC Next Weekend! You won't want to miss the last race of the year!

October is breast cancer awareness month. I'm sure you know someone- mother, grandmother, aunt, family friend- who has been affected with this disease. The folks who put on the GNCC series have deemed the last race of the season as a "Pink Race." Everything will be pink- number wrist bands, t-shirts, etc. So everyone attending, get out your pink shirts, coats, hair, face paints, riding gear -- everything to come support this cause! The FAITH Alliance, a breast cancer resource in Montgomery County, IN will be onsite. Check out the link below to find out more about the event.

http://www.gnccracing.com/articles/2574_ironman-gncc-goes-pink

Check out this LS Build!!

Check out this build! It's a 407 cubic inch Chevy LS engine build from the August 2010 issue of Popular Hot Rodding. Nice upgrade for a 2002 C5 Z06 Convertible. Enjoy!

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tech/1008phr_407ci_ls_chevy_engine/index.html

More Wiseco Snow Pistons are Getting the ArmorGlide Treatment!!

October is here and snow is coming! Maybe you've been drag racing on asphalt or grass during the warm months, but who isn't itching to get back on the white stuff? Make sure your engine is ready by refreshing it with a Wiseco piston! We've recently skirt coated 24 additional models with ArmorGlide, including the Arctic Cat ZR800, Polaris 600, Ski Doo MXZ800, and Yamaha Phazer.

You might be asking yourself, what's so great about ArmorGlide? Wiseco developed ArmorGlide skirt coating through development, and benchmarking through its rigorous in-house dyno program. It's not only a high tech lubricant, but also allows the piston to be fitted tighter within the bore than a non-coated piston, reducing piston-to-wall clearance for better ring seal and reduced noise from piston rock. It also lowers friction. What does that mean? Lower friction increases piston efficiency, therefore contributing to increased horsepower. ArmorGlide also stays bonded to the piston for its typical life. It is more than just a break-in coating.

Wiseco went high tech with this skirt coating as well. Unlike spray on coatings, ArmorGlide is applied only where needed. A computer controlled application process applies the coating so there is no inconsistent thickness or overspray. Right down to the tightly controlled process times, ArmorGlide will not compromise the base materials, so you know you are getting a high performance Wiseco piston.

Check out Wiseco's newest project bike- the 2010 CRF250R!

Dirt Bike Magazine did a great article on our newest project bike, a 2010 CRF250R, that included our new R-series piston, complete clutch set up with forged clutch basket, inner hub, and pressure plate, and fuel management controller. Check out the article's link below to find out what they thought!


http://www.wiseco.com/PDFs/MediaSpotlights/Wiseco-CRF250R-Dirt-Bike-Magazine-Review.pdf

More Wiseco Powered Winners!

Wiseco has powered the Big Foot monster truck team for many, many years. Now, our sister company, K1 Technologies, is also giving them power with its connecting rods! The team's newest truck, Major League Baseball, was unveiled during the All-Star Game festivities in Anaheim, CA July 9-13. Be sure to keep an eye out for these monsters during the year!

The guys from MA Performance put some serious power in an EvoM recently. They've reclaimed the highest horsepower stock ECU record! The guys used a set of custom Heavy Duty Wiseco pistons. Great job, guys!


The weekend of July 23-25 was great for Team Hondaworks this year. On Friday the team battled a Porsche 968 all day, sharing the top spot in the class, but came up 0.3 short in the end during the Grassroots Motorsports Ulitmate Track Car Challenge. The team also debuted their second Hondaworks Acura, which was good right out of the box! Don't miss them this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio for the next SCCA World Challenge August 6-8.

A quick congratulations to everyone on our racer support program who has been keeping us updated with results throughout the year. We hope everyone has had a great season!

Check out our updated R&D area!

Here at Wiseco, we are dedicated to staying at the forefront of technology for the industries we serve. Recently we upgraded our R&D facilities to continue improving the way we develop our products.

Wiseco's R&D department has always had two dyno rooms to develop products. During the upgrade, we improved air circulation, fuel/ water delivery systems, and purchased a new console. A third dyno room was added. This room is acoustic rated and includes a new rear wheel dynamometer. This new rear wheel dyno will assist us with developing our line of Fuel Management Controllers. Since the entire bike is on this dyno, our R&D engineers can easily adjust the three fuel zones to make the bike perform at its optimum levels.

Many other improvements were made to the entire R&D area. These include new office furniture, upgraded lighting, painting, and a new epoxy floor treatment. There is now a designated area to store and display our past and current project and R&D vehicles.

That Girl Racing is rocking the NHRA Lucas Oil Series!

Wiseco is involved in many disciplines of racing, including snowmobile drag racing! We power That Girl Racing from Ontario, Canada, a mother and daughter team- Tiina and Kiersten Duncanson. These girls are awesome. They're currently running the NHRA Lucas Oil Series, which is at the Lebanon Valley Dragway in West Lebanon, New York, this weekend- as we speak! So far, they've won 2 Wally's!

I borrowed a photo of their new sled from their Facebook page below. They just got the hood painted and it looks amazing! Check out the That Girl Racing page on Facebook and cheer them on at the next NHRA event.

Here at Wiseco, we work very closely with our sister company K1 Technologies, in Byron Center, Michigan. K1 makes connecting rod sets and crankshafts for the domestic and sport compact automotive and V-Twin markets. The staff at K1 is committed to providing race quality parts at an affordable cost while delivering world-class customer service. In 2008, Wiseco and K1 teamed up to offer rotating combinations for the automotive market.

One of K1 Technologies' newest connecting rod sets is for the LS stroker engine, designed for big cubic inch blower and nitrous applications. Even with standard cam location and base circle cams, engine builders can run up to 4.375” stroke without fear of clearance issues. As a side benefit, notching in the crankcase is minimized, increasing strength and ease of assembly. Need help with strokes larger than 4.375”? K1 can help the engine builder determine the proper base circle and lobe lift required to bolt your engine together.

As will all K1 connecting rods, these 4340 H beams have thick blades for increased strength and double bridged caps for less bore distortion. Along with the industry’s tightest gram weight, dimensional tolerances, and K1’s proprietary ARP 2000 material asymmetrical thread bolts for equal thread loading when stretched, K1 is the right choice. Contact K1's friendly sales associates at 616-583-9700 or visit them on the web at www.k1technologies.com.

Wiseco has quite the line-up of pistons for the LS motor. Most of our LS pistons are in our forged racing line, but we've just introduced a set of LS pistons in our sportsman line, Pro Tru®. Our PT124 series pistons are designed for use with the factory connecting rods, using .943" diameter pins. Our engineers have applied a small .090" dome to bump its compression up slightly from stock. Designed for nitrous use, the pistons feature a .280" top land and 2618 alloy. They are also designed with valve pockets to accommodate the LS1, LS2, LS3, LS6, and any cathedral port aftermarket cylinder heads. Pistons come with ArmorGlide® skirt coating and a skirt shape that has been developed after years of feedback, making these some of the best wearing, quietest forged pistons on the market. Our Pro Tru® piston kits come complete with rings, pins, and clips. The PT124 series pistons yield 10.7:1 to 11.2:1 compression. Find more information on the PT124 series from our sales team at 800-321-1364 or check out our website at www.wiseco.com.

How well do you know "The Wiseco Story"? You might have seen it printed in one of our catalogs or on our website. Wiseco started out in Clyde Wiseman's garage in 1941 because he had a passion for racing boats. He started making his own pistons. His friends and family used the pistons and soon word started getting around about them. Clyde went from his garage to a shop. When he out grew his shop, he moved to Wiseco's current location in Mentor, Ohio.

Though Clyde is no longer with us, the team at Wiseco still feels the same passion. Most of us are former racers and enthusiasts. On any given day you’ll see a lineup of bikes or our favorite warm weather cars in the parking lot. We love the industry and want to see it continue to grow. That’s why we put so much passion into bringing you the best products on the market.

The Wiseco of today boasts over 150,000 square feet of state-of-the-art forging and CNC machining equipment. We are the only U.S. piston manufacturer with our own in-house forging facility. With fully stocked warehouses in Ontario, Canada and the Netherlands, we can service customers world-wide. Supplemented by our coast-to-coast domestic distribution system and international customers in Europe, South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia, you can get Wiseco products almost anywhere in the world!

Wiseco is dedicated to staying abreast of technology in the motorsports world. Our engineers use the latest 3D design and finite element analysis software to ensure every Wiseco design is developed to provide the greatest strength and lightest weight for each application. We’ve recently updated our in-house Dyno facility to continue to bringing you the top products on the market.

Wiseco started out nearly 70 years ago with only pistons. Fast forward to present time and you’ll find Wiseco offers electronics, clutch, valve train, and bottom end components to supplement our wide range of high performance, forged pistons for the Powersports, marine, and automotive markets. Check out our website for more information on each of our product lines. You can also see our products at the events we attend. If you aren’t doing anything this weekend, June 25-27, stop by our booth at the Snowshoe GNCC race in Snowshoe, West Virginia!

It's the first event at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend!!

The first event of the season is at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course. You going to be there for the action?

http://www.midohio.com/Home

They also conduct schools throughout the year!