The Engine Builder Hall of Fame is meant to recognize and memorialize the individuals that played a significant role in the development of internal combustion engines for competition. From the origins of hot rodding, to all forms of motorized competition, the Engine Builder Hall of Fame enshrines those who innovated, achieved, and advanced the internal combustion engine in competition.
After talking with Lake Speed Jr. recently, about the hall of fame and it’s purpose, we can tell you that this list of inductees is something truly special. All that will be inducted this year, and into the future, will be special but might not include some famous racers, engine builders, and car owners that you might think of as worthy. But here’s why.
These engine builders were not only instrumental in building big power and being innovators, but also for advancing engine building. These are not the guys who kept their methods a secret, or who never taught anyone else to do what they did. No, these are the guys that made sure there were others to carry on the traditions, who would push themselves and the technology in the future, and who made real differences in the growth of the hobby and motorsports in general.
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Video Description:
Ed Iskenderian is a legend among racers worldwide. While attending Polytechnic High School in Los Angeles, Ed’s pet project was building a Model T Ford roadster. Ed learned the fundamentals of mechanics by working with the Model T Fords and later adapted the overhead conversion by Frontenac (more commonly known as Fronty).
Experiencing repeated crankshaft failure, Ed began searching for an engine with a stronger lower end. He examined the Ford Model A and B and found them to be only slightly stronger than the Model T. Turning his attention toward the later Ford V-8 flathead engine, he found the crank to be much more rugged with larger bearings and a counter balanced crankshaft. He installed special Maxi “F” type cylinder heads (with overhead exhaust valves) and slingshot intake manifold. Ed had the combustion chambers in the heads cast iron filled and he then re-contoured the combustion chambers as advised by his good friend Ed Winfield. The actual compression ratio turned out to be a whopping 13:1, an extremely high ratio for the early days of hot rodding. This was Ed Iskenderian’s first hot rod and it still occupies a corner of his plant today.
After graduating, Ed obtained mechanical experience working as an apprentice tool and die maker. This is where Ed developed the skill and experience of always striving for quality and perfection. His career was interrupted by WWII. Because of his interest in speed, Ed decided to try his hand with an even faster vehicle and enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He served with the Air Transport Command, repeatedly flying supplies to the islands of the Pacific.
After his war time absence, Ed lost no time in getting back to his hot rod and getting it ready for California’s dry lake bed meets. When rebuilding his V-8, he wanted to obtain a special camshaft. However, the boom had hit hot rodding and there was a great deal of business for the few racing camshaft manufacturers on the west coast. Their production schedules were taxed, which resulted in slow delivery. During the five month waiting period for his special camshaft, Ed decided to enter the cam grinding business. He bought a used conventional cylindrical grinder. Drawing on his tool making and mechanical experience, Ed converted it to a universal cam grinding machine. This machine produced camshafts with a noticeable improvement in performance over the conventional racing Ford camshafts. Ed’s cams were the first to produce 1 HP. per Cu. In. on gasoline in postwar OHV V-8 Dodge Hemi’s and 1.3 H.P. per Cu. In. on gasoline in postwar OHV 283 Chevy V-8’s.
Ed saw that racers could benefit from the advancement of higher-technology in racing so he created the first Hard- Face Overlay camshafts in the industry and became the first to employ computers in camshaft design. With the computer, Ed created the most advanced cam-profiles of the late 1950s and early 60s like the famous 5-Cycle and Polydyne Profile 505 Magnum’s along with the very first Hydraulic racing camshafts in the industry. Not stopping here, Ed knew that these new camshafts needed equally technologically advanced components — So, he developed the first High-Density Chilled-Iron lifters for the ever growing Fuel Burning Supercharged Dragster class (now known as Top Fuel Dragsters), the first drop-in self locking roller tappets and the first Anti-Pump-Up hydraulic lifters enabling Hydraulic camshafts to produce higher R.P.M. This created a new challenge. As the new camshafts were delivering greater lifts and durations for higher R.P.M., the resulting higher lift rates required advanced valve spring designs. Recognizing this, Ed then introduced to the racing industry the first Vasco Jet 1000 Valve Springs after having pioneered the first valve spring assemblies for racing a decade before. New Cams and Components were not the only thing Ed brought to the young Drag Racing programs. Under a gentlemen’s agreement, Ed Iskenderian and a young racer from Florida named Don Garlits entered into the first corporate sponsorship of a race operation. During this time Ed was given the nickname of Isky the “Camfather”.
To help fine tune racers’ engines he offered the first “Ultra Rev-Kits” for small block Chevy V-8 roller cams and the first anti-cam walk kit for the Chevy V-8s, along with the first offset cam keys and bushings for adjusting cam timing. In 1963, Ed in collaboration with a few other industry pioneers, created the “Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association”, now known as the “Specialty Equipment Market Association” or “SEMA”. Ed presided as its first president in 1963 and 1964 and led the group through its first crucial years.
One of Eds proudest achievements came in 1985 when he was inducted as a member of Chevrolet’s “Legends of Performance”, an honorary group of “Men whose visions, skill and perseverance have reshaped the automobile into something more than just transportation.
