CNCPE clutch customers are finding there way to the winners circle again.  After what seemed like a pretty long winless streak for 2008, CNCPE clutch customers Bobby Lagana Jr and most recent winner Doug Herbert have hopefully broken the drought for 2008.  This was a pretty special win for the SnapOnfranchise.com  Top Fueler at this past weekends NHRA Summit Equipment Nationals in Norwalk , OH .  With Herbert racing with the memory of his boys, Keith Stewart racing with the memory of his Mother who he lost earlier this year and Kevin Poynter who was mourning the loss of his Grandmother who passed away just one day prior to the start of this race, you can say that an emotional win would be an understatement!  Not to mention this was Poynter and Stewart's first win as crew chiefs.  Knowing the two personally, I can say that for those two guys to be able to accomplish that together was a dream come true.  This was a weekend that one can just sum up as perfect!  Poynter and Stewart gave Doug a car that was on a rail and just performed flawless all weekend.  All Doug had to do was point it straight and leave on time!  Well, Doug took it one step further than that by just ripping the throat out of every driver that pulled up next to him.  Herberts first victim was Troy Buff, Followed by David Grubnic, then smashed Hot Rod Fuller with a .037 to a .081 light and for the grand finally Herbert pulled out a science fiction .018 reaction over Brandon Bernstein's .081 to go in for the Kill.  Although Bernstein's time of a 4.61 was a little quicker than Herbert's 4.63, Herbert was so far ahead off the line, that it was not even a drag race at the end.  http://www.nhra.com/2008/events/race12/photos/sunday/Photo16.htm Way to go Doug, Kevin, Keith and the whole Snaponfranchise.com team on a job well done!  Go get 'em on the swing boys!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO OF FINAL ROUND http://www.nhra.com/2008/events/race12/video/index.html

The mood can only be described as somber this Monday morning of June 23.  Drag Racing lost one of its greats this past weekend at the NHRA Lucas Oil Supernationals in Englishtown New Jersey .  Scott Kalitta succumbed to injuries suffered from a high speed violent crash on a qualifying attempt in his DHL Nitro Funny Car.  In a time in all forms of Motorsports when the new drivers are coming straight from high school into professional rides, it seems like the days of hard work and coming up through the ranks is just a thing of the past.  Scott Kalitta is and always will be the true definition of a hard core racer.  In his 20 plus year career, he proved himself to be a winner and a true champion.  As a boy in the mid 80's I can remember watching Scott right there in the thick of things wrenching on his funny car right along side the crew guys.  He truly knew every aspect of the car and that's what in my opinion made him such a great driver in years to come.  Soft spoken in the eyes of the media Scott would never go down in history as the wildest or best interview, but away from all that if you ever had the pleasure of knowing him or talking with him, you would find the thing that made him so great was that he was just another guy doing what he loved, racing.  He comes from one of the greatest names in racing history, father Connie Kalitta and not to mention a hugely successful family business Kalitta Air, yet never used any of that to become the man he became.  Hard work, determination and character are the things that made Scott Kalitta a great man.  He will be truly missed and the sport has truly lost a great one!  We at CNCPE would like to send our thoughts and prayers out to the entire Kalitta family in there time of need.  Please visit this nice tribute clip we found http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PsUwG-eclk

R.I.P.  Scott

You will be missed

CNCPE recently announced that our clutches would now have some presence over in the IHRA with the addition of Bobby Lagana Jr. to our CNCPE clutch family.  We wished them the best of luck and predicted there first win of the year would be right around the corner.  Well...that prediction came to be reality sooner than later at this past weekends IHRA Presidents Cup in Budds Creek Maryland .  Bobby Lagana Jr, tuned by his brother Dominick put there Torco Race Fuels Top Fuel Dragster in the winners circle.  The only thing hotter than the 143 deg race track was the Lagana dynamic duo!  They just crushed the competition on the tricky race track all weekend long and then to top it all off they proved that they are the real deal by taking out defending IHRA champ Bruce Litton in the final round.  We want to send out a huge congratulations to Bobby Jr, Dominick and the entire Torco Race Fuels team on a job well done!  We at CNCPE are so proud that we could be a part of your special day and wish you many more to come!

CNCPE would like to throw out the welcome mat for a great new addition to our family of racing customers.  We welcome Bobby Lagana Jr and his Torco race team as the newest addition to our family and our first car in the IHRA racing series as well.  Bobby and team plan to take the IHRA circuit by storm this year with hopes of bagging several race wins and to cap it all off with the most important trophy in the case, an IHRA world championship!  The team will be using savvy veteran and decorated all star crew chief Lance Larsen to help get them on there feet for the start of the season.  All of us at CNCPE are really excited to bring this team on board and look forward to seeing some great things from them through the course of the year!

Finally!  The 2008 race season is under way!  Could not come to soon for all of us at CNC Performance Engineering.  It has been awhile since our last update, so we will attempt to get you up to speed on what we have been up to and some of the race team changes for 2008, so here we go! We would first like to send our most heartfelt condolences out to Doug, Sonnie and Jessie Herbert.  Doug and Sonnies sons Jon 17 and James 12 were tragically killed in an automobile accident on January 26.  Personally knowing both since they were babies, I can say first hand that Doug and Sonnie could not have raised two more fine boys.  Both of them with there opposite yet awesome personalities were a joy to be around and just great human beings.  There smiling faces will truly be missed.  Our thoughts and prayers also go out to there little sister Jessie.  We hope she can find the strength to cope and heal from the tragic loss of her two older brothers.  We are deeply  saddened by the Herbert's loss and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

CNCPE would like to welcome Knoll Gas racing to its family for 2008.  This is a 2 car Top Fuel Team that based on the amount of talent under one roof, should prove to be a top contender in 2008.  Piloting the flagship car will be 6 time IHRA World Champion and 51 time event winner Clay Millican.  The second car will be piloted by Top Fuel newcomer Jessie Harris.  Turning the knobs for the two cars will be veteran crew chiefs Lance Larsen and Johnny West.  We look forward to seeing some great things come out of this camp for 2008 are happy to have this group become a part of the "Silent CNCPE Clutch Assassins"

Doug Herbert has hired up and coming crew chiefs Kevin Poynter and Keith Stewart to take over tuning duties for 2008 on his Snap on Tools Top Fuel Dragster.  After working with these two guys over the winter, we at CNCPE are 100% confident that Doug will yield the best results of his career with these two standouts at the helm!  These two guys are 110% enthusiasm and talent.  We have designed them a completely new clutch for 2008 that is completely tailored to the way that they like to run the car.  We cant tell you much, all we can say is it goes by the name "Spider Clutch".  Team Snap on will also fly new colors for 2008 with Snap on Franchise.com on board.

JR Todd has filled the seat vacated by Melanie Troxel over at Morgan Lucas Racing for 2008.  JR, the 2006 NHRA rookie of the year took to driving the 8000 horsepower monsters like a fish to water winning 5 races in his young career and running a career best E.T. of 4.47 @ 334 MPH!  JR is sure to be a superstar in the sport and along with the ultra talented Morgan Lucas and standout crew chief Richard Hogan in the camp right next to them, we would sure not bet against this dynamic duo to take home some serious hardware in 2008 with CNCPE clutches in the bell housings!

Coming off a career best season in 2007, Bob Vandergriff Jr. and savvy crew chief Jim Dupuy plan to pick up right where they left off in 2007, but the goal will be to turn those 5 runner up finishes into wins.  Dupuy and team are 100% driven this year to score Vandergriff that ever so elusive first victory as well as Dupuy's first as a crew chief.  With the brand new CNCPE clutches for 2008, we are confident that they will score there first of many this season!  They are also sporting a new look for 2008 and we must say...Randy "Wop" Rousseau of Automotive Remodeling in Grand Bayou, LA made brown look good!!  Awesome paint job Randy!!

We were hoping we could say the monkey was finally off Bob Vandergriff Jr's back after this past weekends NHRA's AAA of Southern CA Nationals, but it was not to be.  Vandergriff's performance was strong all weekend and even posting a career best speed of 333.08mph, but when it comes down to Sunday night at Pomona and an Alan Johnson tuned car is still around, well lets just say you better bring your "A" game.  All Vandergriff could do is watch a spectacular run at night as Tony Schumacher and the Alan Johnson tuned US Army Top Fueler streaked to a race victory, a fourth consecutive championship and a third straight AAA of Southern CA victory as well.  Congrats to the US Army Team.  As for Vandergriff and team, this has been a career best year for everyone on the UPS team!   We want to send out a huge Congratulations to Bob Jr, Jim Dupuy and the entire UPS Racing team.  You guys are the real deal and we wish you all the best for the 2008 season!  We will work extra hard this off season to give you and the rest of our racing family some good stuff in the bellhousing for 08!

Melanie Troxel was in familiar territory this past weekend when she was in yet another final round at the Technicaot shootout in Las Vegas .  This would make it Melanie's fifth final round appearance of the season and second in a row.  She made it to the money round with $100,000 up for grabs.  But unfortunately "Hot Rod" Fuller stopped her hopes of grabbing the big bucks by grabbing a starting line advantage that she could not overcome even with her quicker run of 4.526 to his 4.527.  Congrats to Melanie and crew for there great consistent performance.  This also makes it four final round appearances in a row for CNCPE clutch customers!  We also learned that Melanie will be leaving the Torco team at the end of the season to pursue a Funny Car driving career.  She will be the team car to Mike Ashley.  We wish Melanie the best of luck and who knows....maybe our units will have there first shot in a funny car and maybe Mike Ashleys cars could be the ones!  We would love to take Melanie to some more Winners Circles!

Melanie Troxel made her fourth final round appearance of the 2007 season at her sponsors race, the NHRA Torco Fuels Nationals this past weekend in Richmond , VA.   Melanies car has just been absolutely strong the second half of this season.  She lost to Doug Kalitta in the final round 4.647 at 316.08 mph against Troxel's 4.649 at 316.45 mph. This was a nailbiter from start to finish!  We want to throw out a great job to Melanie, crew chiefs Lance Larson and John Stewart and the entire Torco Crew.  Keep it strong guys!

Bob Vandergriff Jr. made his fourth final round appearance of the 2007 season at this past weekends NHRA O'Reilly Auto Parts Nationals in Dallas , TX .  Vandergriff has been a win waiting to happen all season long.  Jim Dupuy and team have really turned there program around for the 2007 season proving that they are a car to be taken seriously week in and week out.  Unfortunately Vandergriff would have to wait for another weekend as they lost to Championship Chase leader Larry Dixon in the top fuel final.  But all in all the weekend was still a positive as Vandergriff and team moved within 21 points of grabbing that 4th and final spot away from Brandon Bernstein for the Countdown to One which will be locked after next weekends race in Richmond.  We wish Vandergriff and team the best of luck and hope they can grab that fourth spot next weekend!  This also makes it back to back final round appearances for CNCPE Clutch customers!

Melanie Troxel and Doug Herbert made it and all CNCPE final at this weekends NHRA Midsouth Nationals in Memphis, TN.  Doug Herbert, one of the countdown contenders, really needed a strong showing to move him up the ladder to try and get into that all so important top 4  spot before the cut off in two races.  Melanie Troxel just missed the countdown so they are in win mode for the rest of the season.  The two put a beating on each and every one of there competitors with masterful driving jobs on tricky track conditions to set the stage for a barnburner of a final.  The two left together but Herberts Snap on Tools dragster went into a giant wheelstand forcing Herbert to grab the brake and backpedal the car.   Melanies car went right down broadway to give her there teams second win of the season.  Congratulations to Melanie, Lance Larson, John Stewart and the entire Torco team!   Despite the outcome of the final round, Herbert was still able to move from 7th to 5th in the Countdown points and only 43 points out of that 4th place cutoff position.  The final round appearance by these two makes it 11 finals out of 19 races for CNCPE clutch customers.  25% of the Top Fuel field use our clutches and have appeared in over 50% of the final rounds this year!  That is a stat we are very proud of!  Congrats to all of our teams! Lets finish the year strong. 

CNCPE Clutches are in the news again.  In an upcoming marketing campaign launched by GibbsCAM, CNCPE Clutch units and the use of GibbsCAM software to create them will be the featured story.  Our own "Dougzilla" and his Snap On Tools/Racebricks Top Fuel Dragster will burn up the pages as well and even be featured on the highly anticipated quarterly GibbsCAM poster (Click to View Poster)  and direct mailer.  In addition to all of this, we also are proud to say that we made the cover story for the September release of the highly respected Tooling & Production Magazine.  (Click to Read Full Article Provided by T&P Magazine). Working with the quality people at GibbsCAM (Yvonne Anderson, John Callen and Mario Guerrero) who are truly great people, just made this a really special project and something that we are so proud to have our name associated with. (Click Here to Learn More About GibbsCAM)

CNCPE is proud to add a new customer to our family.  A vital and valued supplier to CNCPE has now become a valued customer and addition to our family as well.  Castle Metals who has provided years of quality service and metal products is now letting us provide them with our companies quality machining services.  We are proud to be a part of Castles network of "Added Value" suppliers.  Castle not only provides top quality metal products to many different industries, but they also offer many types of "Added Value" services such as Sawing, Face and Centering, Drilling and many other types of material processing.  We are excited and cant wait to start working with Castle on there up and coming projects!

Doug went into this past weekends NHRA Toyo tires nationals with everything to gain and everything to lose.  This would be the last shot for any teams outside the top 8 in points to get in before the field would get locked and go into a top eight playoff type format.  Herbert was 11th in points going into the race this past weekend and would have a tall order to fill if he had any hopes of grabbing that eighth and final spot.  Not only would all 3 cars ahead of him go no further than the 2nd round, but he would also have to win the entire event.  Well, the 6'4" Dougzilla got it done!  He had the cards fall his way for the other 3 cars losing early and he took care of business on his end just throttling every opponent who pulled up against him in the other lane!  He was first off the line against every opponent and in a race of his own by the time he hit the stripe!  This was Herberts first win in 3 years.  Timing could have not been better for his return to the winners circle.  We are very proud of Doug and his entire team and wish them the best of luck in there championship run! 

The smile on Doug Herberts face and the numbers on his hands says it all!

"Doug Herbert on Wind Tunnel with Dave Despain"

By qualifying for the NHRA Toyo Tires nationals this past weekend,  Driver Bob Vandergriff Jr and Crew Chief Jim Dupuy secured the 6th position in points for the dog fight which is the top eight in points.  Dupuy tuned the UPS digger to a 4.562@ 322 mph which securely put them in the # 8 qualifying position and secured them the 6th position in the championship points.  Vandergriffs weekend came to an end early when JR Todd was able to pull off a "holeshot" win over the UPS Team in the first round of elimination's.  We at CNCPE are proud to have not one, but two cars in the chase for the championship.  We wish Team Vandergriff and Team Herbert the best of luck in there run for the championship!!

This weekends Fram Autolite nationals in Sonoma , CA finished off July in style for CNCPE clutch customers Bob Vandergriff Jr. and Doug Herbert.  Doug Herbert started off the weekend right by putting his Snap On Tools digger on the pole with a quick 4.55 at 315mph.  The time would stand giving Doug His first pole of the year.  Doug would take no prisoners through elimination's on Sunday until being stopped by eventual race winner Ton Schumacher in the Semi finals.  Doug has moved up into 10th place in the points and is only 56 points out of making it into the top 8 for the chase which is locked in 3 more races.  We wish Doug the best of luck and know he is peaking at the right time to get his team in the chase!

CNCPE Adds New Customer

CAD/CAM
Lifesaver

How a User-friendly
CAD/CAM Software System
Saved a Company's Life.
by C. H. Bush


Most job shops are managed by people who have a fair number of years of machining experience under their belts. They at least are able to perform such essential tasks as setting up and operating their machines, estimating and quoting on new jobs, and how to write programs to operate their equipment.

In March of 2002 Chris Nachtmann, age 29, knew none of those things, and yet, with the sudden passing of Larry Nachtmann, his father, he was plunged headlong into the problems of keeping alive CNC Production Machine, Inc., a going Porterville, CA business with 5 shop employees and a number of steady customers.