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Engine Department
Success in NASCAR ultimately depends upon many things, but none more important than the engines that propel NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars to speeds approaching 200 mph. In 20-plus years of Cup Series competition, Hendrick Motorsports has earned its reputation as NASCAR's premier engine-building operation.
 With a current staff of more than 82 specialists, the Hendrick Engine Program also does extensive developmental work for General Motors while setting the pace in cutting-edge technologies.
 Hendrick builds engines for six Sprint Cup Programs, including four of its own and two external lease programs. Additionally, Hendrick builds engines for Nationwide Series teams. Building more than 700 engines per year requires rock-solid organization and production capabilities.
Shop manager Larry Zentmeyer coordinates and supports the efforts of 10 specialized functional groups including:
- Parts
- CNC
- Engineering
- Machinist
- Fabrication
- Head Shop
- Assembly
- Dyno
- Track Support
- Tear Down
 Every engine is disassembled completely after each time it runs at the racetrack. Following testing and analysis, components either are replaced or reused for the next build-up. Bearings, pistons, rings, valves and springs are replaced every time. Mileage and mean rpm are used to track cycle lives for every component. On average, the engine as a whole will usually run only 15-20 times before being retired.
 Chief engineer Jim Wall, who also has been with Hendrick Motorsports since its inception, oversees all facets of major technological development and design of our engines. Notably, the Hendrick engine program currently uses eight HAAS CNC (Computer Numeric Code) machining centers, two digital coordinate measuring machines, complete Siemens NX solids modeling workstations, and four dynamometer cells which measure over sixty critical engine parameters. These machines provide extremely accurate duplications from prototype design to working parts.
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