Dear Customers,

Hurricane Isabel has come and gone from Maryland. She left much devastation around here but we were most fortunate. Our damage was confined to twigs and leaves blown down in our back yard and an old cedar tree down at the shop. The area suffered many downed trees and pretty extensive flooding in low lying areas. Our home phone was out for a week but it was due to squirrels gnawing through the cable coming into the house.

We have resumed normal Friday hours. 

Last week I met the surgeon that will do my heart valve replacement. We will do it October 9th. Recovery time is six weeks although he said I might be back in the office in 3 to 4 weeks as long as I stick to desk and phone work.

          I will be going into the hospital Oct 8^th for tests and the surgery will be done the morning of Oct 9^th. I will probably get to come home by the 19^th. I hope to be back at the shop by the 27^th. Energy permitting, I may do some limited phone work from home before that. I hope to get a few new lobe designs done during this time. Anyone needing my assistance can get it via e-mail probably right after I get home. Don’t expect an immediate reply but it will be sometime the same day or the next.

If you need to order a cam and know which lobes you need and the lobe separation, then Harriett and Clarence will be able to help you. Be sure to give them the duration and lift for both the intake and exhaust lobes as well as the series. The series designation only denotes the intake lobe series. The exhaust may or may not be the same series. I hope to be available for limited technical assistance about the 20^th of October. Hopefully this will not inconvenience our customers to any great extent. If you will need tech assistance soon, get it by the 7^th.

Winners;

          We have had quite a few shops tell us of winners and track champions. However they did not get the details to me in time for this newsletter.

Congratulations to Billy the Kid at Performance Engines in Torrington, CT. Their engines powered Ed Dachenhausen to the B-Modified track championship at Chemung Speedrome in Chemung, NY as well as the NASCAR Regional Championship in the Northeast Region. In 19 starts Ed had 13 wins and 18 top five finishes. Wow!!         

          Hollywood Machine of Richmond, VA powered Steve Zuskin to the Track Championship in the #71 limited Late Model Class at South Hampton Speedway in Capron, VA.

          On the Drag racing front, Mike Sparacino picked up 3^rd place in the Heavy Eliminator class points race at US-13 Dragway in Delmar, DE.

          Mike Latham in the #78 Super Street Stock has 4 wins at Potomac Speedway in Budd’s Creek, MD. He is currently 4^th in points.

          Price increases

          We have had some very significant price increases over past several months. We were able to get enough stock in house to delay a price increase until near the end of the year. The increase in flat tappet cam prices will be a very modest 5% or so. The roller cams are a different matter. Expect about a 10% increase in prices on about everything and some of the oddball combinations like 55 mm bearings and 4/7 firing swap may be even more. We hate to see this happen but it is a hard fact of life. We hope you all have had enough success with our cams that the price increase will not matter. Our profit margin, in some cases, is reduced even with increase. We don’t expect a significant increase in the parts prices.

          We are going to discontinue mailing our newsletter. We will e-mail it to anyone interested in receiving it. It seems to hold up the mailing of statements and that is a bad thing. Please send your e-mail address to charles@camcraftcams.com if you would like to receive it. I will try to do something monthly but no guarantees.

          As my day for surgery draws nearer I get just a little more concerned. I know my care at Peninsula Regional Medical center will be of the highest caliber. My Mother has checked it and Dr Todd out and she says they are both superb. What more can I ask for. They passed the Mom test!  I will be in great hands. Please keep me in your prayers.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Yours truly,

Charles, Harriett, Clarence and Chuck