Internet drives Darrell Cox Racing Team to improved performance with MADI crankshaft.

With the use of machinable austempered ductile iron (MADD, Internet Corp.'s Archer Creek Foundry, Lynchburg, Va., has greatly augmented a professional auto racing team's ability to compete.

This year, the Darrell Cox Racing Team adopted MADI crankshafts cast at Archer Creek and has found great success in their performance. Participating with 1,100hp, four-cylinder Dodge Neons in numerous drag racing events nationwide, the Cox team has used the crankshafts for the entire 2005 racing season with no incident.

"(Cox) told me that in 2003 and 2004, breaking his regular crankshafts was a big problem," said Alan Druschitz, Internet's director of materials research and development. "This has been a tough season due to some other changes that Darrell made to the engine this year. To date, he has blown an engine apart, compressed the piston skirts and a combustion chamber ... but he hasn't broken a MADI crank yet."

Druschitz noted that when the engine blew, Cox simply installed the MADI crankshaft in a new engine.

Internet also has found advantages with its crankshafts, as the firm can cast them via its green sand molding process, have the castings heat treated and then machined on a production line with no changes in tooling, speeds or feeds.

Due to the highly intense conditions the engines experience during a race, the crankshafts must maintain their stability as the cars race up to 200 mph in only 8 sec. Recently, the Cox team won first place at the NHRA Summit Racing Nationals in Las Vegas.

"(Cox) thinks our MADI crankshaft is indestructible," Druschitz said.