Bruce Crower
His high school mates, and their parents, might best recall Bruce Crower for the 80ci Harley-Davidson that terrorized the streets of Phoenix in the late 40’s, or for the subsequent 1932 highboy that Bruce remembers as the first Arizona car to beat the bikes. Moving to California in 1950, he went to work machining flywheels for Paul Schiefer. Before long, he was moonlighting as a manufacturer of exhaust flanges for Detroit’s new overhead V8s. In 1955, Bruce fabricated one of the first-ever top-mounted GMC blower setups for his Hemi-powered Hudson, which responded by setting a Bonneville record of 157 plus mph. Later that year, Bruce began producing what would prove to be one of the most significant pieces of speed equipment to date; the “U-Fab” manifold kit for Chrysler Hemis. Boosted by Emery Cook’s unprecedented 166.97 mph speed at Lions in early 1957, Crower would sell thousands of these kits through 1961. Simultaneously, he worked behind the scenes at Schneider Cams, developing experimental profiles that other companies refused to grind. In the late 50’s Bruce moved into the clutch business, successfully adapting an Italian design of dual disk and a floater for use on top fuel dragsters. The rapidly expanding Crower Cams and Equipment Company also added its own line of crankshafts, flywheels, fuel injectors, connecting rods, and camshafts. His equipment pushed Don Garlits top fuel dragster over the mystical 250 mph barrier. In the 70’s, Bruce introduced the revolutionary CrowerGlide clutch assembly and a Flat-8 Indycar engine of his own design. Bruce Crower would continue to indulge a lifelong need for speed with an innovative Bonneville steamliner.