Virtually every type of EMP Stewart Components water pump visited Victory Lane this season, whether it was bolted on to a stock car, dragster, sports car or off-road vehicle.

New products, like the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump, dominated the final half of the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season while old favorites like the EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump captured multiple drag racing titles.

Throw in a championship in the highest form of sports car racing in the United States – the Grand American Rolex Daytona Prototype division - and you have the best season in the history of EMP Stewart Components.

“We’ve had an incredible year, both on the racetrack and also from a sales standpoint,” stated Jeff Canull, General Manager of EMP Stewart Components. “We’ve always had great results, but this year, our racing performance heritage really showed itself. It’s been a fantastic year for EMP Stewart Components on all fronts.”

Here’s a look back at the EMP Stewart Components racing fortunes in 2005.

NASCAR -

When it comes to American motorsports, NASCAR events produce the highest level of competition and fan interest. In 2005, EMP Stewart Components emerged as the top player in NASCAR engine cooling with the introduction of the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump (pictured right).

Developed in conjunction with Robert Yates Racing Engines, the premiere engine Ford engine builder in NASCAR, the new EMP Stewart Components offering was years in the making according to EMP Stewart Components engineer Nick Pipkorn.

“This pump didn’t happen overnight,” said Pipkorn. “We actually started working on this with the Yates/Roush people in 2002 when they sent us a test engine, two water pump configurations and three radiators. Initially, they sent us the stuff to do a systems analysis. They wanted us to find a baseline and let them know where they were at.”

Ready for competition in May of this season, it didn’t take long to find out where the new EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump was at on the racetrack as Kurt Busch won the four-hour plus Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono in early June.

From there, the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump eight victories in the final 17 Cup events of the year as Busch, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle (left) and Mark Martin all notch NASCAR Nextel Cup wins.

The new EMP Stewart Components product also scored 40 Top-5 finishes in the final 17 races of 2005 including a sweep of the first four spots in the season-ending event at Homestead Miami Speedway.

In 2006, the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump is expected to be on all the engines the Yates organization produces for the NASCAR Cup, Busch and Truck Series teams it supports.

The new Ford Pro Series pump, which can be upfitted for drag racing or other high performance and street applications, is also expected to gain widespread acceptance in those areas as well next season as word of the product’s performance parameters and reliability spreads.

“We designed the Ford Pro Series Water Pump to fit the Yates belt drive system, but you can install this pump on any small block Windsor V-8 engine with the use of spacers and the factory timing cover,” said Canull. “We can see this pump having a lot of success in all forms of motorsports – not just NASCAR - in 2006.”

While the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump was grabbing the lion’s share of headlines throughout the final half of the 2005 NASCAR season, the tried and true EMP Stewart Components/MERE Dodge Pro Series Water Pump also saw more than its share of success this season.

Introduced in 2003, the EMP Stewart Components/MERE Dodge Pro Series Water Pump utilizes the same twin volute, cartridge style design as both the EMP Stewart Components Ford and GM Pro Series Water Pumps.

This year, Ryan Newman’s Penske Jasper Racing engine powered its way to a Nextel Cup high eight pole positions thanks in part to the EMP Stewart Components/MERE Dodge Pro Series Water Pump. Newman also won a Nextel Cup event at Loudon, NH and both he and his Penske South Racing teammate – Rusty Wallace – made the final 10 in the Nextel Cup “Chase for the Championship.”

In all, EMP Stewart Components Water Pumps cooled seven of the 10 cars in this year’s “Chase”.

Not to be outdone, the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump also had its share of success in NASCAR this season. Joe Nemechek put his Carl Wegner powered, GM Pro Series Water Pump cooled Chevy on the pole position for the NASCAR Busch Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway (pictured left).

Meanwhile, Wegner provided engines using the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump to Green Light Racing during the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season. The team’s top finish was a fifth by Rich Bickle in May at Mansfield (OH) Speedway.

By the end of the year, the Richard Childress Racing cars of Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Dave Blaney were bolting the GM Pro Series pump on to their Nextel Cup cars with each driver scoring Top-10 finishes prior to the end of the 2005 campaign.

Look for RCR to use the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump on their Nextel Cup and Busch Series entries full-time in 2006.

Sports Car Racing –

While the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump is just starting to make an impression in the NASCAR ranks, the product proved to be bullet-proof in boosting Max Angelelli and Wayne Taylor to the 2005 Grand American Rolex Daytona Prototype Sports Car championship.

Powered by a CRD Pontiac racing engine, the team got the season off on the right foot winning overall title in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway in February.

“We’ve won in the GT class before, but this was the first time we’ve been a part of an overall win,” said Bob Cronin, president of CRD. “As far as road racing in the United States is concerned, winning the Rolex 24 hour race is like winning the Daytona 500 or the Indianapolis 500. That’s as big as it can get in American road racing. To win a class is something special in itself, but to win the overall is fantastic.”

Angelelli and Taylor would finished the season winning a division-high five races and captured the Daytona Prototype championship by 34 points (439-405) over Luis Diaz and Scott Pruett.

In addition to the Rolex 24 win, the pair also won races at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park and both the CompUSA 200 and Crown Royal 250 at Watkins Glen International.

Even more impressive may be the fact that team completed every lap contested in 2005, a testament to Cronin’s CRD engine and the reliability of the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump (pictured right).

Meanwhile, EMP Stewart Components also broke into the Import sports car racing ranks this season with the installation of the Advanced Electronic Cooling System – AECS – on the SPEED World Challenge BMW entry of Billy Revis.

“The EMP Stewart Components AECS control valve is a less restrictive means of controlling engine temperature,” stated Pipkorn. “It controls engine temperature to a much tighter temperature band to just plus or minus two degrees Celsius. That’s very controlled compared to some pretty big temperature swings – as much as 10 to 15 degrees - that you can get with a conventional thermostat.

“The AECS gives you better water flow than a conventional thermostat because it is less restrictive,” Pipkorn continued. “It increases the cooling capacity and also gives you better thermal response than a typical wax thermostat with a very slow time constant. The AECS is immediate - it moves right away so the temperature stays consistent. It keeps your engine at a specific temperature so you don’t have wide temperature shifts which aren’t good for any engine.”

Revis used the new product without failure under some of the toughest racing conditions available. At season’s end, the North Carolina driver was looking forward to installing another new EMP Stewart Components product – the BMW High Performance Water Pump – on his 1999 BMW E-46 racer.

According to Canull, the new pump will have plenty of performance advantages as well as multiple daily driving applications.

“Initial testing shows the new EMP Stewart Components BMW Performance Water Pump (pictued left) is a significant improvement providing at least a 15 percent increase in flow stock water pump and is twice as efficient as the factory BMW water pump,” stated Canull. “It features a stainless steel impeller and there is much less parasitic drag than other pumps we tested it against.

“We’re looking forward to having this pump on Billy’s racecar next season and in a lot of other BMW’s by the end of the year because it will fit a number of different 1991-2005 BMW engines including the M50, M52, M54, S50 and S52 six cylinder engines,” Canull added. “That also means it will fit the BMW 320-i, 325-i, 328-i and 330-i. That’s a big range or engines and a big market for this new product.”

Drag Racing –

EMP Stewart Components continued to be a major player in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and NOPI Drag Racing Association (NDRA) ranks in 2005.

The EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump is a favorite with drag racers because many advantages according to 2005 NDRA Xbox Pro Cup champion Ara Arslanian (pictured left).

“We actually use the EMP Stewart Components Electric Pump for the engine and another hooked up in line for the intercooler for the turbocharger,” said Arslanian, who pilots a Toyota Solara powered by a 1,700 horsepower-plus Toyota 2JZ twin turbocharged engine. “We have an EMP Stewart Components Electric Pump in line to push ice water through the intercooler unit so we have cold, charged air going into the engine and basically the same pump mounted into the radiator – the EMP Stewart Components Integrated Cooling Unit – to cool down the engine.

“That pump and radiator combination works so well that we don’t even need a fan," Arslanian continued. "We have the fan set to kick in after the race is done. The advantage is that we don’t use any voltage with that system to run the fan. That allows us to maintain voltage to run other systems such as the fuel pump. The more electrical stuff you don’t have to use, the better. That’s additional horsepower we can use at the wheels, not under the hood.”

Arslanian won his third-straight NDRA Xbox Pro Cup championship this season using the EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump. Matt Scranton was third in the final standings while Brad Personett was fifth. Both drivers also campaigned cars using the EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump in 2005.

Meanwhile, Krysto Efantis piloted his 1997 Toyota Supra to a championship in the NDRA B.F. Goodrich Tires Pro Street class this season. Efantis, and division runner-up Gary White, employed the EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump this season.

The NHRA Pro Stock division also saw several top competitors push their EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump cooled dragsters to wins in 2005.

Warren Johnson, Kurt Johnson and Jeg Coughlin all visited Victory Lane in NHRA Pro Stock competition this season while several others, including Mark Pawuk, Erica Enders, Larry Morgan and Jim Yates also campaigned the EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump in NHRA’s ‘Factory Hot Rod’ division in 2006.

Personett, Scranton, Arslanian and Stephan Papadakis also won NHRA Xplod Compact Racing Series events this season with Personett taking the division title and the other three finishing in the Top-5 in the final division point standings.

Those drivers, along with countless other drag racers who use EMP Stewart Components products in weekly drag racing competition, also got a look at the future this season when Arslanian introduced the first-ever Pro Extreme Import Dragster.

The rear engine dragster (pictured left) features a Toyota 2JZ six-cylinder twin turbo engine cooled by an EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump packaged in a 262-inch wheelbase Top Alcohol-based rail chassis.

The car is the next wave of Import drag racing according to Arslanian.

“This car is the next generation of dragster,” Arslanian stated. “It wasn’t a matter of if it would happen as much as it was when. This is a natural evolution in finding more speed out of Import engines we run. We took what we’ve learned and all the experience we’ve gained over the years in Sport Compact drag racing and put it into this car. This car is the next level, a big leap forward.”

Look for EMP Stewart Components to again be a major player when the 2006 drag racing season stages at the starting line next February.

Off-Road Racing –

EMP Stewart Components continued to support Championship Off Road Racing (CORR) competitor Rod Wells in 2005.

Wells (left) and his 2004 Chevy Silverado posted their best season ever in the CORR Sport Truck Division finishing sixth in the final season standings. Wells scored one win and 10 Top-10 finishes in 12 events in 2005.

Wells’ truck was powered by a B&B Racing Engine and cooled by an EMP Stewart Components Stage 4 Water Pump.

“Our radiators are mounted up in the front of these trucks and we have to block them off because of all the dirt and debris flying around during a race,” said Wells. “It’s a fine line to try to find more horsepower while keeping the engine cool. Running an EMP Stewart Components water pump, we haven’t had any problems in the past building more horsepower while keeping the engine cool.”

Wells will return to CORR Sport Truck action in 2006 beginning at the first event in May at Chula, Vista, CA.

Short Track Oval Racing – Countless drivers use EMP Stewart Components on the more than 900 dirt and asphalt tracks on a weekly basis. Two of those drivers – Mike Gardner and Tracy Gienger – posted solid seasons wheeling their EMP Stewart Components racers to top finishes throughout the 2005 campaign.

Gardner (riight), competing on a weekly basis at the ultra-tough Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna, WI, carved out one of his best seasons ever finishing fourth in the Super Late Model division.

Gardner, who is also sponsored by EMP OilMate, utilized an EMP Stewart Components Stage 4 Water Pump in his stock car this season.

Meanwhile, Gienger piloted his International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) stock car in 23 events at three different tracks in 2006.

Competing primarily at Marshalltown (IA) Speedway, Gienger and his 1987 Buick Regal IMCA stocker (pictured right) captured one feature and six preliminary events this season. Gienger, who uses an EMP Stewart Components Stage 4 Water Pump, also had nine Top-5 and 15 Top-10 main event finishes in 2005.

“The Stage 3 pump would be perfect for this kind of car, but I run the Stage 4 because these cars are so horsepower limited, especially with the carburetor we run,” said Gienger. “Instead of taking a Stage 3 and turning it 1:1, I can run a Stage 4 and turn it less than 1:1. It cools just as good and it gives me 2-3 horsepower over everybody else’s water pump. That’s horsepower I don’t have to make with the motor.”

Gienger will return to IMCA stock car action in 2006 beginning in April.

Gearing Up For 2006 -

With results like these, it’s easy to see why EMP Stewart Components is already looking forward to the start of the 2006 racing season.

“We’ve been able to partner with great engine builders like Robert Yates, Bob Cronin (pictured right), Carl Wegner and Mike Ege to develop the highest quality performance EMP Stewart Components Water Pumps possible,” said Canull. “We’ve also been able to work with a lot of great drivers who are capable of getting the most of our products on the racetrack.

“In 2005, that performance earned EMP Stewart Components wins and championships in everything from the highest forms of American auto racing to the weekly short tracks," Canull concluded. "It has also translated into new products that have daily driving applications. Products like the EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series and the BMW High Performance Water Pumps are going to have a big impact on their specific racing and aftermarket replacement categories. If our 2005 results are any indication, 2006 should be an even bigger year for EMP Stewart Components, both on and off the track.”