SAM School: An Inside Peek at What it Takes to be a Machinist

The automotive industry is packed with plenty of talent for all types of industry related positions, but what about those guys that you see on the side of the race track swapping a million dollar engine at record speeds? And how about the ones that get to engineer every cubic inch of a NHRA Pro Stock engine? These are the guys that get paid very well to do what they love in the automotive industry and most of them start at the School of Automotive Machinist.

Most college graduates end up in a career designed to work their way from one end of a business to another. A small desk job to a large office occupation. I know several people “stuck” in this situation. But a select few are privileged enough to attend a college where special talents and interests are required to fill the void in a niche where only the best of the best are chosen, and in the automotive industry, the required talents must be precise and well tuned to out perform the competition, wether on a race team like John Force or on the production floor of a block manufacturer like Dart Machinery. Welcome to the School of Automotive Machinist, a place where only the elite of the automotive industry are produced.

Judson Massingill teaching his class about air fuel mixtures.

The School of Automotive Machinists was founded in 1985 by Linda and Judson Massingill. The School was the concept of Judson who from 1979 to present owns Northwest Engine & Supply. Finding and keeping quality machinists was always a problem. The best employees stayed long enough to learn the business and then left to open their own place. Judson realized there needed to be a place where a machine shop owner could find trained help. To solve this problem, Judson began teaching people the science and skill of machining he had acquired from his involvement in building and testing winning engines for stock car racing, drag racing, offshore powerboats and numerous other motorsports venues. “I’m right where I started, born and raised in Houston, married Linda, my wife of 30 years and my business partner. As a teenager, the two things I wanted most were to go racing and to go to university so I could race better and faster. As fate would have it, these two desires were tied together.” Said Judson, as enthusiastic as he probably was on the first day the school opened. The School of Automotive Machinists was founded to fill a need and a void in the automotive industry.

SAM is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, ACCSCT, which recognizes the school as maintaining a standard of excellence at or above the prescribed national standards for quality education. The students are taught by experienced instructors and are trained on industry standard machines. Today graduates from the School of Automotive Machinists go on to work for race industry leaders like Penske Racing, Warren Johnson Enterprises Inc., Dale Earnhardt Inc., Hendrick Motorsports, John Force Racing, Roush-Yates Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Dart Machinery just to name a few. If you are looking for a career in the racing industry SAM can put you on the fast track to achieving your dreams.

Every student that attends the School of Automotive Machinists, or SAM School, endures a curriculum like nothing you’ve ever seen before from a college. Immediately its apparent that no ordinary college possesses the specialized experience you receive as a student of SAM School in Houston Texas. It’s a specialty school designed to train mechanically minded individuals, young and, lets say mature, to become machinist and venture into a industry with a very high demand for perfection. The Massingill’s entire philosophy for teaching is based off of one thing: winning. “My students want to make it in the world of motor racing; I have to turn out winners, not certificate holders.” Students here must meet a standard much higher than the average college or job position. It requires a finely tuned skill set, acquired by instructors active in the industry, to be competitive in this job market.

SAM School is divided by three courses all of which combine to make a degree in Automotive Machining. Each course has designated class rooms and workshops equipped with industry standard equipment and tools for machining and engine building. During class time, these areas are filled with the sweet sounds of machining as metal is grind, bored, and formed. It’s a completely hands on experience supervised by professionals in the industry.

Cylinder head machining.

The first course is a Automotive Engine/Cylinder Head Machining course. Students learn how to machine cylinder heads from the ground up. It requires tons of math skills to configure the equations in order to design, machine, and fully develop a high performance cylinder head. The theory of operation and the cylinder head role in the engine operation is thoroughly covered.

Boring a block.

Students learn the Air flow characteristics and their effect on performance and longevity in a high performance engine and once through the Automotive Engine/Cylinder Head Machining course, becomes fully qualified as an automotive cylinder head machinist.

The second course is the Block & Head Machining Course. This course educates students on Automotive Engine/Block and Cylinder Machining. Although the actual machining process is the main emphasis of the course, students receive a thorough education on theory of operation of the modem automotive engine along with the role of the cylinder head to the complete assembly. It also includes performance modifications effect on power, longevity, and airflow characteristics. Again, the entire course is hands on. It’s not just reading out of a book. The students are actually required to build and machine these engine components.

The third course is on how to use a CNC Machine for head and blocks along with their components. Students become qualified and capable of understanding and performing machining operations utilizing Computer Numerically Controlled Machining Centers. This is the more high tech course out of them all. Many industry leading companies rely on CNC machine work and it’s often a rare skill. Students fine tune their CNC machining techniques to improve performance of cylinder heads and engine blocks.

Probably the most exciting part about visiting the SAM school is their racing department. Not only do the students learn to build high performance engines and components, they get to RACE THEM! Currently, SAM has four fully capable drag racing vehicles that race in different racing organizations. A select few of students make up the race team for each car, a ’95 Mustang, ’99 Camaro SS, and a ’98 Camaro Z28.

1995 Mustang in NMRA Hot Street.

SAM School built a ’95 Mustang to race in the NMRA’s extremely competitive Hot Street class. In its first year of competition in 2005, the schools official race car became just the third vehicle in Hot Street to run in the 8s and took home wins at St. Louis and Maple Grove. At the inaugural race of 2006 in Bradenton, the Mustang runnered-up after posting the low e.t. and high mph of the weekend. Powering the 3,050-pound Mustang to the front is a 400ci small-block that winds out to 10,000 rpm with the help of Edelbrock Victor aluminum heads and a Super Victor intake. It cranks out 890 hp on the dyno, enough to yield 8.70s at 154 mph at the drag-strip.

To stay at the forefront of late-model technology, the SAM School hugger orange ’99 Camaro was purchased brand new as a school project car. At the time, the LS1 platform was still in its infancy, which presented numerous obstacles along the way. After gathering baseline e.t.’s of 13.30 pure stock, the students and instructors ported the cylinder heads and installed a solid-roller cam, headers, and slicks.

Camaro SS won a record at the LSX Shootout.

The car immediately clicked off 10.90-second passes while retaining the stock short-block. In early 2005, the Camaro became the fastest naturally aspirated LS1-powered vehicle in the country that still relied on a factory block and heads by running 9.17 at 154 mph. Powering the car is a naturally aspirated 427ci small-block fitted with 360-cfm LS6 heads and sheetmetal intake manifold that churned out 845 hp. The car’s outstanding performance has landed several feature stories in Hot Rod, Car Craft, and Chevy High Performance magazine. Currently in the works is a 427ci C5R motor that should propel the Camaro into the 8’s.

The streetable Camaro Z28.

In contrast to most of SAM’s project cars that are suited more for the track than around-town commuting, the school built a ’98 Z28 to highlight true street-driven performance. At the heart of the package is a 375ci LS1 with a sleeved factory block and ported stock heads. To keep it street friendly, the Z28 features a relatively mild solid-roller cam, a tight torque converter, 10.8:1 compression, and a freeway-friendly 4.30:1 ring-and-pinion set. Despite retaining a full interior, its 578hp small-block pushes it to 10.58-second e.t.’s at 127 mph, which was good enough to earn class wins at several NMCA races. To stay on top of the LS1 development, students are building one of the world’s first 500ci Gen III small-blocks. Thanks to a set of ported LS7 heads, projected output is in the 650-700 hp range on pump gas with a very conservative cam.

Another reputable project car that started the legacy of record breaking SAM Project Cars was a ’79 Malibu. Although the SAM Malibu was recently sold, it left quite a mark on the NMCA’s Factory Street class during its glory days of competition. As SAM’s original project car, the Malibu was built to show the world that SAM isn’t just another Vo-Tech school, but one that can compete at the highest levels of heads-up drag racing competition. And it did just that.

SAM School’s first project.

Originally powered by a naturally aspirated 477ci big-block, the Malibu laid down 660 hp and 700-lb/ft of torque at the wheels despite having to run factory Dash-8 cylinder heads on 275 radials as Factory Street rules required. The result was mid-9-second e.t.’s at 140 mph, and a lot of upset opponents at the track. After qualifying First in four consecutive races in 2001, racers protested the Malibu and accused the school of cheating. They thought that there was no possible way a Vo-Tech school could build such a powerful engine combination, but they were wrong. After inspectors tore down the motor, they declared it was 100-percent legit. Before being retired from duty, the Malibu moved up into the Pro Stock class, where it ran 9.0 at 149 mph thanks to a new 514.

The School of Automotive Machinist continues to stand out with it’s high level of education and high performance race cars. My tour of the school will leave a whole new impression of what college can be, not to mention the huge dedication and heart I could sense from the students. It’s not a easy path, but it certainly is the opportunity of a life time for all of the students at SAM School. They all strive to take a position at a high performance engine company, or stand next Warren Johnson in the winner circle.

~ Kevin McIntosh

More info about SAM School: http://www.samracing.com

About the author

Kevin Shaw

Kevin Shaw is a self-proclaimed "muscle car purist," preferring solid-lifter camshafts and mechanical double-pumpers over computer-controlled fuel injection and force-feeding power-adders. If you like dirt-under-your-fingernails tech and real street driven content, this is your guy.
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