Competition Cams, Inc., often styled as COMP Cams, is a specialty performance

automotive aftermarket The automotive aftermarket is the secondary market of the automotive industry, concerned with the manufacturing, remanufacturing, distribution, retailing, and installation of all vehicle parts, chemicals, equipment, and accessories, ''after'' the ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

, and kart parts manufacturer. The company has five US locations including headquarters in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

History

Although founded in 1976, Competition Cams wasn't incorporated until 1977, when it began by selling

valve train A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...

products through satellite distribution stores. The company has acquired manufacturers of transmissions,

electronic fuel injection Manifold injection is a mixture formation system for internal combustion engines with external mixture formation. It is commonly used in engines with spark ignition that use petrol as fuel, such as the Otto engine, and the Wankel engine. In a mani ...

, and

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or nos, is a chemical compound, an oxide of nitrogen with the formula . At room temperature, it is a colourless non-flammable gas, and has a ...

systems through its holding group, COMP Performance Group, consisting of 13 companies. In the late 1980s, the company contributed to the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), and its annual trade show in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Competition Cams was started by John McWhirter, Ivars Smiltniks, Tom Woitesek, and Bob Woodard. Former owners, Ron Coleman and Paul Brothers were inducted into the SEMA Hall of Fame in 2000 and 2005, respectively. In January 2020, Competition Cams was acquired by private equity group Industrial Opportunity Partners.

Industry contributions

COMP Cams created the "Spintron" engine testing system, which uses an

electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...

to drive a dummy engine outfitted with high-speed sensors and cameras to record data about the valvetrain dynamics. The test observes valve-spring seat pressure, coil dynamics,

camshaft A camshaft is a shaft that contains a row of pointed cams, in order to convert rotational motion to reciprocating motion. Camshafts are used in piston engines (to operate the intake and exhaust valves), mechanically controlled ignition systems ...

and pushrod flex, and lifter movement to identify problems in the engine's performance. A partnership between

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard ...

, Okuma, and COMP Cams was established to develop the process for grinding camshafts for NASCAR engines, with an Okuma GC34NH cylindrical grinder; a

CNC Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a ...

grinder. COMP Cams developed the process of ion nitriding for camshafts, or Pro Plasma Nitriding. This is a 36-hour process that uses pulsed nitrogen plasma in a vacuum controlled environment to embed chains of nitrogen ions into the camshaft surface approximately .008” - .010” deep, significantly hardening the surface. COMP Cams also developed a new surface finishing process called Micro Surface Enhancement (MSE). By removing peaks from the

surface finish Surface finish, also known as surface texture or surface topography, is the nature of a surface as defined by the three characteristics of lay, surface roughness, and waviness.. It comprises the small, local deviations of a surface from the perf ...

(speaking in nanoscale terms), it improves

bearing surface A bearing surface in mechanical engineering is the area of contact between two objects. It usually is used in reference to bolted joints and bearings, but can be applied to a wide variety of engineering applications. On a screw the bearing area ...

performance and life span of camshaft lobes and

bearing journal A plain bearing, or more commonly sliding contact bearing and slide bearing (in railroading sometimes called a solid bearing, journal bearing, or friction bearing), is the simplest type of bearing, comprising just a bearing surface and no rolli ...

s. The appearance of this new process is somewhat reminiscent of the development of

superfinishing Superfinishing, also known as micromachining, microfinishing, and short-stroke honing, is a metalworking process that improves surface finish and workpiece geometry. This is achieved by removing just the thin amorphous surface layer left by the la ...

in the 1930s in the respect that a new metalworking process for surface finish improvement was developed in the quest for better shaft life span in automobile engines.

Sponsorship

Competition Cams does not sponsor a

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

team directly, but has access to advertising through a deal with NASCAR where the COMP Cams contingency sticker is placed on every NASCAR race car.

Contingency sponsorship Common in auto racing, contingency sponsorship is a form of sponsorship whereby race teams place company decals on their vehicles in exchange for awards for winning or meeting certain performance goals. These awards can be monetary or can include ...

is a common form of 'after the fact' sponsorship whereby racers place stickers on their vehicles from companies that post monetary awards to racing teams for winning, in exchange for visibility and the right to use images of the driver and their car in promotional literature and advertising. Similarly, COMP Cams also posts contingency awards to

drag racers Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

and various other classes of auto racing.

References

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External links

Competition Cams company website
Auto parts suppliers of the United States Automotive motorsports and performance companies Manufacturing companies based in Memphis, Tennessee Manufacturing companies established in 1976