By Chris Dolack, Post-Gazette Sports Writer In typical crew chief fashion, Henry Dvorchak never sought the limelight. His goal was simple -- make cars run faster, safer and smoother. Dvorchak moved from Hastings, a small town in Cambria County, to Pittsburgh in 1969. He immediately fed his desire for working on cars and engines with a Swissvale-based drag-racing team before switching to a road-racing team. Victory Lane Racing Roundup Brack gets first win in CART NASCAR Q & A Rusty Wallace By the numbers Back in Front Shortly after moving, he developed a reputation at Kenny Ross Chevrolet as a premier Corvette mechanic. When Bob Fryer, driver for the University of Pittsburgh Student Auto Racing Team, sought an instructor and chief mechanic, he was introduced to Dvorchak. "I was a student at the University of Pittsburgh and I was into racing as much as I could afford," Fryer said. "Some of the kids at school started helping me with the car, a Corvette convertible. I remember we had these big plans to race the car, and we went down to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Mansfield, Ohio and we ran one lap and something happened to the car. There was a newspaper reporter with us from the Pitt News, and he wrote an article about all the hours we put in and it only ran one lap. Then 400 people showed up at a meeting and wanted to help." Working with the team at Pitt, Dvorchak developed revolutionary systems in power steering and power braking, key to success on road courses. Dvorchak's success with the Pitt program got the attention of Don Yenko, who owned a Chevrolet dealership in Canonsburg and an SCCA racing team. "As we traveled farther from Pittsburgh and moved up in scale from amateur to professional in the SCCA Trans-Am series and the IMSA series ... people started becoming aware of Dvorchak," Fryer said. "He was picked up by the BFGoodrich Tire Company racing team, they were running in Europe, and then the John Greenwood Corvette racing team out of Michigan." In fact, Dvorchak built such a reputation that Roger Penske took notice. Dvorchak adapted a carburetor system for an AMC Javelin, which legendary Penske driver Mark Donohue was running in SCCA, and put a Chevrolet manifold on an AMC engine, which Donohue raced with in his Matador in NASCAR. Dvorchak, who had settled in Wilkins, was 59 when he passed away last week after a five-year fight with cancer. After competing across the globe since the early '70s, he had returned to his first love -- working on Corvettes at a shop in North Versailles. Speedweek replaced ++ .......and I ask you......... is NUThing Sacred ? ;) Brien. NEW YORK eagle registry #501 eagle kammback registry