Mike Coker and son Troy work on golf courses ... - Backed By Bayer

Greens Racer
This superintendent’s weekend hobby really moves him
By Curt Harler
T
roy <strong>Coker</strong> is the fastest superintendent around.
And that means f-a-s-t. Weekends find him
zipping along at 180 mph.
Obviously, he’s not driving a modified
Workman.
<strong>Coker</strong> is the superintendent at Plum Creek Golf Club in
Carmel, Ind., <strong>and</strong> the driver of <strong>Coker</strong> Racing, LLC’s dragster.
The car is a B/Fuel Front Engine Dragster <strong>and</strong> does the
quarter mile in seven seconds, burning a 50/50 mix of nitromethane
<strong>and</strong> methanol.
Most dragsters built after 1972 have the engine placed
behind the driver for safety purposes.“I actually sit with my
legs over the rear end housing. The transmission
is between my legs,” <strong>Coker</strong> says. All
the while, he sees a 1,000-hp engine in his
face.
With current technology <strong>and</strong> safety improvements,
<strong>Coker</strong> notes that racers are
able to bring those pre-’72 days back by
building cars to have a period-correct look,
racing affordably (if there is such a thing) in
what is called Nostalgia Drag Racing.
His father, <strong>Mike</strong> <strong>Coker</strong>, is the crew chief when not <strong>work</strong>ing
his “other job” as mechanic at The Wolf Run Golf Club
in Zionsville, Ind. Dad turns the wrenches on the car.
Their dragster is called The Greenskeeper, <strong>and</strong> is painted
green <strong>and</strong> white. It displays the logos of all of their sponsors
— big names in the business, including Bayer Environmental
Science; some of golfdom’s best-known distributors;
Kenney Outdoor Solutions, the local Toro dealer; a vo-tech
school that teaches welding, HVAC, nursing <strong>and</strong> massage;
<strong>and</strong> local golf courses, including Plum Creek <strong>and</strong> River Glen
Country Club across the way.
“The car fits the golf industry, that’s for sure,”says <strong>Coker</strong>.
What a ride!
The car pulls roughly three 3 Gs at the hit of the throttle <strong>and</strong>
-2 Gs when <strong>Coker</strong> pulls the parachute a few seconds later.
“Words can’t really explain the feeling,” he says. “I guess
you could say it’s like being shot out of a cannon. During
the three minutes it takes to fire the car, do my burn out,
back it up, stage the car at the starting line, make the run
<strong>and</strong> get it slowed back down, the level of concentration is
extremely high.
“I’m definitely not thinking about dollar spot on the No.
12 green or any other golf course issues at that time,”he adds.
The car is built from all aftermarket parts. Performance
manufacturers take GM parts <strong>and</strong> make them stronger <strong>and</strong>
lighter that the original.“But you have to remember those parts
<strong>and</strong> these parts are intended for two
different rea<strong>son</strong>s: everyday driving vs.
hard-core racing,” <strong>Coker</strong> notes.
To save money, accumulate all the
parts, have the chassis built, recruit
sponsors <strong>and</strong> put the finishing
touches on the car took two-<strong>and</strong>-ahalf
years of nights <strong>and</strong> weekends in
the Plum Creek maintenance facility.With
their h<strong>and</strong>s-on experience, <strong>Coker</strong> <strong>and</strong> his father can
probably reassemble the whole car in four hours today.
The engine is a Dart Little “M,” which is copy of the
Chevy 350 block but made tougher with a 377-cu.-in. displacement.
The aluminum cylinder heads feature a special
roller rocker arm system.
The fuel tank holds just three gallons of fuel. Nitro costs
$30 per gallon. The car uses 2 gallons of fuel mixture on one
quarter-mile run.
All those parts <strong>work</strong>ing together make <strong>Coker</strong>’s car go
from a dead stop at the starting line to the finish line at the
end of the quarter mile in 7 seconds, at more than 180 mph.
The car will accelerate from 0 to 100 mph in about 3 seconds.
PHOTO BY CORY JANSSEN
www.bayergolfadvantage.com Golf Advantage 11