Drag Racing Professor

[89five.o]

I took this professor while getting my B.S. and was wondering if he sounded familiar to any of you. He had some great stories about revolutionizing the race fuel industry,drag racing,consulting for drag racing etc. He was a pretty cool guy at the NMSU campus with his own engine dyno off in the boonies. He also drove a Blue Viper GTS. I was also wondering if any of you have any of the Hot Rod Magazines he was featured in.

Here's a few stats:



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Professional Experience

* Fall 1982 - Present, College Professor, part time, New Mexico State University
* 1968 - 1980 Professor, Chemistry, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. (Tenured)
* 1960 - 1968 Assistant Professor, Chemistry, New Mexico State University, (Tenured)

Consulting Activities

* 1964 - 1970 NASA
* 1960 - 1980 National Hot Rod Association

Recent Publications

* John Tanka, R. Dean Hill, Joseph Shook, and John C. Douglass, "Study of Alkaline Earth Sulfides Prepared from Liquid Ammonia", J. Inorg. Chem., 12, 3456 (1975)
* Dean Hill and Craig Hane, "Pocket Dyno", H & H Press, Terre Haute, Indiana (1974)
* Dean Hill, "Rear Ends", Hot Rod Magazine, 25, 126 (1972)
* Dean Hill, "Bearings", Hot Rod Magazine, 25, 114 (1972)
* Dean Hill, "Piston Rings", Hot Rod Magazine, 25, 46 (1972)
* Dean Hill, "Pollution and The No-Lead Myth", Hot Rod Magazine, 24, 120 (1971)
* R. Dean Hill, "Introduction to Experimental Chemistry", Rose-Hulman Press, Terre Haute, Indiana (1971)
* Glenn Baca and R. Dean Hill, "A Modified Moving Boundary Method for Determining Transference Numbers", J. Chem. Educ. 47, 235 (1970)
* Dean Hill, "The Mixer", Hot Rod Magazine, 22, 40 (1969)
* Gerhard Binsch, Ilana Tamier, and R. Dean Hill, "Double Bond Fixation in Conjugated pi-Electron Systems IV scf Formalism and Application to Alternate Hydrocarbons", J. Am. Chem. Soc., 91, 2446 (1969)
* Dean Hill, "High Performance Fuels", Hot Rod Magazine 14, 38 (1961)
* M.H. Macdonald and R. Dean Hill, "Products of Electrolysis of Sodium Amide-Potassium Amide Eutectic Mixture", J. Inorg. Nucl. Chem. 15, 105 (1960)

Scientific Societies

* Sigma Xi Fellow

Honors and Awards

* Outstanding Teacher Award, R-H Institute of Technology

[89five.o]

Found some neat articles and interviews.

DR. DEAN HILL
New Mexico State University
Dr. Hill is a professor of mechanical engineering at New Mexico State University (www.nmsu.edu) and was the principal fuel consultant to NHRA for 25 years. He has published many magazine tech articles and SAE papers on fuels, and he consults directly for many race teams. He also builds and races his own drag cars in Stock and Injected Fuel classes. His broad knowledge of fuel chemistry provided the basis for his AETC discussion, and the attendees learned plenty about gasoline, from its chemical structure to its burn rates. There's much to gain from ingesting this vast amount of information, and Dean's easygoing nature helped make a complex subject much more fun to comprehend. Gasoline is, in chemical terms, a paraffin hydrocarbon. The other members of this "family" should be familiar to PHR readers, and you'll soon see a direct relationship amongst many of our favorite fuels.

Depending on the structure of the carbon atoms, different types of fuel are produced. The more carbon atoms there are connected in the molecular chain, the more time it takes for all of these bonds to break during combustion. For example, the fuels with less carbon bonds, like ethane (two carbon atoms), propane (three carbon atoms), butane (four carbon atoms), pentane (five), hexane (six), heptane (seven), and octane (eight) are easy enough to understand and figure out. Hey, we said octane! Now there's a word we know and can relate to. While different octane numbers are assigned to various grades of gasoline, we can now relate to the ratings with a bit more authority. As we add more carbon atoms, fuel burn rates keep slowing down. After the octanes, we move into diesel fuels like nonane and hexadecane, which contain much longer carbon strings and take much longer to burn.

While it may foster flashbacks to the hell of high school chemistry for some, we hope others can better understand what Dr. Hill was trying to do. By educating enthusiasts on the building blocks of gasoline, we'd be better able to understand a most-basic element of what motivates us; liquid gasoline! Dean also answered one of our lingering questions: What is the octane of nitromethane? The answer was as intriguing as the question. While nitro may only have an octane rating of 75 or so, it does not burn. It explodes, and therein lies the key to its mystery. By not burning and rather exploding at a violent rate, nitro sidesteps the smooth combustion issues street enthusiasts wrestle with, and this explains why it performs like it does.

Dean also told us about a lead-based ultra-killer fuel we'd never heard of before: triptane. This represents the best gasoline possible, with a performance octane rating of 150 and the ability to support supercharged engines with 16:1 static compression ratios without detonation. Used as a performance booster to assist fully-loaded WWII American bombers on takeoff, this amazing fuel contains 6 ml of tetra-ethyl lead per-gallon, and cost $5,000 a drum in the '40s. While it's illegal to manufacture now, it was really cool to see how good gasoline could be if refined to its ultimate potential.

================================================== ========
Dr. Dean Hill, New Mexico State University

Motorsport Industry Association
...
Dean Hill, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, New Mexico State University

Topic -"Fuel, Fuel, and More Fuel"
...
Dr. Dean Hill is an enthusiastic speaker and his love of the subject material and consideration for his audience is immediately apparent.Dr. Hill has presented at many AETC events in the past and has always captivated the audience with his endless wit and wisdom.

Dean Hill decided while in a foxhole during the Korean Conflict, that he would rather do something else and after his release from military service earned his B.Sc. in Chemistry at the University of Utah (1957).He loved to ski and race, so Utah was a great choice for keeping up with local drag racing and Bonneville as well.

Dr. Dean HillDr. Hill's Masters Degree was conferred by NMSU in 1959 and his Ph. D. was earned at Michigan State University (1962).While teaching Chemistry at NMSU (1960 , 1968) Dr. Hill built and raced an injected fuel dragster, "Dr.Dean's Hydrazine Machine" whenever time allowed.During that same time frame, he greatly influenced many of his students to be involved in various research and motorsports activities.During the same time frame Dr. Dean was heavily involved in consulting with both NASA (1964-1970) and the National Hot Rod Association (1960-1980).Dr. Hill also taught classes at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (1968-1980) before returning to New Mexico State University in 1982.

Dr. Dean Hill, Ph.D., has been the recipient of many awards recognizing his dedication and contributions.Among these awards are his Outstanding Teacher Award (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology) and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Advanced Engine Technology Conference.

Over the years, Dr. Dean has helped countless engineering and chemistry students become hot rodders and gearheads and many gearheads to become engineers and scientists.

At this AETC, Dr. Hill (becomes Dr. Dean after you have met him) will make a presentation on "The Dance of the Molecules" and will set your mind in motion concerning fuels and combustion phenomena.His discoveries and experimentation with fuels "other than gasoline" (and some gasolines) are legendary.Whether you want to discuss a particular opera (he sings) or some method of "enhancing" your racing fuel program, Dr. Dean will lend his attention and suggestions with his characteristic charm and passion.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Rm2oWrJWo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1Rm2oWrJWo[/ame]

[FlyLike]

looks like DannyDodge's dad

[89five.o]

Haha I'll have to take your word on that.