Sturdy Engines:
So Much More Than Just A Name!
Reprinted With Permission From All The Dirt! Racing News (11/08)

MILBANK, SD - Sturdy Engines of Milbank, SD has been working with WISSOTA engine combinations for nearly 28 years. From machining, balancing and head work to time on the dyno, everything is done in-house.

“We take care of everything for our customers,” owner Kevin Schuelke. “Once they come here for an engine, they don’t leave. We don’t give them any reason to leave. We use true, accurate information based on the feedback they give us and apply that to each customer’s program. We find out what they want, and then we deliver it.”

Each engine created at Sturdy Engines is a custom piece, rather than the “assembly line” type of powerplant that many shops offer, Schuelke stressed.

“No two racers are exactly alike,” Schuelke stresses, “so their needs are never exactly alike. Some guys prefer the high side, some like the low side, some race on a lot of slick tracks and some race more on heavy tracks. We build each engine based on these factors and many other things.

“All you have to do is tell us about your style and preferences and the kind of tracks you race,” he added. “Once we know that, we can put together the best solution for you.”

All of the work done on WISSOTA race engines is performed in-house at Sturdy Engines, which assures each racer complete confidentiality. It also guarantees that the machining and assembly are taken care of by people who know their customers face to face.

“We always give our customers the best they can get for their engine budget. We take pride in helping out because racing already costs too much. To survive, we all need to work together,” Schuelke stated.

Sturdy Engines dates back to 1980, when Kevin Schuelke went to work for the former Sturdevant Auto Parts in Milbank. His brother, Gary Schuelke, started in ’86 and has been an important part ever since and today he’s in charge of the cylinder head department.

The first competition engines out of the shop were for IMCA Modifieds, but with an aggressive approach to running the store’s machine shop, more racers contacted Schuelke. Since then the annual growth of the race engine department has been astounding. Today, of course, the lion’s share of race engines built at Sturdy are used by WISSOTA competitors.

Twenty-seven years after Sturdy began, the adjoining parts store is Hedahl’s, one of a chain of Parts Plus stores owned by Dick Hedahl, who is really excited about the race engine program.

“Having the large parts store in the same building comes in handy for a lot of our customers,” Schuelke admitted. “We’ve got immediate access to a lot of parts that other builders have to order out. We get a lot of work done faster than a lot of other shops because we’ve got it all in the building.”

World Products, Dart, Callies, Brodix, Edelbrock, Wiseco, Ross, JE, Federal Mogul, Clevite, Crower, Oliver, Eagle, Sealed Power and Scat are just a few of the major brands they carry in stock every day to help construct the most potent Late Model, Modified, Super Stock, Midwest Mod, Street Stock and Mod Four engines.

Schuelke and his crews’ on-going development of each division’s engines ensure that you won’t be outpowered by your competition. And the in-house dyno gives the Sturdy crew proof of the horsepower they create.

Racers who feel comfortable assembling their own finished engine are also welcome at Sturdy Engines, Schuelke says.

“We have some customers who need us just for the precision machining before they put together their engines.”

Most, however, rely on Schuelke’s team to machine and assemble the engine at Sturdy.

“Lots of the engines leaving here are dynoed and completely ready to drop in the car and go racing,” Schuelke said. “The majority of them are complete packages.”

Schuelke believes it’s extremely important to dyno every engine because testing allows his team to find quality parts that don’t cost a fortune instead of just installing high-cost parts.

Along with Kevin and Gary, Matt Suckow, Jerry McFarland, Kody Akerson and Dallas Grube also spend their days creating powerful pieces in the Sturdy machine shop, which contains up-to-date equipment to handle today’s complex racing engines. Herb Peterson dutifully delivers the high horsepower engines to their new owners.

From block boring, honing and decking to rod reconditioning and resizing, to ultrasonic cleaning and jet spray cleaning, Sturdy Engines is a full-service engine shop that will meet the needs of the most dedicated racers in the region.

They also offer balancing, BHS lifter block TRU and line honing.

Sturdy Engines also recently installed a computer controlled Rottler machining center for computer digitized machining which enables the staff to complete precision tasks such as engine block boring, block blueprinting, block decking, lifter boring, cam tunnel boring, line boring and splayed cap installation all on one machine.

Sturdy Engines is located at the junction of Highways 12 and 15 in Milbank, SD. Schuelke can be reached by phone at (605) 432-4585, by faxing him at (605) 432-6167 or by e-mailing him at kevin@sturdyengines.com.

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