[gtofreek]

It's sad to report that our good friend and cam great, Harold Brookshire passed away last night. Harold had a heart attack a few weeks ago. He under went a triple bypass surgery, but had a stroke in the operating room. He never regained consciousness, and passed away last night around 10 PM. Rest in peace Harold, you will be missed.

[twooldgoats]

I'm sorry to hear this, Paul. His ideas and his expertise will live on, though, in my race engine and, I'm sure, many others.

Jim

[johnta1]

So sad to hear this.

He was a great influence on some of our Pontiac power.

My condolences to his family and friends.

[ponjohn]

He most likely forgot more than most cam professionals know.

RIP.

[68blackbird]

Life is precious. Condolences to the family.

Rich

[65nss4spdGTO]

Sorry to hear this.

I had the chance to work with Harold on a number of Pontiac builds and a few Fords.

RIP.

Calvin Hill
Hill Performance
708-250-7420

[Transporter]

One of the best guys I have ever had the pleasure of talking to from a manufactures stance, always answered even my dumbest questions, always ask how the cam performed and was a real pleasure to deal with.

Still have one original UD still in the box, in his honor it's going to have to go into something special, a keeper.

RIP Harold, and thanks for everything.

[BruceWilkie]

A great loss to the performance world. Few others are in that league of knowledge... Sorry you've lost a good friend Paul.

[mgarblik]

I posted in the street section as well a funny little memory of Harold. He was with out a doubt the most knowledgeable individual in the camshaft design game, and you could talk to him. In my case, he had to dumb it down a little so I could fully understand him. This would have made him an excellent teacher. Anyway, the other funny little memory is when he had Ultradyne going strong, we went to the plant to visit him and check the place out. Right in the middle of the production area there was a cleared out area that was completely open and a basketball hoop set up. Harold said after lunch, several times a week , they would just shut down and play some basketball! Then go back to work. It was kind of funny, but morale seemed to be great the day we visited. RIP Mr. Brookshire.

[Aaron Quinton]

RIP Harold. I cracked 600 hp on pump gas in the early 2000's running your cam. Respects and thank you sir!

[gtofreek]

I remember the first time I met Harold. It was at the PRI show in 2005. I knew of him[because Jeff was always talking about him at work], but never met him or knew what he looked like.
We had a booth at the PRI show, and Jeff was out walking around checking out the show, while I was holding down the booth. In comes this Santa Claus looking guy, white beard, and all, walking right into our booth and sits down right next to me, in Jeff's chair. At first I'm thinking, "who's this guy?", as he was pulling out his notebooks, and starts talking about camshaft lobes. I looked at his name badge, and instantly recognized his name. I did the smart thing, and I just kept my mouth shut and listened to him talk about cams for over an hour. He didn't know me, but yet was still ready and willing to talk about his cam lobes. That's the kind of person Harold was. Always willing to share his knowledge.

I'm thankful that I got to spend time with him at last years PRI show. He was always fun to talk to.

[Mikes455Wagon]

I called Harold for a cam recommendation a couple of years ago. I was unaware of the camshaft lessons I would be getting in that conversation. He was an unbelievable wealth of knowledge. If you never had the chance to speak with him, you missed out. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about camshafts until I talked with him for a bit! Rest in peace Harold, you did A LOT for motorsports!

[Skip Fix]

Harold was always great to talk to any time you got him on the tech line. Still have UD cams/lobes in most of my stuff-even the 409!

And for you hard core "it has to have 8 degrees more on the exhaust " Pontiac guys-Harold would disagree depending on the E/I ratio.

[GOAT WHORE]

Copied this from YB.

Harolds history as told by him

#4
Jan 14th, 05, 1:54 AM
UDHarold
Senior Tech Team

Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Senatobia, MS, USA
Posts: 1,795



Ron,

Don't apologize....I sometimes think threads for him were meant for me, too...
Since you asked, I'll give everyone a very very short history of me, so you'll know where I came from.
1969---Went to work for State of Mississippi as computer operator, rose to be lead operator at CDPA, Central Data Processing Agency.
1972---Began working on cam design program in my spare time.
Dec 15, 1972---Sold 310AP SBC solid to Reed Cams, Georgia, for $125.00.
1973---Made $3000 selling to Reed, Isky, Engle, Norris.
1974---Designed Reed's RxxxULX line of rollers, and a lot more, including Benny Parson's 1975 Daytona 500-winning cam. Also Shirl Greer's TF/FC NHRA National Champion Nitro Funny car cam, designed for Norris, and it was a True Chrysler flat tappet, with .438" lobe lift.
1974---Became General Kinetics' cam designer, worked with people like Bill Jenkins and Jack Roush on the cams for their ProStockers.
1976---Jenkins wins Pro Stock Natinal Championship, with GK doing large-barrel cams.
1977---I start in January with Competion Cams, as their original cam designer. Over the next 3 years, I design them hundreds of cams, including the 268 High Energy. I introduce them to the unsymmetrical cam.
1979---I write them their 1st in-house cam design program. Before that, we shared a program with Cam Dynamics.
1980---After negotiating since late 1976 for some stock ownership in Competition Cams, I leave and start UltraDyne on April 1st, 1980. The 1st month I design the 288/296F5 and the 288/296R6, the 2 most popular cams I ever made.
1981---In September, I hire my 1st employee, Mike O'Neal, who ran my shop, made all my models and masters, etc.
1982---We're running 2 shifts, from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Tim Goolsby comes to work for me, he is Mike's brother-in-law. I also design UltraDyne's first hydraulic cams, such as the 272, the 276, the 288/296H.
From then on until 2000, we all just worked. UltraDyne grossed over $1.2 Million a year from 1990 to 1999.
2000---A number of independent factors began to take their toll---Federal Mogul acquiring my 2 major solid lifter core manufacturers, and their later Chapter 11, Lifter companies disappearring, tremendous cash-flow problems in the end of 2000, initially triggered by the UPS strike---We lost around $50,000 in the strike.
2001---A un-named cam company in Memphis hires 8 of my 12 employees, and 2 more just leave because they think --that's it. Only Tim and Gail are left with me.
2001-2003---UltraDyne is in the Chapter 11 'Death Spiral'. I take a $0 salary for 2002, and pump all my, and my wife's, retirment money into UltraDyne, along with all the equity I could get on my house, etc, etc, etc.
June 2003---Everything is gone, the government locks the doors.
August 2003---I go to work at Lunati, charged with completely re-doing their entire line of cams. Mike is already there, waiting for me, along with Steve Slavik, who worked for me for 13 years (Mike for 19...). Then I meet the corporate world.....
Oct 2004---Lunati introduces the VooDoo cams. And they really work good.....

This has been the line and times of a cam designer, and even with the down sides, it has been the time of my life, and I'm going to stay at it as long as I can.....

No comments are necessary, you are all a great bunch, and as that Great American, Minnie Pearl, said, "I'm just so proud to be here!"

Thanks,

UDHarold

[Craig Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by GOAT WHORE

Copied this from YB. (snip, snip, snip)
UDHarold

I agree with all the comments above. It's difficult to be an innovative designer/inventor like Harold and make it work financially. RIP.

[Tim Corcoran]

I am very sorry to hear this sad news. Harold made quite an impact on the automotive world. I never met him but had the opportunity to talk with him on the phone on a few occasions. The guy was a camshaft genius and a very giving person and always willing to talk as long as you liked. I will treasure the UD cam in my 65 LeMans even more now and the old Ultradyne Cams Catalog I still have. I use the Lunati Voodoo cams because Harold designed them. Harold will be missed by many.

[SLICK1]

Condolences

[nadine]

Very sad to here. He was a leader in camshaft technology that's for sure.

Ken Maisano

[Half-Inch Stud]

My Condolences.

Probably never spoke with Harold, but sure Jim Butler did on the things I had requested.

I since had the impression that Butler had his ear; anything to that?

[johnta1]

I think that Butler had Harold at one of his seminars at his Pontiac races, around 98 possibly.
(at least someone from Ultrdyne, biut seems like it was Harold who basically designed all the good Pontiac cams for them)

Ultradyne was one of the 'go-to' cams for Pontiac then.

Harold was a great asset to the Pontiac world.