The Oregonian
Folck is one drag racer who is programmed to race

The Sandy driver gets the most out of his Datsun 1200 by turning to his computer and high-tech for improving engine performance on the track

by JERRY F. BOONE of the Oregonian Staff

WOODBURN -- Ron Folck sits inside his small trailer, tapping the keys on his laptop computer.
Behind him, two big-bore, alcohol-fueled dragsters that have been the sport's workhorses since the 1940s thundered down the twin quarter-mile strips of pavement, shaking the earth beneath Woodburn Dragstrip.
Camped at the farthest rearch of Woodburn's grassy field, Folck is about as far away as anyone can be from the typical cars racing this weekend during the annual NHRA Federal-Mogul Drag Racing Series here.
But, he said, the others eventually will catch up.
While the main attractions are administered to by uniformed crews working from tractor trailers that rival most auto shops, Folck and Shad Baldwin, his crew, hauled their little Datsun 1200 from Sandy behind an again, red primered pickup truck...