Fuel Injection Pioneer Stuart Hilborn 1917-2013

Stuart Hilborn, the dry lakes hot rodder whose racing fuel injection systems powered almost the entire field at Indianapolis some years, died Monday at the age of 96.

Hilborn first went to the dry lakes in 1938 and was amazed to see engine builders and racers who hadn't gone to college producing twice the horsepower of a stock setup.

“I was very impressed that they had doubled the horsepower of the cars as they came out of Detroit with virtually no money at all, just work,” Hilborn told the American Hot Rod Foundation. “I decided I was going to have a race car.”

He bought a Model A and enlisted neighbor Eddie Miller, a former Indy 500 driver, to help him turn it into a lakes racer. With Miller's help, the car hit 123 mph at the lakes. His next car was more significant, it was a streamliner that ran the first Hilborn fuel injection system. It eventually hit 150 mph.

Hilborn injection systems have been on 34 Indy 500 winners, as well as numerous race cars in many forms of motorsports from midgets to dragsters.

There is no word yet on funeral services.

By Mark Vaughn