Flowmaster History: From Barnyard to Modern Facilities
With several years’ worth of manufacturing premium exhaust parts for performance street, muscle cars, trucks, street rods, rv’s, and motorhomes, Flowmaster, Inc. is now one of the most trusted names in the exhaust parts industry. Flowmaster specializes in most race car type applications and their exhaust system needs.
Flowmaster, Inc. found its niche when the California Sprint Racers–whose cars produced ‘excessive sounds’–were told to find a way to moderate the noise that their vehicles produce on the track, lest they should lose the priveledge to race.
Armed with more than 45 years of experience in exhaust design, it was then that Ray Flugger, founder of Flowmaster, Inc, created what would be Flowmaster’s first patented configuration of racing silencers. The racing silencers were crafted in a small barn in Kenwood, California. The square-shaped racing silencers were equipped with handles to make it easier lugging it through race pits, therefore dubbed as “suitcase mufflers”.
From a small 800 square feet barnyard in Kenwood, Flowmaster currently has a total of 400,000 square feet divided between two modern, state-of-the-art facilities: one in Santa Rosa and one in West Sacramento, California.
Flowmaster’s operations utilize a one-of-a-kind exhaust Research and Design facility, with the SuperFlow SF-7100 engine dynamometer at the core of its research. The SuperFlow SF-7100, together with an engine cycle analysis (ECA) machine and SuperFlow chassis dyno’s, makes it possible to study and understand the accurate workings of a car’s engine system. Hence, Flowmaster’s team of engineers are able to track and gather the most granular and specific datum necessary to ensure that their products remain efficient and top-of-the-line.
Flowmaster’s research operations also include regulating “Spectrum Analyzers” which regulate and moderate the sounds of the eleven different series of mufflers that are currently included in the Flowmaster product lineup: not only for giving the right sounds but for maximum performance as well.
Today, Flugger continues to spearhead the research and development initiatives of Flowmaster Inc. and serious car aftermarket parts buyers can look forward to premium grade exhaust system parts from the company.
