[DAD]

A 110 offy was 1803 cc's or 1.8 liters. What motor's are in this size range that would be small enough to fit in a midget frame and develop enough power to be competitive. Also diesels need a turbo to make them come alive to make them a choice could we do away with the naturally aspirated rule. Now car company's all like do drop engine size and add a turbo to get more power and better economy do we do this too. A turbo is no longer exotic nor is electronic engine control, "a few of the good things to come out of clean air". All we have to do is come up with a formula using what we have already developed in the automotive field and get away from the expensive old past. Up until a few years ago qma "Quarter Midgets of America" only allowed Contintal red seal engins to compete. Well Contintal went out of business in the 50's and a good quarter midget motor went for upward of $4000.00, and some of the better motors were lease deals only. When a single overhead cam is high tec we have a problem, and how many of these engines have even one piece made by the "oem" in them, like Shakespeare said," There by hangs the tale". Most minisprint rules say "OEM" block and head, what would happen if a midget rule said that. We wouldn't have $20,000.00 low tec motors running. Hell even NasCrap is going to electronic injection, so long $10.000.00 carbs and holes in intake manifold gaskets.

[Roy Bleckert]

@ DAD

I like the idea of production Car & Motorcycle engines becoming competitive in Midget Racing , this gives a greater opportunity to the Back Yard engineer/mechanic to show his skills & helps cut the cost of Midget Engines way down

[Dick Monahan]

There's one that I don't think has been mentioned. Take a look at the NEMA roster. http://www.nemaracing.com/roster.htm You'll see all the big name engines. Last Saturday night, one of the Autocraft-powered cars absolutely smoked them. You can see the story on http://www.nemaracing.com

They cost a lot less than the big names. Anything with enough power to pull that huge roof around has enough power to put on a good show.

BTW, as mentioned above, the NEMA Lites put on a good show that night, too.

[DAD]

A good friend of mine, the guy that got me started in the muffler business many years ago raced midget's with USAC. He developed several midgets most of which were one of a kind specials. One of his first was a chain drive VW. He had a lot of experience building and racing 1/4 midgets and thought it would be the logical move less weight less loss HP through the drive line, USAC said no. He then decided that the new little GM V6 could make a real race engine. He worked several years and spent all kinds of time and money getting the thing to work well and it finally did. USAC changed their rules to make it non competive aganist the engines of the day once again. I think he sold off all of his midget stuff except for one car, raced silver crown cars for a few years and retired. It seems if your not in their click they don't have much use for you and will do away with you and your Ideas.

Originally Posted by LocalYokel Open up the rules to allow more current OEM based engines to be competetive within reason. No transmissions and no chain drives. By defination a midget is direct drive with a rear end gear. Some very old timers will argue that a long time ago some midgets were chain driven, those days are gone. No claimers and no spec engines. Innovation can reduce the cost of these motors... Posted via Mobile Device

For the life of me I dont understand why chain driven is a bad thing. The new chains hardly stretch at all and if you have it set up correct theres no reason it would ever come off. Also its so much lighter, not to mention less expensive. I bet not one person in the stands gives a crap whats turning the rear wheels. It doesnt matter what they used to run, it's what should be allowed now, thats the issue. Bottom line is if you plan on having a midget you better have the bucks.

[DAD]

This would be one of the first post started about the alternate Midget race car. I'm thinking this would be a year or two before a very lively discussion about what to name the thing took place. Wayne Davis liked the term Division II Midget>>>Bill May shortened it to D2 Midget and I guess that stuck. Back then the discussion was stimulating and enjoyable, Today not so much. When debate is stifled we all lose. Name calling and unbecoming rhetoric is not appreciated or acceptable in the USA or for that matter IOW. As a member of the group, that pioneered this concept several years ago I beg my right to contribute and add my opinions on how it might be improved with out being yelled down.

Bill Jones AKA Dad

[Aces&Eights]

Originally Posted by DAD It seems when you get right down to it, talks about midgets always end up the same place "MOTOR" cost. What would make a good Midget motor? How many cylinders? How many cid? Do we take into account cylinder head type or leave it open? Do we allow electronics? Do we allow turbochargers? Do we allow transmishions? Do we allow chain drive again? Do we specify stock block and head? Do we allow hybrid motors from cycle top ends and special cranks and crankcase? Do we make a claim rule? Do we use a spec sealed engine? What would be a good Midget motor ?? and why?

3.8 GM V6... They use that in Australia in their non-wing sprints and costs/performance is good.

[DAD]

Aces

The 3.8 is a little old and it too is out of production, How about a 2 liter supercharged Late model GM??? Back in the day racing did all the innovation and the manufactures used their innovations, today The manufactures are doing the new cutting edge stuff. If a class is to remain affordable it should be able to draw from the many new engines that the manufactures seem to be coming up with every year. Motors like the GM 350 are things of the past, they have all been salvaged and recycled back into other things. The same hold true with the 2.2 or 2.4 Gm Motors of today. They are cheap, when worn out the salvage yards simply melt them down. This is being done now as we speak. They use the salvaged aluminum in other things. Like the Vega Motor in a few years they will be gone from the horizon. Then what?

[R.Drang]

Johnny Murdock hit the nail on the head a few years ago. 2.4 liter and under stock internals, and 1000 cc motorcycle engines. That was the rules ,let's go race.

[DAD]

R

They don't make 2.4 s anymore.