[DAD]

Sponsorship is one thing mandating one particular power plant or chassis or tire is another. I think the Sportsman Midget is the future, Mini sprints will hopefully blend right into the equation. Echo Tecs are good little motors and cheap if bought on the open Market. The guys up in Illinois have gone in the stock appearing direction. If you limit port work to no visible changes>>> Bowls and seats and valves and springs optional, I think you can regulate the engine. The Manufacture that has the best head design will be the Motor of choice for Sportsman racer.

If a guy develops a good aftermarket part Fuel Injection >>Water pump>>>adapter unlike Bob I am lazy and I would buy it from Them>>But my labor rate for working on my race cars unlike the national labor rate is the same as it was when I started a dime an hour, I can't afford to pay someone else to do too much work for me.

At my age I stay confused but still enjoy being just a little out of control. Thanks for keeping me inline. Honda as a sponsor is great Honda as a Dealer or Distributor for race motors doesn't excite me too much. Honda does have a motor that would be very competitive in a Midget, just don't say I have to race it only or that I have to buy it from them. I want to race the motor that I feel has the most potential for me to race. Don't read too much into my statements>>>I post for entertainment purpose only.

Honest Dad himself

[Tilton42]

Half of the dirt races are co-sanctioned with the AMSA. Why not run there rules? That would make ALL the cars legal at ALL the dirt tracks. It's about car count, isn't it? They're all NW races. That takes away the advantages of the "built" motors and a lot of the time hurts them. As it is now, if you wanna run these dirt races. You will need 2 different motors. 2 different injections, and 2 different RR tires and in the case of guys running Blatter tanks 2 of those also. Everyone is always talking about "cost". That doesn't seem very cost-effective to me, and that's why these sanctioning bodies make these rules. Not sure where guys heard racing was cheap, but they were lied to. Like I said earlier, its about getting the car count up and putting on the best show possible. It looks like the average car count for MMSA is about 14-15, SOLS is 6-8 from what im told (IDK) yet AMSA has well into the 20's every weekend. That isn't a dig at the MMSA or SOLS, it's just the facts. So, if UASC or whoever wants to run off a 1/3 to 1/2 the cars then so be it. We'll be at the ones we're allowed to be at.

[Unlucky#9]

Originally Posted by Tilton42 It looks like the average car count for MMSA is about 14-15, SOLS is 6-8 from what im told (IDK) yet AMSA has well into the 20's every weekend. That isn't a dig at the MMSA or SOLS, it's just the facts. So, if UASC or whoever wants to run off a 1/3 to 1/2 the cars then so be it. We'll be at the ones we're allowed to be at.

What you aren't taking into account is location/travel. The AMSA is a non traveling series, so if all of their racers are within a reasonable distance from WRP then it would make sense that most if not all of them are able to make all of the races there. Therefore their average count stays relatively consistent. Where as the MMSA as you've quoted is a traveling series and therefore some of the races are too far for a majority of the racers to make the trip to. However I know of at least 2 races this past year (Bloomington and Columbus) where we had a count well over 30. Now don't take this as a defensive dig at you, I'm just trying to explain why those averages are they way they are.

[Avon Open Wheel fan]

I was just looking at the MMSA point Standings for last season and we had over 70 drivers race with us. This shows that there is a large amount of.cars out there. We also had several races with large car ccounts last season.

[Revolution Racing]

Originally Posted by LEADERS EDGE Keith......didn't you at one time toward the end of your involvement start putting out indications the focus motors were going by the wayside and that there was a new and more expensive motor that would eventually be implemented? Wasn't the original cost $75 or $7900 and it was near $10 or over $10 by the time you got out?

When we started the program I charged $7400 for a complete, new engine. Toward the end I raised that to $7900 because of increasing component costs. Whatever Roush later did with the remaining inventory I built, I had no control over. As far as my stating that motors were "going by the wayside"… what I said was that the Zetec was going out of production (which it was) and that, at the time, Ford had expressed an interest in going to the 2.3 Duratec. That never happened.

[Revolution Racing]

Dad I can't believe you said this:
"Focus Motors they were never meant to be in a race car. The head is not well suited to produce good Volumetric efficiency numbers. Wayne down in Florida allows porting on them and they sure need it and it does help a little, but even in this state of race tune it doesn't have much for the your little gm motors. I think perhaps the little gm motor might respond to porting and valves but the port angles are still not to good to really produce a lot of power. "

1. As I have said all along, I realize a lot of midget guys don't like spec racing and I've always said, if you are one of those guys, please don't do a focus. It wasn't for everybody, but it did in fact become the largest division of midget cars ever in the history of the sport based on number of participants and number of events. Many many good racers got started in a Focus and are now racing all the way up to 'Cup level - the program was a success as a spec engine program. We never intended the motor to be a 'race' motor by Midget standards and if you are trying to make a race motor out of a Focus then you are an idiot. What we proved is that you don't NEED to have a 'race' motor in a midget in order to put on some exciting and competitive races. To this day, when I run into guys from the old days they often tell me racing a Focus was the most fun they ever had in racing. Mission accomplished.

2 The Ecotec platform has been used to produce naturally aspirated motors making in excess of 400 hp at 2.4 liters, turbocharged versions in excess of 800 hp, and supercharged engines in excess of 1,400 hp. Out of 2.4 liters!!! Yeah, that head isn't any good at all.

Dad I think you are starting to lose it buddy.

[Shopboss]

It would be great to have a thread about the Focus/HPD series that was positive and not hijacked for the most part. Lol

[Revolution Racing]

So, getting back on topic…. who can tell me more about the little Honda? How much do they cost? Is Stanton building them? How many are out there? How many have been built? They run OK? I have looked everywhere for info on this package and it feels like some kind of top secret program. I've even gone to the extremely popular and unbelievably busy USAC website for info but have found very, very little. Maybe its just me but gosh you would think they'd promote this thing a little.

When we got the Focus running we had articles in all the magazines and demonstrations all over the country - even had a small fleet of little BEAST demo cars that we would put reporters and celebrity drivers in for test drives and so forth. Any of that sort of thing happening for the Honda?


Keith

[DAD]

Keith

Don't give up on your little GM. K.I.S.S develop the parts that will sell and sell to the Sportsman type racer that "Would rather do it themselves". The little motor has what it takes. If you aren't in the engine building business and only produce parts about 80% of your problems will vanish. I see one in my future.

I guess we really should start another>>>> post all those people interested in the Honda program probably can't find space to tell us about their progress in obtaining motors and what they see in the future . How many hits on this one already?

Honest Dad himself

[gearguy]

The much maligned Scream Ford Focus was a great midget motor that put out a very reliable 185 hp. Check the advertisements from back in the day; that is more than a good 100 inch Offy put out. V8 60s were only used in passenger cars for a few years in the USA and I think most ended up in midgets or power race boats. Midgets might have died in the 1960s if other little motors hadn't come out because V8 60s were awfully thin on the ground by then Ask the vintage guys about prices on them today. Jack Fox's 1976 Mighty Midgets book claims a STOCK Chevy II was more powerful than all but the best V8 60s.
Yes, the Fontana, Eslinger, and Gaerte were developed by private companies but that development was on the back of work done by garage mechanics on Chevy IIs, Pintos, and V8 headed Chevy IIs AFTER stock parts got scarce.. Give the guys a few years and these 2.4 liter stock blocks will do just fine in midgets. A 2 liter Focus gives up too many inches to a 2.4 to be competitive. The same percentage difference as running a 360 sprint car against a 432 inch motor.