Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Have you taken a drive around ur neighborhood lately? Ummmmm... that is if you can afford it. Let's see. Here in Northern Ohio: Norwalk Furniture Co., Donato's Pizza, Fazoli's, TGIFriday's, Circuit City, Rego's Fresh Food Market, Tony Roma's Ribs, Value City Department Stores, new and used car dealers, Big Lots, Smokey Bones Restaurant, Conneaut Lake Park, Maui Indoor Waterpark Resort, Geauga Lake Park, potential plant closings at Ford, GM and Chrysler, thousands of home foreclosures, National City Bank and so on all have either closed are are on the brink of closing.

Now let's turn back the clock to the 1970's for a moment and talk about those east coast modifieds. I attended the USAC Silver Crown race at the NY State Farigrounds in the 70's that included the modifieds on the racing card. OMG... when they came out on the track, I thought the grandstand with 12,000 people was going to collapse with the thunderous enthusiasm of the large crowd in attendance. Hold the phone race fans... NSSN on Nov. 26, 2008 featured a big article on these machines. Apparently things have gone downhill. What used to be 18,000 fans for DIRT week appears to be about half that now. A new Syracuse car runs $30,000, motor $35-40,000, $2500 for tires, $1,000 for fuel plus motel rooms and food. And the TV deals have all dried up.

Now let's go back to 1991. OPEN WHEEL Mag. August issue. Former ace USAC driver Steve Butler's article: "LET'S DO SOMETHING" (about the cost of racing). Are you kidding me?? Gosh, I hate to tell you Steve that 17 years later, nobody is doing anything about it including the organization that you used to race for. Yeah, Steve, instead they're chasing quarter.... pardon me... .25 midgets.

Now in that Butler article ( remember this is 1991, 17 years ago) Steve interviewed, of all people, Earl Gaerte, famed engine builder. Earl gave four suggestions to limit the costs of racing. Here are the four:

1. Inmplement a compression-ratio limit. He recommends 11:1 ( I think he's referring to sprint car engines in this case).

2. Use restrictor inserts in the fuel injection ram tubes.

3. Reduce wing size (obviously for winged sprint cars)

4.REGULATE TIRES!!!!! Earl says harder compounds would unhook the rear wheels of the race cars, thereby reducing the need for high-horsepower motors.

OPEN WHEEL MAG, 2001, February issue. BIG MONEY, LITTLE CARS. WHAT EFFECT IS SKYROCKETING COST HAVING ON MIDGET RACING? Written by Dave Argabright and Mike O'Leary. Ralph Potter, former long time USAC car owner says "The cost of racing is so astronimical, I just don't want to put the money into it anymore. I don't know who wants to spend $100,000 (on a midget team) to win $2,000."

Apparently, though, despite what you've read here so far, the 2008 midget community is immune to all of this. It's business as usual with all the midget orgs with the exception of ARDC which recently voted down the Esslinger engine and previously outlawed the new generation Fontana also. By the way, a recent ad in NSSN says that Fontana costs $37,000 and Fontana says you need this engine to win!!! Even the Wisconsin midget org membership keeps voting in the tire monopoly. And I just read a press release that a Tulsa midget office is being "flooded" with entries for a midget show.

So... does anybody have the phone number of the financial advisor of the midget community??

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

NASCAR dropped all testing to reduce costs, but you can still go to (non-nascar tracks) Kentucky and test all you want. I'm sure the big money teams will have part-time garages there before long. I can see this getting worse maybe much worse before it gets better. During the CART Indycar years Tony George put a stop to the high cost starting the IRL and took all the heat. He may look like a smart man before this is over. I wonder how many midget & sprint teams will limit their races or just quit for awhile.

With sponsorships disappearing at the top it's going to happen at the bottom if one even has one to begin with. In the '77 recession era I remember some weeks at Haubstadt where they would only have 16-18 sprints. Hopefully this rough time will be over soon. What concerns me though is back in '77 people were laid off but had jobs to return to. Now those jobs have moved to Mexico and everywhere else.

Somehow sprints/midgets need to go back to cast-iron blocks and other measures. Cutting motor costs in half would help a lot of teams.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Thats your best one yet Don. IMO :respect:

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Well thanks!! Can we have a party when somebody finally does something?

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Don I see your point, but I don't think you see the big picture. Racing is a very very expensive hobby/life that people choose to participate in. In my 30 plus years involved in racing I can not remember a time that the cost or racing was not an issue. It has always been that way and I'm willing to bet that it always will be so. So, on this day I choose not to complain, but to be very thankful that I and my entire generation are privilaged to enjoy the sport we love so much given the sacrafice of so many in WWII. I guess I look at things a little different, "Damn glad to be here, SIR!" Just my two cents Don, no disrespect meant at all.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Well I certainly respect ur opinion, thanks. You may not have a choice if you want to go racing or not soon. As of 2008, midget racing has dried up here. Do you have a suggestion on how midget racing is going to be revitalized here in Ohio for example?

Attica Raceway Park - Midget Racing GONE

Fremont Speedway - Midget Racing GONE

Limaland Speedway - Midget Racing GONE

Toledo Speedway - Midget Racing Gone

Mansfield Speedway - Midget Racing GONE

Lakeville Speedway - Midget Racing GONE

Columbus Motor Speedway - Midget Racing GONE

And I could name you 15-20 tracks that have eliminated midget racing in Ohio in the last 50 years.

On the plus side we have Tony Barhorst promoting indoor racing at Columbus and Toledo.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

In the early 70s, I was part of a NEMA team that was running 3rd or 4th in the points. On our way to one of the last races of the year, we stopped for gas, which I paid for out of the cigar box we kept under the front seat. With nothing to do for the next hour or so, I started organizing it. Noting there was a bunch of cash there, I asked the owner how often he had refreshed it. "I put $500 in there last Spring. That's it.", he replied. I counted the cash; there was over $300 there. All expenses, including the driver's 40% had been paid out of that box. He had also spent another $5-600 over the previous winter, but his grand total was under $1000 for the year.

A year or two later, the owner, who owned a single-island Mobil station, bought a new Edmunds chassis and a SESCO engine. This was the best combination that could be bought at the time. He paid approximately $300 more than I paid for a new Ford Country Squire at about the same time.

Don takes a lot of crap here for expressing a wish that midget/sprint racing could be "blue collar" sports again, but he's not alone.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I am not here to discount what you are saying DM10, but I will say just two small things to disagree with. Since the articles you are quoting the midget community is using a spec tire that is harder than what we used to run, and the Esslinger engine you think is killing midget racing is probably one of the cheapest (for the lack of a better term) to run in a year.

All I am saying DM10 is.... it may be too far gone from where it used to be and I don't ever know if it could get back to being the family/hobby sport it used to be.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

With that line of thinking, this country is screwed too. There is ways to fix it, but it can't be fixed over night. They are already doing this with micro sprint organizations, by saying that in 2010 you have to have this, and by 2012 it has to be this, in order to get rid, use up, or blow up your current stuff. That's the fairest way to do it, and it IS possible, as long as people WANT to do it. Personally, midgets is my favorite type of open wheel racing, and to see it in the shape it is in really sucks. Something has to be done with it, and it's gotta become more affordable. Midgets were always a grassroots deal, and now if you want to show off that you have money, you race a midget.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

At least there seems to be some sort of plan in the works for the economy.. AND.. officials are admitting there is a problem. A far cry from the midget orgs in this country which are driven by big business deals that have nothing to do with the welfare of the particpants. Business as usual with these people. Selling a logo and a brand is their main priority.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Just as long as we never relive the reagan years.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I didn't say I agreed with the way things were going!!! When it comes to micro racing (which I did in Indiana for 3 years 2003-2005 and thoroughly enjoyed) that cam be changed as it is a family/hobby sport. In midget racing we are fighting with 2 bigger issues.

Corporate sponsors/Corporate run teams. They have the money so they have the ears of all involved.

Number 2 The Parents that are only in midgets for a year or 2 that are just using midgets as the stepping stone to bigger and better things. Again the money has the ears of all of the organizations.

Again I don't agree with it but at times it feels like pissing in the wind.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

like a person who whizzes against the wind and then wonders why his white sneakers turned yellow

Don is right, but I think we have reached the point of :headbang

I'm afraid the days of most midgets being owned, maintained, and campaigned by blue collar folks are history, just like the days of 60 or more cars trying for 33 spots in the Hut Hundred.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/r...idgetincar.jpg

These days are over !
But it was fun.
2 wins
16 top 6 finishes in24 starts

Made $4500 at end of year.

1 out for me.

:dologob:

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

This can be done. Stay tuned.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Don, it can be done , and one guy doing it by himself would be peeing in the wind. The problem is the ones who say it can't. If enough of them realized if they say it can they ,can turn the tide. Wilber and Orville would have never left the ground saying I can't.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

A fire has been started which is the first step....... :)

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Thank you Don for bringing depression and eternal pessimism to my Sunday, yet again.

It was going far too good.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

We bought a new VW in 1984 for $10,000. We bought a used Potter V-6 for $10,000 in 1993. We bought a new Brayton SB2-2 in 1998 for $20,000. I have a customer who just bought a new Esslinger STT complete for $22,000. Is it the baddest Esslinger they offer? No, but it is perfect for 95% of all midget races. I have customers who are buying fresh,used MoPars complete for $13,000. Again a motor perfect for 95% of all midget races. I just had a customer buy a complete Stealth car w/ Gearte for under $10,000. Can it win a USAC show, probably not, but can run top 10 in most PowerI,Badger and Ardc shows. (My point is to show some of the costs of engines in the last 20years)

Why do teams continually compare themselves to USAC'S best when that is not where they compete or where they want to compete? That is like a local winged 410 team being mad at the WoO.

Costs do need to be addressed in some ares, and my feelings on the pavement tires and Hoosiers monopoly are well stated on these pages, but this whole deal where if the costs of the engines where under $10,000 or tires where reduced then each state would have an abundence of midgets just isn't going to happen. The reason Ohio doesn't have midgets is because there are so many levels of sprints that it doesn't make sense to run midgets at their track.

In areas of the country where there is little midget racing, the ASCS thing may take off some, but your looking at maybe 10-20 cars at most in many of the areas. Still not very many individually, but they could have a nice nationals. I still question the idea of one builder and a spec sealed motor, because more than 20-30 motors will over work the builder and then you are counting on Chevy to be around 5-10 years from now.

Ralph Potter spent thousands upon thousands developing his own V-6 and eventually his health became a bigger issue than the money. I think the world of Ralph, but he willingly spent his money for the pleasure of seeing his cars with his engines beat others. Once he felt that he didn't want to invest in that pleasure anymore, he moved on.

To some people the 40's are the glory years, to others it's the 50's,60's,70's,80's or
90's. I routinely have young guys tell me that the 90's where the best years because the cars where cheap and the racing better. Funny, but during the 90's I had several veterans tell me the racing was too expensive and that the 70's or 80's where the best years.

I like Dave Argabright, but having he or any other writer who have never owned or raced a car explain the costs of racing to me is like a Rolling Stone writer explaining the costs of a tour to someone who was a tour manager for a mid level band. They know what they are told and they can get some numbers, but they just don't know all that goes into it.

As far as the economy goes, after great expansion comes great retraction and frankly it was a complete sham all based on borrowed money and potential/future income. We needed this to happen to get back to the meat of the situation and address the real problems. If they are dealt with swiftly and properly, we will be back on the road of prosperity within the next 2-5 years. Jobs will be lost and companies will go away, maybe even my own, but the weak have to be weeded out or exposed so they can be fixed or shut down. That is how this country was built and that is how it has prospered and that is how we will continue to exist.

We are all guarenteed the pursuit of happiness, we are not guarenteed that we will always find it or it will always be there, but in this country if you don't quit and you are not whiner and you get to work, you are always guarenteed a chance and that is all you can ask. Many of this countries biggest fortunes where made during or the result of the depression.

We are in the midst of some serious financial situations, but yet we are still in the position to complain about something as trivial as motorsports. These are pretty good times if you ask me.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Let's assume that a team never runs a USAC midget race. Would you please point out to me where a midget team is going to compete in an outdoor race in the United States, with the exception of SMRS and IRS, and not be haunted by the USAC rule book?

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

And the same with Scott's point...the local 410 wing race rules are a byproduct of the Outlaws, All Stars and ASCS rulebooks. That is because the teams that race with these organizations on a continual basis sell their used parts to local racers who can get quite a bit of life out of the parts. The teams competiting at the top levels cannot take a chance with a part failure costing them a race win/championship and are therefore willing to sell the parts at a price which provides value to the smaller/local teams. The same goes for cutting edge technology. The engines he cited in his post would be one example.

My father has stated repeatedly that when the financial pain and sacrifice he makes exceeds the enjoyment and satisfaction he receives from competing at the national level it will be time to move on. We moved up to Indy cars in the '70s and moved back down to sprint cars in the '80s because we could not afford to compete at that level.

How is it special if everyone that desires to own and race a midget at the USAC level can because it is now affordable? Again, I do agree that cost to compete drives down car counts but you seem to be demanding that the costs should be adjusted to your "threshold of financial pain". At what point of controlling costs will you be satisfied?

Lastly, promoters and sanctioning organizations have little reason to change the status quo when they can get the car counts they had at Turkey Night (64 cars) and Indiana Midget Week (46 average). As you demonstrated in the first post on this thread, people have been warning against the high costs of racing for years and predicting the overall demise if something is not done to control costs. But yet all of us idiots somehow soldier on despite the help or lack thereof of our "financial advisers".

Rob Hoffman

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Which parts of the rule book are we questioning? What do we want to change to make it better?

Just because they use USAC's rules, that doesn't mean the cars and teams are USAC caliber. Pretty much all of the clubs vary the rules slightly. For the most part;IMO, USAC has a great rule book. I don't know any club that follows their rules to the letter, not even USAC.

As far as engine rules go; to me they could always be looked at, but just because something is initially cheaper, that doesn't mean it's cheaper in the long run.

Honestly, lets say someone decides to run the ASCS series. The motor is going to be $7500-$10,000. With the way the motor program is proposed to work, you should probably have two motors to make sure you don't miss a race. Even if you have a minor internal problem, the motor will have to be sent back and it will take time to get it back. Now that is $15,000-$20,000 and it is cheaper than the national motors, but it's still a hassle and one thing I know about racers is that they don't like to be told how, when ,or where. Telling them they can't just makes them want to show you they can.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for cheaper and I am for affordable, but sometimes what things seem to be and what they are can be two different things.

If someone came up with a program that had $10,000 motors and we still ran for the purses we had today and we cut back on the amount of pavement tires we need as well, that's fine with me, but there will be alot of very expensive boat anchors that won't please many people at all when they have to sell them for pennies on the dollar.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

UH..... when was the last time U saw USAC check a midget engine against that rule book?

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Hmmmmm...... Really quiet on here since I asked that question........

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Don, I know you will find this hard to believe, but I was actually working. That and I have vowed to stay away from the computer at night.

I think USAC checks all of the race winners engines and they have been pretty diligent about weighing the cars. I have seen it done several times although I cannot remember the last time I watched them do it. At least at the National Shows.

I am assuming they are using their rule book as a guide.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Wow... You are actually working there? hahaha My car has finished in the top three at USAC National shows. Never saw anybody check my engine. Weighing yes... engine check, no. One thing for sure, there are tons of officials, but apparently checking for illegal engines is not a priority.

We've won many times and finished in the top three several times at POWRi shows. Weighing yes... engine checking no.

Sounds like the barn door is open on that rule book. Must be all about the money.

Last time I saw a midget engine checked was by BMARA at Sun Prairie around 2001.

On the other hand, at the Columbus indoor show, Barhorst's tech guys were Johnny on the spot checking cars. Not engines, but wheels, offset, tires, diapers etc etc. Not once, not twice, but several times!

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Don,

I can't speak as to how many midget engines are checked as we don't have one but as I stated on here before we were checked after two of three wins this year and I believe the only reason we avoided the hat trick was two of the wins were back to back.

I would state that if you are going to write a rule you should be able to check for compliance and eliminate gray areas. I just re-read Smokey Yunick's article about NASCAR and how much fun it was to run back in the day. He stated that he refused to cheat outright except in self-defense (if NASCAR allowed everyone else to cheat a rule he would also) but that he derived the greatest joy from figuring out what the rulebook didn’t say and then exploited the loopholes.

That is what racing is all about to me. I take great pride in looking at the current USAC rulebook and being able to point to rules that had to be written because I was innovative. Almost anybody can buy parts from the various manufacturers and assemble a competitive car. But racing from my standpoint is about building a better mousetrap by being a part of a team (owner, driver, crew, sponsors and part suppliers) working towards the common goal of surpassing the competition. When all this comes together it is a most wonderful and intoxicating feeling.

So if the midget engines are not being checked or other rules not being enforced then shame on the sanctioning body. But also remember that if you are going to write a rule you should also have a way of checking for compliance that can be done easily and is not open to differing interpretations.

Rob Hoffman

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Well, we agree on that.

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Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Dick Berggren's column in OPEN WHEEL mag August 1991 says Steve Butler is right!! He doesn't agree that all his suggestions would work but points out two things that can be done to help reduce racing costs.

1. While he says that restrictor plates are a waste of time, he gives his blessing to compression rules. He's says (in 1991) that stock cars in many parts of the country have gone to a restriction of 9:1 compression. Without big compression hammering away at rods, cranks, and bearings, teams race engines hundreds, sometimes thousands, of laps more than unlimited engines. And he says it's easy to check compression without pulling the engine apart.

2. He gives his approval of running harder compound tires.

And RacinJason has made a great suggestion that midget racing go to an eight inch wheel.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I'll be the first to admitt I have no idea what Im talking about. I do know that midget racing in SE IND, Ohio used to be several times a year at most tracks (Mid Eighties) and before that in the 70s almost every week at several tracks.

Some of its got to do with organizations folding or what not but from the two owners I knew locally. They got out purely on cost reasons. Now a few tracks have regional midgets and some tracks have midget week and thats about it.

Sad as I remember the days where a driver would jump out of the sprint, Run over to the midget and be out in the next race :)

Chuck, just wanting to see some more midget racing I don't have to travel 600 miles to Wisconsin or Minn to get too.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

As a fan... Is the racing any better today after these guys throw $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ at it? Would you be able to tell the difference (or would it make any difference to you) if the entire field turned laps a second or so slower?

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

To be honest? It seems there are more competitive cars today than in the past and it is exciting seeing rooster tails and wheelstand now. Then again I remember Vogler and some others beating the sprints in qualifying times in the 80s in a midget. That being said, most of the shows I seen were not National level so that more competitive teams statement might be unfounded.

I really don't care as long as its competitive midget racing. If a compression rule would even the field a bit and a tire rule such as same as you qualified on or skinnier tire and wheel..

Everybody says, Well run a lower class. Those owners I quoted loved Midgets, wanted to run midgets and would rather not race than non run them. They said that the price of a motor today was more than two complete cars in 1985 when they started. They could no longer justify fielding them for both cost and lack of local racing of the class so they sold off.

I don't think anyone dissagrees that something needs done. Question is, Who is willing to stick together to do it? Like others have said, some have the 45g motors and when their banned, what happens?

Chuck, just wanting to see good side by side, slide em in OPEN WHEEL RACING.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Based on fan feedback regarding all types of open wheel racing that I've read on here over the years. It seems that the fan has had a satisfying evening at the track when the following happen:

1. Lots of cars show up ( not a lot of classes)

2. They witness close competitive racing

3. The show moves along quicky and is completed by a reasonable hour

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

One of the problems you have today with midgets is that you have so many Sprint Cars that a track does not have to have midgets come in for a night or a as a support class. They are not going to pay the midgets what they pay the sprints.

While production engines have changed in the last 10 years, one of the big reasons that they wanted to get away from steel blocks is because when they where broken, they where pretty much useless.

20 plus years ago I would sit and listen to my dads buddies who where all what would be called "Old Timers". They all complained about how much racing cost and how it had changed and it wasn't as good as it was before. The awful amounts of money being spent on the VW motors($10,000) and the wide tires where killing the sport. I too would go around saying those things and thinking that the midgets where on the verge of extinction and we needed to save them.

Flash forward to today and it's still the same topics. The entire sport has gone up and down some since then, but there is still plenty of midget racing going on and in many ways the sport has gotten easier and cheaper. Personally, I think that the 8" wheel deal and all of that is pie in the sky dreams as far as making older cars more competitive or evening up the playing field. Right now, you can use a '94 Stealth and a 2000 or newer motor and race well enough to win or run in the top 5 in any dirt midget club in the country, including USAC. Granted,depending on the track in some cases, but that is possible. Eventually though,the best teams will always come to the top. I'd be fine with ribs and Double Diamonds, but the best will rise to the top.

Personally, I don't know what the amount of cars where then(60's,70's,80's) they did get bigger car counts the Hut and T-Nite, but is that because there where more cars or was it because the racers where more willing to travel?

I would say that there are more midgets today than anytime except for the 50's, but they do race less. I feel that some of that is due to the Chili Bowl only owners and some of that is because sprinters are the flavor today and have always been a somewhat easier type of car to race. In days gone by, people where fools to tempt the fate of the Sprint Car gods and midgets where thought of as safer, but today many don't even think that sprinters are dangerous.

One thing for sure, the quality of cars and equipment at every level and class have never been better.

As far as a second or two a lap goes, you will often lose that in a nights racing anyway. As far as what the fan wants to see, that often changes. I don't know about anyone else, but I can sure tell the difference between a T.Q.,Kenyon Car Focus or IRS race and a standard midget race. Not saying that I haven't seen good races in all of those classes, but the difference is pretty obvious.

The IRS is a good idea and it fits much of what people are saying they want. Why would you want USAC to change and resemble IRS when the IRS already exists. Instead of wanting USAC to change, change where you race or adopt their ideas and start a series.

If USAC is to be critisized and hung in the county square for changing the Silver Crown Series because they sold the owners out, how can we then say it's alright to completely change the midget series in much the same way hanging out most of the current owners? Not only selling out owners who competed at over 90 percent of their events, but doing so to make another group of owners happy who readily admit that they will not or can not compete at all of their events.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I think the midget racing I saw this year was as good as any I've ever seen.

I don't think the problem is so much the expense of cars or whatever as just a lack of series to race with. POWRi is as good as ever. Badger is down (but for what reason I'm not sure...?). A big problem was when NAMARS folded...and that obviously wasn't because of a lack of competitors or fans, right? I really think that put a big hit on the pavement side of midget racing, and it took away a great place for guys to race that wasn't the "USAC National Championship."

Could something like that come back to life?

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Thats it, Namars folded and since then we've had next to nil midget racing. Many of them teams don't even exist anymore.

Leaders Edge says... Its about the same to run a sprint car so, why not? and you have a ton more options. I can see that. too.

I've been both dissapointed and very pleased at recent midget shows. Mulit consis ect are not needed to make a good show but some competiton just to make the show is a factor in what makes a race better or worth traveling too. .

I mentioned several times the 305 limited nw sprints I seen about ten years ago and to me, they were as exciting as the full ups. Except for Qualifying, the amount of speed really doesn't matter unless its crawling slow like some of the dry slicks I've seen.

Best of luck
Chuck

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

Double Post

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I will say this one last thing; I honestly do not have a problem with change in the sport and I do believe that on some level there may be some alternatives to the motors we run today. I do not however believe we need a sealed motor or a central engine czar. Whatever that alternative may be still needs to be based on a platform that allows it to be easily doable for all involved and it needs some diversity because the midgets have always appealed to people who do not necessarly conform to what everyone else is doing. Today we have many different choices when it comes to engines. I would hate to see that go away.

As far as the competition level goes, I personally do not believe that it has ever been higher as far as quality or quantity. Across the country. There are reasons for that and it's not just big pocket books.

Jason, all of the clubs did basically band together and they broke USAC and the starter rule. Guys like me who had them where not allowed to use them at any other event besides USAC. To me, that was rediculious to not allow a starter/clutch unit, but that is what happened and now they are gone. Maybe if everyone who says they want rules like what IRS offers would go and run with them, then USAC may have to change their rules to match.

Re: Financial Adviser's Phone Number Please?
 

I don't think myself or anyone else suggested rules like IRS. I think IRS is doing an excellent job at accomplishing what they want. I wish them success.

I stated a production block rule. You could get a stock block have it machined with a nice forged crank, nice rods, and good pistons for thousand less than a today's racing short block. A lot of production blocks are aluminum and could be repaired. If not throw it out and go get another from the bone yard. You watch. IF Honda is let in the door they are going to be extremely competitive with stock production parts. Midget engines were always interesting because they were all different. Like drakes, v8 60's, elto's, even continentals. That was part of it. Now what do you have? A hand full of specialty built race motors. Real interesting there.

As far as the 8" rule. That would make a huge difference. I don't care what compound tire you have. The motors would be way less effective. Period.

These are just my opinions. I think it's time for change. I don't want to see anyone get hung out on what they have but some stuff should start getting filtered out.

Oh and I can tell ya this. My uncle bought a brand new VW in the 80's for $3500. By the time it was in the car it was close to $5000. The motor had 38 races on it before it had to come out of the car. How many motor today can go 38 races?

Jason