I watched a couple heats, and what I took from it was that the engines are the problem. Even the cars that were running out front had some sickness in their engines. I think the engine rules need to be updated. Your running engines from the 1970's, and it is lots of work and money to cut a transmission off a motor that was designed to have a trans. Why do you have to conect right to the crank shaft?
If only the rule about having to go direct to the crankshaft were changed the entire world of TQ racing would benfit. Heres why. - The engines could be bought at a fraction of the cost TQ racers are spending now. You can get a complete engine kit for less than one of those down draft heads cost. (There are 2 2007Kaw 636s on E-bay right now for $650 buy it now) All you would need is to have the wiring harness cut (Jeff Barker $175) and a drive shaft coupler like mod lites, dwarf cars, and legend cars run. You can still run a drive shaft through the drivers legs, and to the quick change. You wouldn't need four wheelers anymore because now you would have a clutch and on board starters. Think about how much time it would save to be able to have all the cars start up and take off by them self. Plus not having to buy a 4-wheeler.
Look how many mini-sprints had motor problems. Very few.
If you could run a stock engine with the trans, you would see the engine problems go away and a whole lot more of the cars finishing the race. I think the TQ series up east runs engines like these and they are offset so that the drive shaft runs outside the car. Plus they some how have the rules to where 600 mini-sprints can run with them and that helps car count. I don't own a TQ, but if this rule was changed I would! I bet a bunch more people would also.