I thought it would be interesting to see how the wins were distributed this year.

Total races won:
esslinger 15
toyota 4
mopar 4
fontana 2
chevy 1

dirt races won:
esslinger 8
toyota 4
mopar 2
fontana 1
chevy 1

pavement races won:
esslinger 7
toyota 0
mopar 2
fontana 1
chevy 0

motor/team/driver breakdown:

toyota: wilke pak 4 wins with jerry coons jr 2 / josh wise 2
keith kunz 0 with cole whitt

fontana: rw/benic 1 win with brad kuhn
chuck gurney jr 1 win

mopar: kahne 3 wins with brad sweet
c&a 1 win with caleb armstrong

chevy: stewart 1 win with tracy hines

esslinger: fike 2 wins with darren hagen
santos 3 wins bobby santos
debeaumont 2 wins with bryan clauson
bci 5 wins with bryan clauson
east 2 wins with bobby east
kunz 1 win with kevin swindell

Here is my 2 cents, well maybe more. We have raced or tested esslinger, mopar w9, rp w9, hemi, ilmor rp w9, and an ed pink ford. With out question the esslinger takes off faster due to the gearing, 60 to 80 points lower. The hemi has more top end, however you have to crank it at least 9200 to be competitive with the esslinger. It runs good for a few laps at this rpm and then as Tj Domark stated, "the bottom falls out". The rp w9 is a nice little motor but again to be competitive you have turn a lot of rpm, again not good on a push rod engines valve train. (If you don't believe me ask k.kahnes team how many rpms they had to turn to win, then ask them how many motors they blew up!) The ed pink ford is a really driveable motor and qualifies well. However, it does not make enough power to pull out of line and pass anyone. One undeniable fact is that to compete with the esslingers the push rod motors are forced to turn unrealistic rpms at most of the usac races. Push rod motors will not live at these rpms. Not an opinion, a FACT based on our teams testing and racing this year.

Esslinger owners will argue that Toyota or Mopar have set track records and few other insignificant points. If you really look at the numbers there is no argument to be made. Esslinger has thoroughly dominated. If you look at the races won by the other manufacturers, almost all of them had special factors, rubber down, right against the fence, teams home track, super dead slick. Again not an opinion, a FACT, look at the results and you will see what I am talking about.

I don't know if this rpm limit is the best solution. However I do know that if usac does nothing to level the playing field, it will be an esslinger only series. I know our team as well as others will be switching to esslinger engines if the rules remain the same. It could be possible next year to see wilke and rw/benic as the only teams not using esslinger engines on the usac circuit. Is that really good for the sport???

Kevin Besecker