Bear

Winged vs. Non-Winged is another discussion all together. In the old days there was no discussion. It was wings or the highway. The only time we ever got to ran non winged around here back then was when we ran the Fun Fest at Lawrenceburg In. with the T/Q's. I guess you might say that Terry Eaglin turned us innocent winged racer into balls to the walls all out non winged racers, and that habit is hard to kick.

Seems that as the drivers got more experience they wanted to prove to themselves that they could race without the wings (or Training wheels as some racers called them) on top. Kinda of like a cumming of age thing I guess.

I have always been a wing supporter in the past. For racers just starting out they are both a crutch and a safety device. A crutch so that when they got in the turn just a little too fast that big old sideboard would catch the wind going sideways and prevent them from spinning out. A safety device so that when they did manage to catch someone's tire and flip the wing ate up a whole bunch of the crash energy on the first contact with the track and helped to prevent damage to the race car and driver.

Another Pro for wings was that Wings were also seen as a great equalizer between experienced and non experienced drivers. The fact that the wing helps to minimize driver error put the novice on a much more even footing against more experienced drivers.

Now the Cons. Wings require speed and Horsepower to work well. One reason the Mini-Lightning sprint lap time can match that of a 410 sprint car is that with the wing on we can carry so much more speed through the turns. The fact that we are so much faster in the turn and most driver mistakes are often made in the turns means that our crashes can sometimes be more spetcacular and may involve more cars. Since wings require speed to work well and since they generate more down force they also require more Horse Power, so on big race tracks a wing car with an extra 10 horsepower has a tremendous advantage over another lower powered race car. Those last 10 extra horsepower are very very expensive to purchase. This is when the cheater cheater phrase begins to be heard.

I feel that like you said wings do have a place in Mini-Lightning Sprint racing. What would be nice is to be large enough to have two divisions. One with wings for new racers, to allow experience to be gained while holding them to very strict engine and fuel rules. Such as fuel if gasoline is chosen to be furnished by the sanctioning body, or methanol with strict hydrometer test for everyone.

The other division could use a more lax engine rules perhaps even allowing other engine types to be allowed to compete thus maybe increasing the car count.

This class would be for the more experienced racer and might be given a different name such as ______________Midget. Quarter midgets have used different names for their different classes for years. Maybe we should be thinking about this as a way to include more racers.

In conclusion Bear If I were you I would not rule out non wing racing Mini-Lightning sprints just keep it an option. I am sure if you ask anyone who has ever raced a Non-Winged Mini-Lightnung sprint they would say:

Definitely different and Definitely Fun.

Honest Dad himself