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Prior to taking a sabbatical from sprint cars to run Indy cars exclusively (1977-1984), we only had one sprint car chassis while competing against roadsters and rear engine sprint cars. When USAC started running pavement again in the late 80s we were running part time with USAC (1987 & 1988) while running local shows, All Stars and WoO when they were close to home.
Towards the end of 1988 we converted a 87 Gambler dirt sprint chassis to run the pavement by installing a rear panhard rod, shortening the rear arms 2 inches, building a new front axle with coil over suspension and running much heavier brakes up front. Kevin "Pup" Huntley ran the car for us at IRP twice (his first two times on pavement) and finished 2nd and 3rd. This attacked the attention of Rich Vogler and a deal was struck to build a purpose built chassis for a Buick V-6 that Rich would provide.
We certainly cannot claim credit for being the first with purpose built chassis.
As far as the tire bill goes, at an average race we will use 2 sets of tires (RF, RR & LR). I believe the tire bill would be in the $1,000 to $1,200 range for the event. At the Little 500 practice/USAC race we used 3 sets all day so that would be in the $1,500 to $1,800 range. When you are racing for $5,000 to win it is :kookoo.
I would like to see a rule that you can run 1 new set of tires per pavement event. You can practice on used tires and install the new tires anytime during the event. This could be accomplished by stamping 1 set of tires for each team prior to hotlaps. The tires you have on the car (new or used) must always have a USAC seal/stamp.
This would even up the haves and have nots and may even increase the car counts if you can cut the tire bill in half to be competitive.
Thoughts???
Rob Hoffman
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