[Mulvaney]

any advice for a rookie? i have never driven a mini sprint or any other race car as a matter fact but i just got 2 doemelt mini sprints from harry hyde one is a 900 kaw and the other is a 1200 bandent.. i plan on running at thundervalley raceway in the next couple weeks with the 900 just wandering if there were any exp racers willing to give any good advice on shocks,gears, tracks, or any other info really looking forward to racing. my uncle works for eric davis who did run at lawrenceburg but they haven,t raced in a couple years and they raced full size sprints so that wasn,t much help. any info will be greatly apreciated. thanks

[TQ29m]

If your planning on going to the fairgrounds dirt track, better call Mason Fleetwood, or his dad, Don, at DASCO, and see what the rules are, Doemelt was good stuff, but long outa the racing business, either or neither may fit the rules, and coming from Harry Hyde, has to be old, altho most of their left over stuff, did go to his neck of the woods. Unless the belts have been recently replaced, that would be a good place to start, find out what their rules are on them. You can find the Fleetwoods number on Twin Cities web site. Bob!

[darnall]

I can't help you with specific setups but heres the best advice any rookie can ever get.....

1) Make sure you have the car pointed the direction you want and stand on it...when I say pointed I mean holding your line..don't try to run half throttle all the way around, light that candle comin off the corner and keep it there as long as you are comfy...

2) The best advice for any rookie....GET A BASELINE SET-UP and stick with it for a year....don't adjust anything other than tire pressure and maybe wheel spacing...Until you as a driver get to the point that you can push the car hard and run a consistent line for 20 laps...until you are able to alter your line or driving style to compensate for track conditions...until you are comfortable running different lines on different track conditions....you will see absolutely no benefit in changing bars and shocks all the time. Actually you will make your learning curve considerably longer if you are always changing the suspension while you are still learning how to drive. When you get to the point that you can feel what the track is doing..finding traction or finding slick spots, and you are able to drive thru them effectively, thats when you can start tinkering with your set-up....thats when you will actually know if a set up change helped or hurt.

3) Throw away the cockpit adjustors.....this goes along with number 2.

4) Ask lots of questions...but don't react to every answer you hear...I promise you that there will be at least one guy out there, a guy who runs 8th every night, that will tell you something to the effect of "YOU HAVE GOT TO HAVE A .725 BAR IN THE RIGHT REAR AT THIS TRACK" or "IF YOU DON'T HAVE REBOUND ADJUSTABLE FRONT SHOCKS YOU WON'T BE FAST"....this guy means well and believes what hes telling you but he has no idea what your car consists of set-up wise...there has never and will never be one particular change that made every ill handling car drive like a Cadillac.

5) HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At all costs have fun...in order to do this you have to set reasonable goals...you will not win your first night, theres a good chance you won't win your first year, so don't get discouraged when you don't. Notice and applaud yourself for small gains, the first time you make the A feature, the first time you don't get lapped in the feature, the first time you win or run top 3 in a heat race, etc, etc...Expect to bend some stuff but every time you do learn from it and try to avoid the same situation in the future...

6) Breathe!....until you drive an open wheel car on dirt you have no idea what kind of physical demand it places on you. Learn to relax and breathe cause you will be working your ass off trying to keep the car under you and adrenaline can make you hold your breath for periods of time which can cause quicker physical and mental fatigue...


Oh yeah.....HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!

[Mulvaney]

thanks guys for all the info i am very excited and looking forward to racing.. i talked to bill may (mmsa) he said that the cars i am getting were ran in his series couple years ago. as far as belts and stuff that is piddly stuff. i am pretty sure i got all the rules down. one of these car is legal and ready to run, the other needs the engine changed i have 5 extra 600cc i am going to be puting in it as my wife is also going to be joining the series. so if anyone needs a bandet oil cooled 1200 i will have one for sale. we have been around fullsize sprints a long time. always wanted to race just never had the time, i am also in a band that just recently decided to take a break so now its race time. so thanks for the info good or bad we are just here to have fun family time
thanks
TJ mulvaney

[DAD]

Come on out and don't be afraid to ask questions. We have run with the mmsa for several years now, and have run almost every where else also. You won't find a better group any where to race with and have fun. Gary built one hell of a race car probably as good as most you will buy today he was way ahead of his time. I was woundering is this harry hyde related to the harry hyde of modified and then nascar fame (days of thunder). We race the #37 dad's muffler car look us up at the races.
Bill