Duke,

Are car owners the only people allowed to have a opinion on this subject?

If so then what is the number of your car? If not, stop bringing it up to discredit other's opinions.

Rob Hoffman

ROB DO YOU HAVE A MOPAR DEAL OR DO YOU JUST LIKE TO OWN ONE? THE FANS DON'T HAVE TO PAY THE BILLS! I'VE BEEN THERE TOO! I'AM NOT DISCREDTING ANYBODY! YOU THINK YOUR THE ONLY ONE HERE THAT HAS ALL THE ANSWERS! YOU SHOULD QUIT RACING AND TAKE OVER USAC AND FIX IT!!!!!!!!:checkered:

Gotta love people that live in the past. Bob Walker said 1 time " If u have 1 foot in the past & 1 on the future ..your pissing on today"

Do you?

My answer is no, but I have owned a Midget and part of a Silver Crown Car.

Actually, I have to amend my answer; I often own parts of many sprint cars racing on a monthly basis, that is until my invoices are returned paid.(Hopefully)

Actually Dustbowl, the SB2 series of heads has been allowed in the midgets for years. We had an SB2-2 in the late 90's. It was a good head, and made great hp; but not as driveable as some of the others.

For a long time it was not legal for USAC use in the Sprints or Silver Crown, but they must have changed the rules for Silver Crown.

Super Duke do you really think that cutting the cubic inches is going to save money. There are guys still paying big dollars for 360s just about as much as the 410s. Champ car motors are no cheaper because they are 355s. The heads and the parts are where the money is at not the cubic inch. I for one think guys are wasting money on these 850 hp motors It may help them early but is killing them late in the night. I think they should just get rid of cubic inch rule period. Then a guy that is low budget can build cubic inch to compete with the high dollar 410s. As long as we keep hard tires on the rear and keep rules that keep the cars unhooked let them build all the hp they want. The key is tracks and organizations keeping rules where they can't hook up that much power. Then low dollar guys and high dollar guys are on the same playing field. If a guy wants to spend let him if a guy don't spend it he can still compete.

When the promoters in Indiana start seeing their car counts go down hopefully they will band together and use some of these idea's to keep guys in sprintcar racing. Until then I doubt it.:thumb

Very interesting discussion here. I have a little experience in this area, and I'd like to toss in my .02...

Those who claim that there is no room for an additional program in thier area are probably right. Those who claim that an additional program featuring lower cost of entry and greatly increased duty cycles would be a good thing, are probably also right. How do you get past this?

Design a product that fits in. You have a clean sheet of paper, after all. The technology available to us these days is so far out ahead of what we had when the small block chevy was concieved, that it will not be difficult to produce a product that could run with the 360 (not talkin' 410's). It would be a completely different spec, with completely different rules. Then the choice would be up to the competitors. They could continue to run an ASCS legal 360, perform their own service and not have to send thier engine anywhere. The downside to this would be the same as it already is - the engine would be on the expensive side, and duty cycles would be shorter.

The alternative would be the new-tech design. The advantage here would be lower cost of entry (good for building car count), longer duty cycles, and most likely less complexity and required service. The down side of course, is that when you DO have a problem, you have to send it in. Sending the unit to a supplier that is responsible for maintaining the specification is the ONLY way we know of to insure that the spec does not, little by little, get out of hand as we so often see happen. If you place that responsibility in the hands of a single entity, then it becomes that entities best interest to insure that the spec is maintained. When you let more than one entity perform service, the natural business forces of competition take over and the result is that you lose control of the spec. This is not to say that the "one entity" could not have more than one location, just that at the end of the day, the buck has to stop in one place...

Can it really work? Of course it can work. As Sprint and Midget fans, most of us don't look beyond our own form of racing but if you look out into the broader racing community this has been happening for quite a while. Boats, motorcycles, road racing.. you name it - almost every form of racing out there has already made the transition to modern technology. About the only classes left that I can think of that have not, are Sprint cars and tractors. Who will be last to drag their rulebook, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century?

So, the real question here is this - which is more important, preservation of our traditions, or growth in the future (some would argue SURVIVAL in the future...)?
My feeling is that as a sport we ultimately have no choice. We must preserve as much of our tradition as we can, while keeping our eyes open and embrcing the new technologies that can lower costs, and improve performance and reliability.

Sprint car engines featuring full engine management systems are coming to the sport. They WILL lower costs. They WILL increase participation by both competitors and by sponsors (because they will feature more relavant equipment). The organizations that will be most successful will be the ones with the testicular fortitude to stand up to those living in the past, without handing the farm to those living for the future. It's all about the TRANSITION - finding a way to include the new stuff without excluding the old stuff. It IS doable - if we can put a man on the moon we can figure out a way to run efi and mechanical 360's together.

Keith

Duke,

We do receive support from Mopar but don't think for a second that we are getting free engines or enough cash to build and maintain them. We run Mopar because I think right now they have the best engine available for our type of racing. We have in the past been on a Hoosier deal and gave it up to pay retail to get American Racers and been on an American Racer deal and gave it up to pay to get Hoosiers because we are about fielding the best car we can afford.

We ran Indy cars from 1973 until 1984 (as a field filler) but had to leave the series because we could not afford to keep up with the rising costs of that form of racing. We still wanted to race something so we found something that we could do within our threshold of financial pain. Just a guess but I don't think the series missed us very much after we were gone. They somehow managed to find a way to survive and prosper without us.

Just because many of the posters on here are fans and not owners or otherwise participants does not mean their opinions don't count. Again I have to disagree with you, the fans DO pay the bills. That is, if they come to the races and pay an admission fee, it is their opinion that I value more than anyone else's because without them we have no purse and no racing. I want to know what gets them excited about watching and make sure we deliver so that they can bring friends and relatives to the next race so that purses will be able to be increased.

I know that I don't have all the answers. That is why I am willing to listen to everyone's opinion no matter how I may feel about it. I especially value someone that provides facts to back up their opinions rather than their perception of a topic. Maybe if I listen carefully I will learn something that may help me in any future decisions regarding these matters.

I don't think so. I like to compete too much but thanks for the vote of confidence!

Rob Hoffman

i know that you can spend $50000 on a smailler engine thats not the point! Look at $50000 midget engines? This engine is built for the corvett all alum complete runs on alky! If you want to run your 410s put in 11to1 compression rule you wiill cut the cost of racing and put everbody on the same page just like this engine will do! For $5600 a year!!!!!!!

rob some would race cars without a purse or fans in the stands!
Most sprint car owners today hopes there kid will be the next jeff gordon! Tell me in usac and cra and the local tracks how many owners hire drivers?