We had “illegal” crossmembers. I just had my car clipped and as God is my witness, there are absolutely no modifications on that crossmember. It’s exactly as Lefthander builds them. The center was removed and replaced with 1x2 tubing…just like every other car in the class. We were told that it was “too high” which allowed for a more suspension travel. (That would be true if we didn’t have stock lowers in stock locations that limit that “advantage”)
I spoke with several other drivers in that class and everyone of them said their cars were exactly the same way. If not the oil pan won’t clear and your crank height would be measured with a yard stick
And from the “who gives a shit” department: I’ve been racing since the late '70’s and this is the first time, ever in any class at any track for any reason I’ve ever been DQ’d. I want to win at least as bad as the next guy, but if I can’t beat 'em fair then I’d rather run second or stay home. 'nuff said.
Steve, How come the other 4 cars were not DQed then? And if the crossmember is chopped out and replaced with 1X2 tubing isn’t that a “Modification”? Watch out for the Lightening Bolts from GOD!!
P.S. Just bustin’ your Balls. I’d be pissed too! LOL!
the rules don’t say you can’t modify the crossmember, and the other cars weren’t teched; had they been they would have been thrown out as well. The 111 (Donnie Williams) passed, but I spoke to other drivers and they said their crossmember was the same as mine.
The thing that slays me is I don’t think there is an advantage if the stock lowers are in stock location. Pretty sure I’m right on that, but someone smarter than me will have to verify.
We have to weld 1x2 square tubing on the bottom of the cross member. Not sure what I’m going to do. The 71 said he was done with NSS. Not sure about the rest of the cars.
It’s not like welding the 1x2 is a big deal, it obviously isn’t. It’s the point that they seem to be just looking to throw guys out. Like I said, I’ve been through that tech line countless times and my cross member is exactly the same and never a word was said.
The attitude is like a small town sheriff trying to demonstrate who’s boss…“this is my town” kinda of thing. I get the letter of the law, but a little common sense would go a long way. The drivers and fans are the customers of that business, NSS (and all tracks) need to remember that or people will find something else to do or somewhere else to race.
Here at NSS the rules only apply to the OUTSIDERS! If you only race at NSS ,you will never be tossed out. However if you stray just once,lookout. Eveyone that has a old limited car has the cross member replaced. Its time for NSS to read some other rulebooks and make them match the rest of the state. Can you say Desoto Speedway
I understand and in fact support strict adherence to the rules. If everyone in the class knows what to expect and the rules are fairly and uniformly enforced it’s better for everyone.
But there is also common sense; the letter of the law vs. the spirit of the law. Case in point; my lower control arm was bent in the crash at the end of the 50 lapper a few weeks ago. I wanted to put a new one on, I couldn’t find one! So I had it repaired. technically that breaks the rule that says a lower control arm must be stock and not be modified…that’s the letter of the law.
The spirit of the law is the lower can’t be modified to gain an advantage. Did my repaired lower gain me an advantage? no, it simply allowed me to be able to race.
I get that calls like that are tough to make because to some degree the tech guys are having to judge intent and that is always subjective.
The bigger picture issue is how long can a stock front clip class survive? It’s getting harder to find parts and they are more expensive. When I called Lefthander to have a clip sent to me, they had NONE! Zero, zilch, nadda, goose egg! Same thing for lowers… I’m not a Rhodes scholar but even I can read that handwriting.
No matter what, it was a really good race… Steve, you had that thing really getting a bite off the corners…
We sure needed you (and several others) at SpeedWorld Friday… None of the tracks running Sportsman got a good field this week…
Heard tons of “excuses” this week that definitely means we are getting into the summer months… “Graduation,” “wedding,” “out of town,” “dog sick” etc…
Hey Steve, you can get brand new camaro lowers (and all kinds of stock spindles too) from www.cmwraceparts.com . The owner, Larry, is a good guy and used to run the parts truck at the, now gone , Riverside Park Speedway. Howe still sells the stock Camaro clips with all the work done. Cheapest way to get one of those clips is off of www.craigslist.org . There’s always a couple of them on there. The stock clip rule is a touchy subject. While I think we will eventually need to go to a fab clip one day, the rules need to be specific. They will need to be the exact copy of the Camaro clip with all the mounting points in the exact same location. If ANY tube clip is allowed it will open up a can of worms with NASCAR type “drop snouts”, computer designs and whatever else people come up with. There are huge handling advantages that can be gained in this area. Making people feel they need to reclip their cars with expensive specialized fab pieces to be competitive will make people park their cars.
[QUOTE=ancrdave;146006]No matter what, it was a really good race… Steve, you had that thing really getting a bite off the corners…
We sure needed you (and several others) at SpeedWorld Friday… None of the tracks running Sportsman got a good field this week…
Heard tons of “excuses” this week that definitely means we are getting into the summer months… “Graduation,” “wedding,” “out of town,” “dog sick” etc…[/QUOTE]
Thanks…I tried to make it as OSW is one of my favorite tracks, but the 'ole girls wasn’t quite ready and after putting a new clip on needed to make sure there were as few variables as possible. Lord willing and the creek don’t rise I won’t miss any more!
Good intel, thanks I’ll try them today for the lowers. As for the fab front clip I agree with everything you said. But a few measurements for mounting points and that issue can be easily policed. A fab clip is significantly cheaper now vs. a stock clip. Lefthander cost was $1,050 shipped to my door. Then I still had to pay someone to put it on.
I talked to the techman at NSS. He says, even though the rulebook states the only allowed modification to the front clip is cutting a box out for fuel pump clearance, he realizes that a lot of Sportsman are now old LLM cars (like mine) and he will allow the center of the crossmember to be replaced with 1" box tubing AS LONG AS EVERYTHING IS IN THE STOCK LOCATION AS THE STOCK CAMARO (namely the lower control arm mounting points and the lower edge of the middle of the crossmember). He said to put a straight edge along the bottom of the crossmember and measure to the middle of LCA bolt. If it’s 3 1/2 inches (+ or - 1/8" ) you are good to go. If not, then weld box tubing to the bottom of the CM until it measures 3 1/2 inches and you’re legal.
Camaro clips are not hard to find. It’s just a lot of dirty work to clean them up and then the elbow grease to put in the upper control arm mounts, jack bolts and box out the fuel pump.
Yea like removing the carb washers from the carb studs before installing the gasket, spacer and carb!!! Took ole Dummy David what about 30 seconds to figure that one out! Even a Rocket Scientist (and 1 was present) couldn’t figure it out!!!LOLOL!!!
, Riverside Park Speedway. Howe still sells the stock Camaro clips with all the work done. Cheapest way to get one of those clips is off of