Owners and Promoters--Want to Kill Your Show? Traction Control!

FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING KARNAC's FLORIDA STOCK CAR RACING
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So, in the shadows it seems that traction control is slowly wrapping its boring grip around short track racing.

Like a ghost, it is hard to spot, masking itself as a car that is simply “hooked up”.

It is also reportedly hard to check for, and for some reason, while compression and weight and all that are routinely checked, traction control is something that some seem to deal with via “denial”. That is, they pretend it is not there.

It produces boring, follow the leader, NASCAR cookie-cutter-track-like racing.

That will not sustain a good fan base, I gar-on-tee. Fans like cars coming out of the turns sideways–you know, like the modifieds used to years ago with less motor.

I will wager even the drivers don’t like it, but they like losing to someone who has it even less.

So, NSS, Auburndale, Desoto, Showtime, & Citrus, for the common good, both your own and for the Sport, please consider taking action of some sort. Possibly something to try to solve collectively. If it goes well, common ground regarding other issues would also be a good thing, again for all, down the road.

And thank you, in advance, for that consideration.

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A couple of latemodel shows back Jessie Dutilly handled flawlessly at Desoto.The race was run during the daylight and everyone else was so sideways coming off turn four they were waving hello to their crew members back in the pits.Not ,Dutilly. Now I’m not back in the pits anymore and I hate to accuse anybody of anything but man the difference was so obvious in the way he handled like he was on a rail you just know something is being done that probably a little hokey.I like Dutilly but you just have to feel something is being done to tilt the playing field when you see something like that.

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Interesting thread…

It is like tire soaking. Many racers say that it cannot be detected, but I disagree. I looked into this quite a bit a few years ago, and it can be found. True, it may take more advanced tools in tech than just a tape measure and an old flashlight, but it can be done. The point is, if no one is looking, then nothing will be found. Nothing is undetectable.

Does any track have the interest in their show to go after traction control?

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Anybody remember Fritz Augustine? This guy was one of the most feared tech men in the country. He teched for Hooters Pro Cup and 5 flags for a long time. If it wasn’t right Fritz would find it. Here is an article we had on Fritz’s retirement and the radio interview. At about 9:40 in the interview he has some good comments about traction control. Fritz Augustine “The Top Cop”

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Years ago guys would figure out so many ways to get around the rules it was laughable. When I started racing my dads buddy who had owned cars for years told me one night “build two cars and paint them just alike that’s when you really have fun”. Now being nineteen at the time I had no idea what he meant.My dad told me on the way home, he was saying build one legal and the other one all illegal and after they tech the legal one they won’t look to hard at the one that’s not.And back then if you were a regular they didn’t.

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Traction control comes in many forms, and is very difficult to find. Tracks and Tech guys have been looking for 15 years, and relatively few have been caught nationwide.
It’s not a lack of interest in stopping it, it’s the difficulty in finding it.

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Let’s Assume We Can Fix This

This is like not being able to catch your wife with your buddy and thinking everything is fine.

Tracks>>This is not helping the show, revenue, or fan count.

Competitors>>This is expensive and will continue to be so. If you don’t keep up you will lose, period. Is that really what it is all about? Electronics?

So, I will assume most want to “fix this”.

It seems to me that the First Thing is: Taking Actionable Steps Intended to Stop The Problem.

I have a few suggestions, all brainstorming, none solutions per se, all intended to be a starting point for ideas better than my own.

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1# Dog Simple Ignitions

>Mandate Points, if necessary. They float at 5k? Tough.

>Or, mandate a one wire self contained HEI–IF those cannot be compromised.

If they can…

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#2 Track Provided Ignition

The competitors would have to pay a significant “rental” fee.

Distributors and/or boxes would be handed out prior to qualifying, immediately following the race would be run.

>Presumably a track supplied 12 volt wire would be run from the battery to the system.

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#3 The NASCAR Method

Don’t know what the hell is going on? Hit them stupid-hard in their wallet if you catch them.

Have “Claimer” races. $500 from a (also tested) lead lap car buys the motor in an illegal car.

Let them run whatever they want. Post race, check the timing. Put in a track supplied locked distributor and system and check the timing again.

If the car cannot run within “x” amount of their race average or qualifying time, or clearly handles differently by breaking the tires loose trying to run that time, the motor is up for Claim.

Check The Top Three, or do a invert style draw to determine who in the top ten gets checked, a random pick, Promoter’s pick, some method to determine who goes under “The Test” after the race.

If this happened somewhere, in some class, at one of the “Big Five” tracks every week, it wouldn’t take long until they ditched traction control on their own.

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Now, all of those are probably flawed, but saying “yes but…” without a solution, again, is like saying:

“Have a nice time honey, nothing I can do here”.

Where there is a Will, there is a Way.

Remember, this is intended to provide good racing, cheap racing, fair racing, and racing with the tracks in control, not to be a negative in any fashion.

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[QUOTE=Rick Anges;171044]Anybody remember Fritz Augustine? This guy was one of the most feared tech men in the country. He teched for Hooters Pro Cup and 5 flags for a long time. If it wasn’t right Fritz would find it. Here is an article we had on Fritz’s retirement and the radio interview. At about 9:40 in the interview he has some good comments about traction control. Fritz Augustine “The Top Cop”
[/QUOTE]

I remember him well. One night he found our carburetor illegal in tech, he told us if I see it again I will take it. Low and behold we put it on the car at Lakeland the following season because we where struggling that weekend. We won the race and he did as promised, took it off, and hit it with a small ballpene hammer right in front of us then gave it back. He said I know I won’t see it again now. He was very fair and not a a$$hole about it.

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I heard a couple of sportsman at NSS is running traction control maybe when they have a big race Ricky will catch them .if they are caught they need to be penalties and punishment .

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Does Traction control help the car roll IN to the corner as well?

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Just look at the time sheets, if every laps is within a tenth there is a good chance the car has TC.

We have heard that a strong earth magnet run over the box will kill the engine if it has TC.

A modified that had its MSD box removed and purchased by the track was found to have TC by the manufacture. The track told the owner not to come back and it was dropped.

Have a claimer rule on the box and distributor or the track can purchase for replacement cost. It will get real expensive for the team with the TC, it should take care of the problem.

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Old school

[QUOTE=OldSchool+;171041]So, in the shadows it seems that traction control is slowly wrapping its boring grip around short track racing.

Like a ghost, it is hard to spot, masking itself as a car that is simply “hooked up”.

It is also reportedly hard to check for, and for some reason, while compression and weight and all that are routinely checked, traction control is something that some seem to deal with via “denial”. That is, they pretend it is not there.

It produces boring, follow the leader, NASCAR cookie-cutter-track-like racing.

That will not sustain a good fan base, I gar-on-tee. Fans like cars coming out of the turns sideways–you know, like the modifieds used to years ago with less motor.

I will wager even the drivers don’t like it, but they like losing to someone who has it even less.

So, NSS, Auburndale, Desoto, Showtime, & Citrus, for the common good, both your own and for the Sport, please consider taking action of some sort. Possibly something to try to solve collectively. If it goes well, common ground regarding other issues would also be a good thing, again for all, down the road.

And thank you, in advance, for that consideration.[/QUOTE]

You knew this would get my attention. Before you can catch cheating you must have a tech man willing to get down and dirty and be non biased. You need a tech man who can ask…hey why is your wiring harness that big or actually know the schematic and trace all the wires. At 9, 10 or 11 pm they have to be willing to hold a few cars and work a little late. I agree that every track should mandate the type of box ( No Black Daytona boxes, or gold msd’s) and have 5 brand new ones ready to swap out with the suspects. But the biggest thing is to enforce findings…Not give wavers because you are a legend or well liked in the community. Your tech man has got to be backed by the track and his say be final…Pay a tech man well if he is indeed a good tech man.

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I think

That he may be a dying breed. Other than one stand out. Tech sucks in central Florida…period.

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Doug,

Do you think it would be helpful for a group of racers to put together (in writing) some information to help the tech men know exactly what to look for?

It seems to me that as soon as you have a separate box it is a slippery slope.

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“Tech sucks in central Florida…”--OWM53

Well, it is a thankless job. Racers by nature are rebels and do not like to have their stuff picked apart, much less DQd.

And the tech guys cannot possibly like being looked at as “bad guys”.

So it is not exactly a birthday party regardless.

BUT, currently it would seem to be possible to be DQd for a weight (or etc) infraction, while the guy that inherits the win has undetected traction control.

Still, beyond all of that is the issue of what it does to the racing, which is dumbs it down and makes it less interesting.

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…I beg to differ :slight_smile: