The Wheelman Series is a great series to be racing in and the competition is tuff. There are rumors (which we all love to hear) of changes in the rules for engines ( crate engine only ) , allowing rack and pinion steering, and going to a spec shock package. Why mess with a good thing? There is barely a tenth of a second between the 2nd and 15th qualifiers. sometime the best change is no change at all, how many times have we seen classes dissapere after to many changes?
Overall, I agree with you in theory.
But the crate is an exception. When you can contain engine costs to approx $3500, it’s a good thing.
And while strong, the Sportsman car count may go up.
Similarly, if the rules will get old late models out of mothballs, that too may increase car count.
Is that the goal? To bring old LM’s out of the barn and race them in the Wheelman series? Has that approach ever worked on a large scale? It is a logical idea, but I don’t recall good results. Most racers prefer shiny, new stuff, IMHO.
You can’t take a 3500$ stock Chevy crate and run competitively, try at least 6K$ if not more like twice that, that’s the biggest myth in racing today.
I’ll say this for the 5 to 100th time on here, anytime somebody wants a crate motor, mine is always forsale, right out of my car for $3,500. I have had 2 of them claimed out of my cars for that price, and I have sold another one for the same deal. You do not have to cheat them up to win, but you have to be 100% on your game to beat a good built motor car.
Patrick Thomas 25
Do you get them straight from Chevy and put them straight in without anything other than maybe a dyno run to get the most out of it legally, not from a “certified” engine rebuilder that has opened all the clearances up and so forth? If so freaking bravo, and I commend you. How much of all the super lightweight drive line stuff do you have to have to run competitive, all of it :-)?
Well, we are all trying to win and you ain’t outrunning Sean Bass with a horse and buggy.
It is (and always has been) up to the folks that write the rules to keep a limit on the “lightweight driveline stuff”.
But a $3,500 engine rule will result in more cars than a $10,000 and up rule.
I probably couldn’t with a bunch of horses in a buggy
You absolutely can do that in the sportsman class. I?ve won 3 of the 5 Wheelman races and my motor was ordered directly from GM.
Yes Lurkin, I as do all the cars that run up front, have the lightweight drive line parts, and light weight rotating weight parts. It?s been allowed for years, and almost every car capable of winning has them.
I buy all the crate motors I?ve had from Nesmith Chevrolet in Claxton Georgia, or from Jegs because they?ll price match anybody that has a crate motor on sale, and Jegs sells so many, you pretty much know you?re getting a fresh one.
The only thing you?re allowed to do to a crate motor is change to an inexpensive 7? deep sump oil pan. I haven?t dynoed one of my crate motors since an oil pump bolt fell out of the bottom of the oil pump cap and attached to the magnetic drain plug in early 2008. At the time we still had to run the stock 8.25? deep sump pan and I was told by Don Nerone the then series director I could take it to SOB ?Shop out Back? race engines to get it fixed. While there we dynoed it to try to find what it wanted for timing and carb spacers, and what octane fuel to run.
Patrick Thomas 25
I stand corrected.
Thanks
DJ do you support going to all crates or are you ok with how the rules are now?
Theoretically, their should be equality.
But if that is truly the case, who would spend three times as much + on a built motor?
Right now, they are about equal–IF–as mentioned, the crate car & driver are absolutely on their game.
And if the built motor guys find anything, then how long will it take for a weight rule to catch up?
Meanwhile, for a newbie or a returning oldbie, I would suggest if they even think that–
a) They cannot afford a built motor, and/or
b) They cannot outrun a built motor with a crate
–they will be far more likely to stay at the house than if they were all crate motors.
great wheelman race at Citrus last night, j/s
-jim-
Everything sounds great then, based on the last two responses, so why change?
It’s not broke
so don’t go fixing it.The Superlates on the other hand…
by the way
Jesse Henley won the Wheelman Sportsman feature at Citrus County Speedway last night Devin McLeod finished second.Twenty six cars started.
From the #1 qualifier to the 20th qualifier it was .3 tenths of a second.
How much closer can it be? Would changing the rules make it any tighter in qualifying?
26 cars started the race and other than the cars that pulled off the track I don’t believe any cars where lapped.
I will see all our fellow Sportsman as we return to Showtime on August 4th.