New to Crate Late Models

Last year, I decided to make the switch from asphalt road course racing to dirt late models. I live in the East TN area and road race tracks aren't very close and few to choose from. I grew up as a kid watching dirt late models and always thought I would like to race them someday. Last fall I did the Dale McDowell dirt school and it was certainly eye opening just how vastly different they drive compared to what I was used to. While I was looking for a chassis, I started reading up anything I could and talk to local racers about their experiences too.So I sold my road race corvette and recently bought an 06 Rocket and will be using the 604 crate motor. Power wise will be roughly the same as I used in my vette but the weight of these cars are about 1,000 lbs less. I have a local racer that is helping me build my car and helping me get started in it. I plan to start racing locally and see how it goes... I've only turned about 50 laps on dirt so far and none in a race yet. I have to say, it's a bit intimidating to start out new with all the setup choices to make on a late model, much more than I'm used to. None of my family has any racing experience so I'm making new ground for sure!So for those that started out new on dirt or late models, what was the toughest aspect to learn when it came to racing? What did you struggle with the most starting out? The tracks that I plan to start on will be Crossville Raceway, Boyd's Speedway, Cleveland Raceway, 411 Motor Speedway, Smoky Mtn Speedway and maybe a couple others. I'm going in with no expectations and just learn and have fun to see where I fit with all the other drivers. Thanks for any advice.

You listed 5 tracks that you plan to start racing at. That's about 4 too many. In my opinion, you need to pick a track that is wide and racy to hone your skills there for as long as it takes to not be in the way and then branch out to other tracks.
Start with a good baseline setup and learn to drive the car without making a bunch of changes through the night. You're not going to set the world on fire your first night out so there isn't really much point in tuning to run up front YET. If you start changing things on the car while you are still in a steep learning curve, it's only going to confuse you and you'll never get the muscle memory down. Plus as a new driver to dirt late models, you likely will think there is something wrong with the car just because it isn't comfortable and then tune yourself out and start developing bad habits behind the wheel to compensate for a car that isn't right. So start with the baseline setup from Rocket for that car. If it doesn't seem right, let someone else drive it once to make sure...it might just be you :-)
The hardest part for me starting out was racing in slick track conditions. Any space monkey can drive on a hooked up fast track but it takes a lot of patience to slow down your corner entry like you need to on a slick track. And throttle control coming off the corners is EVERYTHING on a slick race track. Even with a crate motor. It takes a lot of guys years to figure this out or for somebody to inform them that pitching the car sideways and spinning the tires all the way around the track isn't fast.
Since you have prior racing experience, you should be much better off than somebody that's never been in a race before in terms of judgement and decision making as a driver.
Best of luck to you!

Thanks for the tips Matt. I should've been a little more descriptive in my OP. I have those tracks listed that I plan to race at, but I will first be racing only at Crossville until I see improvement in myself. It's my home track and it's a decent late model track. One thing I learned at road racing is that the driver is typically the worst part of the car. So the guy that is helping me setup the car initially has done very well at Crossville in the past and knows how to get around there pretty well. So if things aren't going good, I will know it's me that I need to work on lol.

Just like Dale showed you for slick....learn where to let off and roll into the corner as hard as you can on the right front to the center. Let the car do the work, your steering should be minimal when your feet are doing the right things.

Be prepared for a wild ride if you venture to 411 without quite a bit of seat time. That place is a tight little bull ring. It takes a lot of confidence in yourself and your car to be fast at a place like that. Smoky mountain is a great track though. Plenty big enough so you can stay out of the way if need be.

Thanks for the replies. Since I last posted, I was able to get in 4 races before the year was over. Here's a small summary of how those went...

1st race was at Spring City Raceway which is a really tight bullring but since the year was winding down, there was only one other late model there that night... which was good so I could get in some practice time. I was certainly off the pace of the other driver (found out later, he was the points champion of this track for 2013) but I learned alot. Also found that my J-bar was completely lose and flopping around which was causing the car to rock hard back and forth and was really upsetting the car in the turns. After that, we did a much better bolt check after each race.

2nd race was at North Georgia Speedway for the big $5,000 to win crate race. 31 cars showed up and I was certainly a little overwhelmed with the competition. Especially since Ray Cook was there, and was one of the guys that helped me at Dale's driving school. I qualified 28th overall which put us near the rear of the heat. We had the car way too loose for the track as it was very slick. But I liked it that way, but just needed more time in the car to get the feel of my throttle modulation. We ended up running in the B main but didn't make the cut to run the A main by 2 cars. I was a little disappointed, but the car was in one piece and got alot of good experience.

3rd race was back at Spring City and this time 12 cars made the call. I was able to qualify 5th out of those and was about 3 tenths off of the pole. I didn't feel that I even put a good lap down so I was encouraged by that. We didn't run heats and only ran the feature. Lots of wrecks to start the race caused us to line up single file to get it going. I was involved in one of the intial cautions when I got turned in turn 1 and a fellow driver ran up over my nose. Only damage was just sheet metal so I was able to continue. I made a couple of runs to pass 4th place but settled for a 5th place finish. All in all, it was a solid night.

Last race of the year was at Cleveland Speedway for "The Gobbler". 34 crate cars signed up and we only got 1 lap for qualifying. I didn't really get the lap I wanted and only made it to 28th. So we had to start near the rear of our heat race and had to finish 6th or better to make the feature (no B main). It was a rough race as we tore up our body but was able to make a last lap pass on a car going into turn 3 to finish 6th and make it into the feature. Started 23rd for the feature and early on, rode the low line to move up 3 positions and that's when the car started to get really hot. The leaders were passing us at this point so I trying to make sure I didn't mess up their race when I lost the car in the middle of turns 1 and 2. It was really hot at this point and thought about just pulling in, but the caution was long enough to cool it down some and I stayed on the track to salvage an 18th place finish. Nothing great, but I learned so much and had a blast doing it! Also found that the motor fan I have is not near big enough and will be getting the fan that most of the crate guys are running from GM. Also, I have too much timing in my motor and we're going to back it off a couple of degrees so we should be ready to go for 2014.


So, we just finished getting a new body on the car, will be installing the new fan soon, and changing out the old valve springs for the new beehive springs with new GM rocker arms. I will mostly be running at Crossville Raceway next year and I'm getting everything ready for the first practice session which will be held in late March.

WOW !!!! so much for take it easy and learn at 1 track...Sounds like your on a quick learning curve but having fun.....Good luck in '14....

lol, well my home track was already closed for the year by the time I got my car ready last season. But we did go test last weekend at 411 Motor Speedway and it went pretty well. Got a few adjustments to make as we will be running another practice day at Crossville Raceway this coming weekend.

I know I still have plenty to learn and need tons of seat time, but I feel much better now that I have a few races under my belt. I got a video that I need to upload soon and I'll post it here when I do.