How does a Motor Program work?

Experienced 4m'ers... I was having a few beers with some friends last night and we got on the topic of motor programs, specifically for the national drivers.Anyone really know how it works or the breakdown? Its hard to imagine they buy 5-6 NEW engines a year which would be around 250k.. what do they do? We figured they probably buy a few new and get others refreshed/rebuilt. But we really dont know. How much does the engine program cost a year for the national guys? Take a major sponsor out of the equation. Just curious. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to respond with a breakdown.

It really depends on the motor builder. Some have lease programs that are based on a fee + a % of winnings. It also depends on who you are. What series if any your running. There is different plans with different builders. Your question really is not easily answered. If your running up front consistently the motor builder wants his name right below that air cleaner covering 1/3 of that hood. If you've had a couple bad seasons they will be looking elsewhere.

While no one can be sure they are 100% accurate, I'm pretty confident the following is true for most situations out there now:

1. The days of leasing an engine for a % of the winning has been over for a long time now. Years ago if you where a good racer and someone that took care of engines and didn't try to limp one to a finish, then some builders would lease you one for a % of the winning. It was still fairly rare for this to happen with a really well know engine builder but did happen from time to time with the right racers. Typically the engine builder supplied the engine at no cost to the racer and in turn they got around 40% of the winnings, sure this varied with the type and expense of the engine required for that type of racing.

2. Pretty much today, no major engine builder sponsors whole engines out to a racer. Sure they are a few that might be on a parts deal only, meaning they pay for the parts and the labor is done for free but that is about as good as a deal as your going to get now a days. With the cost of engines today being anywhere from 32K to 55K for a complete engine, those great deals of part cost only is still costing around 26K in just parts for a new engine. That 26K in parts was a while back and not a wide bore engine.

3. Most large teams have a min of 2 engines per car, so one can be in the car at all times and one as a back up and the other that is likely out to be freshened so there is always a spare. So most that carry 2 cars on a large touring org are going to have around 3 to 4 engines at least. There is always exceptions to this for smaller budget teams and what not.

4. Laps before freshing: Really depends on the engine, but typically your going to see around 1200 laps as the freshen point on a new engine, but some engines go farther on laps like the Duram fords can go as far as 2000 laps. Typically a freshen on an engine that didn't break is around 8K to 15K on costs, with it usually being towards the lower end unless it needs more hard parts replaced do to being freshened once before.

That's a rough idea on how some of the engine stuff is.

I've often wondered about this. Thanks for all the answers guys.

Thanks guys!

My program is real simple, I pay for everything,I put it together,I race it.

I got the same deal....how's that working for you?

I remember Ford had a deal with certain racers back in the day. Ford would supply a block and heads free but the customer had to pay for assembly. It was 2 a year IIRC. The other was Ford told you who could build them as the parts were sent to the builder. At that time it was Cornett, Hampshire, And Malcuit.