Southern Ohio Speedway Issues Late Model Tech Bulletin

[Layne]

Southern Ohio Speedway Issues Late Model Tech Bulletin

WHEELERSBURG, OH-Upon receiving concerns that some cars were not conforming to certain body rules and taking further observations into the issue this week, H&L Motorsports ownership would like to release the following tech bulletin regarding the Late Model division.

All Late Models will now be going through a technical inspection on the cars bodies for the remainder of the 2011 season. All areas of the body are subject to inspection with special emphasis placed on the below body rules:

15.7 Body
E. The body line must be a smooth even line from front to rear.

15.7.6 Front Fenders, Fender Flares and Hood
A. The hood and the front fenders must be level and flat from the left to right side of the car.

15.7.10 Interior
E. If the interior deck drops the drop must begin at the rear of the engine plate with a maximum of 4” inches and must not drop below 4” inches rear of the hood. The start of the dropped interior must remain closed as part of the fire wall. The entire width must be closed off with sheet metal.

Absolutely no exceptions will be made on the above rules. Because the tech bulletin has been issued one week before the next scheduled Late Model event (August 19th), cars found in violation of the above rules will be deemed illegal and WILL NOT be allowed to compete until the car meets the above rules. All cars have been given a fair and timely warning so no accommodations will be made on a race night to allow a car in violation of the above rules to compete on that night.

H&L Motorsports is continuing to look into other potential body violations in both the Late Model and UMP Modified divisions. Further crackdowns will be initiated if necessary to get all cars within reasonable tolerances.

END OF BULLETIN

[t3r3e3]

Hmmmmmmmm... Wonder what prompted this?

Good move Layne, this was both the fair and correct call.

[28carrierfan]

is this because some people think Jackie is cheating?

[GameOver]

I say thats a great move

[UGROOVE1]

It's called "PLAY BY THE RULES"....and know the drivers and team owners know the rules to play by. No more- No less.....Go Racing!

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

is this because some people think Jackie is cheating?

think????????

[Bubba Smith]

think????????

I'm thinking.........

I'm thinking Jackie ain't the only one cheating......

[brsteg]

Southern Ohio Speedway Issues Late Model Tech Bulletin

15.7 Body
E. The body line must be a smooth even line from front to rear.

Then they're all illegal

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I'm thinking.........

I'm thinking Jackie ain't the only one cheating......

I'm sure he ain't. You have to at least address the easy stuff to find though. Don't get me wrong, I like Jackie. But they can't let that go.

[Cyberwhip]

Southern Ohio Speedway Issues Late Model Tech Bulletin

WHEELERSBURG, OH-Upon receiving concerns that some cars were not conforming to certain body rules and taking further observations into the issue this week, H&L Motorsports ownership would like to release the following tech bulletin regarding the Late Model division.

All Late Models will now be going through a technical inspection on the cars bodies for the remainder of the 2011 season. All areas of the body are subject to inspection with special emphasis placed on the below body rules:

15.7 Body
E. The body line must be a smooth even line from front to rear.

15.7.6 Front Fenders, Fender Flares and Hood
A. The hood and the front fenders must be level and flat from the left to right side of the car.

15.7.10 Interior
E. If the interior deck drops the drop must begin at the rear of the engine plate with a maximum of 4” inches and must not drop below 4” inches rear of the hood. The start of the dropped interior must remain closed as part of the fire wall. The entire width must be closed off with sheet metal.

Absolutely no exceptions will be made on the above rules. Because the tech bulletin has been issued one week before the next scheduled Late Model event (August 19th), cars found in violation of the above rules will be deemed illegal and WILL NOT be allowed to compete until the car meets the above rules. All cars have been given a fair and timely warning so no accommodations will be made on a race night to allow a car in violation of the above rules to compete on that night.

H&L Motorsports is continuing to look into other potential body violations in both the Late Model and UMP Modified divisions. Further crackdowns will be initiated if necessary to get all cars within reasonable tolerances.

END OF BULLETIN

The first two rules you mentioned are so vague that this bulletin is a complete waste of time to post! I would love to see your method of measurement or enforcement of these two rules and your idea of "reasonable tolerances". You're just leaving yourself wide open for additional criticism.

see my explanation here, from another post I made earlier:

yeah I went into pits tonight at Portsmouth and verified Carriers hood up close, it does have a concave shape to it, similar to Jackie's car previously. But, for what it's worth, I seriously doubt all this talk about the "hood rule", either on Jackie's car or Carrier's car, really has any noticeable impact on performance. Now on the other hand, if anyone seen Audie Schwartz's car in the limited late model, that had some serious wedge car look to it, the canopy over the driver had a wicked angle and the rear of the car set very high.

Back to the "hood rule" itself.... the way the rule is written strictly by the wording is completely incorrect, inadequate, and allows for a lot of interpretation. It says "must be flat", well anyone knows that even a plain sheet of sheet metal laying on a table will never be "perfectly flat", meaning +/-0.000 inches from a straight edged reference edge laid across the surface. There is not a car on this planet that would pass that part of the rule. The rule should have had a tolerance, something like,flat to within +/- 1/4" (or something to that effect).

Also, the part that says "should be level".... level with respect to what? the ground? what's the definition of level in this rule? there is nothing specified from the rules posted that I seen. One could argue that part of the rule all day.

Yeah, I know, as I pointed out before, I am NOT a tech guy for a series or track, but I am an engineer and look at technical specifications such as these on a day to day basis.

So, as I just pointed out, the complete rule that everyone is complaining about is completely meaningless and open to a lot of gray area. Most of the other rules actually give hard numbers to make measurements and comparisons to, but this rule is completely ambiguous. It should be re-written or eliminated. Its my understanding that the rule is there to prevent "wedge car" or aero effects similar to that, but, I very seriously doubt any car I have seen is gaining any appreciable enhancement in performance from their hood shapes.

There may be other methods these drivers are using to cheat... tires, etc, but it's not by this deal. I don't think anyone has come up with any concrete evidence of other types of cheating yet, not that I have seen.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

The first two rules you mentioned are so vague that this bulletin is a complete waste of time to post! I would love to see your method of measurement or enforcement of these two rules and your idea of "reasonable tolerances". You're just leaving yourself wide open for additional criticism.

see my explanation here, from another post I made earlier:

yeah I went into pits tonight at Portsmouth and verified Carriers hood up close, it does have a concave shape to it, similar to Jackie's car previously. But, for what it's worth, I seriously doubt all this talk about the "hood rule", either on Jackie's car or Carrier's car, really has any noticeable impact on performance. Now on the other hand, if anyone seen Audie Schwartz's car in the limited late model, that had some serious wedge car look to it, the canopy over the driver had a wicked angle and the rear of the car set very high.

Back to the "hood rule" itself.... the way the rule is written strictly by the wording is completely incorrect, inadequate, and allows for a lot of interpretation. It says "must be flat", well anyone knows that even a plain sheet of sheet metal laying on a table will never be "perfectly flat", meaning +/-0.000 inches from a straight edged reference edge laid across the surface. There is not a car on this planet that would pass that part of the rule. The rule should have had a tolerance, something like,flat to within +/- 1/4" (or something to that effect).

Also, the part that says "should be level".... level with respect to what? the ground? what's the definition of level in this rule? there is nothing specified from the rules posted that I seen. One could argue that part of the rule all day.

Yeah, I know, as I pointed out before, I am NOT a tech guy for a series or track, but I am an engineer and look at technical specifications such as these on a day to day basis.

So, as I just pointed out, the complete rule that everyone is complaining about is completely meaningless and open to a lot of gray area. Most of the other rules actually give hard numbers to make measurements and comparisons to, but this rule is completely ambiguous. It should be re-written or eliminated. Its my understanding that the rule is there to prevent "wedge car" or aero effects similar to that, but, I very seriously doubt any car I have seen is gaining any appreciable enhancement in performance from their hood shapes.

There may be other methods these drivers are using to cheat... tires, etc, but it's not by this deal. I don't think anyone has come up with any concrete evidence of other types of cheating yet, not that I have seen.

It seems pretty clear to me that both fenders and the hood must be on the same plane.