Lucas rules

[dangerdann]

I agree with all the rules but not the sfi seat and sfi fuel cell. Now local guys have to buy a $4000 seat and a special $1500 fuel cell. Definatly need a containment seat and a good cell but thats extensive.

[onlyfacts]

If someone can afford an $40k (low end) SLM, but can't afford a full containment seat then there is a problem. These safety rules are already in effect on many cars, and they are such a comparatively small percentage of the overall cost of the car and everything that goes towards it.

Not every late model racing is the most up to date piece of 40K equipment. This sport is made up of all levels of financial operations. Not every car in the pit area is a new 40K Longhorn or XR1. I agree on containment seat mandatory but an SFI 39-2 seat is a min of $5000.00. You have no idea what is entailed here. The fire system that is on this mandate is $900.00. The fuel cell requirement mandated is a min of $1500.00. And the bolt on mud covers is going to be an aggravation more so that cost.... although cost will be something to all racers that will need to update their covers and wheels. Not all racers are going to buy new wheels to upgrade. I can see this being a nail into the coffin of Late Model Racing. Now that 40K Longhorn or XR1 is now near 50K but the big factor here is the fact that ever late model team in the country will be spending 8-10K to update each car(s) the have. Some people woke up happy today with election results but some people didn't. But very few racers will be happy with these rules updates.

[Ryan21mid]

http://fuelsafe.com/store/fuel-cells.html

Here's your FIA-FT3 Certified Lucas/WoO LEGAL fuel cell for $785. You all may be jumping the gun a bit on your predictions.

[cutman]

Not every late model racing is the most up to date piece of 40K equipment. This sport is made up of all levels of financial operations. Not every car in the pit area is a new 40K Longhorn or XR1. I agree on containment seat mandatory but an SFI 39-2 seat is a min of $5000.00. You have no idea what is entailed here. The fire system that is on this mandate is $900.00. The fuel cell requirement mandated is a min of $1500.00. And the bolt on mud covers is going to be an aggravation more so that cost.... although cost will be something to all racers that will need to update their covers and wheels. Not all racers are going to buy new wheels to upgrade. I can see this being a nail into the coffin of Late Model Racing.

Man, gonna be interesting to see how this effects the local racers and car counts.

[nuff said]

This will keep your local racers from being able to run with the big boys when they come to town.

[onlyfacts]

http://fuelsafe.com/store/fuel-cells.html Here's your FIA-FT3 Certified Lucas/WoO LEGAL fuel cell for $785. You all may be jumping the gun a bit on your predictions.

You may want to recheck that. That is a 15 gal cell. Most DLM cars are 28-32. That upgrade is 308.00 on that 785.00 cell 1093.00 total without brackets and without even knowing if that cell will fit..... which it won't because Chassis Manufactures have built the cars around special sized cells for better weight placement this is not reality.

[Ryan21mid]

http://www.circletracksupply.com/atl...n-no-foam.html

Here's another, again this is similar to what everyone is currently running. Everyone isn't going to have to buy new special $1500+ fuel cells, all this rule is doing is keeping the homemade non-certified cells out.

[onlyfacts]

This will keep your local racers from being able to run with the big boys when they come to town.

Exactly. Car counts could be 15-25 for the Tour races at local tracks.

[Ryan21mid]

You may want to recheck that. That is a 15 gal cell. Most DLM cars are 28-32. That upgrade is 308.00 on that 785.00 cell 1093.00 total without brackets and without even knowing if that cell will fit..... which it won't because Chassis Manufactures have built the cars around special sized cells for better weight placement this is not reality.

Sorry, I did miss that price point on the size, my point here is most of your current fuel cells are still going to be legal..

[zeroracing]

I will be going with the the ATL style, i cannot fit a old school square one in. It will run about 1k by the time you get it in.

I will state they better tech the (not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word)(not a nice word) thing!!!!!!!!! I spend $$$ and the other guys don't and nobody says anything I am going to be pissed. Or they decide after half of us go buy them we should give a grace period... How many rules have we had over the years that were never checked? Bladder fuel cells used to be in the rules but never was checked.

[onlyfacts]

Sorry, I did miss that price point on the size, my point here is most of your current fuel cells are still going to be legal..

My point is the fuel cell thing is only one of the items. The seat, fire system and wheel cover deal all added to the fuel cell will drive nails in the coffin.

[flagone]

I would say about 90% of the cars (Ray Cook agreed for his series' as well) that have raced with us this year are already compliant with a containment seat (I think the language may be refined on the SFI 39.2 requirement) and fuel cell.

How anyone would ever think that we don't need to mandate every car has a fire suppression system after the year that we have had I can't comprehend. Remember that the fuel cell and fire suppression systems also directly affect those that you race with not just you. So to me choosing to not wear gloves is on you but these 2 the affect the guy you may land on top of and the guys that have to try to get you out.

[FASTRAKPR]

Someone mentioned crates so I'll respond.

Wheel Covers: We went to plastic a couple years ago now. Yes in more than one instance we witnessed wheel covers come off and go all the way down the front straight at Bulls Gap then proceeded to go another 200 yards out in the pasture outside of turn 1. Then at Princeton one came off in turn 1 and right down through the middle of the pits onto the track in turn 4. Keeping in mind thats where everyone parks too. We let everyone know then that for the upcoming season no more metal wheel covers would be allowed. The teams did a fantastic job with it, sport new wheel covers of every color you could imagine. Made the cars look a lot better and our fans, crews, drivers and Officials a lot safer.

Fire Suppression Systems. We announced at Princeton ironically, and this was in June of this year that beginning in 2017 systems would be required. To start saving $100 a month to make sure they could be ready for 2017. This came from the incident of a driver in Ohio getting burned to death. Our rules is a little different as the thermostat controlled piece will not be mandatory and the pull tab type will be legal with us. Our Officials will go through a rigorous training process this winter to be able to take care of you in the instance of a fire. We will also have "fire blankets" for lack of a better term, so that when the Official comes in the car to get you out, the blanket goes over you first to protect you and the Official as well then when the system is set off, they pull back the blanket along with the driver.

Gloves and fireproof shoes should have always been the case. We all as sanctioning bodies got complacent and it was way past time to make this move. I understand having the "feel" of the car, but when you get used to gloves it will be the same way. You can't get the feel without them.

A fuel cell with the line at the bottom well its just never good. Perfect place to be broken off and fuel is coming out. No fire agent will put out a fire when the fuel continues to flow. I am not personally completely settled on this issue and our working will be out soon on this.

I know I put myself out to a lot of criticism by posting this but you do have the right to know why this is being done and an explanation. Hopefully this helps you understand a little better as to the why. If you have never been on fire its hard to explain to you but I have and this year I have seen people die. Seen others hurt. Once it happens, well then its too late. We are trying to prevent it from happening again is all we are trying to accomplish.

Look at it this way if you can. Buy 3 new tires instead of 6 to begin the year. Don't buy a new wrap but maybe use what you have on now but saving whatever it takes to be safe is an investment in you and your family. Most of us have to get up on Monday morning after a hard weekend of racing to go to work. These things might just be the items that allowed you to do that, versus laying in a hospital bed recovering. In the mean time you got behind on your house payments, car payments, truck payments which we all have and personally I can't afford to miss work.

We as the series have no interest in making you do things, but in the interest of safety don't you agree its way past time for some of these? We have to spend money to do this as well. Not cheap on us either, but your life is worth the investment to us.

Family. If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for them.

Hopefully this helps a little anyway.

Stan Lester

FASTRAK SE
FASTRAK MOV
ULTIMATE SE
ULTIMATE Bob

[onlyfacts]

Someone mentioned crates so I'll respond. Wheel Covers: We went to plastic a couple years ago now. Yes in more than one instance we witnessed wheel covers come off and go all the way down the front straight at Bulls Gap then proceeded to go another 200 yards out in the pasture outside of turn 1. Then at Princeton one came off in turn 1 and right down through the middle of the pits onto the track in turn 4. Keeping in mind thats where everyone parks too. We let everyone know then that for the upcoming season no more metal wheel covers would be allowed. The teams did a fantastic job with it, sport new wheel covers of every color you could imagine. Made the cars look a lot better and our fans, crews, drivers and Officials a lot safer. Fire Suppression Systems. We announced at Princeton ironically, and this was in June of this year that beginning in 2017 systems would be required. To start saving $100 a month to make sure they could be ready for 2017. This came from the incident of a driver in Ohio getting burned to death. Our rules is a little different as the thermostat controlled piece will not be mandatory and the pull tab type will be legal with us. Our Officials will go through a rigorous training process this winter to be able to take care of you in the instance of a fire. We will also have "fire blankets" for lack of a better term, so that when the Official comes in the car to get you out, the blanket goes over you first to protect you and the Official as well then when the system is set off, they pull back the blanket along with the driver. Gloves and fireproof shoes should have always been the case. We all as sanctioning bodies got complacent and it was way past time to make this move. I understand having the "feel" of the car, but when you get used to gloves it will be the same way. You can't get the feel without them. A fuel cell with the line at the bottom well its just never good. Perfect place to be broken off and fuel is coming out. No fire agent will put out a fire when the fuel continues to flow. I am not personally completely settled on this issue and our working will be out soon on this. I know I put myself out to a lot of criticism by posting this but you do have the right to know why this is being done and an explanation. Hopefully this helps you understand a little better as to the why. If you have never been on fire its hard to explain to you but I have and this year I have seen people die. Seen others hurt. Once it happens, well then its too late. We are trying to prevent it from happening again is all we are trying to accomplish. Look at it this way if you can. Buy 3 new tires instead of 6 to begin the year. Don't buy a new wrap but maybe use what you have on now but saving whatever it takes to be safe is an investment in you and your family. Most of us have to get up on Monday morning after a hard weekend of racing to go to work. These things might just be the items that allowed you to do that, versus laying in a hospital bed recovering. In the mean time you got behind on your house payments, car payments, truck payments which we all have and personally I can't afford to miss work. We as the series have no interest in making you do things, but in the interest of safety don't you agree its way past time for some of these? We have to spend money to do this as well. Not cheap on us either, but your life is worth the investment to us. Family. If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for them. Hopefully this helps a little anyway. Stan Lester FASTRAK SE FASTRAK MOV ULTIMATE SE ULTIMATE Bob

did you read the rules? They say no plastic wheel cover must be alum bolted on with 3- 5/16" bolts.

[Barbecueboy]

This will keep your local racers from being able to run with the big boys when they come to town.

A lot of the brainiacs ( some in this very thread even) said the same thing about the late season tire rule change too.

[cumminsman08]

the main one i don't understand is the wheel cover hex bolt rule. Are flying wheel covers a low lying problem ive been oblivious too?

I was also oblivious until this year we were racing at the baltes classic at eldora and I watched a metal wheel cover come off in turn 3 shoot up as high as the lights and sail to a landing in the grassy area in front of the bleachers in a matter of seconds..

We all know how sharp they can get, I'm just thankful I didn't witness the wheel cover go into the stands and hit someone.. so the wheel cover safety thing did come across my mind after that incident..

[MBR Performance]

So now you're expecting a guy who just 6 months ago spent about $1800 on a new bladder cell to go and buy another one even more expensive and have no way to recoup any of that money because he has no one to sell the first one to. And to the previous a55wipe I voted for Trump

[cutman]

A lot of the brainiacs ( some in this very thread even) said the same thing about the late season tire rule change too.

I wish doing away with grooving and siping would have been included in the rule changes

[Ryan21mid]

did you read the rules? They say no plastic wheel cover must be alum bolted on with 3- 5/16" bolts.

the bulletin states : • Only aluminum wheels will be permitted.
• Only approved wheel discs will be permitted. Approved wheel discs are wheel discs that are fastened to the wheel using a minimum of three (3), 5/16 inch diameter magnetic steel hex head bolts. The use of wheel discs with any other type of fastener will not be permitted.
• Only aluminum wheel spacers will be permitted.

Says nothing about no plastic wheels covers.

[flagone]

MBR your fuel cell has a soft bladder?