Mark Richards, Paul Wilmoth Jr.(525 engine)

[RaceEngineer]

You are correct i was mentioning this in reference to the all parts cost the same comment. If your building a standard bore spacing engine. You are correct but everything caused more in a widebore engine

Once you have chosen the platform, stroke doesn't effect cost. That's what I meant. Goes along with my previous comment about widebore is better if an option. If you want it gone, it must be written out.

[nc mudcat]

.....there are alot of guys i know that do good enough to have a car but won't run because of the weekly pay outs, there is just no reward for all the work.....

Remember the days when the reward of a trophy and bragging rights was enough? I do. And racing was fun not only to watch, but to participate in. Now so many folks want to be paid for their recreation. No one pays me to hunt or fish. i realize the cost difference, but man, it was so much better when racing paid less and cost less.

[RaceEngineer]

Remember the days when the reward of a trophy and bragging rights was enough? I do. And racing was fun not only to watch, but to participate in. Now so many folks want to be paid for their recreation. No one pays me to hunt or fish. i realize the cost difference, but man, it was so much better when racing paid less and cost less.

I don't remember a day payouts didn't factor into my budget.

[Highwayman]

I like the CT525 as an option, but to me its still a move in the wrong direction and will further hurt engine builders instead of reigning in the chassis builders. Unhook the cars, its that simple and the need for a lot of this excessive HP goes away, thus lowering engine costs. Otherwise leaving the cars hooked up and lowering the HP just makes for big go karts. I know nobody that matters is listening, they are as deaf and dumb as nascar. JMHO.

[nc mudcat]

I don't remember a day payouts didn't factor into my budget.

I hope you don't mind if I ask, but how long have you been racing? I am not assuming anything, just asking. For me and those around me in the mid-70s to mid-80s, no one ever asked how much a race paid. We ran asphalt, late model sportsman division, from local tracks and weekly shows to NASCAR national championship races within 4 hours or so from the shop. Pay never factored into it, and we had very little support. We raced for the fun of it, and hoped to cover a few bills, but did not race for that reason. just my experience, but it seemed like then, the goal was to race and have fun.

When NASCAR turned us into the Busch series, and instead of Caraway, Franklin county, Hickory, south Boston and Orange County on Saturday nights, we were going to Indy, Milwaukee, etc., things changed. In my opinion, not for the better. At that point, we started asking about the purse!

[Highwayman]

The NDRA was paying $10K in the 70's and local shows for DLM paid from $1500-$2000. You can still race for fun if you want to, just don't bash the ones who aim higher. A lot of the cost escalation lays with the ruling bodies, they keep letting things go and letting rules we've had for decades fall by the wayside. Body and suspension rules from 20 years ago have been tossed to facilitate more roll in the car and create more downforce, which leads directly to the rise in engine costs. Not to mention specialized shock/suspension packages needed to make the crutch package manageable. It is a racers job to find as much speed as he can within the confines of the rules and/or the definition of a what makes a DLM. It is the ruling body job to enforce and adjust the rules to keep things in check. As long as the cars can stay glued to the track the need for more HP will exist and be sought after. We don't need or want the top end of the sport to be a spec class, that would negate them being "Super". Cubic inch rules don't curb costs either, just look at the cost of a 410 sprint engine. I'm done, its pointless to blather on about it on 4m anyway, makes no difference and wastes my time. The people at the top with the power to make the changes needed are as impotent, inept, clueless and adverse to doing the right thing as ALL the politicians in Washington are. More than likely it will have to crash before anything meaningful can happen. Back in the late 80's going into the 90's they kept telling us we were on our way to the, "Next Level". Well the next level is a bummer. Don't know what you got, till its gone...