How much would changing the body rules help?

[MRM]

The #1 problem is getting woo and Lucas to sit down together and come up with a set of rules everyone can agree on.

There have been some preliminary talks between the two. Francis was at the Richmond WoO race going over some things with the tech folks and was later revealed in a driver's meeting that both sides have talked about this, but not to expect any changes for this season. Whether anything happens next season, that remains to be seen. It could be 5-6 months before any changes are announced.

[dirty-white-boy]

Full disclosure. I have not been to a Live DLM event for almost 2 years until this past weekend. Its one thing to watch TV but to see these cars up close is sad to a guy that has followed the sport for 40 plus years. When did the RF stick out over a foot past the RR? All these decks that are dished for the wedge effect. The travel on the RF has to be upwards of 15 inches on some cars! 450 motocross bikes have 12in of travel for comparison.

Seems the only way to pass with the current rules is a slide job type of pass.
Just like Rick Eckert's answer when Rigsby asked him why you dont see many drivers as friends like you used to back in the 90s and 2000's he said "because you pass them going in now"

[Tireguy17]

There have been some preliminary talks between the two. Francis was at the Richmond WoO race going over some things with the tech folks and was later revealed in a driver's meeting that both sides have talked about this, but not to expect any changes for this season. Whether anything happens next season, that remains to be seen. It could be 5-6 months before any changes are announced.

Per the Rigsby Report podcast with Rick Schwallie, Francis was at the WoO Richmond race and WoO officials were to be at the Show Me 100. Its progress.

[chathamracefan]

I'm not a tech guy by any stretch, but it seems something needs to be done. The car counts at a lot of the regional type of shows are way off. You see some $5k shows drawing less than 20 for example. Summernationals counts have dropped off also. Farmer City used to draw 50 plus in the mid 2000's & now runs around 30 or so. This doesn't even begin to speak to the weekly racing scene. The few tracks that run supers in Illinois sometimes struggle to draw 15 cars (outside FALS & the Pevely/Highland combo deal this year). Hopefully both groups realize that & can act before it is too late.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Per the Rigsby Report podcast with Rick Schwallie, Francis was at the WoO Richmond race and WoO officials were to be at the Show Me 100. Its progress.

They spend way too much time worrying about banning axle front ends or some ones new shock, if the people making money complain. They care nothing for the elephants in the room.

[Mike]

They spend way too much time worrying about banning axle front ends or some ones new shock, if the people making money complain. They care nothing for the elephants in the room.

I would argue that they turned a blind eye to the elephant in the room while they were busy selling tires.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I would argue that they turned a blind eye to the elephant in the room while they were busy selling tires.

That isn't wrong either

[kidrock]

The biggest problem in racing has been not enforcing the rules they already have in place. That has been a problem for many years now and that's not only in the late model class

[YeetIt]

One thing I noticed on the XR1 was the adjustable spoiler trees right off the bat to raise/lower the spoiler. What used to be a pain in the a$$ to adjust/change because we never did now takes seconds. I figured as soon as I saw it that it was designed to be rolled through tech legal and adjusted after and hope they don't check rear deck height afterwards. I remember this getting to be a huge issue in mods as well when a couple of certain drivers started winning every money mod race there was.

[dirtcrazy4u]

You guys keep talking about car counts. Car counts have been dwindling for years. The major players didn't care because there was still enough cars around to give them strong fields. Well those numbers have now caught up to the point that lucas and woo are starting to see it. Sponsor dollars are dropping like a rock. Your local top slm cars that can't afford to or don't want that expense are either getting out or picking and choosing. And as much as I hate to say it, covid has hurt a lot of teams sponsor wise.

[dirtcrazy4u]

In the end. Will body rules or similar rules make much of a difference in car counts. I highly doubt it.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

In the end. Will body rules or similar rules make much of a difference in car counts. I highly doubt it.

It did back in the early 80s. If the rules add 2 or 3 tenths to a lap time, it brings a lot of budgets back in. The hard part is convincing people they don't have to go broke.

[Mopar DLM]

If they did actually fix some of the body rules what are the chances that some of the older cars out there become competitive again? Might that also help the car count come back some? Some of the people that can't afford a brand new chassis every year or the latest and greatest trick of the week could start racing again and still be halfway competitive and maybe have some fun along the way too.

[EvelB7]

I can only speak for myself, with the current rules you cannot be competitive (even in a regional series) with a bit older equipment these days. Cars are way to easy to hook up and the racing is not as good (in my opinion). My car owner (that nasty crate word) would go super racing in a heart beat if I told him we could be competitive. He cannot afford to put $100,000 in a car. Take away some body and tire, put the driver's feet back into the equation and I would tell him we could give it an honest try...Cars running wide open all of the time just shows who has the deepest pockets (and yes, crates show the same on that scale it is just more affordable). Unfortunately you cannot unscrew the pregnant girlfriend...

[billetbirdcage]

If they did actually fix some of the body rules what are the chances that some of the older cars out there become competitive again? Might that also help the car count come back some? Some of the people that can't afford a brand new chassis every year or the latest and greatest trick of the week could start racing again and still be halfway competitive and maybe have some fun along the way too.

I firmly believe that the number one reason for people to get out and move down to crates or new people not move up from crates to supers is the engine costs. Obviously there are all sorts of costs to run with the larger series just from a competition level so that doesn't really change. What I'm talking about is guys that could run at a certain level like locally or a regional series to guys running small series that could move to a larger one. That being said:

More aero = more grip thus you need more motor = big purchase expense and more importantly more operating expense. Get rid of the grip and a 750HP engine could qualify up front and still have too much power come feature (again for an average track, not all tracks are like this for sure)

It's sort of ridiculous that we have 900 HP 9000+ RPM engines which YES, we may use every bit of it for qualifying but come heat race time or feature never get over 40% throttle and are installing restrictor plates, removing timing, changing carbs, and etc to make it more driver friendly.

I don't really believe that a body change will allow older cars (not updated or modified to something more current) is gonna happen, but it would/might allow that cost to be reduced enough some guys could afford the engine package enough to go back to racing supers.

I asked Andy Durham the cost of parts for a RY45 engine (new build) just a couple weeks ago (all parts, no machining or labor) he said 52K. Add in labor, dyno, machining and parts unique to it:

Oil pump 1600.00
Oil tank 1150.00
Headers 2300.00
carb ???

You get the idea

[Bill31]

I hate these LM now , they look like they were built around a pole lol .

[racedad11]

UMP, Woo and Lucas oil all working together teching cars today. i mean yesturday