Open Letter to UMP

[IAMN21]

Well said in the original post I have attended dirt tracks for 45 years and for the last few years you can watch the steady decline of your local racers and tracks. Probably already gone too far to fix and it is sad that the local promoters cant get together and provide and enforce a rules package that would allow DLM as well as other classes to flourish. But we all know Big Money Rules always has and always will.

[Krooser]

I was at one of the very early promoters meetings Bob Memmer had when he was starting UMP.

There were guys that stood up and told everyone that you would never get two tracks to run the same rules much less form an alliance of promoters to agree on common rules. But it happened.

All it will take for DLM racing to change is one man with the foresight and commitment that Memmer had... it can be done.

[Kromulous]

The problem that some of you are not seeing is this, once the core wood in the middle of the Tree is dead, the Tree is going to die sooner or later...

What i mean is this, its the Weekly guys that buy all these parts, and pay to race etc. We support these companies with our money. The Top Teams use Sponsor money, well when the Sponsors markets begin to decline because you ran off all your paying Customers you begin the rot.

SLM racing is on a cusp of it right now as i see it. We can still afford to race weekly, but its almost lost. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Currently we are probably selling the SLM and going to a Mod, maybe one more year. Its me and my Brothers that own the Team, and me personally i don't want to be the last man holding the Bag, meaning we better sell out before everyone else does, then your market value hits the skids.

IMHO thou, once you start to out price your market, your doomed. Nascar did the same thing in the 90's, maybe earlier. You look at modern car sales now, same thing, Ford etc is out pricing their market, the backlash will be big, sooner or later.

I also believe that a simple spoiler adjustment, and some simple Aero adjustments could fend off this decline at least for a few years.

[roughride]

I feel this is so easy to get back on the right track. Just the body rules alone would be a great start. These cars are nothing short of a modern day wedge. These rules would not even be noticeable from the stands. When did the dishing out of the decking get so out of control anyway? Lift the noses of the ground. Make the right and left door panels be the same height. Remove an inch or 2 off the spoiler and no one will even be able to tell from the stands. The UMP rules were great for some time, what happened?

[play4kps]

It all starts with the lack of support for weekly racing! I think what really made dirt late model racing such a terrific and interesting sport was to watch the track locals race and sometimes beat the big names when they come in. When that went away, the sport lost a lot of charm. Unfortunately the driving force of companies that are destroying the sport are the ones funding it at the touring series level. Lucas oil series and World of Outlaws and Dirt on dirt also. A lot of people gauge the sport on attendance at big races only, thats a huge problem.

[kazual]

Have the local, non-touring teams unite and tell UMP, WOO, and LOLMDS they will not run touring or marqueee events under the current set of rules that handicap them. If the sanctions knew their showcase races were only going to green flag 12-15 cars it would cause higher ups to listen. And I also believe in the Easter Bunny, The Great Pumpkin, and Bigfoot.

[GRT62]

a 2'x2' opening in the nose piece would kill 95% of the aero advantage we are seeing now days.

[hotshoe65s]

The body rules, in my opinion, are not the area to focus. Anyone can build a body as exotic as the next guy for about the same amount of money. Keep the body rules simple. I work in NASCAR and see how body rules can get out of hand. Here is what they can do to reduce costs.
The only new body rules that would be easy to regulate would be an overall length rule to reduce the nose length, overall width, no decking dish, etc. Those are quick, easy to check, and still allow some creativity.
Other than body rules:
Maximum of 5 springs on the car. No bumpstops. Maximum of 1 full spring rubber per corner. By doing all that you reduce a guys ability to manipulate the aero platform. Yeah you can try to coilbind the RF, but that is very load dependent and will be difficult to do with ever changing track conditions.
No triple or 4 way adjustable shocks.
No traction shock.
Spring in front of the LR axle tube would be a possible way to reduce grip.
Keep going with the tire rules limiting the number or tires used per event.
Increase the total weight of the cars by 50 Lb or so to discourage trying to buy lightweight parts.

At the end of the day all of that will reduce the overall grip of the car and reduce the need for data acquisition and spring smashers. But to get back where local guys can compete and afford to race supers you need to address the engine rules.
I think if you have all sanctioning bodies agree on engine rules, then set an effective date, you could get back to a realistic engine cost.
Have a group determine the rules. Pick a date a year or two from now and say after that date these rules are in effect. So use the engines up now. After that date you can't run them anymore. Yes that will leave guys with expensive motors, but the costs of that are going to equal out after one or two engine rebuilds or replacements for expensive motors. It sucks to stick people with engines, but the sport will be better off in a few years due to it. By giving them a year or two to use up their engine will allow them to get use out of them first.

[Josh Bayko]

I've posted before what I'd do with the bodies.

Nose must be mounted straight and symmetrical.
Ears can be no more than 1" higher than the filler and must be equal on both sides.
Deck must be flat with no rake.
Sides must be equal height on both sides.
Sails must be filled in. You can still have windows if you want, but the gotta be covered with Lexan.
Roof must also be mounted flat with no rake.

All of this would help slow the cars down some. Tech would be a breeze. All you'd need to enforce is a level and a tape measure. It would also make the guys who design wraps' lives a lot easier.

[rmrc]

I've asked Sam Driggers from UMP to read these posts, most are in agreement that bodies are a good place to start. Keep the posts and ideas coming.

[Bigdirtfan]

Ump needs to save super dirt late model racing again. Kazual is right, new and drastically different rules then what lucas and woo are running. Ump is still the sanction for eldora speedway, that means they still have the power. Id like to see some steps taken to make the weekly national championship points actually go to a weekly driver as well.

[CIRF]

I've posted before what I'd do with the bodies.

Nose must be mounted straight and symmetrical.
Ears can be no more than 1" higher than the filler and must be equal on both sides.
Deck must be flat with no rake.
Sides must be equal height on both sides.
Sails must be filled in. You can still have windows if you want, but the gotta be covered with Lexan.
Roof must also be mounted flat with no rake.

All of this would help slow the cars down some. Tech would be a breeze. All you'd need to enforce is a level and a tape measure. It would also make the guys who design wraps' lives a lot easier.

Spot on post right here, folks. The only things I would add is the tread width must be the identical front and rear and the four wheels must measure out square. Still only need a tape measure to do that.

[Clayton_Wetter]

Spot on post right here, folks. The only things I would add is the tread width must be the identical front and rear and the four wheels must measure out square. Still only need a tape measure to do that.

You think so SURF?????

[CIRF]

You think so SURF?????

Are you pickin' on me again, Clay?! I'm gonna' sic power boy on you if you're not nice to me!!

[hotshoe65s]

Spot on post right here, folks. The only things I would add is the tread width must be the identical front and rear and the four wheels must measure out square. Still only need a tape measure to do that.

That's an absolutely terrible idea. That's the same path Nascar took and it has been nothing but a disaster. DirtCar is right across the street from NASCAR's Tech center. they should walk over there and see how many millions and millions of dollars have been spent trying to monitor tread width, cambers, and wheel center locations