mile dirt tracks

[Rocky]

Chargin ’ Charlie Swartz at Springfield.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WKmULE5Oljo

[Highside Hustler25]

Jeff Purvis 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Cxtw6Wo23Y

[427c.i.]

We never went back after the mod fatality in 2002, I don't think the cars are built for those speeds. I remember Steve Sheppard got turned around on the backstretch going into three and it seemed like the car slid forever before hitting the guardrail hard. Car was a mess/junk and Steve was pretty banged up.
Racing is a dangerous sport, I get that but when you put cars that are not designed/built for the speeds a mile track produces, bad things have more of a potential to happen. I don't go to the races to see bad things happen.

[jhanson]

????? Is the roll cage safer in ARCA than in dirt late models ? How fast could an ARCA car turn a lap at a mile dirt track as compared to today's dirt late model ? How does the horse power of ARCA engines compared to dirt late model engines ? How does the gearing of ARCA cars compare to the gearing of dirt late models ?
I like racing but I don't know the fine points of these cars.
Thank you,
Jim Hanson P.S. I'm assuming dirt late models have a better tire for dirt than ARCA ?????

[Rocky]

An ARCA car is practically an M1 Abrams main battle tank compared to a dirt late model. It has a steel body DLM has a body made of flimsy aluminum. An ARCA chassis is perimeter, which means that it goes way over to the passenger door. A DLM chassis is offset, the cage stops around a foot and a half to the right of the driver. An ARCA car weighs 3500 lbs a DLM weighs 2300 lbs. An ARCA car I believe has 550 horsepower a DLM has depending on who you ask 800 to 900 horsepower. How much faster? They’re 9 seconds faster than the NASCAR trucks at Eldora. The answer? I don’t know, but way, way faster.

[brsteg]

????? Is the roll cage safer in ARCA than in dirt late models ? How fast could an ARCA car turn a lap at a mile dirt track as compared to today's dirt late model ? How does the horse power of ARCA engines compared to dirt late model engines ? How does the gearing of ARCA cars compare to the gearing of dirt late models ?
I like racing but I don't know the fine points of these cars.
Thank you,
Jim Hanson P.S. I'm assuming dirt late models have a better tire for dirt than ARCA ?????

An ARCA car is practically an M1 Abrams main battle tank compared to a dirt late model. It has a steel body DLM has a body made of flimsy aluminum. An ARCA chassis is perimeter, which means that it goes way over to the passenger door. A DLM chassis is offset, the cage stops around a foot and a half to the right of the driver. An ARCA car weighs 3500 lbs a DLM weighs 2300 lbs. An ARCA car I believe has 550 horsepower a DLM has depending on who you ask 800 to 900 horsepower. How much faster? They’re 9 seconds faster than the NASCAR trucks at Eldora. The answer? I don’t know, but way, way faster.

I think an ARCA is closer to 700 than 550. (Yelp more than a Cup car, close or more than Xfinity cars.) So they are anywhere from 100-200 horses down on power; but they lack the suspension of late models and they aren't getting near what they have hooked up on dirt. (A DLM may not get all 900 hooked to the ground, but they are getting a lot of it to the ground today with suspension and aero.)
Late Models has a lot wider tire than ARCA also, so helps getting power to the ground. ARCA uses the General Tire badging which is the parent company of Hoosier, so they probably work reasonably well for what they are.

[chathamracefan]

Late models were down in the 28 or so second bracket the last few years at Springfield (maybe even in the high 27's in qualifying). ARCA cars are in the 33 or so second bracket in qual for the fastest cars (depending on track conditions). Lates were at least 5 seconds faster.

One year John Prior hit the wall going into turn 1 in his late model. Rear spun around to the inside & he slid into outside wall hard flush on the drivers side. He was OK but the car was completely trashed. The speeds were on the edge of unsafe & that was 15 or 20 years ago.

[jhanson]

Thank you---very helpful

[jhanson]

thanks to all--even more info is appreciated if you think of it---I have a naturally curious mind

[gumby_32d]

Darren Miller has the track record at Springfield at 27.645.. correct me if I'm wrong.. growing up, this my favorite race. It's where we got to see all the big names. Started going in the early 90's until the last won that held there that Darren won.

[MachineMasters]

I believe when Miller and Birky ran the mile they came directly from Knoxville where they raced the weekend/night before. Miller had a bad crash in the Knoxville feature and had major frame damage to repair in the Knoxville pits, and I think Richards helped him with the porta-power and/or welded in part of a new rail.

Both him and Birky had non-quickchange rear ends with their fuel cells shoved forward. Very little rear % and the bodies were massaged more than normal.

[mcarter815]

An ARCA car is practically an M1 Abrams main battle tank compared to a dirt late model. It has a steel body DLM has a body made of flimsy aluminum. An ARCA chassis is perimeter, which means that it goes way over to the passenger door. A DLM chassis is offset, the cage stops around a foot and a half to the right of the driver. An ARCA car weighs 3500 lbs a DLM weighs 2300 lbs. An ARCA car I believe has 550 horsepower a DLM has depending on who you ask 800 to 900 horsepower. How much faster? They’re 9 seconds faster than the NASCAR trucks at Eldora. The answer? I don’t know, but way, way faster.

I believe they started running the composite body at all ARCA events this year. There is a guy in my neighborhood whose son races in ARCA and he was telling me they needed to spend a bunch of money to put a new composite body on.

[Rocky]

I believe they started running the composite body at all ARCA events this year. There is a guy in my neighborhood whose son races in ARCA and he was telling me they needed to spend a bunch of money to put a new composite body on.

Hmm, okay. I haven’t watched an ARCA race in a real long time. They used to follow Cup rules. And have drivers over 19 years old too. Back in the Stone Age.

[chathamracefan]

As a side note, the ARCA race at Springfield used to be a great show. Drew close to 40 cars back in the 90's. Now it is down to drawing right around 20 cars. And only about 12 of those are competitive. Sign of the times in the asphalt world I suppose. There aren't as many "career" ARCA guys nowadays. Body rules as mentioned and I think they switched to a crate engine a couple years back. Those costs drove several guys out.

[Rocky]

As a side note, the ARCA race at Springfield used to be a great show. Drew close to 40 cars back in the 90's. Now it is down to drawing right around 20 cars. And only about 12 of those are competitive. Sign of the times in the asphalt world I suppose. There aren't as many "career" ARCA guys nowadays. Body rules as mentioned and I think they switched to a crate engine a couple years back. Those costs drove several guys out.

The biggest problem asphalt has, other than asphalt... is the narrative that if you’re not in an xfinity car by the time you are 20, you’re a bum. I tend to disagree he’ll if Bubba Pollard or Johnny Van Doorn showed up at my shop looking for a ride for Saturday night I would wish I had one for him. They used to have stars. Not anymore just a bunch of nameless kids mostly.