Can someone give a quick rundown on costs of late model racing

[cjsracing]

Start up costs or operating costs? Those are different things. To run say the FUEL series (you're in North Carolina) and hope to be competitive, You'll need at least maybe a one or 2 year old XR1 or Longhorn, that's about $15,500-20,000. Motor from Battenbilt about 25 grand, good shock package for around $3500, Hoosier 1350 tires go for $175 each, Wheels are about $350 for Bead Locks, I think 200 for non bead locks a couple transmissions for $1500 a piece a spare rear end that's about $1500. Okay open trailer, $3500. Good 3/4 ton pickup, 50k. Lot of guys running E85 so that saves a little fuel costs, if not C12 costs $9.50 a gallon and you need around 25 gallons a show. There's lots of stuff I didn't put in there, like the safety equipment and the oil system and I'm assuming that the person has a shop and a comprehensive ammount of tools and equipment, if not add a bunch of zeroes to the total . This is for limited but crate or super would be similar. Just add or subtract a little bit here or there. This is a bare bones bottom dollar racing out of your garage way of going about it too. Also, hauler fuel, time to do the work or pay somebody to do it and write it off as a loss on your business. etc.

Honest question but how are you using 25 gallons of fuel a night?

I use 7.5 to 10 (HL, TT, Heat, B and A) depending on if I run the B or not.

[Rajflyboy]

Honest question but how are you using 25 gallons of fuel a night?I use 7.5 to 10 (HL, TT, Heat, B and A) depending on if I run the B or not.

I think you would need extra gas with you to be on the safe side.

[Rocky]

Honest question but how are you using 25 gallons of fuel a night?

I use 7.5 to 10 (HL, TT, Heat, B and A) depending on if I run the B or not.

I don't, but I run a 28 gallon cell and scale with 15 gallons in the car and I start the night with 25 gallons. I'm not sure if that's really the best way to do it or not that's just how I do it.

[Rocky]

If a guy wants to get into late model racing the thing NOT to do is listen to somebody like me on 4m about how much it costs. I'm the worst driver in the state and until recently had the worst car in the state. Go to the track closest to you. listen to the towns when the announcer says the names. Find a guy within 15 miles of your house. Go down to the pits and introduce yourself. Help scrape some mud. shine a flashlight in the car to help him put on his belts if he don't have anybody to do that. Start spending nights working in the shop. learn EVERYTHING you can on your own. Do your own research. Know every dang thing that you can possibly know and decide then, is this a good idea or not? I think I'm saying if you want to get into it, start doing it but don't lay your life's savings on the line at first. Experience is the most expensive thing. Get it for sweat equity.

[dirtcrazy4u]

^^^^^ post of the year. I'll add, use common sense, starting out you do not have to have new. You can buy motors from some teams for half of what they paid for them. Or find a team that's getting out. Last but not least, then you have to ask yourself. Can I get the job done behind the wheel or do I just want to have fun and try it for a couple years.

[Jking24]

^^^^^ post of the year. I'll add, use common sense, starting out you do not have to have new. You can buy motors from some teams for half of what they paid for them. Or find a team that's getting out. Last but not least, then you have to ask yourself. Can I get the job done behind the wheel or do I just want to have fun and try it for a couple years.

Rocky is spot on and you are correct aswell. The biggest mistake i see when people get in with no prior experience and they go buy some 15 year old wissota car with the best of everything on it per the seller. "Turn key" bring it home and take it to the race track struggle for a few weeks or a whole season than get discouraged because they aren't running well. Think the suck and more or less quit. It cost to much money to operate week to week to go out and spend a bunch of money on junk. I'm not saying you can't run older stuff but their is a cut off and it varies with amongst manufacturers as to how old a car you can be competitive on average. As stated above the most important thing is getting yourself educated. And their is no other way besides experience. You could go to racewise or somthing like that but if your just starting out and you know nothing that is just gonna be information overload. Brandon shepard, Scott bloomquist or Jimmy Owens couldn't run top five in 4 car race with some of the stuff i see people who don't know anything buy. And driving a I'll handling car isn't fun at all. So that washed out the i just wanna have some fun angle. If that's the case and you literally don't car their are classes better suited for it

[Rajflyboy]

If a guy wants to get into late model racing the thing NOT to do is listen to somebody like me on 4m about how much it costs. I'm the worst driver in the state and until recently had the worst car in the state. Go to the track closest to you. listen to the towns when the announcer says the names. Find a guy within 15 miles of your house. Go down to the pits and introduce yourself. Help scrape some mud. shine a flashlight in the car to help him put on his belts if he don't have anybody to do that. Start spending nights working in the shop. learn EVERYTHING you can on your own. Do your own research. Know every dang thing that you can possibly know and decide then, is this a good idea or not? I think I'm saying if you want to get into it, start doing it but don't lay your life's savings on the line at first. Experience is the most expensive thing. Get it for sweat equity.

Smart  and certainly what I would do

[Rocky]

Rocky is spot on and you are correct aswell. The biggest mistake i see when people get in with no prior experience and they go buy some 15 year old wissota car with the best of everything on it per the seller. "Turn key" bring it home and take it to the race track struggle for a few weeks or a whole season than get discouraged because they aren't running well. Think the suck and more or less quit. It cost to much money to operate week to week to go out and spend a bunch of money on junk. I'm not saying you can't run older stuff but their is a cut off and it varies with amongst manufacturers as to how old a car you can be competitive on average. As stated above the most important thing is getting yourself educated. And their is no other way besides experience. You could go to racewise or somthing like that but if your just starting out and you know nothing that is just gonna be information overload. Brandon shepard, Scott bloomquist or Jimmy Owens couldn't run top five in 4 car race with some of the stuff i see people who don't know anything buy. And driving a I'll handling car isn't fun at all. So that washed out the i just wanna have some fun angle. If that's the case and you literally don't car their are classes better suited for it

What I did was I was running the 4 cylinder junk car class at Potomac for a few years back in the 2000's and I used to drink a lot so I thought I was a way better mechanic than I was. I could have went hobby stock or street stock but I used to live my life about half in the bag. So I bought some clapped out old heap for really cheap and struggled for years running a or 2 show here or there usually having something break. I know plenty about late models now, not saying I'm some ace late model mechanic now or anything either but there's a WAAAAAAAY easier and cheaper way to learn than what I did. It pretty much took quitting drinking totally to figure it out too. The irony of all this is, I've been involved in racing since about 1989 mostly as a crew member, pre USN that was on asphalt. I already knew this much but the problem was I thought I knew too much. If I wasn't about the most stubborn guy on the East Coast I would have given up years ago. LOL

Can you get a good older car? Yeah, you absolutely can and you do that by going and working with somebody and helping and they say you know man we have this 2014 or 15 _________ collecting dust we could sell you and you can get it updated but we have all the notes on it and stuff for now. Or maybe even that's the car that you're working on and they upgrade, you buy a car that you already have your own notes on.

[Jking24]

What I did was I was running the 4 cylinder junk car class at Potomac for a few years back in the 2000's and I used to drink a lot so I thought I was a way better mechanic than I was. I could have went hobby stock or street stock but I used to live my life about half in the bag. So I bought some clapped out old heap for really cheap and struggled for years running a or 2 show here or there usually having something break. I know plenty about late models now, not saying I'm some ace late model mechanic now or anything either but there's a WAAAAAAAY easier and cheaper way to learn than what I did. It pretty much took quitting drinking totally to figure it out too. The irony of all this is, I've been involved in racing since about 1989 mostly as a crew member, pre USN that was on asphalt. I already knew this much but the problem was I thought I knew too much. If I wasn't about the most stubborn guy on the East Coast I would have given up years ago. LOLCan you get a good older car? Yeah, you absolutely can and you do that by going and working with somebody and helping and they say you know man we have this 2014 or 15 _________ collecting dust we could sell you and you can get it updated but we have all the notes on it and stuff for now. Or maybe even that's the car that you're working on and they upgrade, you buy a car that you already have your own notes on.

Rocky that last part is exactly right and i was gonna put it in my post but ran out of time. Most of older cars that go good came from guys who no how to make them go. These cars generally don't come turn key but are usually alot more complete than most "rollers". It all goes back to that knowledge part. When i was starting. The guy i helped was really good about pointing out certain guys around the pits and telling me you ever hear those guys taking shutup and listen lol. But i was really fortunate to get to know those guys and learn alot over the years. It's funny their were about five of them. And they pretty much all got their start in the same shop working out helping Bobby Allen

[Rocky]

Rocky that last part is exactly right and i was gonna put it in my post but ran out of time. Most of older cars that go good came from guys who no how to make them go. These cars generally don't come turn key but are usually alot more complete than most "rollers". It all goes back to that knowledge part. When i was starting. The guy i helped was really good about pointing out certain guys around the pits and telling me you ever hear those guys taking shutup and listen lol. But i was really fortunate to get to know those guys and learn alot over the years. It's funny their were about five of them. And they pretty much all got their start in the same shop working out helping Bobby Allen

Yeah, that's good stuff. I absorbed a lot more on the motor side. I don't know if Tony Brabbs and Al Horton and those guys knew that I was listening to every single word I ever heard them say, but I was. Read hundreds of books, took classes, stay on top of what heads are the latest, I have different cam profiles I prefer for different situations. About to build my own flowbench... Built a pile of 350s. etc, etc, etc. I should have been a drag racer. LOL. I guess that my roots on blacktop show through. I mean I know guys that could have taken my old car and made it fast with a welder and enough time. But if you're going to spend all that money anyways, why NOT just get a newer car? I think I've paid my dues enough now to finally learn how to make a race car handle on more than the straightaways. It seems like when you tell somebody that you built your own motor they really look at you different, well if it runs good anyways. Even if the rest of the car around it looks like you dragged it out of the local salvage yard.

[MotoMatt]

I know a lot won't believe me but you can learn a lot about if you have some skill on the wheel by spending a grand and trying iRacing first too. Yea, it's not real but it is real enough to know if you can hack it. You can run and really fast know who could drive a real car and who couldn't if their life depended on it. I ran a race on there last night and a couple guys couldn't drive their way out of a wet paper bag if they had to.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

I know a lot won't believe me but you can learn a lot about if you have some skill on the wheel by spending a grand and trying iRacing first too. Yea, it's not real but it is real enough to know if you can hack it. You can run and really fast know who could drive a real car and who couldn't if their life depended on it. I ran a race on there last night and a couple guys couldn't drive their way out of a wet paper bag if they had to.

How do you feel the lateral Gs and tire slip?

[riddle28]

you can tell tire slip from the sound of the engine. Its not gonna teach you a ton but it definitely helps with strategy during a race

[EvelB7]

IRacing is fun, good for hand-eye stuff but not like driving a dirt late model (view is fairly close). I tried to go around a couple of tracks that I have raced at and struggled when in real life I ran very well....I do think it has its place but do not judge your ability by a racing game...Some are good at one, some the other, some that can't do either, and a few who are good at both.

[Rajflyboy]

IRacing is fun, good for hand-eye stuff but not like driving a dirt late model (view is fairly close). I tried to go around a couple of tracks that I have raced at and struggled when in real life I ran very well....I do think it has its place but do not judge your ability by a racing game...Some are good at one, some the other, some that can't do either, and a few who are good at both.

And around 2500$$ for a good starter setup for Iracing ... I’d rather spend on a real car