New to modifieds

[CBGarage]

Who would you consider to be the best person to talk to modifieds with if you were new to the class? Not specific chassis builders but someone who has maybe worked on them all and has an idea of what kind of chassis and car to look for when buying one to start with. Looking for a car but you hear the bad about all the different brands from different people. Wanted someone who has been around a while that can answer the questions honestly and without a biased opinion. We are putting a USMTS team together for 2015 and our driver has a lot of experience in different classes so we're looking at putting good stuff together but prefer to buy used in case we decide we don't like it, we haven't mortgaged the farm.

Opinions anyone?

[johnny v]

dang, jumping right into A mods against USMTS guys..... with a driver who has not wheeled an A mod at all.... You got a big chore out there in front of you.....
I would go to the track and find someone running in that class and talk to them, help them out for a month or two and learn something about the cars, chassis, etc....buy them a tire or two ........ then buy a used car and stay around the house and learn how to race an open motor A mod car....
Then get me a bushel basket of money and chase the big dogs around the USMTS till I'm broke.... :-)

[CBGarage]

Thanks for the advice but we're not worried about the level of competition, that's what we seek. Our driver has won in 410 & 360 Sprint Cars, Open Late Models, Sport Mods, he's just never driven an A Mod. We're just looking for advice on who is the most respected person to go to for questions regarding which car to buy. Hughes/Skyrocket/CAM/Hoffman, you ask 20 people, you get 20 different reasoning's. We're looking for someone who has maybe been a crew chief in the mod world for years and can give us an honest, non biased opinion on which car in their opinion, would be the best to start with.

[CBGarage]

I thought I would clarify something real quick....the last post sounded like I was bragging or thinking our SH!& doesn't stink. What I meant by competition is what we seek, in every car we ever put together and race, we race against the best because the only way to be the best, is beat the best. We strive as a team to get better no matter what class we are racing and we like to go to series and learn. Getting your butt beat a few times will teach you how to get better or make you realize you don't have what it takes. So, with payouts in mind, traveling in mind, we felt like USMTS would be the most fun and allow us to learn as well as see where we stackup as the season goes on. The travel part we're used to, they actually have a fairly easy travel schedule compared to some series. Anyway, I just wanted to clarify, we're no know it alls, if we were, we wouldn't be seeking advice.....Thanks!

[johnny v]

hey, I didn't take it that way... I agree.. you gotta throw down with the best to be the best.... but I would go and find a A mod guy to run with for a month or two.... learn the in's and out's of these cars... talk to the different owners / drivers / crew chiefs that own the std cars.... Shaw / GRT / Skyrocket / Hughes...... find out from them what they think of the different cars.....everyone has good/bad experiences with every car builder... some give great support , some not so great...

If I had to go buy one right now, I would go take a hard look at a Beak Built Chassis..... smaller shop, sounds like they would give lots of support, doesn't have a bunch of cars out there yet , so he might be willing to work with a team trying out USMTS....... lots of history with winning cars in the Ruetiman (sp?) family.... ck them out on FB and the internet.... Nascar driver David Ruetiman started it with another guy...

[LM14]

Look at what is winning with USMTS now. Go to a few USMTS races and talk to them. Most are willing to talk about what you seem to be interested in and will give decent feedback. If they tell you "we've never ran anything but brand X and never will", thank them for their time and ask another. USMTS is a different animal with the tire rule, engine rules and body rules making the cars a bit different. In my opinion, IMCA & UMP rules don't transfer into knowledge about what it takes to have a good USMTS car.

http://www.usmts.com/points/manufacturers-championship/

Hate to say it but I would cross a Skyrocket off the list right now. He seems to have gotten behind on the tech end and lost his driver support and base. He's not what he once was, guess everything cycles in racing, doesn't it?

MB Customs and Ramirez and GRT are all nice looking cars and seem to be on the rise.

I know nothing about LG2 but they have a lot of wins this year.

There are a lot of teams selling "their" brand of car right now, most are basically a copy of what they raced before taking car building in house and making a few changes.

Make sure whoever you choose is available for repairs, tech support and is 100% familiar with the unique needs of a USMTS team.

Same goes for engine package and shocks.

JMO,
SPark