You don't know what engine is in your race car? Really?

[Krooser]

Saturday I was at the Racer's Auction in Janesville, WI. I was looking for a few engine bolt on for my kid's WISSOTA mod… bought an air cleaner.

Anyway I struck up a conversation with a young fella sitting next to me… maybe 18 or 19 years old. Nice kid. He was with his Dad. He told me he ran a pavement LLM… I asked him where he raced and he told me they had been "testing" at one track last year… and they were going to "test" at another track this season then "maybe" run a couple races at the end of the season before they actually run the car in 2015.

OK… I guess.

Then I asked him what engine rules these tracks had in place…9-1? Iron heads? He told me he ran a crate motor so he didn't have to follow any engine rules… then I asked if he ran the 604 or 602. He turned to his Dad and asked him which crate motor was in their race car. The Dad replied "we run the small one… I think it's a 327".

Really? No wonder you guys are testing… the sad part is I have heard this kind of stuff before… so many guys getting into the sport with no idea of what they are doing. When we started we were pretty stupid, too. But we were stupid with $50.00 junkyard engines and $200.00 cars.

This year I'll be helping a rookie get started, too… my 41 year old son. After 25 years of thinking about it he finally bought a car and were are getting ready for the new season. And it's been a learning curve for both of us.

At least my kid knows what motor is in his car…

[15D]

Saturday I was at the Racer's Auction in Janesville, WI. I was looking for a few engine bolt on for my kid's WISSOTA mod… bought an air cleaner.

Anyway I struck up a conversation with a young fella sitting next to me… maybe 18 or 19 years old. Nice kid. He was with his Dad. He told me he ran a pavement LLM… I asked him where he raced and he told me they had been "testing" at one track last year… and they were going to "test" at another track this season then "maybe" run a couple races at the end of the season before they actually run the car in 2015.

OK… I guess.

Then I asked him what engine rules these tracks had in place…9-1? Iron heads? He told me he ran a crate motor so he didn't have to follow any engine rules… then I asked if he ran the 604 or 602. He turned to his Dad and asked him which crate motor was in their race car. The Dad replied "we run the small one… I think it's a 327".

Really? No wonder you guys are testing… the sad part is I have heard this kind of stuff before… so many guys getting into the sport with no idea of what they are doing. When we started we were pretty stupid, too. But we were stupid with $50.00 junkyard engines and $200.00 cars.

This year I'll be helping a rookie get started, too… my 41 year old son. After 25 years of thinking about it he finally bought a car and were are getting ready for the new season. And it's been a learning curve for both of us.

At least my kid knows what motor is in his car…

Good Luck.

[Krooser]

Thanks… not our first rodeo but this game has gotten way too expensive and way too serious to have much fun anymore. But my son did pretty well running a few laps when he was a teenager… hope he can still do the same today.

[mudslinger47]

The sport has gone right past me too...gobs and gobs of money to get the car and engine...then more gobs just to race it. I've been a racer, hired racer (or trained monkey) and owner. Its just dam expencive. Were going to Tucson Az. next week, I now crew for a DLM team out of Cally. I can't even imagine what the expence will be..6 races in nine days, food, hotel, fuel, tires and of course broken parts.... not to mention the cars are 80K a copy...unreal....

Good luck to ya!!!

[racin6mod]

Sad thing is those with big money to spend are buying engines with out know what they are getting and paying crew chiefs to set the car up so the kid can run up front. the dais of teaching the sport from the ground up are coming to an end. We have a kid in the area that has had the best stuff possible from day one his family has spent a million or more and he's only 14 maybe 15 now. I'll bet he can't change the spark plugs after 3 years of hard racing (3or4 nights a week) at the same track a father who was good in his day taught his son everything from the ground up he has a lot of feature wins at 3 track and a champion ship at one of those.

I built my first race engine at 12 years of age it was a 4 cylinder ford but it taught me just how good it fills to race something you built your self. The kids today will never know how good that fills.

[Bubstr]

What is worse. The kids now days don't even know how to use basic tools. I always remember my first lesson. I was around 14 and into cars. A old guy in the neighborhood owned midgets. He had a full machine shop for 1955 in his garage and made a lot of his own parts. I would wash mud, clean parts, or mow the grass just to hang around.

I was eyeballing the milling machines and lathes one day when he asked if I would like to learn how to use tools. Not only yes but hell yes was my answer. He gave me a hunk of mild steel, hack saw, couple of files, a square and micrometer and said make me a 1 inch square using these tools and that vice and don't scratch the vice. It must be square and with in 1/2 thousandth on all sides. And walked away. After days I got it and showed him. He said your not done. Drill a hole exactly in the center. Then it was tap the hole with a hand tap. Then I had to make a wrench, harden it to fit that nut. using hand tools. The first wrench I made wasn't good enough, it had weak jaws. Angled the second the way he suggested so the jaw that bore all the pressure was supported by the handle. I will never forget there is a lefty loosy and a righty tighty again and I will never forget there is a right and wrong way to use an end wrench. Oh I got to finally use that lathe but had to learn to make a cutting bit and pay close attention to depth and cutting speed, when making the bolt for that nut. I could never thank this guy enough for the education that I really didn't know I had gotten till much later. The most important thing he taught me, was Smart goes fast and no matter how smart you think you are, your still a dummy.

[Krooser]

Great comments… thanks.

[mudslinger47]

Sort of in the defence of the "Kid that don't know nuthin'". I listened to Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards in an interview today, they both said about the same thing as far as driver mechanics in this sport today. Ya can't do it and win. The driver is a "tool". He describes what the car is doing and its up to the crew chief and crew to make the car work. Admittedly that is higher division talk, but if thats the direction your headed, as a driver better figure out how to describe what the car is doing perfectly and be able to "feel" the adjustment on the very next lap, if not, your goin' no where...

[racin6mod]

Sort of in the defence of the "Kid that don't know nuthin'". I listened to Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards in an interview today, they both said about the same thing as far as driver mechanics in this sport today. Ya can't do it and win. The driver is a "tool". He describes what the car is doing and its up to the crew chief and crew to make the car work. Admittedly that is higher division talk, but if thats the direction your headed, as a driver better figure out how to describe what the car is doing perfectly and be able to "feel" the adjustment on the very next lap, if not, your goin' no where...

I raced at the track were Carl Edwards started here in il. his father also raced back then. they built some pretty fast cars and both won quite often in the class they ran.I know his father showed him how to build and maintain a car. I think jr has trouble telling the crew what his car is doing and that has hurt him. guy's like the bush brothers that know every part of the car seem to do pretty well even in nascar. I do get what your saying some only need to know how to pass the correct info to the crew.

[Bubstr]

This reminds me of a story a friend passed on to me about Tony Ury sr and Dale Earnheart sr. Dale come in after practice and says, "not enough Horsepower, getting pulled down the straights". Next race Dale says, "I can't get on the gas in the corner at all." Tony says, "Ah ha, too much horsepower."

[mudslinger47]

I raced at the track were Carl Edwards started here in il. his father also raced back then. they built some pretty fast cars and both won quite often in the class they ran.I know his father showed him how to build and maintain a car. I think jr has trouble telling the crew what his car is doing and that has hurt him. guy's like the bush brothers that know every part of the car seem to do pretty well even in nascar. I do get what your saying some only need to know how to pass the correct info to the crew.

Understanding the workings of the chassis will always be important for the comunication to make any sense...There are only a couple of cup racers that i hear actually calling for certain changes in specific areas...Busch brothers, Tony Stewart and to some extent Harvick. The engineers have pretty much taken over the sport as far as chassis info goes.