"NASCAR" team at bonneville

[hondachop]

Gregg,
       
       Who built your "NASCAR legal, 358 cubic inch motor"

Thanks

[roundyround]

Gary Trout built the motor.  He had a bunch of spare parts laying around and put it together.  A decent motor can be built for $10-12k.

Gregg

[Brian Towey]

As I’ve been to Bonneville twice now with a “Stock Car” I think it’s appropriate to post something about what I’ve learned.

I was with Russ Wicks for both of his trips there.  We could not have had our successes without the help and hard work of Mike Cook and Billy Hodges (both of whom I presume most of you must know). 

We chose to do something that had some historical perspective and marketing value.  To that end we focused on the Bobby Isaac effort of 1971.  Stock Cars garner huge interest and as a result sponsorship opportunities are more plentiful. 

Racing is all about fun (or should be) and I’ve had some frustration and a ton of fun on the salt.  I am not an inexperienced racer but this salt thing is very unique and the whole team has really enjoyed the challenges and appreciated the guidance offered by guys like Mike and Billy.  We are better racers for having worked with them.

Regarding running that type of car and the tires – again, we chose to run a car at the current NASCAR “spec” because that is more interesting to race fans.  The tires are a challenge and the car would undoubtedly run faster (and straighter) with something else (we tested a little bit with that last year).  The cars are readily available in the $10-15k range as rollers.  Our motor from last year was in the sub 700 hp range.  So you can see how it would be possible for somebody to race at Bonneville in a safe car with a modest budget.  If there were a class for these cars at the normally sanctioned meets we would show up and run and I suspect many others would, as well. 

We are gaining experience with each of our trips to Utah and have enjoyed meeting members of other crews whose paths we cross.  Racers are mostly the same and I’ve never met one that I didn’t learn something from.

I enjoy your sport and can’t wait to get out there again.

BT

[landracing]

Gregg and Brian,

Thank you both for coming on the site and putting up your words. It is great in what you do with the car, and the private time you have used on the salt is an experience of a lifetime. You CAN come out to a Bonneville event and run time only I would assume.

I meet only some of the people that were involved on the salt during your private FIA time. Wish I could have meet the whole group. I was reporting on the FIA meet but never made it over to your course to see any of the action. I did however watch your last run on the international course.

And please dont take the comments here personally. I try to run an open forum for people to jabber... Some of it is relevent, some is not. Usually the stuff that is not is due to rumors or miss information....

Great that you come on the forum and say your piece. Thank you. Again you guys are doing your own thing and should be complemented as any endevour on the salt is an accomplishment, and when you arrive home safe from a trip, that means in one aspect it is always a successfull trip.

Jon Amo
owner/webmaster

[hotrod]

I know some might not agree with this idea, but I would like to throw out the idea that SCTA consider adopting a "vintage NASCAR" class just like the vintage oval track class.

I think one of the charms and perhaps duties of land speed racing is to preserve the fundamental roots of our racing heritage. As the car of tomorrow takes over, the old NASCAR chassis will quickly pass into a historical class that I think deserves to be preserved. They will run for a while on the smaller tracks but they also have some historical value as cars that developed one of the most successful racing organizations in the world, with huge fan support. They broke key historical records like the first 200+ mph lap on a closed course.

If such a class was formed you could resolve the tire width issue by including rules for tire width, requiring a narrower more salt suitable tire over some specific speed. That would put all these cars on a level playing field and they can continue to race. Given the public popularity for NASCAR and the potential for easier access to sponsor money it might be a natural for folks to run a reasonably affordable chassis and with reasonable opportunities for sponsorship money.

Just food for thought!

Larry

[dwarner]

Larry,

You are way behind the curve. The specs are in discussion. Why change the tires? There is a 300 MPH rated NASCAR type tire available. I think an "as raced"  configuration would be of the most interest to the fans.

If you start dicking with the cars then they would deterioate into something else. Witness the history of the old Sports Racing class. The Mod Sports class which was constructed to revive the intent of Sports Racing has now began to disappear.

DW

[Sumner]

I know some might not agree with this idea, but I would like to throw out the idea that SCTA consider adopting a "vintage NASCAR" class just like the vintage oval track class............................Just food for thought!
Larry

Ok I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a die hard NASCAR fan that usually only misses one or two races a year, but I can't see the need for this.  NASCAR had so many body styles over the years and has gone from actual modified stock cars to the cars of the 80's on up that hardly resembled a stock car at all in regards to the chassis and later the body.  Also look at the wide range of engine sizes that were used over the years.  I think by the time you put in some type of rule structure that Dan and others could deal with in impound you would have a spec car like what NASCAR has today.

I think their needs are meet by being able to come and run "time only" if they are interested.  Personally I think NASCAR's drive to be the most popular motor series has really hurt them with their base and will hurt them in the long run when a number of their new fans move on.  You can see that in the ratings already.  I love Land Speed Racing and wonder just how popular we want it to be.  At Bonneville we run on a surface that can only handle "X" number of runs a year, take this year for instance, so how big do we really want our sport to grow.  I'll bet at the moment there are at least 100-150 new cars/bikes being built to run on the salt.  

I think the history of our sport has been to make/modify cars to run on the salt/dirt and not to make rules that adapt the salt/dirt to cars that were meant to run under different conditions such as Indy cars, F1, Modifieds, Wing Cars, drag cars, etc..  NASCAR cars are designed to go around in circles, so I think if there is a need to run older cars they will find a venue and don't they now have some road races setup for them??

Don't forget the race tomorrow, I like those short tracks,

Sum

[dwarner]

Sumner,

My feelings too.

We have a petiton from interested parties of 9-12. Some restrictions in my mind are:

cars from 1997 -2007, except 2007 COT
engine class C only
"as raced" configuration

Personally, I do not see a need for this class. There are plenty of venues to run that cater to this style of race car. I don't see a challege here.

The SCTA tries to listen to the wishes of the competitors and this class will be considered. Any other comments?

Lets start another thread, include the last two posts. The input will assist us in the validty of yet another class.

Thanks to all for your interest in LSR,
DW

[Sumner]

Sumner, My feelings too.........................Lets start another thread, include the last two posts. The input will assist us in the validty of yet another class.

Thanks to all for your interest in LSR,
DW

Done:

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,3102.msg38385.html#msg38385

Sum

[Robin UK]

Just out of interest, does anybody organise any historic NASCAR races on ovals or road courses? The kind of thing they do for F1, sports cars, Transam etc? Would love to see the 60's cars out again but I guess any survivors are worth serious money now.

Robin   

[dwarner]

Jack, there are plenty of unused motorcycle classes that can used as new class foder.

DW

[jimmy six]

A NASCAR car record or class is not, at this time, a SCTA-BNI problem. Jack D. will probably chime in with the real facts on the sanctioning body for the Bobby Issac records set in 1971. Notice I said record"S" plural. He also set a 100 mile roundy round speed of 194+ avarage at Bonneville and then did a flying mile with 216+ average. Which one first?.

I do not believe SCTA had anything to do with it. Jack? Maybe USAC? It makes no difference. The Bonneville 200 MPH club recognizes records set on the salt period. It must have met the specs back then. I am checking to see when it was first mentioned in the Bonneville Speed Week Program.  I couldn't find the Bobby Issac record listed any where, but I did not look too hard. He is listed in the 200MPH club. As I said, one needs to set a record sanctioned to go into that organization. It is SEPARATE.

The record as far as I know was never mentioned in a SCTA publication as a record. If it was done during speed week it may met the rules for a production record, who knows.

A person at a privvate meet could very easily set a record sanctioned by a "recognized" body to and gain entrance to the 200 MPH club but it would take some doing especially the way NASCAR rules change many times during a year. I believe it would take a NASCAR representative with all the proper templates, carb tools, cams specs, etc to santion any speed record for that class. The SCTA does not need to get into this part of land speed unless someone steps up and take "all" of the segments of it. We do not have the priviledge of a rule book and with it's changes a more than one year old car would be too hard to track.

I feel thie class is not needed in the SCTA at this time we have plenty, pick one.

I liked watching them race over the years when I could identify with the manufacturers and the model. 4 doors made into 2 doors where none are, noses made that don't fit anything production, now all cars are the same with a different decal showing Chev, Ford, Dodge, Toyota. Soon it will be IROC.

Good Luck...................... Jack Comments?

[LVMAXX]

 

[maguromic]

I have a couple of NASCAR’s that we race in the vintage events.  Here is the link to the west coast series   http://www.hscrs.com  we race on ovals and road courses.  The San Jose Grand prix weekend is with the Indy cars.  There is also an east coast organization just like this one that puts the events on. I enjoy driving these cars, but I believe they should be time only as we have way to many classes.

[JackD]

Jack, there are plenty of unused motorcycle classes that can used as new class fodder.

DW

The people responsible for them should find another outlet like some others with the "For Profit" motive.
The 10 to 1 ratio is looking better all the time.