Late model/dirt track question.

Here is one of our cars. When we run with USAC we have an RPM limit. I think Powri does too. But there are others that don't. At Chili Bowl we will twist it to 10,500. On a bigger track we will turn about 9800. I have spend the better part of my life building and driving these. I love midgets.

 

Also around here everyone runs "blueprinted" MSD boxes. MSD has Soft Touch Rev Control right? What that is is a few hundred rpm before the max limit the box starts dropping cylinders and pulling power from the ignition.

A blueprint box is reworked to be full power to a hard limit. Max rpm is still controlled by the chip but you gain a few hundred usable rpms.

 

That wasn’t a chip...
They were cheating using a rate of change traction control device.

 

Guess it depends on what chip they make you run. From my experience the less you turn the 604 the faster it runs...
We pulled a 6.04 on the local 1/3 mile with it where the Steelhead motor is usually pulling a 6.86 or 6.93.

 

I would bet he is referring to the million dollar race. “The Big One”

 

honestly can’t remember. Had NO clue what it was. We were in Greenville Ohio and got our dirt track race rained out and the guy was like “eldora” is running. So I’m like cool, let’s go.

get there and holy fuck. There were so many rigs inside, outside and everywhere. I couldn’t believe how many big names were there.

anyways it was a late model show as there was no room for any other classes.

and yea it definitely sounded like they were in the chip.
When I was working on late model asphalt it was the same way.

first time I saw it in cars was 5 flags and it was the Rowdy cars that were really loose off the corner but used the chip as a traction control.
In fact, the only other at that time was chase elliott.

 

Timely thread. Last week I took a trip back home to watch my buddy race A mods and the late models were in town. Outlaw Speedway in Muskogee,OK.
I kept wondering why the LR would go UP when they were on the throttle like someone posted above. I still don't understand that. And the RF was kicked waaay out. Like damn near a foot more than the LF. Insane corner entry speed in those things.
Nothin like standing behind the light pole in T3 as 25,000hp comes barreling at you from 10 feet away. I had on some clear safety glasses from work but should've had some type of grinder face shield on. Track was really dry and as they came into the turn it was like standing in front of some 12ga birdshot.
God I loved it.

 

The left kicks under it to help them get through the corner. It is rear steering the car.

 

Really soft Primary springs on the RF, bar angle on the LR and again really soft springs that just keep pushing...
Having the RF high makes the LR low sitting in the pits where the cars are teched. The rear deck can’t be above 37” from the ground, once on the track, RF goes to the secondary spring sealing the car off to the track and the LR goes to the moon to make downforce.

 

Man, our setups are so much easier. Ha. When a midget has the left front in the air it is because we have a lot of left rear weight in the car. Basically we set the tilt of the car with the rear torsion bars, the to get left rear weight we push the right front down. That causes the car to be like a table with a short leg. So it effectively is rocking over on the right rear, and lifts up the left front.

 

We pin ours down on the right front to assist in turning.

Using the left rear to actually rotate the car

 

Yep, getting the RF down and keeping it there puts bar angle and therefore rear steer in the LR.
Wasn’t too long ago letting the LF raise up was common, now we limit it to where it won’t extend much past ride height to add LR wheel weight off the corner. The less you let it lift the more forward bite you get.

 

We lift the front end as much as we can before we start to wheelie the cars out of the turns to get forward bite. And we lean on the right rear for drive too. But when you have 400+ hp in a 1000lb car it is easy to wheelie out of the turns, and then they just want to start turning toward the infield. We really want the front tires to just be dancing on top of the track on the straights.

 

Dirt track racing is the shit! If I ever go back to racing cars that's what I want to try. One of my best friends races winged sprints and hes been wanting me to do it for years.

 

Non wing is the way to go. Wings plant the car too much. Without the wing you gotta be a driver.

 

I think its takes a lot of skill to do either. With winged sprints, the cars are faster and the fastest line is a little more narrow, so you have to be much more precise. Its a little harder to pull a slide job on someone.

I would do non-winged mainly because of cost. You don't need as much motor with a non winged car as a winged car, and they last a bit longer between re-fresh because there is less load on the motor. This is just what I've been told by my buddy. His name is Ryan Ruhl. He races Sprints On Dirt and some other orgs in the MidWest. He's been driving someone else car these last 2 years.

 

Yeah, My step brother is racing both winged and non winged sprints and midgets as well. His name is Kyle Jones. He won the last Golden Driller in the midget class at the Tulsa Shootout. Wing cars do have to be driven more precise, as in you have to run the same line over and over. But they are so planted that you are not having to fight the car. If you miss the setup a little, you are basically done. In a non wing car you can have an off setup and still out drive the car. I am not a fan of wing cars. I think the on track action is boring compared to non wing.

 

I miss watching Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN.

 

I lived for that show. We never got to run any of those since they were mainly on the west coast, and well a thing call jobs got in the way. Ha.

 

Non winged is the better show by far. I also think they are quite a bit more dangerous. Its almost like the winning setup is the one thats closest to flipping over, without actually flipping over.

Id love to try driving one. But I would want to be on a 3/8 mile max.