32nd ICEBREAKER FL UNITED PROMOTERS LM SERIES

[Don Nerone]

Lots of truth in what was said here but the ABC body rule is what got the car counts up for the big races.
The out of town cars already had ABC bodys and we went to it to get them to come to florida . It did wirk for a wile but when they didnt win it was for some other reason??
i personaly like the outlaw cars and was the last one to run them in florida but there were not enough of them in the last few years.
About the money... The Sunbelt Series total purst for 24 cars was $16,800.
Now the total is less than $10,000
tires were $96
Fule was $2.50
highway fule was $1.00
Yep the car count isent that bad for the cost of racing.
Yep im sure that was my falt also..
Don62

[Frasson118]

The "some other reason" that they didn't come down anymore, was the Florida Spec Motor rules. The out-of-area cars couldn't compete, and they weren't hauling down here to run 8th.

A few years back at New Smyrna Speedweeks, every feature was one by a local car, until Jack Landis broke the streak.... with a Progressive motor that was bought mid-week when they knew their stuff couldnt keep up.

[Tim]

jerry, call ricky brooks......he'll call them all liars...and losers....gov cup proved it......

he who turns left best wins.....

hp is cheap anymore...

[Frasson118]

Gov Cup, as well as Speedweeks, have both been a great representation of a field that CAN come together with the feeling they have an equal shot as the next guy. With a level field, there are a lot of talented racers that can, and have won at NSS recently.

It wasn't this way not long ago. I like the direction for the SLM's and the transition to Pro Lates for the "other" class(es).

But on the shorter tracks, I'd LOVE to see a transition back to the slab sided, wedge nosed cars that are more conducive to side-by-side action. Build the cars to be able to take a little beating without losing a grand cause a fender got torn off....

[jacko241]

When they paved St. Augustine Speedway, I was running a late model on dirt there. They let us keep the slab body/wedge nose for the first year it was paved. The engines were essentially LLM motors with 750 carb. When asphalt supers would show up we were as fast or faster than them. I for one would love to see the ABC body thing go away. It, along with tire cost, is one of the main reasons I can't afford to run my late model. We got involved in a minor pileup at OSW this past year, and it cost me over $1000 to fix and that was doing everything myself. I am still not convinced a 1/4 inch here and a 1/2 inch there on a body run on a track 1/2 mile or less makes that much difference with corner speeds of 80-90 mph and straightaways at 120.

By the way, right on Mr. Weaver!

[chevyj31]

abc bodies/ride heights

First of all, this is just my thoughts, if you go to wedge bodies, all the high dollar teams will pay 2-3 thousand bucks to have the bodies mounted by someone who has had wind tunnel time. This is already going on up north!! Getting rid of the ride height rule would also be a very expensive move, new springs, new shocks, and again the teams that could afford it would team up with a road racing team for the latest technology...Road racing has very low ride height rules, and it is not any cheaper then stockcar racing?? Oh and the spec engine, get rid of the spec engines in Florida and you might as well get rid of 3/4 of the cars. Bottom line, if you want to run a car on 8 inch tires with some tin can bodie, and build your own engine, run a sportsman car, and those are the rules, sorry you still will have to deal with the ride height......

[Woody]

chevy 31 your are quite right we build more sportaman cars than anything else be cause it's the most affordable for the weekly racer who does this for the fun of it.

[Frasson118]

I never said to get rid of Spec motors, merely that it was a big reason out-of-state cars didn't come to compete. Now that things have been more equalized, the talent that comes to compete has been outstanding. It is what it is, and has proven to me that the motor rules are pretty damn equal right now.

[Tommy King]

Chevy 31

1. a ABC Body mounted up is close to the price your quoting without the WIND TUNNEL time. Not to mention everytime you get banged around it gets $$$.The ABC Referree is fine just let guys build there own bodies if they have the KNOW HOW. How is dirt late model racing so effective without the ABC program?

2. I am not suggesting get rid of the spec engine. I just think its a joke. The rules are slanted against a guy that has the KNOW HOW to build his own stuff. They dont tech them anyways. Run what ya brung on 8 in rubber. It will be way better racing.

3. Costing racers more by eliminating the ride height rule? Why is there a ride height rule? PSssst you have to know someone to be able to do all the shock BS now that is just cheating the rule. Without a ride height rule you would see more conventional setups and way less expense on shocks. Some guys might have to buy springs but most will not.

4. Oh yeah and your defending a minority and I mean small minority. How about them Late model touring series car counts. These guys buy tires to practice on and race on and maybe just one more set just because. I want to see some of my childhood heroes like Dave Dunkin, Jimmy CastleBerry, Bart Weatherford, Wayne Morris, and the list goes on that have been relegated to cheaper forms of racing because of all of the above.
Just my opinion
.....and anybody that needs a wind tunnel I have a big box fan and some cigars lets do it.

[chevyj31]

entitlement

Tommy, there are classes out there right now, just like you are talking about. Lets turn the super lates into sportsmans, so everybody can afford to race them?? There are 50-60 quality supers in the state, the only reason the car count is sparce is because of the tracks putting dates on top of each other, and to close, and to many races. I want to run sprint cup, but guess what, I cant afford it. I race withen my means(pure stock). I, like you would not mind seeing more cars, since the tracks are screwing each other, so each track would have more cars, but I truly believe, part of the reason they are called "super" is because of the super high expense....Racing is not cheap. The higher the level, the higher the cost. People always ask me, why dont you move up a class?? I just say I cant afford it, I race withen my means!!

[Frasson118]

Twice a month racing is "too close together"...? Up north, many areas run 3-4 nights a WEEK. At least 2 anyways.

As for tracks scheduling on top of each other, yes it is a problem, but I have yet to hear a racer say "I'm not sure which to go to, so I'm not going to either".

Also, you say there are 50-60 quality Late Models out there (which I think is even higher), but the budget that 40 of them have, is nowhere near the budget the other 20 have. If they would throw out practice days (and all the expense that comes with that), I believe more racers would show up. They guys who can't afford the expenses, which is close to what they would be on a race night, they stay home because they are already a day behind everyone else.

Practice nights are a cash cow for the tracks, with all income and NO purse to pay, so they aren't gonna give them up. The rich guys are gonna come on those nights, and everyone else stays home. On dirt, practice usually consists of about 5 hot laps an hour or so before race time. They don't burn a tank of fuel, a set of tires, $10-20'per head, meals for everyone and a few hotel rooms..... all for $0.00.

It's not just the cars that are expensive, it's all the time that is given to them to spend as much as they'd like. I say to take away a lot of that OPPORTUNITY to spend a lot of cash, and you will see a lot more guys that can afford a NIGHT of racing, not a weekend-long commitment.

[chevyj31]

frasson, i agree with u 100%, a friend of mine who races supers was going to go to a race on the east coast, but then he found out that on sat. they were only going to have 1 hour of practice, the rest of the day was all bs meetings and tire selection. he would of had to be there at noon on friday to get it to work. that one track on the east coast thinks that all the super teams race for a living??

[Tommy King]

ok so how do we fix this. I mean the car counts are huge and the racing is second to Mike right now.