Race fuel

[Benny The Mule]

As was mentioned in an an earlier post, racing fuel doesn't have much, if anything to do with pump gasoline. Most racing fuels are a blend of many chemicals and compounds and are often made from scratch. They don't have any connection to regular pump gasoline.

Smoke and Mirrors. It's the same fuel as 20 yrs ago!

[Benny The Mule]

I ran a blend of 110 avgas and 93 octane for years. Bought it from the airport.

Now tracks MAKE you buy theirs in many cases.

[Matt Albee]

The answer is E-85 you can buy at the pump for alittle more than $2.00 a gallon the same stuff you can run in your passenger car.
around 105-108 octane
this can be can very easily done by buying a E-85 conversion kit from Quick fuel for any carb and only takes an hour to install. Super lates,mods,trucks, mini,.... can all run on this. I have done extensive research on this and run it for years with no problems AT ALL.

I've never had a problem AT ALL running anything. I know the 10% ethanol in our pump gas kills fuel mileage, wouldn't 85% destroy mileage? And for that matter give you far fewer laps per tank full? Doesn't sound like a very good idea.
I'm also curious about your octane claim. How can it be "around" 105 to 108?

[scottgarrity07]

There's a trade-off. The more ethanol (alcohol) in the fuel mix the more power you get, but it burns quicker. E85 is supposed to be a cheaper alternative to lower octane race fuel. Good for lower division built motors. Not a good option for OWM's, Super Lates, and Spec Motor Pro Lates. I have heard E85 works great in Crate motors and makes more HP. The problem is finding it. I can't seem to find it anywhere near me on the west coast. I wouldn't mind making the conversion and trying it if it was readily available near me.

[Groundpounder]

For what it's worth, Sunoco 110 and 112 dropped from $10 plus to about $8 per gallon from this summer at Sebring and Daytona pumps...

[MiniRacer26]

I have always ran AVGAS 100 in my engines with a few table spoons of Marvel Mystery oil and have never had any issues. $3.50 a gallon, depending on where you buy it.

[Matt Albee]

I know Desoto sells Renegade, and i believe their price has been around $8.00 all year. There sure seems to be a lot of difference from track to track. I've been told that Showtime is probably the highest around, and i know they force racers to buy their gas.

[OldSchool+]

Given that (& other similar tales), how do they typically achieve such large car counts?

[Matt Albee]

From reading the results every week, it looks like most of the cars they get are lower classes which wouldn't necessarily be using the race gas. The others who would, like OWMs, run pretty much everywhere.
I know the St. Pete track has ALWAYS drawn a huge car count in the lower classes and even figure 8. I think Yoho fell into something when he leased that track. Because from all the tales i've read, the car count there is in spite of him, not because of him. I really don't know for sure, i haven't been up there in a while.

[OldSchool+]

Welllllllllll, while it is true that St Pete always had a good car count, and it is true that they have a lot of "support class" cars...

It is also true that there would be NO racing there if Yoho had not invested more money than I will probably ever make in the joint. The racing, the purses, and the car count are pretty much solely because of Robert.

It is also true that they routinely have a good to very large field of Mods or late models (at least the nights that I have been there). And typically larger than other venues that were not shut down for a number of years.

That said, the question remains:

While there are occasional rumblings of costs at Showtime, there are plenty of cars there.

It would seem that for whatever reason (purse?) that it is worth their while to pull into the pit gate at Showtime on Saturday nights.

ps--it also costs me more to drive over there, but I do it for the show.

[Matt Albee]

And you very likely answered your own question. It looks as though the majority of support class cars at Showtime are from the immediate area. As i said, there have always been a big field of support class cars in that area. In other words, most of those guys live up there.
Keep on driving over there, you're supporting racing.