Houston Latemodels Sanctioned by ASA

[arts22]

What i see happening with crate engines is a $7500 engine that will end up costing aleast 10 to 12000 or more buy the time you end up.

Supertx, I dont think you understood me. You statement above is what I replied to. The crate motor isnt $7500 its $5450... That is not a SLM motor, its a GM sealed crate motor. LEAVE the slm alone....... Your grocery getter has over 400hp, sweet............

[REBELRACER]

You throw stones at the big show folks probably because you cant join em

 

i have no interest in joining them and i dont believe i was throwing stones at anyone, but if you want to read between the lines then that's fine with me, my point was that the whole carnival type thing is fine, but it doesn't make the racing any better....................

[Crazyhorse]

and the best part is seeing John Kelly with his pickup truck and his open trailer going out and winning the race..........

that's my favorite part to.

[lendo38]

turbotoddie,

 

Thank you for the professional response to my post. I am sorry that I did not make my statement more clearly, but I was not referring to the Houston cars running under the ASA banner. I have heard many things about this since the original release and I am not sure where the Houston cars will be next season.

 

I think that the TSRS series has it's act together. I am not sure if that is what you are running, but if you are, you should be proud of it. As a racer from the Houston crate series, I can tell you I wish we could work something out between our series so that we could all run together regardess of which track the race is at. I was only recommending that we all try to race together for the car counts. We are going to have a real nice purse at Houston next year which might make racing there in our series pretty interesting.

 

Since we are already on the low end of the horsepower curve of the series' that I mentioned, I would suggest some sort of restrictions for the TSRS cars to make it more fair because of the horsepower variances. The faster Houston cars are currently running 14.50's on the Hoosiers, and I understand that the Goodyears may give us another 10th. If you put the 10" tires on the TSRS cars, they would be real fast at Houston.

 

I am just hoping for some good racing next year between the classes.

[uhcougs]

I've been saying for a while that ALL these tracks need to adopt a same set of LM rules.... Used SLM Bodies with 350 crates in 'em.... (HMP style LM) that way you can have "Texas Late Model Showdown" kind of like the AutoZone Elite race..... you take the top 5 from all 4 tracks... If a track is a week off - you can haul your car to another track.

 

That way there would be a difinitive difference.

 

 

Local LM - ABC/Used SLM with 350 crate

TSRS - stays the same

USRA - all stay the same...

 

that's 3 levels of LM racing.

Your local late models are just that local....

 

you wanna tour with a little more engine liberty goto TSRS ...

 

Wanna run supers, goto USRA.... Right now we've got too much of the same thing and I think thats why we're seeing small car counts.

 

Like THR - small LM classes all year... if there rules package matched houston, or SAS, on there off weekends they could goto HMP or SAS to run there cars.... feel like they're getting their moneys worth.

 

I don't know, this could potentionally open up a LM class at CCMS (if they dont already have one)

 

I just don't dont understand why SAS and TSRS run the same cars -and one's considered a local class... a touring class should be just hat, touring, and not offer something the track already has as a local show. Just my opinon...

 

 

I've seen a TSRS car and HMP car on the track at the same time. The track is small enough that they could be competitive.

[lendo38]

uhcougs,

 

Perfectly said! I think that this is an idea that could make everyone happy. The rules packages could be worked into over the first year. I would leave them all alone at first except for the really obvious necessities that are agreed upon. That way we can be sure that it will work without killing people's pocketbooks again and again.

 

I think that this is a great concept. I am working on some people that I know to see if they can talk to Mary Ann and others about putting this together. Someone will have to make the first call to get the ball rolling. I know that the tracks are a little nervous and slow when it comes to this sort of thing, but if they are going to do anything like this for next year they are going to need to hurry so we can all get ready for it.

 

I know many of the Houston cars would love to travel to other tracks and run with the other local classes on our off weekends. If these rules were put in to effect, I can tell you now that I know of at least (6) or (7) of the Houston cars that would travel right off the top of my head without even asking the ones that have not mentioned it to me. The Houston LM's are a bunch of good people wanting to see this racing grow. I am sure that we would be interested in seeing this take off. We currently have (12) cars committed for next year, and at least (3) more that are right on the edge waiting for some clarifications.

[Guest lidllarry]

Now Now, Cougs and Lendo,

Between TRSRS, SAS and Kyle, there must be 40 cars avaiable to run. Houston has 12, so why dont they change to fit the local Late Model specs? And Lendo, you say Houston will be running for nice purse next year? What is the Purse? I know ASA does not pay anything to its Member Tracks for a purse. In fact, you pay them to run under their rules.

By the way ARTS, would you run a Super Late Model if you could buy it for $22,000 that is competitive. I found one.

[jp17]

Is the proposed HMP late model class going to be ASA sanctioned? I'm hearing no but does that really make a difference?

[supertx]

Im still trying to figure out why people think that crate motors are going to improve car count.How many people have cars that are sitting just waiting for crate motors nobody that I know.What I see from friends and customers is that if all these classes go crate engines there going to sell there cars [ swapping cars is not gaining cars] and go dirt racing where there is alot more tracks and big races to chose from or there going to travel and run east. If promotors want better car count pay decent money where people can afford to race again might be wrong but look at the car count at the stock car specataler this year.All the promotors want the racers to spend the money why don't they it's there bussiness it's just like any other bussiness advertise advertise. It's a cop out that they try, again it's like any other bussiness if you can't make it on your bussiness knowledge you better go find something else to do.

[arts22]

By the way ARTS, would you run a Super Late Model if you could buy it for $22,000 that is competitive. I found one.

Yeah I'll pay the $22k, if you pay for the $20k+ spare motor and the spare parts needed for a season to be competitve. That should only set you back about $30-40k..... You cant assume that that 1 car with 1 motor and 4 wheels is going to be competitive throughout a season and in the chase for the championship, it takes alot more than that.....

[Guest lidllarry]

From Speed51 "After 100-laps, a couple of red flags and lots of hot tempers, the race came down to two kids. Yep. Two kids. " Same thing I witnessed, lots of tempers and wrecks with that type of cars.

[lendo38]

lidllarry,

 

I have a good idea that we can forget about ASA for Houston next year. But like jp17 said, I really don't think that it will matter. The purse that I am talking about is going to come from the track and a number of sponsors that have already made commitments to invest in the Houston Late Models next season. I am not sure of the exact amount that each race will be paying, but the total investment numbers that I have seen make it quite interesting.

 

As for the rules, I was talking about taking each of the series and making them conform to small ahanges that will make the racing more even. If the Houston cars have to make the most changes, so be it. I am sure that could be done. Based on the lap times at the Houston track during practice sessions, there is not that much difference between the TSRS and Houston cars now. If you ran the TSRS on 10" tires, they may be really close on times. At least enough to make for good racing. I do not know much about the other local cars at SAS and THR, but I would think that they still could not be so much apart that small changes would not fix the problem.

[Colt15]

Based on the lap times at the Houston track during practice sessions, there is not that much difference between the TSRS and Houston cars now. If you ran the TSRS on 10" tires, they may be really close on times.

My opinion really doesnt matter on this subject since I dont race full time with you guys but there is probally 30 TSRS cars, 10 THR LM, and 10 sas lm already running 8 inch tires and there is like 10 Houston Late models. Wouldnt it be better for the Houston guys to go to 8 inch tires?

[jp17]

I’m with Colt. I’d love to see the Houston Late Models become legal to race with TSRS at HMP and elsewhere. Put `em on the same tires and give a 150 lb or so weight break and I think they’d be pretty close to slowing up enough to where we could catch them! If the new 400 hp guys want to come out I’m sure there’s a formula that could work there too. It’s time to circle the wagons. jp

[Guest lidllarry]

BINGO....That is the next logical step toward a solution.

[uhcougs]

What I'm saying is that there needs to be a difference between the local LM classes and the touring lm class... Granted, the fact that the TSRS cars match SAS, and THR LM's helps the TSRS car count ONLY at those tracks, it still provides no seperation.

[jp17]

cougs: I am curious why at a time when everyone seems to be focused on common rules and cross competiton that you want seperation. What purpose does that serve?

[Whitey741]

There seems to have been a decision made. Maybe a little compromise?

 

http://www.houstonmotorsportspark.com/sPrel.htm

[lendo38]

It appears as though many of us are looking for the same thing for next year. If the HMP late models need to run on 8" tires to make the racing good, let's try it. We haven't tried the 8" tires on any of our cars that I know of, but it would be interesting to see how they perform. I agree with Colt15 and jp17, the Houston cars are going through big changes, but I like the way it is headed. Since we are doing the changing, if we are going to try to run with TSRS at our events, we should be the ones to make the most concessions. I am speaking for myself, but I would be willing to do whatever it takes to have a higher car count and more competitive racing. I think the Baker's are trying to do the right thing with the late model classes and the higher purses. I also like the idea of the 400 hp motor, I just hope we can get enough cars for two series to run. If not, maybe running it with the 350 hp class with some restrictions will work.

[uhcougs]

JP: I think there needs to be seperation between touring classes and the local classes... However if shifting the HMP LM's closer to THR/SAS/TSRS late models to help car counts...

 

I just know that HMP's late models are very cost effective because the engines require almost no work, once you buy them you're set. Not saying its the only way, I just can't think of a blown motor....

 

The local LM classes should be equal so that a SAS LM could goto THR to run or a THR LM could go to HMP or SAS on a THR Off week.

[jp17]

Am I to understand that you’re advocating 2 tracks with long established classes should abandon their entire rules structure, dump all the existing cars and have everyone buy new cars and new crate engines in order to facilitate cross competition with HMP cars?

[arts22]

Not saying its the only way, I just can't think of a blown motor....

We have a blown motor, didnt make 1 race. Picked it up, had the timing chain changed in it and took it to hmp to break it in... After breaking it in, we ran both trucks together and the motor made about 10-15 laps and blew... The #40 truck also blew his motor the last race of the year at hmp... Our other motor spun the rear bearing and lost oil pressure...

[jp17]

lendo: I'm hearing alot of talk from racers wanting to allow this type of cross competition to help car counts, both at hmp and elsewhere. If any of this goes anywhere and you guys need to borrow some wheels and tires to give it a try let me know.

[Guest lidllarry]

Another Late Model Class, Just what we needed.

[97car]

Rather then have 2 classes at HMP what about letting the 350hp engines run a 750 instead of the 650 to boost them up a little and still have one class of car at HMP. As much as I like the idea of 10" rims and tires the majority of cars in Tx.for this style class are already on 8" rims and tires.