MINI STOCK

[bountyhunter]

gb parked thunder cause its cheaper with limited belive it or not. i have many more parts and a little more know how with v8s then 4 cyl. i would love to run both but cant afford both. the money in racing does not attract me to the racing. what attracts me is the fun, the people at the track to bs with, and just the atmosphere. you missed what i was trying to say, i dont know how to save thunders or any other class what i said was build a car of your choice and race it as long as your having fun. if it becomes more work than fun and your not having fun sell it to someone who will have fun and go fishing......i support all classes and racing in general. but you are right they do need a general set of rules for everyclass that applys to many tracks.

[neon14]

Well thumper, I have been thinking about this all day. 8 years I have been racing 4 cylinder cars with you and it was not until last year that we had real good car count in corpus. Then we had the big split, other that that why is are car count so low? Could it be that our cars are not cool? Why is it that there are 3,4, or more v8 car classes at every track and only one or no 4 cylinder class. When there are not hardly any v8 cars on the street anymore, and like a million 4 cylinders. Is it nascars fault? Have they hung on to that carberutor to long? I just think our cars are not cool the the general public. They are a blast to race but nobody will give them a try. Anyway, somebody help me out cause I am bumbed out right now. Neon Will

[ford12]

Will drink a beer and go get some.

[thumper]

I think you may have the problem right there.Could it be immage?The 4 cyls flourish at the drags.I just saw a 4 cyl Cobalt run 199 MPH and set a new record.The Nopi Tunervision events draw thousands of people.Remember too they have live bands and girls also.Did you know they originated from the Bug-ins of the 70s?

Looking back at the times of success,it was always when 4 cyls were considered cool that they flourished.At Riverside,Sonny Brown was really behind the class and the people from the Naval Air Station made up the greatest number of cars.It was cool to them so many of them wanted one.At RGS,Theser was the one everybody looked to for leadership and he really promoted Thunder cars.It was cool to have one and lots of people did.The majority of racers could not have raced another type of car due to a lack of resourses.The cars were mostly stock "plate"cars Half of the drivers were motorcycle riders having fun..At CC speedway last year Thunders carried a large share of the show and were a cool class to run in. We had the most cars and a good purse also.

Now for the failures.At Edinburg Speedway there never was a purse so there never were more than 6 cars.At RGS before thunders there was constantly fighting between the Fords and the air cooled VWs The wars got so bad thay cancelled the class.We were down to 8 cars.At Riverside,Mr Brown had an untimly death so the track tried to run itself with purses from %s of the gate.It failed.CC Speedway added mini outlaws but the cars were so expensive they failed after a season.They had trouble getting 8 cars.At RGS after starting and having great success with Thunders thay split the class,one stock and one modified calling them Thunder and Lightning.Unfortunately the cars were the same so there were a lot of finger pointing as to who belonged in which class.This failed so the class was re-united and anyone who was too fast was taken out of the class and told to "MOVE UP"Of course they all quit racing and the class shrank to 6 cars today.Dont forget the minis at CC when they raced slicks and were faster than the Super Streets.Too expensive,too much fighting,low car count = end.

So what is needed? A new immage of "COOL",perhaps making each car into a character like the wrestlers do.Or winged warriers like Tuner cars with dress up things like scoops and ground effects Make the cars the stars.

Price of cars.The most successful car count comes when anybody can afford to have one.We have rules that allow that at STS but there is a great difference between the average car and the front runners.The claim rule was designed to adress this but there are no entry level plate cars running right now.There has always been a difficulty in equalizing competetion.Bottom lone,4 cyl car need to be inexpensive or people will go to other classes.

A decient purse is important.Racing for no money like the Jr minis do and most other tracks leaves little reason to want to win.Winning takes commintent work and money and not many people will want to get started in a project that has little or no reward.Many tracks only pay 75$ to win.2 years ago I won 3 features at RGS and won 50$ for each.Thats after 25 for redgestration,25 pit pass 15 transponder rental.Why were there only 6 cars?

Most imporntantly the class has to get along.Most failures come from fighting between teams.I believe thats what hurt CC Speedway the most,especially in the Super Streets whose purse is probably the best for the car investment anywhere.We are always fighting about who benifits most from the rules and who is trying to wreck someone on purpose.I have been crashed every way possible but in every case it was someones mistake.Mine,theirs,none of us are professional drivers.I dont know of anyone who comes to the track to hurt someone else.To attract new teams we have to give the appearence of having fun and everyone is welcome.We must help each other to get better as a group.We are not in the racing business,we are in the show business.If we create an intresting and exciting show,we can sell it.

Finally,its leadership.We cannot lead ourselves as indiviguals,we have our own agendas.I have seen associations work.Collectively minis can have a unified front to have a working show.Few track owners understand the 4 cyl cars and dont have the time to learn.I have seen many owners and promoters say"I give up,you guys are too much trouble"I you ever went to a rules meeting you know what Im saying.We would do well to have a spokesman represent us and promote us to intrested new drivers.Associations bring more to a racing class than Sat nite.

 

Might as well land on the moon.Its easier

[bountyhunter]

[HiTech]

well gb you said some true things but if i say anything you.ll say i live in the past lol but what the hell .you have been .as with us one of the problems .but for history go back and read what we did in 1989 . i know it would be hard for you to agree as i have agreed with you .but what we did in 1989 .will work again ,if you can remember . this isnt the first time around the track with this problem .

[ford12]

Well Gb sorry but your post was to long for me to read I would get a head if I would have set here and read it all lol. WIll I told you so. Did you drink your beer and get you some lol.

[slysnake]

WOW! What a headache reading!!!

Will, get the beer ready...I'm taking Tim's advice....I'm coming over for beer and getting some!!!

 

LMAO!!!

[ford12]

WOOOOOOO Rick I dont think Will is gonna let you drink some and get some maybe he will just let you drink a beer but getting some I dunno tat would be kinda BAD unless of coarse your gonna bring your own you know to get some lol.

[anytrack]

the best part of racing, both as a spectator and a driver is the competition. if the racing is close and competitive the spectators like it, and as a driver I liked it too. Have been a winner and an also ran. As the name implies we like to run anytrack, just wish the rules would let that happen, so many tracks so many rules. Don't care if it's dirt or pavement, just race whenever possible. We will try to be at STS this Sat. to run with the critters. do to job restrictions and time haven't had much time to race the last couple of years. Hope to change that in the upcoming year. Enjoy reading all your posts and stoll would like to see an all out run what you brung 4 cyl race on anytrack.

[neon14]

Ok, now that I got some beer and drank it. Back to this subject of mini stocks. 4 cylinder race cars just aint cool for the most part. Alot of plate cars out on the track would be neat to see, but prolly not cool. 10 or 12 cars with a few fast ones, that aint cool. The tuner car thing I tried getting those guys to come race with us, I even painted my car like the nopi dodge neon and put a big ol wing in it. I talked to alot of those guys and they said their cars are to nice to race with me. They ask me if there were any "shicks" at the track, I said no. I think they ment "chicks". Well thumper, I dont think the nopi tuner crowd is going to come race with us. The only way that minis are going to be cool is to have alot of good looking fast cars with leadership. And that is TPS, thats prolly as cool as 4 cylinder racing is gonna get. I just wish TPS raced dirt cause it is a blast. What we had last year a ccms was really good thing, but we had no leadership. Well, Im gonna drink another beer and go to bed. Thumper, I will see you tomorrow, you wana race? 7:30 sharp. You to slysnake. Neon Will

[ford12]

dont forget to get some.

[slysnake]

I think he's had too much to get any!!! LMAO!!!

[HiTech]

burp.

[stang21]

getting kind of crazy in here

[neon14]

I think he's had too much to get any!!! LMAO!!!

Hey Rick, when are you gonna update your webpage? I dont see the neon that I sold you on there, all I see is your truck. Your 4 cylinder truck. Well the weather got us this weekend thats a bummer. One more week then we can duel it out, neon to neon, for second place in points, because we let a ford beat us lol! Anyway, Neon Will

[neon14]

oldtimer, what did yall do in 1989?

[HiTech]

oldtimer, what did yall do in 1989?

second post page one

[thumper]

Just saw the Ministock Challange at Grand Prarie Speedway had 35 or more cars.5 heats and 2 B mains and an A main.Looks like racing is alive and well in north Texas.Some of these were Houston cars.Run what you brung,fast minis.Results are on Who Won.Wish I could have gone.

[stang21]

hey Will i am going to make you a custom Avater sence you dont have one you will like it

[neon14]

G.B. I just looked at those results on whowon for that mini stock challenge. So this track is a dirt track. Thats alot of cars. Run what you brung. Maybe plate cars are not the way to go. No rules racing, we are almost there now at sts, tires and coilovers is almost all we lack, other than a tube chassis. How many cars did you say show up for gator every year? Remember the outlaw minis at ccms did not last very long. It seems to me that when 4 cylinder racing just starts to get good it crashes hard. I keep hearing the run what you brung thing more and more. Is this the future of mini stock racing? No rules, no problems for promoters to host an event, just money. What did gator pay for last place in the main? And what do these run what you brung cars look like? Do they look cool? Still thinking about this. Neon Will

[neon14]

hey Will i am going to make you a custom Avater sence you dont have one you will like it

Cool! Thanks, I need one. I'm just a bit concerned what it will look like if you make it. Prolly have a ford in it LOL!

[texastiedye]

The run what ya' brung is truly only an end of year show. DFW area tracks vary on car count, the same as any other area. One Friday night track averaged roughly 15 cars a night; another (where this race was held) averaged about 10 cars; my local track averaged about 14 cars. This area does not allow any FI. Most allow FWD. This Killeen track started a new FWD only class. Looking at the rules, it seems these are very stock cars; pretty much take off the street, put a cage in and go racing. Cheap and seems to be working. Looking at their results weekly, they are averaging around 18-20 cars in that class. Their "mini-stock" class is struggling to stay alive. I think there is a medium that can be reached to allow all cars (rear wheel & FWD).

 

You will not have success with an open/no rules ministock class for a weekly show. jmo I haven't been around as long as GB, but I did marry into a lot of experience. When I started racing, my start was when it was easily $500+ to win for the mini-modifieds, tube chassis, alcohol fueled cars, with wings, etc. on a weekly show. It was fun while it lasted, but we quickly out priced ourselves. It grew from "stock" cars, to a tube chassis, to aluminum wheels, to weber carbs; you get the picture. They were fast cars and fun, but no one could afford to get into the class.

 

The class eventually outpriced itself and we were able to go back to 4 cylinder stock cars. Now we are somewhere between stock and racing engines. Our local track does not allow much to be done by way of making it a true "racing" engine, but some of the tracks in this area allow porting, polishing, etc. We change carbs, put on racing tires, and pray for the best for these end of year races. We usually can run mid-pack with our little engine at these shows (don't look at the GPS results for reference we broke).

 

All this to say, I don't think a run what you brung type weekly show will save the class. I believe this is what kills the class. HOT had about 3 cars that were competetive at the front before they dropped the class. The other cars stopped coming and no one was building/buying to get into the class thinking they were already outpriced. It's hard to get new blood when people feel like they have to spend lots of $$ to be competetive. And the comment about the racers getting along is right on the money. We as racers have to have fun and get along for the fans, potential new owners/drivers, and the promoters. No promoter wants to mess with a class that argues, etc.

 

A sanction, etc. like Pro Sedans is one answer. Texas is a BIG state though and it's hard to run with the Pro Sedans in Corpus, San Antonio, etc. when you are in the DFW area. Some people can't travel either and just want a local track to run at. Truthfully, in this area, I feel the Jr Mini's have hurt the mini-stock class in that fans would rather see the kids race (sometimes a crashfest, sometimes close racing) than the adult mini's and the promoters don't have to pay them. They get the trophies sponsored; driver brings both parents usually grandparents and other family and friends. It's a money making deal for the promoters.

 

Ok, I realize this is long and is looking like a GB post; all you guys will have to go to Will's and get you some.

[slysnake]

Love texas tie dye, but going to Will's post...tooo LONG!!!!

[HiTech]

tps sts cc its allmost run what you brung now . few rules in one series the only rule is we have to run restrictor plate and wiegh alot more than most and we have a pinto .but our head and chassie decide that at cc no motor rule but street tires . . sts no motor rule but street tires . and if thier is a class that runs without pay of some sort i would not run in it .