motors

[JohnnyT66]

Now that some days have past,lets look at last Friday..It was a very expensive night for a weekend warrior.If a track is going to be HEAVY ,like it was.The car count will fall...How many motors blew?How many body panels were severly ruined?This does not count the gears that went bad,etc....I always support the way it is..Because the effort is there..But i know with tough times as they are,costing teams more to repair there hot rods will cause some to be parked...This is not a BASH..Its an oppion of one that works on many regular Friday night supporters to i37..It may make the cars faster,But the end results all lose out..And if you look at the results of who finished where,PASSING was at an all time LOW..The heats were follow the leader,And the mains were almost the same thing...Frank Torres

[sm44]

Ah, come on Frank, Johnny just likes the dry slick because it makes the realy bad drivers like me look worse!

[MaresRacing]

Hell why put water frank just go out there and run with it dry...By the way if motors blew than it was a matter of time. Cars were fast thats the way it should be. You remember TDS it would suck your shoes off. Thats a good track. It just needs to be rolled in better. Cars just need to help pack if you dont pack dont bitch!

[comedian87]

frank t,the replies that you got from your post explains a lot. [if its just a matter of going fast get a sprint car]

[ltdmod26g]

that track the other night was sick fast in the feature, i would rather have the track a little drier, when the track is tacky and fast it makes everyone fast and hard on equipment, i know motors break but this is our second year in this class and i have never broke a valve spring and i did the other night, maybe water a hour or two earlier and i would be about right.

[MaresRacing]

I got one for all you dry slick guys GET OUT OF THE GAS and let the others go by.

[mac70]

I got one for all you dry slick guys GET OUT OF THE GAS and let the others go by.

 

 

Ding! We have a winner

[Qualitycraft Racing]

speaking of packing the track.... why make false threats about not being able to race if you dont pack the track? not only is it a false threat its an extreme false threat. at other tracks ive heard if you dont pack you start scratch. that makes a little more sense. but friday night it was "if you dont pack you dont race". and of course not even 25% of the cars in the pits went out and the ones that did made 1 or 2 laps and then went to the infield or back to the pits. at STS owen has 95% of the cars out on the track and nobody pulls off untill he points them off the track. thats called respect. 2 races ago i told a buddy , thats it im not packing the track anymore, if everyone else is too good to go out and get muddy, so am i. so then friday we get the ultimate threat of no pack- no race. so as soon as the meeting was over i get in my car and go pack and i was the last one off the track. i'd say less than 15% of the total cars at the track made more than 5 laps. and what happened ? the show was stopped for 45 minutes to pack in the track. anyone who has seen my car after i pack the track knows why i have such an issue with this. and whats up with packing the track backwards? that just makes it more difficult to I.D. the heavier spots on the track. im not coming back for a couple weeks. i'd rather go get smoked by the LLM's in corpus.

[buckborlace]

frank as i 2 like the tracks dry it dont do any good to talk about this because its much easier 2 drive on a tacky track . I like you do enjoy watching a good dry slick race were driver without the large budgets can be competitive . But down here all most people want is atrack were they dont have to try to figure out what do do after the heat races when that dry race track starts changing

God forbid actualy having to think about how to use the throttle to make a car stay fast

[JohnnyT66]

Its not hard to make a car fast,ITS EXPENSIVE...And if its within the rules,REALLY EXPENSIVE to outrun a not so legal motor...Did Not Fall Off The Turn up Truck Yesturday...Frank T

[texaswicked]

speaking of packing the track.... why make false threats about not being able to race if you dont pack the track? not only is it a false threat its an extreme false threat. at other tracks ive heard if you dont pack you start scratch. that makes a little more sense. but friday night it was "if you dont pack you dont race". and of course not even 25% of the cars in the pits went out and the ones that did made 1 or 2 laps and then went to the infield or back to the pits. at STS owen has 95% of the cars out on the track and nobody pulls off untill he points them off the track. thats called respect. 2 races ago i told a buddy , thats it im not packing the track anymore, if everyone else is too good to go out and get muddy, so am i. so then friday we get the ultimate threat of no pack- no race. so as soon as the meeting was over i get in my car and go pack and i was the last one off the track. i'd say less than 15% of the total cars at the track made more than 5 laps. and what happened ? the show was stopped for 45 minutes to pack in the track. anyone who has seen my car after i pack the track knows why i have such an issue with this. and whats up with packing the track backwards? that just makes it more difficult to I.D. the heavier spots on the track. im not coming back for a couple weeks. i'd rather go get smoked by the LLM's in corpus.

[DirtRacer9s]

The track was a bit muddy. Especially for the frontrunners class being the first ones out. We spent the entire time between the heat and the main pulling tires off to get mud out. We have innner fender wells and no ground clearance but we still go first. I got stuck in the mud in the heat race and caused a caution. If the track would have been packed I wouldn't have caused a caution. Fronunners go out and pack with our 5 and 6 inch wide tries and it does nothing but we still go out.

[Dr88SSMod]

Now that some days have past,lets look at last Friday..It was a very expensive night for a weekend warrior.If a track is going to be HEAVY ,like it was.The car count will fall...How many motors blew?How many body panels were severly ruined?This does not count the gears that went bad,etc....I always support the way it is..Because the effort is there..But i know with tough times as they are,costing teams more to repair there hot rods will cause some to be parked...This is not a BASH..Its an oppion of one that works on many regular Friday night supporters to i37..It may make the cars faster,But the end results all lose out..And if you look at the results of who finished where,PASSING was at an all time LOW..The heats were follow the leader,And the mains were almost the same thing...Frank Torres

I agree with Mr. Torres. As a 2nd year driver, the dry slick is so much easier on your equipment and it makes you become a better driver and learn to work your setups for the everchanging track conditions. Doesn't anyone remember the sport mod race that Swenson won by running the extreme outside line to pass the 4 car. That my friends is racing at it's best...multiple grooves, finesse and skill. Last weeks race, no matter what the results, were hold it to the floor and follow the leader. Have it tacky for the heats...they always have been...but not so heavy that the main is a parade. Let it dry out some...or completely.

[mac70]

If a consistent dry-slick is what makes you tick go run asphalt its almost always dry-slick unless its real hot then its real slick. Running a dry slick is fun for some I guess but I prefer to have to think a little maybe learn a few things change the car up and not run on the same thing every week throw in a rain storm after the heat every once in awhile not just the same ole thing.

[97car]

Heck all of the dry slick race tracks have always been the follow the leader type races that I have ever seen. Yes you get a few that can still find enough to hook up on the outside if that hasn't gone away, most usually just try and hang on to what they can down low. Tracks will not be perfect all of the time that is what makes dirt better, it changes more then the asphalt tracks do.

[sm44]

Doesn't anyone remember the sport mod race that Swenson won by running the extreme outside line to pass the 4 car. That my friends is racing at it's best...multiple grooves, finesse and skill. Last weeks race, no matter what the results, were hold it to the floor and follow the leader. Have it tacky for the heats...they always have been...but not so heavy that the main is a parade. Let it dry out some...or completely.

First, let me state that i am i new driver/owner so i prefer tacky because it is easier to drive, before i blew up my good motor 6 weeks ago i could out run or pull most of the cars, now that i am on the 3 rd backup motor and have some expierence the dry slick does not scare me as much. With that being said, why did Swenson run at the top of the world? Because it was more slick? No, because that is where the tack was and he could hook up. I tried to to run up there but Chris has a bigger set than i do and i chickened out. If he had not run up there than it would have been a follow the leader race, one race with a very good/brave driver does not make for a good argument for the slick.

[8G RACING FAMILY]

A DRY SLICK TRACK IS ONE THING BUT A TOP AND BOTTOM GROOVE HAVING TO EASE INTO THE THROTTLE FIND THE WET SPOTS (I KNOW WHAT U R THINKING) AND RUN A LINE INSTEAD OF BALLS TO THE WALLS I WOULD PREFER A TRACK U HAVE TO MOVE AROUND TO FIND THE FAST PART OF THE TRACK I DO NOT LIKE FOLLOW THE LEADER AND THE NEXT THING THERE HAS TO BE MORE TECH AFTER AND B4 THE RACE FOR SAFETY AND PERFORMANCE ITEMS DRY SLICK THERES A BUNCH OF THINGS U CAN DO TO MAKE ER FAST THAT IS NOT LEGAL ON A FULL MOD I HAVE SEEN A FEW TRACKS THAT JUST AS WELL PUT RUN WHAT U BRUNG ON THE GATE U JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT U R RUNNING AGAINST ANOTHER THING OHH HECK I ALREADY SAID TO MUCH

[8G RACING FAMILY]

I NEED TO CLARIFY I LIKE A TRACK THAT HAS SOME DRY SLICK NOT A DUST BOWL CHORPUS ALWAYS HAD A NICE TRACK AND I-37 HAD SOME GOOD NIGHTS I THINK THEY WILL FIND A HAPPY MEDIUM GOODLUCK TO ALL AND RACE SAFE G AND C

[Danielsen Motorsports]

I dont like tacky for the same reason I dont like drag racing. Its boring when all the driver does is floor it and turn left knowing the track will hold his car even if his setup sucks. Nothing real challenging about that to me at all. Searching and finding multiple lanes with throttle control takes talent. Dry slick conditions shows not only who can drive but who knows how to setup a race car as well! Telling people who like dry to go try asphalt is rediculous. It's ok to be a 1 or 2 year old driver and be intimidated by dry slick conditions but that is how you learn to be a better driver and setup man! Those who insist on tacky tracks tells the experienced people what your really made of!

[poorboy]

I never found a dry slick asphalt track. Still trying to figure out that mentality.

[thumper]

It takes years to master the science of prepairing a clay track.In the early days of Rio Grande Speedway in McAllen we started out so heavy the cars would drag the ground after packing.By feature,the track would come apart sometimes all the way to the calache base and you would get hit by rocks.The cars would search around for a groove kind of like they do for mousture but it was to dodge holes.Robert Theser worked hard to find the magic using things like lime,soap,other stuff I did not recognise and finally deep drilling mud from oil well drilling and somewhere along the line a small amount of sand.He found the magic formula for the nationals that he could keep 4 days.

 

Today the track is still the smoothest dirt track I have seen.Multiple grooves and the racong looks fast although it doesnt feel that way to the driver.It takes a really good suspension set up and in the modified class we tried tons of different designs.One year in the nationals some 6 cyl mods came from Dallas and dominated.They were why a minimum weight was inposed and eventually led to the outlawing of 6 cyls.Later came the wheelie poppers from Houston.In Mossuri the fastes cars on 1/4 mile tracks were the 6 cyl wheelie poppers,( carrying the lf wheel )Whatever RGS is doing today still works.Roll in takes only about 15 minutes and the track starts rubbering up before halftime.Now its easier on engines and surprisingly easy on tires as well.And the better tire limiteds run makes them as fast as the modifieds.They do only allow 3 link modifieds,the 4 link cars got too expensive.

 

The red clay tracks farther north dont seem to have as much trouble keeping a surface together.The dark clay does.Riverside in Corpus also started out heavy as well as Almeda Speedway in Houston.The best prepaired track next to RGS was the Navasota red clay track that was my favorite.The more a track is used,the better it gets.If you can get it to hold moisture you can prepare it earlier.Moisture retention creates a dry slick condition but a predictable track.

 

I also have never seen a dry slick asphalt track but this intense heat makes driving on it a real challange.Its like dry slick you can hook up all the horsepower.Tricky on exit.

 

Work with I 37 prepairing the track with roll in and you will have a better race in the feature.In this heat more water is needed to prevent dry out.Its hard to get the moisture deep enough to come back up without starting heavy.You have to roll that surface in to seal it or it all drys out.That means all cars need to pack.In Navasota,they even used the trucks and trailers along with anybody else for packing and it went fast.This might work for the final stage at I 35 too.Just a thought.

[8G RACING FAMILY]

THUMP SOUNDS LIKE HES DONE IT A FEW TIMES

[top_shelf_12]

STS tends to be a dry slick track most of the time, but two things that track isn't 1. slow and 2. one groove follow the leader. In fact the most follow the leader type racing I've seen was at Thunderhill before they added the extra space on the backstraight coming out of two. Every time we went up there before that addition, the drivers had to stay in line because you either got freight trained to the back, went off the track, or caused a wreck trying to get back into line or forcing someone out of the line. It's been a few years since we've been there but think they found a second groove up there now. Ask the people that were at Shady Oaks opening night what they think of a heavy track, drivers and spectators? Thankfully it seems they've remedied that problem and things are going in the right direction with them. Every track we've visited this year except that one night at Shady Oaks ran a dry slick type set up and the racing has been good.

[LM-RACER-20]

Theres is not a second groove at Thunderhill. I have raced there since it opened. The extra pavement did allow you to exit 2 faster and let the car drift up more but you still cant really pass on the outside in the corners. The cars are too fast for that and they wont hold out there. I race my sportmod there now and have run 3rd and was .25 to .50 seconds faster per lap than the leader but you cant just go around them like you could in the past. It's a follow the leader track. Has been for years. Except for the slower classes.

 

And for the motor discussion. Yea, race asphalt and complain about motor abuse. Theres not a dirt track anywhere that hooks like a good asphalt track. My car runs wide open from the middle of the corner all the way to the next corner without a bit of spin. It didnt hook up solid at Texana last night until mid straight. So now that I am racing dirt more I love it. Really easy on our motors. Even with a really tacky track.

[NickHolt]

Theres is not a second groove at Thunderhill. I have raced there since it opened. The extra pavement did allow you to exit 2 faster and let the car drift up more but you still cant really pass on the outside in the corners. The cars are too fast for that and they wont hold out there. I race my sportmod there now and have run 3rd and was .25 to .50 seconds faster per lap than the leader but you cant just go around them like you could in the past. It's a follow the leader track. Has been for years. Except for the slower classes....

 

Gotta disagree with you on this one. It's true that if you set your car up to run the bottom, the higher groove is not there for you. But if you work on your setup to run the high groove (as some of the Super Stock drivers prove every time they race), you would be amazed what you can do out there.

 

But, you're right in this respect. If everyone is set up for the bottom then it's pretty much a freight train.

 

I have studied that track for a number of years and believe it or not, if you hit the one sweet spot in 1-2, a lap on the outside can be faster than a lap on the bottom. It's a rare driver who can find that sweet spot, but it's there. Most teams just don't bother to do that much homework, so the track gets a bad rap for being a one groove track. Cary Stapp, Shawn Paul Lehman and others in all divisions are able to come from the rear and finish well up in the results more often than not.

 

Nick