Adventures in dirt track racing...roundy roundy...

[MoparMan]

I dig it. My grandfather was pretty big in Missouri dirt track racing back in the 70s. And then moved to AL for work amd started racing at the Talladega short track(dirt) in the 80s. I've been to the Talladega short track with him several times after he quit racing. I personally love Sprint Cars and have watched the big name guys as well as the NASCAR guys come over and run at the short track on race weekend. Anyways, I know.....cool story bruh. I've never actually been in a dirt car, but have always wanted to. Maybe one day before I kick the bucket.

 

[YJ4Rox]

I dig it. My grandfather was pretty big in Missouri dirt track racing back in the 70s. And then moved to AL for work amd started racing at the Talladega short track(dirt) in the 80s. I've been to the Talladega short track with him several times after he quit racing. I personally love Sprint Cars and have watched the big name guys as well as the NASCAR guys come over and run at the short track on race weekend. Anyways, I know.....cool story bruh. I've never actually been in a dirt car, but have always wanted to. Maybe one day before I kick the bucket.

Shoot man check out the Kenny Wallace dirt experience. You can buy laps in a late model, mod, winged or non winged sprint. They hit a ton of tracks all over the country.

if I remember right good old DRM’s related to Red Farmer. Maybe his wife’s grandpa. I vaguely remember him posting pics years ago on pbb when they went to one of the Hall of Fame ceremonies. It stuck out cause Red Farmer is racing royalty.

 

[TrikeKid]

Bad ass! Roundy round stuff is something I've always had an interest in but never the budget.

 

[YJ4Rox]

To a certain extent technology has ruined racing in my opinion. Buying your way to the front of the pack is easier today than it ever was due to technology.....


Are you allowed to groove your tires? Im running the same tires in the 27.5 x 8.0 x 15 size and grooving is allowed at the track im racing. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Two tracks we can grind groove and sipe. The others we can only sipe and grind. I mainly use a #3 round bottom blade to groove. I have a #5 flat but it seemed like they chunked too much with that one.

one track we can run soft and med. all the others we have to run M30 and a couple tracks we have to run a M60 right rear.

i love grooving tires. I’ll post pics of patterns tomorrow. I usually do a more directional pattern on right side tires and only laterals on LR. Most nights I’m only running 7psi in LR. I like to groove it for as many biting edges as possible.

I run the tallest 27.5 RR I can find. A short 27.5 RF and 26.5s on the left side. One track has longer flatter straights so I run a 26.5 RF as well for zero front stagger.

 

[YJ4Rox]

The biggest pointer on tires. Keep them clean and keep them out of the sun. The clay drys them out bad. Soak them with simple green the next day, then pressure wash them. They stay soft and hold up much longer.

I don’t dope them or anything like some people do. Good old simple green, stuff brush and pressure wash. I will qualify and run the heat race, then sand/grind them before the feature. We get three laps for qualifying, 8 lap heat and 20 lap feature.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Awesome, thanks!


I'm running mine on a SxS used for MX racing. Its basically a clay road course with jumps and a whoop section. Your pointers are much appreciated.

 

[88mitsu]

The local dirt track here has a stock 4.6 Ford class. I've been thinking of getting a cheap lincoln town car to race.

 

[YJ4Rox]

The local dirt track here has a stock 4.6 Ford class. I've been thinking of getting a cheap lincoln town car to race.

Hell yea man go for it. There is a track over in Ohio that has the common man crown Vic class. We ran a 99 grand marquis in a 24 hour enduro last year. I put a mini spool in it and we had a blast. 4 person team, stock car no glass. We still had ac and the radio. Ended up finishing 9th and was the only RWD car still running at the end. I think we did 2300+ laps on a dirt oval I was questioning my life decisions about an hour in.

 

[vetteboy79]

I have to link this here as the author doesn't want the photo shared, but the guy who ran the machine shop in the engineering dept at my college when I was there from '01-'05 (named Alex Michalchuk) was a big time dirt racer in the 1970s...

https://www.3widespicturevault.com/7...PLE_0072_1.htm

He was very much the 'barn built' guy who went up against the big money racers every weekend, and raced his ass off. A crowd favorite almost every time, he would beat the snot out of the car and regardless of what happened, he'd have it fixed and out on the track for the next race.

That link tells the story of a time when he entered an asphalt race with his dirt car and drove it like a dirt track; drifting probably wasn't a thing back then but that's exactly what he did, until it finally hooked and went through the wall Read the comments below the story to get an idea of 'Crazy Al'.

Toward the bottom of this page:

https://www.3widespicturevault.com/F...1_01.23.11.htm

you can see a few pics of the 292 car; someone from one of the local clubs re-created Al's car for a legacy expo, unknown to Al. Couple cool shots of him re-living it with some of the old drivers there :)

The more you read about him, the more badass stories come out...but the funny thing was, even though he helped with our SAE Mini Baja program, and I spent hundreds of hours learning from the guy (I eventually became the machine shop student supervisor for a few years), he never mentioned a word about it. He was a totally quiet humble dude that even if you asked, he'd just kinda smile and shrug it off. He retired 5 or so years after I graduated, and for a while he was doing a few 'old-timer' races in some vintage cars. Lost touch with him since but he was a huge influence and educator for me, and I love watching dirt races with his stories in mind. Thanks for posting and good luck to ya

(unrelated - did you use to spot for that guy Richard / fullsizeXJ? There was a club comp out at Rausch a few weeks ago that made me think of him)

 

[MoparMan]

Shoot man check out the Kenny Wallace dirt experience. You can buy laps in a late model, mod, winged or non winged sprint. They hit a ton of tracks all over the country.

if I remember right good old DRM’s related to Red Farmer. Maybe his wife’s grandpa. I vaguely remember him posting pics years ago on pbb when they went to one of the Hall of Fame ceremonies. It stuck out cause Red Farmer is racing royalty.

Thanks man, I'll have to look into that!

That's cool about DRM. I remember him from TOR. Yeah, I have watched Red Farmer race plenty of times. Definitely a racing legend for sure.

Good luck man, I'll definitely be watching this thread!

 

[YJ4Rox]

I have to link this here as the author doesn't want the photo shared, but the guy who ran the machine shop in the engineering dept at my college when I was there from '01-'05 (named Alex Michalchuk) was a big time dirt racer in the 1970s...

https://www.3widespicturevault.com/7...PLE_0072_1.htm

He was very much the 'barn built' guy who went up against the big money racers every weekend, and raced his ass off. A crowd favorite almost every time, he would beat the snot out of the car and regardless of what happened, he'd have it fixed and out on the track for the next race.

That link tells the story of a time when he entered an asphalt race with his dirt car and drove it like a dirt track; drifting probably wasn't a thing back then but that's exactly what he did, until it finally hooked and went through the wall Read the comments below the story to get an idea of 'Crazy Al'.

Toward the bottom of this page:

https://www.3widespicturevault.com/F...1_01.23.11.htm

you can see a few pics of the 292 car; someone from one of the local clubs re-created Al's car for a legacy expo, unknown to Al. Couple cool shots of him re-living it with some of the old drivers there :)

The more you read about him, the more badass stories come out...but the funny thing was, even though he helped with our SAE Mini Baja program, and I spent hundreds of hours learning from the guy (I eventually became the machine shop student supervisor for a few years), he never mentioned a word about it. He was a totally quiet humble dude that even if you asked, he'd just kinda smile and shrug it off. He retired 5 or so years after I graduated, and for a while he was doing a few 'old-timer' races in some vintage cars. Lost touch with him since but he was a huge influence and educator for me, and I love watching dirt races with his stories in mind. Thanks for posting and good luck to ya

(unrelated - did you use to spot for that guy Richard / fullsizeXJ? There was a club comp out at Rausch a few weeks ago that made me think of him)

Thats awesome man!

I spotted for Richard a couple of times. I havent seen him in a long time but my wife ran into his wife not long ago and said Richard was doing good.

 

[YJ4Rox]

Thanks man, I'll have to look into that!

That's cool about DRM. I remember him from TOR. Yeah, I have watched Red Farmer race plenty of times. Definitely a racing legend for sure.

Good luck man, I'll definitely be watching this thread!

https://dirtracewithkenny.com/cars/

 

[Byro]

Awesome, thanks!


I'm running mine on a SxS used for MX racing. Its basically a clay road course with jumps and a whoop section. Your pointers are much appreciated.

What tires are you running? Shoot me a PM with a picture and I’ll tell ya what to do to them.

 

[YJ4Rox]

I really started this post to shed some light on some different types of racing and to try to lift the "secret" aspect of it. Yes people have speed secrets but set ups are so individual to tracks and driving style I just dont see the big deal.

When dad got into it I was surprised how affordable it could be. We had several top 5's in his car and ready to race he was into it for under $10k. Tires and pit passes were the biggest expense since he could run pump gas. That car was underpowered but competitive and he was racing for way less money than most people had in their motors.

We still get out money'ed but can run with them most weeks. I have less in my race ready car, tow rig and trailer than the top 2-3 guys have in their roller.

By far the 4x4 community is the nicest and most helpful group we have ever been a part of. My wife and I talk about it all the time, we made a lot of life long friends through wheelin and met people from all over the country.
The dirt racing group is a close second. Every week i see guys loaning parts to their competitors even though they might get beat by them. For the most part everyone goes above and beyond to get cars on the track. Its very family friendly and their are tons of kids running around the pits.

Get out and support your local track. Buy a beater and go race.

 

[Slander]

Awesome!! I have zero desire to go fast or race, but I love seeing the engineering on race cars! These modifieds and sprint cars facinate me!! Keep posting and sharing!!

 

[YJ4Rox]

This weekend is the 40th annual Dirt Track World Championship at Portsmouth. The big dogs (Lucas/WoO) wont roll in until Friday but tomorrow is modified night. They dont run my class but my buddy is going to try to make the show. Typically there are 80+ mods with some of the top guys in the country making the trip and its extremely competitive. A lot of Super late guys run mods at this race too.

I will post updates tomorrow. If we can get him through tech I think he has a legit shot. He won the second night out in this mod and has set fast time or got heat/feature wins at every track he has taken it too this year. Its a Kyle Strickler built Longhorn.

Kyle Larson is running a super late this weekend. That dude is a beast on dirt, he has 40+ sprint wins this year. I cant wait to see him in a super.

Another random pic of my junk...

 

[YJ4Rox]

Awesome!! I have zero desire to go fast or race, but I love seeing the engineering on race cars! These modifieds and sprint cars facinate me!! Keep posting and sharing!!

Once the season is over and I tear it down for the winter rebuild I will post a ton of pics of suspension and chassis. If there is anything specific anyone wants to see just let me know.

 

[TheFlyingDildocupine]

Awesome!! I have zero desire to go fast or race, but I love seeing the engineering on race cars! These modifieds and sprint cars facinate me!! Keep posting and sharing!!

For real. Gun drilled axle shafts? The amount of effort that goes into shaving a few ounces here and there is amazing.

 

[larboc]

Man I wish there was a dirt track close enough to me, always wanted to get into this.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

What tires are you running? Shoot me a PM with a picture and I’ll tell ya what to do to them.

You have a PM.

 

[YJ4Rox]

For real. Gun drilled axle shafts? The amount of effort that goes into shaving a few ounces here and there is amazing.

its all about reducing the rotating mass. You can get into light weight quick change gears, fully polishing internals, etc...Just to reduce drag.

The Strange oval axles are tuned to twist a large percentage under load. You run different diameter shafts on the left and right side that twist different amounts to get the most even loading to the track as possible. As weight transfers and the car rolls over you can easily cook a right rear tire. I take a lot of post race tire temps and try to keep the temp differential to a minimum. The nights you can get the left rear as warm or warmer that the right rear you have a killer set up.

Shaving weight in the shafts means I can put lead where i want it to get the left side and rear weight percentages where I need them.

 

[TheFlyingDildocupine]

Oh I get why you do it (you want to win!) but I'm still impressed at how far people take it. Some of that engineering is pretty creative too.

 

[mjlogan88]

Awesome. I grew up with dirt track cars. Helped my dad run a midget forever.

He's got a buddy that runs a modified and damn those things are complicated to set up compared to the midget. Out west everyone has gone to sealed crate motors. You can still run an open motor but it has to be iron head and higher weight limit. The lower HP crate motors seem to dominate.

Somehow in the 20+ years i've been in the pits i've dodged getting behind the wheel.

Dad a few years ago

His buddy with the modified

 

[Slander]

Once the season is over and I tear it down for the winter rebuild I will post a ton of pics of suspension and chassis. If there is anything specific anyone wants to see just let me know.

Mostly interested in how the suspension is setup on them to make them turn when you stab the throttle.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Shaving weight in the shafts means I can put lead where i want it to get the left side and rear weight percentages where I need them.

Our paved oval chassis use 650lbs of lead to make the race weight of 2250lbs. My uncle used to say that any weight above spindle height is "wasted" weight.


I just happened to be back home in New England this week and stopped by my uncles shop this morning. He is designing and building a new chassis for the local tracks truck class. They used to have to use stock front clips, rails and leaf sprung rears. This is his new chassis design...

 

[YJ4Rox]

The midget and the truck are awesome!

We went to the Dome in december and they ran midgets, holy shit they put on a show.

adding weight is definitely different for dirt. We put lead up higher to help get the car to roll over and plant the right side.

 

[TiTRD]

Our paved oval chassis use 650lbs of lead to make the race weight of 2250lbs. My uncle used to say that any weight above spindle height is "wasted" weight.


I just happened to be back home in New England this week and stopped by my uncles shop this morning. He is designing and building a new chassis for the local tracks truck class. They used to have to use stock front clips, rails and leaf sprung rears. This is his new chassis design...

What's your local New England track? Thompson?

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

What's your local New England track? Thompson?

That chassis is the spec chassis for the Seekonk Speedway truck class.

Thompson, Seekonk, Stafford and Waterford Speedway is where we mostly played. When I lived here we were also running around New England racing the PASS and ACT tours with our open cars. If there was a money race on 8 or 10" slicks in New England, most likely we were there.

My uncle won the Oxford 250 (if you know what that is) a few times over the years. There is nothing like the feeling of whooping a bunch of professional NASCAR cup drivers in the best of the best cars with some junk we built in my uncles shop.

 

[TiTRD]

That chassis is the spec chassis for the Seekonk Speedway truck class.

Thompson, Seekonk, Stafford and Waterford Speedway is where we mostly played. When I lived here we were also running around New England racing the PASS and ACT tours with our open cars. If there was a money race on 8 or 10" slicks in New England, most likely we were there.

My uncle won the Oxford 250 (if you know what that is) a few times over the years. There is nothing like the feeling of whooping a bunch of professional NASCAR cup drivers in the best of the best cars with some junk we built in my uncles shop.

Nice.

I haven't been to Thompson since I was a little boy. All I remember is Grave Digger was there

I have family in Thompson. My uncle grew up there is on the Volunteer Fire Department. He's at the track pretty often on detail.

 

[YJ4Rox]

This is my favorite LR groove. Just basic but effective.