when your going to run bako let me know so I can bring my camera.  Im trying for the million on americas funniest home videos..

i was talking to sparky 3d

My coil car is parked until I can figure out a way to slap some chryslers under it.

imracin68j wrote on 09/20/06 at 7:42pm:


You would try to ruin a perfectly good car............... Just sell it to me

SMS will not be able to hold its own local series. It jost wont have the cars to put more than a 8 car field on.  Basically were talking about Bakersfield on this issue.  If Bakersfield thinks it has enough cars to put on a local show than by all means they should.  As far as SS at sms,  the class looks like its dying on non east west nights which is preventing guys from staying or getting into the division.  There were a few bad car counts at bak this year.  I give them props for still dumping 1000 to who ever won.  

Kelly.. speaking of bumps in the road, why don't you guys suck it up and run the ew series.

A mute botton for Robby would be Great!!  Speaking of E W, is Fastmike coming to help hand out awards???

Like Meat Loaf said Billy, two out of three ain't bad! Oh, i forgot, you are a bit young to remember Meat Loaf.

Just another opinion from a racer that will move up from a lower class someday.
I race with Frazier in the FS class at SMS.
What are my options?
1)stay in FS. It'll get boring after 2-3 years
2)move to Mods. I figure 12-15000 to buy a car and run the 1st year. Could be more or less depending on my luck and learning curve. I can run at any track that runs mods. If the track doesn't use IMCA rules the rules will not be very different and can be met with minor changes. Mods are like a commodity in that they are universal and standardized so the cost is reduced.
3)Move to SS. Yes I could buy the car for about the same I would pay for a mod. Probably less if it was one of the older SS's that are not currently being run. But an older car would have more in common with a hobby stock than the current SS. Even the crate motor is 6000 and it isnt even ready to put in the car. Add ignition, carb, headers, and all the little things that nickle and dime you and your at 10000 just for the motor.
I'd have 20000 or more tied up in the car and the running the 1st year even without traveling expenses. Would the car be competitive with the top cars? Unlikely. Would I be competitive with the top drivers? Unlikely.

Granted I probably would not be competitive with the top cars/drivers in a mod either. However since most mods are profesionally built chassis  and conform universal rules any mod should capable of being a front runner. The limiting factors would be learnig to drive it and learning to set it up.

I read on this forum the SS are doing things that are a little out of the ordinary and push the rules way into the gray area. some have been nixed, ie fastboy setup but others have been oked. I'd have to figure out my car while also figureing out all this new stuff.
The rules have been frozen for 3 years but exceptions seem to keep popping up, ie crate motor needs a 4bbl(well OK it's hp rating was based on a 650 holley), Oh and the BG is still only a 650 (right and an optimized holley 650 is still only a 650). You SS racers yourselves rally for and agains't several different rule changes depending on wheather it will bennifit  your situation even tho you all voted for 3 year rule freeze.

The bottom line is that when I leave leave FS, mods would be the most likely choice. From mods the next logical move would be LM not SS unless it truely became the limited late model you guy's are pretending not to be.

BPinette..
After reading your post, I first want to say, that I respect yours and everyones opinion on the affordability of the different divisions, and one must choose the one they feel they can afford to run.
You have got to remember that the Super streets ( street stocks ) did not dye overnight, nor is it going to be fixed overnight. In the old days, you had Mini Stock - Hobby Stocks - Late Models. As the Late Models evolved, and the cost to run one escalated, there was such a huge $$ difference between the LM and the Hobby Stock, that it was getting harder and harder for a guy to move up. Then the Street Stocks evolved to close up the gap, and another entry division started (factory stocks/hobby stocks ). Now we have mini stocks - hobby stocks - Super Streets - Late Models. Then as of recently, tracks are adding IMCA Modifieds. This gives a race teams 5 different choices of divisions to run, depending on your affordability.

Now getting to the Super Street subject. We as race teams do understand that things were getting out of hand, mainly due to the low car counts, and tracks allowing more and more things to be legal in order to get car counts. This is one reason that the E/W was started. Drivers getting together to try and take control of their division, before it became extinct. Tracks also realizing that allowing all these opening in the rules, did not bring in better car counts, but did the opposite, this is why they were willing to work with the teams to better things for the future.

We only started this last year, and everyone had to agree, that car counts have gone up, racing has gotten better for the fans, and the race teams. More dollars for the race teams, than there has been in a long, long time, and more cars and crew members in the pits for the tracks than there has been for a long time. You can not not start a rebuilding process, by trying to take the division back to square one. You try and repair things a little at a time. What we have done is: set of rules for 3 years, with fine tuning as we go along, because it is impossible to make up  a rule book with everything in it, so we set the basis for a long term set of rules, which hopefully in time other tracks will adapt to, then cars can go from track to track. We got the SS off the soft tires, and on to mediums, to cut down some of the HP advantage, and cost of the teams yearly tire bill.  As of 2007, the head rule will be No Ported Heads. This will cut down on some of the high dollar expenses of the motors. So as you can see, we are trying to pull this division back when it comes to the costs, without taking away the competive racing that we have in this class.

The cost to travel to other race tracks is the same for all divisioins, so that can not be a factor on what a division needs to survive. As far as the E/W group goes, they are all registered members, and the agreement is that all the E/W teams pay member pit pass prices at both SMS and Bakersfield, on E/ race nights. This was a way to help with the entry costs of teams traveling back and forth.

So maybe, I'm a little partial, but I feel that what we are doing for the SS is a step in the right  direction. We have a great looking class of cars, that put on competive side by side races, which we have heard time and again from fans, is awesome to watch. We are trying new things all the time, that reward the race teams as a whole, such as the Bottoms Up 100, and the SMS 50 lap Shootout. Also if you saw the championship payout to be paid after the races (in cash) next week, you can see that we pay the top 20, and on a % basis  thru-out the field, and not just on the winner. When has the SS seen this kind of rewards in recent years, if any??

So yes, everyone must choose where they can afford to run , but for the ones that can step up to this class, we try very hard thru out the year to make things better for everyone, thru trying to cut back the costs to run, and pay the teams more, so they can afford to run.

I know I sound like a mother bear protecting her cubs, but I am so very proud of each and every E/W team, for their dedication, and hard work to try and save and improve a class of cars, that is not only good looking, fast, and competitive, but also somewhat affordable, without going to a Late Model. And I have, and will continue to do everything I can to get these teams, the rewards for all their hard work, they deserve.

Ok, I'm done now
Have a great day, and be safe

Sandie Simkins

BPinette, the only difference I see between a SS and a Mod is that the SS pays more $ and the their are more winners. You can buy the best used race ready SS for $15,000 or less, I just saw it done. So why is Mods the obvious next move?

ODIE, I have an idea, how about if we only race once a year. It just can't get anymore affordable than that.

imracin68j wrote on 09/19/06 at 7:20pm:

Since Nascar procedures has been applied in our racing I found thier payout interesting. Quick math shows the last place finisher about a 25% payout of the winner. I think ours is less than 1%?

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2006/27/data/results_official.html

Mama68
One more quick comment. Prize money is great and the more the better, but unless you are in the top 5 or so every week it becomes a small part of your racing budget. The cost of racing must be covered by sponsors or be out of pocket. The EW purse and champ fund obviously are substantial as per your post on another thread but amounts to 5-10% at most of an annual racer budget in SS, even a low budget program.

I am not trying to be negative or critical. just realistic.