Tabla de contenidos para May 2017 en Circle Track

Racers are a very social bunch. There is no doubt about that. So when something newsworthy happens, or something out of the ordinary rears its head, people start to talk. Thanks to Facebook and other social-media outlets, the conversation can flow freely, even during the winter months. As evidenced by PRI, new products start to show up during the offseason. Whether it’s something someone was testing throughout the year, or a product that was developed as a solution to a problem, PRI is the perfect time to debut it. This year was no different with a few new innovative products hitting the market. Of course, with innovation comes reaction. What’s great about PRI is that you, your fellow racer, your promoter, or your tech inspector can have an open discussion…

Asphalt Vs. Dirt In April’s Off the Mic column, we discussed some of the different arguments racers and fans use as to why one is better than the other. Here are a couple responses we received. If you want to see great Late Model racing, try Shawano, Wisconsin. It has awesome track, races, food, and fans. —Name withheld (Cheeda72) Believe it or not, one of my very first jobs in racing was at Shawano Speedway. I used to run the scoreboard and drink Sun Drop until the very last checkered flag fell. Those were some good times. The racing there was pretty good from what I remember, too. I’ll have to make a trip back up to Shawano some time soon. I really want to see my buddy Tim Rothe…

When it comes to oval-track racing, the Big Block Modifieds will likely never have as many racers as you commonly see in the Late Model, or IMCA Modified ranks. But that doesn’t mean the Big Block racers don’t fight just as hard and put on every bit as good a show. And you’d better believe they deserve equipment that’s the highest quality, just like everyone else. And even though racers have 467 cubic inches of big-block power to help get them around the track, Mod racers are just like anyone else in racing. They are always looking for more hp. To help them get exactly that, MBE Cylinder Heads & Manifolds has created a new cylinder head for Big Block Modified racing that is a clean-sheet design and looks to…

By now most Circle Track readers know that we’re big fans of safety equipment. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. We want you to enjoy your passion and make it back to the people who care about you. A major part of staying safe inside your race car is personal safety equipment. While you may look to go the simplest and easiest route, this is something that you should take time with and research well. In fact, American Canadian Tour Champion Nick Sweet, who we spoke to just prior to PRI, makes it his priority each year to investigate all the new safety equipment innovations at the show. Jeff Van Oudenhoven, whose Team 45 owns the Racetech Chassis Super Late Model, was in our booth and made…

Of all the rules related problems we have encountered over the years, specifying and matching different engines has been at or near the top of the list. Some sanctions just cannot get a handle on making commonsense rules when it comes to what they allow for motors. And so, teams who get the setup right can often suffer from lack of performance on the engine side. The problem is what is referred to in some circles as balance of performance. This is a common term used in the old Grand-Am racing series, forever in NASCAR racing, and now in IMSA racing, as you incorporate different brands and configurations of motors. It is done to equal out the competition so some teams do not end up with way more performance than…

JOES Racing Products—The JOES Matador Wheel The JOES Matador Wheel is a new, stronger version of the lightweight wheel. It starts with JOES flat wheel center machined from 6061-T6 aluminum with a 1 1/4-inch diameter grip. The wheel comes in 15-, 16-, and 17-inch sizes. For more information call (877) 267-1525 or visit www.joesracing.com. A Quick and Easy Way to Disconnect Many racing sanctions have generated safety rules to make sure a race car’s electrical power system can be shut off completely. Moroso’s Four-Pole switch simplifies the task of making a master disconnect. It is used to disconnect both the battery and alternator feed simultaneously without need for relays. The switch can be mounted in the same location as traditional on/off switches with the security of being able to interrupt…

In the world of bumpstops, bumpsprings, or air bumps, there are two ways to set these up. You can use one bump or two at the front. For now, we’ll not talk about the rear, as that is another story all together. In asphalt racing, the one-bump crowd generally will use the left front as the bump corner, and in dirt racing, it is the right front with one bump. Is it generally better to use one or two bumps? Let’s investigate that. Let’s take a look at the dynamics of the front end on a race car and the differences between running one bump or two. We’ll mostly cover entry into the corner, and some of midturn. Exit off the corners is much less affected and is a separate…

For more than 20 years, I’ve explored the methods and benefits derived from PC-based computer software. It is providing an increasingly more accurate picture of the relationship among a wide range of engine components and functions. Today, Performance Trends continues to investigate new and improved ways to sort out basic part’s combinations, allowing an engine builder to explore a variety of combinations before making part’s purchases. I have known the company’s founder and president, Kevin Gertgen, for a number of years and tracked his progress in creating practical and useful software packages for the racer, engine builder, and motorsports enthusiast. So we turned to him for his perspectives on the ongoing evolution of this technology in current times. So what follows is his present-day thinking on the subject in his…

Many stock cars use a one-piece sway bar and find it more than adequate for normal setups on average racetracks. There can be some disadvantages to the one-piece bar, and there is an alternative. A common trend among asphalt Late Model teams is to run setups that use a bigger diameter sway bar in combination with softer springs and bumps to control the roll of the car. Along with this development, it has been discovered that certain components and settings on the cars need to evolve along with the radical change in the setup. Bump Setups Necessitate Rethinking our Designs Racers have learned that in order to gain full benefit of the bump setups, they need to address certain issues. Items like their front geometry Moment Center design, camber change…

To this point in our review of Smokey’s Indy 500 experiences, we’ve seen him wedge his way into this non-NASCAR community in what he believed was the ultimate in closed-course racing. His ideas were initially hanging out in front of him like the proverbial carrot in front of the horse. He basked in a rules environment that permitted him to exercise his extensive creative talents in how his cars were modified to fit his requirements or designed and built to his own specifications. He called it “racing with a skinny little rulesbook,” which gave him plenty of room in which to operate His time at Indy began at his first race during 1955 when he was asked to be a guest helper for the Lindsay Hopkins team. As he continued…