Table of contents for May 2016 in Circle Track

Fresh off Josh Todd’s convincing victory at New Smyrna Speedway driving Circle Track’s Project Modified back in mid-November at the Governor’s Cup, I am beyond stoked to report another one of our race cars nabbed a checkered flag. Our bud David Reutimann wheeled the Project Dirt Modified, also called Project Beak Built, to victory lane over Thanksgiving weekend at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Florida. Unlike Todd’s dominating victory, Reutimann had to sneak up from the back of the pack, survive a crash-filled feature that saw a good bit of body damage on the Beak Built, and a late-race charge from a pair of competitors. But David held on for the win and made all of us proud! The race was, ironically, the second running of the Reutimann Memorial,…

Writer’s note: After a couple years printing parts’ manufacturers and engine builder interviews, Circle Track made an internal decision to return this column to its roots. That is, to focus on a technical and practical variety of engine-related topics. In the coming months, we’ll direct our attention to subjects that either address certain fundamental principles applicable to engines and parts or to techniques that aid parts’ selections and modifications. It’s all intended to assist in your engine experiences. There’s an age-old problem in the design and modification of parts directed toward equal amounts of air-and-fuel charges among the combustion spaces of a multi-cylinder engine. It’s a given. As a practical matter, no two areas are more sensitive to this issue than intake manifolds and cylinder heads. As various techniques and…

Minimizing bumpsteer is a vital part of the process when setting up our cars for proper alignment. Not only do we need to measure the steer as the wheel travels in an AA-arm suspension, you must also analyze what happens when steering the wheels and what could be affected when you change suspension components. Previously, we have provided information about all of the alignment aspects including toe (front and rear), rear-end alignment, rear steer, Ackermann, and front to rear alignment. Every team I have worked with either measured their car’s bumpsteer themselves or brought someone in to do it for them at least once during a particular car’s life. Now, we know once is not enough. Certain setups have evolved to the point where the bumpsteer (B/S) might not be…

BEST VALUE IN SAFETY SINCE 1975 Order Online at www.racequip.com Attention sanctions, if you do not see your organization listed here please email Rob Fisher at mpanure@sorc.com with your 2013 schedule and ask to be added to the Race Dates list. Sorry, no tracks, there just isn’t enough space. All Star Circuit of Champions www.allstarsprint.com Winged 410 sprint cars Apr. 2 Atomic Speedway (Chillicothe, OH) Apr. 9 Attica (Ohio) Raceway Park American Modified Series www.americanmodifiedseries.com Modifieds—Dirt American Canadian Tour (ACT) www.acttour.com Crate Late Models ARCA (Automobile Race Club of America) www.arcaracing.com Full bodied stock cars Apr. 9 Nashville (Tennessee) Fairgrounds Speedway ARCA Midwest Tour www.arcamidwesttour.com Super Late Models—Asphalt ASA ProAutoSports www.proautosports.com or www.asaracing.com Road Racing American Sprint Car Series www.ascsracing.com Sprint Cars, Midgets Badger Midget Auto Racing Association www.bmara.com Midgets–Dirt…

I can’t complain too much about the things I’ve seen in racing. In fact, I’d have to say most of my favorite memories as a kid were made at a racetrack. I watched Matt Kenseth go from being a standout on the Wisconsin Late Model scene to becoming a NASCAR Champion. I had the chance to meet Tony Stewart and see him race before he ever stepped foot in a Sprint Cup car. I witnessed breathtaking events put on by the incredible ARTGO Challenge Series. Heck, even the ASA National Series came to my home track Wisconsin International Raceway a couple times. It was so cool to see TV cameras at my local track! All of that was great, but it’s peanuts in comparison to what happened before I was…

Amazing Graci My 11-year-old daughter Graci was featured in the January 2015 issue of Circle Track in the column called “The Other Side.” At the time, she was racing Go Karts. Since then, she has started driving a Jr. Sprint and is going to accomplish her dream of racing in the Tulsa Shootout this winter. Last year, her Aunt Kim was diagnosed with cancer. She had to have surgery and eight rounds of chemo. Through it all, Kim always had a positive attitude and kept a great sense of humor. Kim mentioned that her cancer support group really helped her make it through a very difficult time in her life. Graci and her older sister Maddi Jo started a charity that raises money to purchase gas cards for cancer patients…

In today’s racing circles, people have different opinions about the dynamics of the modern, double A-arm suspension’s front end. Over the past 70 years, various theories have been presented, some after testing, others not so much. Currently, there are two main theories on what occurs in the front dynamics when a car is traversing racetrack corners: Moment Center and Forced Base. I’ve reviewed the Moment Center (MC) version of AA-arm front-end dynamics before. However, a relatively new theory called Forced Based (FB) dynamics disregards the MC. In this view, suspension stiffness results from the jacking forces created by the tires gripping the track. Those forces are transmitted up through the instant centers and the control arms, which influences the roll of the chassis and overall stiffness. Take for an example…

When your alignment is off, no other setup parameter changes will compensate for it. Of all of the setup parameters, including moment center (MC) location, alignment ranks at the very top of the list. Why? The alignment package has a tremendous influence on the way a race car handles. Alignment is a first priority in setting up any race car. It really doesn’t take long and the benefits are as great, or greater, than any other setup task. If you have not checked the alignment of your car, do it now. Follow along as we explain race car alignment, why it is necessary, and how to do it. The elements of proper alignment include toe settings, front to rear tracking, rear alignment, and Ackermann effect. Toe settings: Proper toe settings…

Here at Circle Track we appreciate all of the hard work it takes to win a Championship on any level. In the next issues we’d like to honor some of the racers who were able to grab a touring series Championship in 2015. Look for more next month! G.A.R.S.–Shawn Smith Consistency was the key to Shawn Smith’s Circle Track Great American Racing Series Championship. Although he didn’t visit Victory Lane, Smith was always near the podium, recording two Third Place and two Fourth Place finishes during the four-race season. Smith, of Louisville, Kentucky, survived a wild G.A.R.S. opener in May at Salem (Indiana) Speedway to record a Third Place finish and set himself up for further success. While racing at a track new to Smith Illiana Motor Speedway (Indiana) Smith…

A recent edition of Sports Business Journal (a weekly publication that we highly recommend for those with a serious interest in the business of sports) ran another great column by Executive Editor Abraham Madkour. Madkour shared the results of the “2015 National Sports Forum Corporate and Industry Survey.” It was an oral questionnaire of 54 top sport sponsors, as well as 50 online responses from team and event executives. The purpose of the survey was to gauge sentiment from both buyers and sellers on the current sponsorship sales landscape. Some key highlights from Madkour: • The sports providing the best bang for the buck were Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, and the National Football League, in that order. MLB was the lead by a large margin. • Sponsorship…

Racers who have been in this sport long enough have seen situations where one or two teams dominate the racing at a particular track. Typically, the only people who are happy about it are the winning crewmembers. Things can—and do—get ugly. The other racers grow upset because they’ve been pouring tons of hard work and money into their programs. Yet, the dominant team still rockets off into the wild blue yonder and makes them look like chumps. The officials have to listen to the whining remainder teams arguing that the dominant team is cheating. They must be, right? So, the dominant car receives an inordinate amount of attention in the tech line and after the race. Everyone wants to know why that car is so fast compared to the other…

J-Bar Help From JOES Easier modifications for roll-center adjustments are here. JOES’s newly modified J-Bar Bracket offers quicker and simpler modifications. The bracket now features a climber nut to ease movement of J-Bars during adjustment. From top to bottom, the bracket features 5 inches of travel. The bodies are machined from high-quality aircraft aluminum and designed to fit on quick-change rear ends. JOES J-Bar Bracket comes with the seal, O-Ring, and grade 8 fasteners. For more information visit www.joesracing.com. A Tire Specialist’s Best Friend Keyser Manufacturing presents an easier option for getting up close and personal with your tires: the Electric Tire Prep Machine. This electric tire rotator for wide -5 wheel applications has variable speeds and rotates in either direction. A foot-pedal control allows hands-free application and greater control.…

When putting your car together to compete in a new season, or building a new car from scratch, always consider the driveline alignment when mounting the engine and rear end. This is a basic design feature of the car, and you can and should do it first. Doing so saves you a lot of hard work later on having to move things around. A good deal of information is currently available about driveshaft technology and geometry. Most of this technology has been developed for production cars, which means adapting it to racing applications requires a closer and slightly different approach. Advantages of this knowledge include reduced power loss and increased component life. (Barry Zackrisson furnished the bulk of this information to Circle Track.) Driveline Terminology To start, you should be…

A new and innovative design in fuel cells has hit the market for IMCA/UMP Modifieds and Dirt Late Models. Aero Tech Laboratories (ATL) Racing Fuel Cells new Black Widow Series features a fuel-forward design that is rectangular, wedge-shaped, and designed to fit any chassis. The fuel cells are available as a 16-, 18-, or 28-gallon tank with a flat-black or shiny finish and are all fuel-compatible. The World of Outlaws Late Models Series, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, DIRTcar, and IMCA have already issued approvals for the new design to be used in competition. Each cell is 21.25 inches long and 24 inches wide. The 16-gallon cell is 15 inches high; the 18-gallon cell, 15.8 inches high; and the 28-gallon cell, 21.13 inches. Custom, chassis-specific designs are available from…