It’s a sentiment we repeat in this magazine over and over, and it always seems to be true: It’s simply never been easier to get on track and compete, wheel to wheel, with other enthusiasts.
This revolution in accessibility is largely thanks to the proliferation of endurance road racing. The SCCA and NASA have been sanctioning it at a national …
That was very well done. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it. Seems like no matter what you are into or how much you have to spend, there's something out there for everyone.
We ran our first 14 hour Chumpcar race at Daytona in 2015. We had $6k into the car, including purchase price just to get on track. Personal safety, radios, and refueling costs some more; but, we got on track and got W2W experience, and that's all that we ever wanted.
I'd hate to think how inaccessible club racing would be these days if the Low Buck series hadn't proliferated to keep (three or four letter acronyms) in check.
Lemons, Champcar, Lucky Dog have done great things for the sport.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
Our first Lemons race was CMP in the middle of SC at the end of July in 2008. It was hotter than 7 hells and Jay said he would never come back to SC during the summer and started doing a spring and fall race. IIRC, the Thunderbird we ran cost 6 of us right at $600 each and all in including consumables and entry was right at $1100. The Civic didn't cost much more. We ran at least one race a year for the next 8-10 years. You won't find a cheaper way to W2W anywhere.
Toyman! said:In reply to DirtyBird222 :
Our first Lemons race was CMP in the middle of SC at the end of July in 2008. It was hotter than 7 hells and Jay said he would never come back to SC during the summer and started doing a spring and fall race. IIRC, the Thunderbird we ran cost 6 of us right at $600 each and all in including consumables and entry was right at $1100. The Civic didn't cost much more. We ran at least one race a year for the next 8-10 years. You won't find a cheaper way to W2W anywhere.
100%
My buddy that I co-own the car with, we were spending tons of money and beating up our street cars doing HPDEs/PDXs/etc. After a PDX at the Daytona short course one April, we decided to go Chumpcar racing. Lemons was the original plan; but, they had decided to pull out of running in Florida, so Chump was our next best option. We've run in Lemons, Chump, WRL, and a few SCCA bracket enduros so far. I've enjoyed running in all of them, as each has their own pros/cons.
It's still the cheapest and most direct way to get on track. I've tried to give the SCCA my support in many different ways, but, it is such a process to get on track with them, and they totally are missing out on a whole new wave of members by not offering any kind of alternative to Chu/amp, Lemons, Luckydog, AER (RIP), or WRL.
I do worry about speed creep ruining some of these series. WRL is essentially a baby IMSA series now. Chump going to Champ saw a pivot away from the $500 car platform and the Riley Corvette/Sahlen's Porsches are causing a stink. Lemons is holding true.
Sahlen's and GBU/Riley only cause a stink because their race strategy is so much better than everybody else. Pinkies Out too, as their four wins in a row at the VIR 24 attest to.
racerfink said:Sahlen's and GBU/Riley only cause a stink because their race strategy is so much better than everybody else. Pinkies Out too, as their four wins in a row at the VIR 24 attest to.
There's a whole champcar facebook page or forum to nitpick about those cars/teams. The point being is that the series made a pivot and the speed/$$ creep is real and those cars are prime examples. If raw speed is the strategy, then yea, they are at the top of the mountain there.
And yet GBU has very few wins. Lots of fastest laps, but they're usually on the trailer because they have to run flat out on the two hour fuel stop races. They can't go anywhere near two hours on fuel.
Pinkies Out won by 15 laps at the 24 last year. In a E30.
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