So I cut the cable and only have internet now. Never been a fan of the circle stuff, but came across the K&N Pro Series races on youtube. I started with the road races and was intrigued and now watching the full season. The racing is good, the races are not that long, and there is a lot of young talent. My only complaint is that they never talk about the technical side, in fact if you look on the Nascar website they only have information about the drivers. Is that information available? I know they switched to composite bodies, the cars are former Cup and Xfinity. I assume they are still carb'ed V8's. Most of the bodywork looks to be fivestar although one of the race winners at WGI had the ABC bodywork. Is there a difference between these cars and asphalt late models, other then body work?
They are Xfinity cars with composite bodies. They are bigger and heavier than the average late models with full perimeter chassis, and truck arm rears instead of the usual 3 link a late model would run.
I ran in it when it was the Busch North series. NASCAR turned it from a regional series to a feeder series for the Cup series. This was generally regarded as a bad idea by everyone that ran in the North series. You get some decent races but the fields are very small and the cars all come from a handful of teams. NASCAR envisioned every cup team running 2-3 cars to replace us but it didn’t pan out and the series regulars who were largely low budget teams with lots of volunteer help couldn’t justify trekking out to places like Iowa from New England.
Do they use the same engines as late models?
Late model is kind of a generic term that has different specs depending where you are ranging from wet sumped, sealed iron head crate engines to pretty much unlimited V8s. Most K&N engines are carbed spec engines built on an LS series Chevy block that make about 600 horsepower.
I sometimes think the lack of technical information available about stock cars is an accidental result of the secretive nature of the sport. Setup is a critical part of the game, and the crew cheif sure doesn't want you figuring out why his car is faster than yours.
When I got into circle track racing, I searched the internet for setup stuff, even basic info. The best I found for even simple stuff ended up being instructions for an online racing game... All I wanted to know was definitions and info on crossweights, stagger and the stuff a road race guy isn't familiar with.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Unfortunately the best commonly accessible sources of info, Stock Car Racing and Circle Track magazines are gone. They had in-depth tech with lots of hows and whys. If you’re still looking for info the Steve Smith books are a good start. I got How to Make Your Race Car Handle and Stock Car Fabrication years ago and while some of the tech like shocks is outdated the but the definitions and how to info with stagger, cross weight etc is good.
WHEN WE STARTED THERE WAS NO INTERNET, YOU KEPT OTHER TEAM MEMBERS AWAY FROM YOUR CAR. YOU DON'T HELP OTH ER'S WITH INFO, ONLY LABOR, YOU BRING YOUR FRIENDS WITH YOU. BEFORE ENGINEERS IT WAS " I KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT HANDLE , I DON'T KNOW WHY", 'SUITCASE' JAKE McDOWELL
In reply to trigun7469:
I believe the same network airing the K&N series also shows the Whelen Modified Series. They put on some pretty show with similar power in a lighter, lower car with more tire.
In reply to GTXVette :
There's a lot of truth to what Suitcase Jake said, (In third grade I did a presentation on him in class when we had to learn about a sports hero, an odd choice for any kid no doubt but probably especially on Long Island in the 80s). A lot of people knew what some changes did but not why. While my dad says he got me those books and magazines to encourage me to read more it didn't hurt that I could then explain the whys behind what they were doing to help make better choices setting up their car. Given the available budget and parts for our bombers changes weren't easy to make and really couldn't be done trackside. Changing springs or adding wedge had to be done at home with cut down junkyard springs and spacers he'd made by cutting the centers out of crank pulleys to place on top of the springs.
Once we realized how much change there was to the Diagonal weight transfer, for most Part we were Hooked up. Funny about those 3rd grade reports , I Did mine on RACING and NASCAR, I remember stumbling through and being embarrassed at my delivery . funny how that was right at 60 years ago. I was a reader and the parents bought me Car & Driver ,Road &Track, Hot Rod Motor Trend, So this is all their FAULT.
