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The New Epidemic Facing Our Sport

Posted by Troy Harrison at 04:00:17 PM

Don't look now, but there's a new epidemic facing racing in our area, and it appears to frighten some racers (and journalists) more than the Swine Flu, the Bubonic Plague, and a bad case of the crabs - all put together.  It's called "Rules Enforcement," and based on the events at local tracks, the gossip on forums, and the talk on Racinboys, it's spreading.

It started quietly, with some innocent talk about frame rails.  Then it quickly spread throughout the Midwest, as sanctioning body after sanctioning body picked it up.  Suddenly, at Lucas Oil Speedway, new cases were diagnosed in the front crossmembers and lower A-arms of certain race cars.  Racers cringed as some drivers were sent home and certain cars were declared irreparably illegal - but then things quieted down for a moment.  Some hoped that the virus had been arrested in its tracks, or at least contained.  Unfortunately for them, it became apparent that this virus is spread by metal-to-metal contact, since it has now infected the shock absorbers of some Modifieds.  The latest to contract the virus is apparently Earl Walls of Central Missouri Speedway, who has declared that all Modifieds who want to run for his $1000-to-win purses must comply with the rules as written by May 15, 2009.  Not coincidentally, that's the same date as given by Todd Staley of the USMTS.

Of course, I'm being a little tongue-in-cheek here - but not much.  The truth is that the Modified class had gone way off the reservation in recent years.  And I should probably emphasize that the opinion of Troy Harrison is not the same as my friends and Racinboys colleagues, Scott and Kirk, who apparently haven't seen a rule they want enforced  nor an expensive part they don't want run on the Modifieds.

My view is more toward the long-term good of the class.  Which is odd, because I've always been perceived as an anti-Modified guy.  That's not exactly true - I'm more pro-Late Model than anti-Modified - but the position of commenting on what's good for the Modified class is a little strange for me.

But here's the bottom line:  Tracks that enforce rules tend to fare better, in the long run, than tracks that don't.  There are a couple of good reasons for this, and if you dig through all the dialogue spent on these issues over the past few weeks, all that needs to have been said has been said - it's just that to understand what's going on, we have to dig for the needles in the haystack.

As one racer noted, "The rules need to be enforced.  The rules tell us what to bring to the race track."  This is probably as good a reason to enforce rules as any; racers who read the rulebook and bring a legal car get penalized when tracks don't enforce the rules.  And - frankly - the legal cars are the majority at nearly any race track, regardless of what anyone tells you.  Tracks that penalize racers who run legal tend to run out of those racers - not because they too play the "who can cheat more" game, but because they find other places to race.

The funniest comment that I keep hearing is, "Why now?  Why start enforcing the rules now?"  Here's the deal, folks - the tracks have the right and responsibility to enforce ANY RULE at ANY TIME.  It's not like copyrights, when if you don't protect them, you lose the right.  Tell you what - go and rob some banks.  Eventually, you'll get caught.  When you do, tell the cops about all the ones that you robbed before getting caught, and ask them, "why now?"

The racers that bought illegal parts, or made illegal changes to their cars, knew damn good and well that they were cheating when they did it.  When you cheat and eventually get caught, you don't bitch and say that your cheating should have been legal - you feel good about how long you got away with it, and then get legal.  Period.

The other truth is that these guys don't REALLY want to run in a no-limits arena, as Scott puts forth.  If they did, they'd be running late models with MLRA, where all this stuff is legal.  All these racers want limits.  They just want the other guys to follow the limits, while they step 5% or 10% over.  It's no different than guys who select crate-engine classes, then cheat up the crate motors.  If they had the balls, they'd run where the crate engines aren't the issue and they can build what they want. (If you're wondering, no, I don't have a lot of respect for guys who beg for crate-motor rules and then cheat the crates.)  The track owners don't really want unlimited cars, either - they've already decided not to run late models or 410 sprints because they don't want to pay that kind of purse.

One funny thing about this whole thing is that, when we were discussing the frame rail issue, some people said, "Hey, there are a lot bigger issues than the frame rails.  The shocks, for instance - what about the shocks?"  Now that the shocks are being looked at, they're squealing like the pigs that started the current swine flu epidemic.

I'm also amused to find one of my own predictions coming true, and much quicker than I thought it would.  I predicted that, if track inspectors started enforcing one rule (the frame rails), that they would probably end up enforcing other rules.  Put one in the "win" column for yours truly.

One other argument is, "These aren't IMCA Modifieds anymore - they're A-Mods."  Horse hockey.  Look at the IMCA rulebook, then look at most "A-Mod" rulebooks around the Midwest.  You'll find an awful lot more similarities than differences.  Want to see a real "A-Mod?"  Go to the Northeast, and watch tube frame, 800HP big block machines on 14" tires run.  I have a feeling that most of the "A-Mod" drivers wouldn't want to step up to that level of cost and complexity; again, if they did, they'd be running late models.  Reality is that the "A-Mod" is just an IMCA Modified with a few more things done to them.

A comparison was made this morning comparing the quick change issue with the shock issue.  Apples and oranges.  The addition of quick changes was done the right way.  Racers lobbied for it and got the rules changed - THEN started running quick changes.  They didn't just show up in the tech lanes with quick changes and then bitch to high heaven that they should be legal.

One other good answer to the "why now" question was voiced by Earl Walls this morning - "Now, we have a well lit tech area where we can see this stuff."  Now, I've never seen CMS' tech area, but I've seen plenty that didn't have enough light to tell how many wheels the car had, much less what was connected to them.  This may be another symptom of the current epidemic; tracks getting properly equipped to tech cars.  Again, this is a good thing.  At this point, I think it's going to be fun to see what the next big cheat is.  And I guarantee - we'll see more stuff caught this year.

Personally, I hope the next place the epidemic spreads is to safety equipment.  A few years ago, I happened to be at a local track and looking at a street stock on its first night out.  The car had been put together with a cage made out of black pipe, and the welds looked like blobs of bubblegum with big gaps and holes. Talking to the kid who owned it, I found out that he'd gas-welded the cage in.  One of his first major welding projects, in fact. It was a disaster waiting to happen, and it had a track tech sticker.  I found the track owner, and suggested to him that maybe someone ought to look at the cage a bit before putting the sticker on it.  The track owner, who was already half drunk, hollered at me that "We looked at it, and it's fine!"

Later that night, the car flipped, the cage came apart, and the kid took a ride to the hospital.  No spinal injuries - just a collar bone, shoulder blade, and a broken arm.  At that, he got off lucky.  I couldn't find the frunk track owner later.

Sometimes viruses build on their own momentum, and when they do, they get hard to stop.  Right now, it looks for all the world that this one is going to spread farther before it starts to contract.  I congratulate all the track owners and tech men who have caught the virus so far, and look forward to its next symptom.

And to the racers - my advice is to get legal.  Don't get me wrong, there will always be a few tracks that don't care about the rules.  You'll find that they're not much better when it comes to purse payouts, promotions, insurance, safety, or other little niceties.

Reader Comments

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May 03, 2009 12:20:56 PM by Anonymous

The question I've had since this issue has arisen is why weren't these rules being enforced in the first place? The answer is it's too hard for most tracks to stay on top of the many changes. There's a reason why IMCA has a claim. No one likes the claim, and it's impact has waned over the years, but there's not been a better way to control costs since the modified arrived in the Midwest 30 years ago. Since non-claim Modifieds became a substitute for Late Models as the premier division at many tracks and the advent of high dollar specials and series, it's predictably attracted former and current late model racers and builders with the knowledge and technology to match. It's going to take well equipped tech areas run by highly qualified inspectors who know as much if not more about these cars than the people who build them to turn back the clock on what's been happening with open Modifieds over the last decade. It will be a positive for racing if it happens on a wide scale, but history is not on our side. The symptoms of my virus is a dose of reality when it comes to promoters working together on rules and the way they're enforced. I'm frankly more concerned about placing an emphasis on maintaining a level playing field and controlling costs for our entry level classes at each individual track, as this is how we attract new racers. One thing we agree is there is no excuse for any track not being diligent when it comes to safety. Enjoy and respect your point of view, Troy. I'm fascinated by the debate.

May 03, 2009 09:54:59 PM by Rooster

I still believe it's not too late to turn the Mods back. I just can't understand all the people that want to act like it's no big deal. I love Late Models, wish I could still afford one. I have a Modified..........I hope I can afford to keep running. Good Stuff Troy, no sugar coating, I like that !!!!!

May 04, 2009 03:01:12 PM by Racewriter

To anonymous- you do ask a good question; "Why weren't these rules enforced in the first place?" I have a feeling that the answer is that the promoters didn't know that the racers WANTED the rules enforced. In all the conversations I've had with people who are a part of this deal, there's a constant refrain - promoters and sanctioning bodies are getting smothered with calls and e-mails from racers, and the vast majority are in favor of tighter rules enforcement, not looser. I think the reason history might be changed from past classes that got out of hand, is the Internet and our communication abilities. 10 years ago, if a brouhaha got started at a racetrack, it might rate a sentence in Hawkeye Racing News a couple weeks later - or it might not. The Internet has allowed racers and promoters nationwide to tune into the rules controversy in real-time, and they're getting the sense of what the racers are really thinking. That has created the response we're seeing. The message from every major sanctioning body, and the most important tracks, is - GET LEGAL. And it's pretty much unified. Whether that can be sustained or not is another question, but I like the chances. Will there be tracks that let anything go? Sure. I can think of 3-4 tracks in our area that won't care - but they're the tracks that are always on deathwatch wondering "will they make it through the season?". And to answer the question, "Why now?" - I'd just respond - "Why NOT now?" Legal is legal. What about the racers who have cheated and gotten away with it, and the money they have to spend to get legal? Screw 'em. As Lloyd noted on the forum, buying a cheat part is a gamble, and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. If you've been getting away with it for 2 years, you've done well enough to count yourself lucky. I hear the concerns about rules enforcement and level playing fields at the entry level - but if a track doesn't have the will to enforce rules at the A-Mod level, why would anyone think they would do so at the entry level? As I've already said and showed - even the cheater racers want a limited class; otherwise they'd be running late models. They just want the limits set low, and then to be allowed to go 10% over them. If you announced right now that, next year, you were going to open up the Modifieds, you'd hear so much squalling - FROM THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN CHEATING THE CURRENT RULES - that it's not even funny. Allow in tube frames, open engines, dry sumps, aluminum heads and blocks, fully adjustable shocks with or without canisters, etc. - you'd see empty pits. Since we know that the racers want limits, why not cater to those that are doing it right by running legal in the first place? And in terms of claim rules - my predictions have done pretty well so far on this issue. I'll make another prediction. 3 years from now, there will be more claimer tracks around KC than non-claimer tracks.

 

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