Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

The Wichita Eagle did a story on Lavern Nance's all titanium sprint car chassis.  It has recently be restored to oringal condition.  

Link

Thanks for posting! Lavern Nance was a legend, glad they restored it!

Amazing story. Thanks for posting!

 
 
 
They don't even know how to spell sprint car 
much less chromoly...http://www.ycmco.com

i remember that car  being at eldora .  jack  hewitt   got to hot  lap  it. the  wing   didnt  hold up to the  speeds there and they didnt  have  a  spare as everything on the  car  was  one  off. i recall jack saying the car weighed  985 lbs with a  wing  and 15 gallons of  fuel.

I never knew about this. Great read. Far too much of our history gets lost. Glad this car made it into the right hands after all these years and got restored.

That's impressive, I wonder if Sammy ran a titanium car during the no weight rule era, I know he was obsessed with lightweight.

I saw the article elsewhere and thought it was almost unbelievable. i believe Ti is about 56% the weight of steel. It seems my bare chassis in the mid 90's were around 170 lbs. so I'm guessing the Ti chassis was 100 lbs or so. I'm sure Mr Nance massaged every piece on the car but I'd have to see the scales. It's possible I guess   

I will be watching the scales closely next week at Eldora 

Very much a possibility. I helped on a top dollar 410 preweight rule that just a little over 1000 #'s dry, no fluids.

Like I said I guess it's possible. Your dry 1000+lb car is very believable, mine wasnt a heck of a lot more. But add their 15 gallon of fuel, 2 gallon of oil & 2 gallon of water and I won't bother with brake fluid. All fluids are gonna be around 140 lbs. my calculations have the frame saving 75 lbs or so.... Where would you guys have found another 70 lbs to take off?

which brings up my thoughts on Rico... You can't take anything away from him as he stands on the gas as hard if not harder than anyone. Even tho that car has ballast to get to weight it's my belief his lesser body weight is a benefit as the driver weight is situated high up in the car. 

Can't hurt.... I don't know how NBA draft pick Dale Blaney even gets in a sprint car....

This car was restored in my shop so I can tell you a little bit about it. I am not sure it is as light as originally claimed, but it is pretty damn light. The car is a coil over car, not a 4 bar car and the bottom frame rails kick up and run above the front and rear axles. The brake rotors were machined out of titanium, and the floor pan was magnesium, as was the motor plate. The wings where extremely light also. The car is on display at the Belleville High Banks Museum in Belleville, Ks. It will hopefully make it to the Speedway Motors museum in Lincoln and Knoxville at some point.  Thanks for all the interest.

Not only the height at which his sits, but also being able to bolt ballast in other spots to increase traction. And like you I'm not talking anything away from him because the throttle doesn't lie and his reaction time is second to none. And that's the MOST important in dirt track racing. Reaction time and being able to correct. The quicker you correct the less speed you scrub off. It's why Donny Schatz is Donny Schatz. 

Slight digression: Wouldn't it make sprint cars more affordable if the rules mandated steel, factory production engine blocks?

Trostle said in his book they used to get them from junkyards....

I am tired of all the bs about this car I purchased the car in western Ks from the man who purchased it from Laverne . The car was in ahell of a shape when I bought it I restored the car in my garage in San antonio have picds to prove It also sent pics to the Nance family during restoration The bare chassis weighs 83 lbs when i sold the car there was only 4 steel bolts in the car lower for coil overs. Also Dennis Did not call and tell the where the car was I advertised it in the wichiita paper sold it and delivered it to texas motor speedway in early 2000s  I polished all aluminum Powered chassis and bought 100$ of titanium bolts that were not there Hope this clears all the bs and puts credit where credit is due any questions Mike Evans 512-818-5835 also that motor was in dallas area in Wells shop And Kevin Ramey had ran it Devils Bowl Wells also worked on my sons sprint car motors Hell Of a lot of people took credit where the shouldnt  enough said

No. Reason being they are not intended for racing. I started in 83 when most cars still had iron blocks. You'd spend $1000-1500 prepping a block to get it ready to race and you'd be lucky if it lasted all season before lit cracked somewhere or busted the main webs. Believe me when I say I scratched and saved every penny to buy my first rodeck block but once I had it I saw the savings. You could run it for a long time and still sell it 

Thanks. Wish I knew how to do all that stuff!

Mike, I acknowledge there were inaccuracies in the newspaper article (which I did not write), and I am very grateful you had the foresight to purchase a one of a kind race car before it disappeared forever. I also admit, you  had the frame powder coated and polished some of the radius rods, but that was close to fifteen years ago before you sold it to Steve. I had the car in my shop for over four months, and we spent countless hours and alot of Steve's money on that car, The body and wings had been spray painted and damaged at some point. There were parts spread out in numerous boxes and parts missing, that had to be fabricated or purchased if they could be fount. Mechanically, nothing had been addressed since the car was last raced in 1992. There was no plumbing, the brakes were not functioning, etc. The car is 100% painted paint code, decals and painted lettering are correct, and the car has been 100% rebuilt mechanically, and functions as it did the first day it hit the track. The car was taken to 81 Speedway in Wichita and made laps at a KAR event in September 2015. I too have hundreds of pictures from the day the car entered my shop and taken down to the bare frame, to the day it left. I also have some good pictures of the mad scramble we were in at 1:00 in the morning the day before the High Banks induction ceremony putting the final pieces on the car. I am not going to let somebody else take credit for the way the car looks today because they owned it at some point in the past. Myself and many others have to much time and effort in the car to let that happen. Sorry if you are offended.  

When I sold the car to the dum ass that bought it th car was complete with no extra parts I have the pictures to prove it ther were no extra parts in boxes and no lost parts the car was complete I have no idea what happened after I sold it to him The car is not all  that great  never was design was terrible ask any one who has raced a sprint car what happens if a front or rear radius breaks there were never any tethers to hold the front axle or rear end in the car . After Laverne died I offered to put the car together if the wanted to take the car to KNOXVILE 

When I sold the car to the dum ass that bought it th car was complete with no extra parts I have the pictures to prove it ther were no extra parts in boxes and no lost parts the car was complete I have no idea what happened after I sold it to him The car is not all  that great  never was design was terrible ask any one who has raced a sprint car what happens if a front or rear radius breaks there were never any tethers to hold the front axle or rear end in the car . After Laverne died I offered to put the car together if they  wanted to take the car to  Knoxville the did not respond  i sold it  I could care less When the car left   me it was ready to put the engine in the car Dennis dye told me you stated I did not put the car together properly. sounds like some one had the car apart after  i sold it , also you dont have the right tires on the  car  HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU RACED  A COMPERTIVE SPRINT CAR. fIfirst time the car was raced was Eldora by Jack Hewitt his tatement was you dont take that car there I dont like to be called a liar .    WHICH YOU DID ASSHOLE

I remember thinking grade school English classes were a waste of time....now I see why it was so important.