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

I missed all the sprint races at Easy Bay's Winter Nationals this year for the first time since they started and apparently wasn't alone from whay I've heard. The Late Models are running there this week with nearly a 100 cars and I'm sure filling the joint to the rafters with their fans. What size engines do they use? Late Models seem to me to be more popular here in the south than sprints and they put on a pretty good show from what I see on the tube. They have much larger car counts over sprint car fields so I'm thinking that maybe they have more restrictive motors to assist both competition and costs. Can any fans that go both ways fill us in?

I don't see a whole lot of late model races (except for on TV), but the issue of competition has more to do with the nature of the cars than with the engine size.  Late models are larger and heavier than sprints, making them naturally slower which will produce better racing.  From what I understand, the horsepower output is not that much different, but the LMs use a smaller diameter and narrower tire, making it harder to hook up all that horsepower (this is something that some fans have been calling for in the sprint cars for a while); since you can't just mash the gas and have the tires hook up that also makes for better racing.  As for why the LMs have 100+ cars as opposed to 40+ for the sprints, I don't have a clue.  Late model racing can't be cheap either, so maybe there's something else to it.

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From the rules on the UMP website. I believe WOO, UMP, and MARS late models all use the same rules except for tires.

1.21 Engine

a) Only V8 engines will be permitted with no limit on cubic inch displacement.

b) Engines must be based on a factory design and must be naturally aspirated. Aluminum or steel blocks are permitted.

c) Magnetos are permitted. However, the engine must have an operating self starter.

d) The engine is permitted to be set back a maximum of 26 inches from center of the ball joint to the front of the motor plate/engine bell housing flange.

e) The carburetor is limited to 1 four barrel unit.

f) All engines are limited to one spark plug and two valves per cylinder.

Most late models I have been around seem to run in the 408 Cubic inch to 430 cubic inch range. I'm sure some are running even more than that. The never ending quest for more power!!