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

I think I am confused by what you think motors are costing at Knoxville right now. You said you can afford a $10K used racesaver but not a Knoxville motor. The motor that won last week at Knoxville was less than $10K new...

J, You're right. I'm kinda in left field on this deal I guess. I just figured your motor costs more than 10k. How much does it take to be competitive at Knoxville? and what kind of lifespan does the average Knoxville 305 have? I think the goal here should be universal rules throughout the country with a ceiling of about 10k on the motor cost. That seems reasonable to me.

One a side note, I missed the pie at Montgomery County. Will there be anymore pie this year?

Ben T

"If you're gonna run the bottom, you might as well get 
a real job."

exactly my point as well.

Everyone "thinks" the cars up front are running "killer" motors, but that's not always the case.

The big difference between the front runners and backmarkers are preperation (in the shop), set-ups), and experience.

Having a "killer" motor (no matter what the division) will never make-up for set-ups, preparation, and driver experience to me. Heck, I would guess that the 88 of Kinder and the 6 of Alexander don't have $15,000 in motors between the 2 cars (and they both win races @ Knoxville).

I agree with you again J. I think people have the wrong idea on what people are spending on 305 motors at Knoxville. Just because there are a couple guys that have the money that did go out and spend $20,000+ doesnt mean that everyone is. I would say the average is right around 10k.

We have just over 8000 in our motor now. And we timed 5th quick last week at Knoxville with a driver that has only raced a sprint car 5 times in his life. And as everyone knows qualifying is where the power in the motor shows. So you can be competitve with a motor under 10k. I said it earlier in this thread that its not all motor that wins races. Its all about the driver and making the right changes to the car throughout the night so that it is right come feature time. And J last week was a perfect example of having the car setup right, because he checked out from everyone in the feature. And it wasnt because he swapped in a "Killer" motor in the middle of the night.

Ben,

I think I can answer this pretty good. I always wanted to race sprint cars, I grew up around Knoxville and was just hooked from when I can remember. I am 27 now and after 25 years of watching sprints I decided it was time that I did something about it. I quit eating out, quit buying stupid stuff I didnt need and saved my money. I talked to some local sprint car guys and found a guy that was selling out. I bought him out for $7000. I got a complete 2002 Eagle roller, 3 LR wheels, 3 RR wheels, 2 top wings, 2 front wings, and probably 25 good used tires. ANd tons of other spares as well as tools etc. Then you can go spend what you want on a motor, but $7500 will buy you a very good motor capable of being competitive at Knoxville. Then get in

tighten the belts and have fun. So the answer is you CAN go sprint car racing fairly cheap you just have to WANT to bad enough to give up the other things in life that maybe dont mean that much.

If you are going to buy a name brand motor, you will never have a $10K engine, no matter what the rules are. Labor rates won't let that happen. If you want to have a good motor for $10K, you will have to do it yourself or someone you know that will do it cheap. I agree the rules need to be the same for everyone, ASCS has a good following, but that doesn't mean a spec head will fix it all. ASCS also proves that. Getting a motor to run a half mile regularly without coming apart is the hard part. The motor we have now isn't our first try, we tore some up figuring out what works and what doesn't. You can buy your way to the front as easy as people think. Money only gets you equipment, setup and luck are a big part of it too...

As for the pie, maybe at Wheatland for the National races. You will have to talk to my wife about that one. You missed out on some good ones at Montgomery City though!!

and how are the getting around floating the valves? are you all running H- beams? Just saying i used to turn mine 6900 but thats all i could get out of it.

6 Volt Your Motor Builder has also had a motor DQd At Cowtown Speedway.......Maybe You Forgot To mention That.