Conference oass::racers

       I've been around a few times... I live in Maine and compete
    regularly at Unity Raceway(one third mile oval...very flat track in 
    central Maine):
    1986 Rookie of the year in the six cylinder charger class
    1990 track point champion in the six cylinder charger class
    1990 Pine Tree Racing Performer Of The Year
    1991 Rookie of the year in the Limited Sportsman class
    1993 track point champion in Limited Sportsman class
    1994 track point champi........HAAAAAAAAAA not yet.....
    
       GT

Well, I used to do SCCA PRO Rallying from 1987 to 1991 and various club 
events (time trials, autocrosses, hillclimbs) starting back in 1982.  I 
gave it all up and sold the rally car last year to play with old 
Studebakers and Isettas.

Dave

    Well, I drove in the "Bomber Class" and "enduro's" in 85 and 86, in the 
    "Street Stock" class in 87, and was the top money winner in "Train
    Racing" in 88.  

    OK, The next question usually is what the h... is "Train Racing".  We
    take a race car and chain two more cars (w/o engines) to it.  The middle
    car has no driver and the rear car (caboose) has a brake-man.  We then
    take 5 to 10 of these trains and race the figure-eight track.  It's a
    really wild ride, especially for the brake-man.  Due to the large
    crowds it drew the prize money was great ($500-$1,000 for a win).
    We ran a 73 Monte Carlo with the engine from my Street Stock pulling two
    Vega's which were stripped of everything no essential for for them to
    roll.  It was really fast (55 mph in the intersection) and our primary
    competition was a Ford sedan pulling two Pinto's.  Classic Chevy/Ford
    competition.  The promoters loved it!

    Brian

    Sold all the cars to pay for some new toys. 

I've seen these train races in Denver and there are a plesant diversion.  
They even sell wooden train whistles !  In '92 I went to the race that was 
the last of the trains for the year.  There was one husband/wife team 
(husband driving naturally) that had rolled the wife in every race and she 
got rolled again.  Well this year I went to the race that was the first of 
the trains for the year and the husband/wife team was back.  Only this time 
the wife was going to do the driving but things didn't change as the 
husband ended up rolling.  Reminded me a lot of the WWF :*)

Jilly

I've been doing SCCA PRO Rally since 1989 (you probably knew that already).
I've also done some autocrossing, it's fun but I get bored waiting around
at the SCCA events where there are 200 entries.  The last few winters I've
been going up and doing the BMWCCA time trials out on Newfound Lake, that's
cheap and fun!

Every now and then I get the urge to do circle track just since there's
some money and recognition there.

Re: last few

Those trains on figure-8 tracks sounds wild!  That kind of attitude is another
thing that makes small-track racing interesting...

Carl

I started autocrossing a '72 Porsche 914 around '79 in the PCA and
SCCA. 

Then I was talked into bolting a roll cage into the car and started
racing SCCA Regionals in ITA (improved touring) around '85. The car
was completely uncompetetive in the class. It was more driving around
race tracks than racing. I do have a first place plaque from a race at 
Mosport though.

In '89 my wife offered to buy me a Formula Ford if I'd get rid of a 
couple of the Porsches I'd collected by then (she said all of them 
but let me keep one). I bought a Lola T640 which I ran in SCCA 
Regionals for a season. I think those races are all written up in the 
notes here somplace. I got a couple of seconds a third and a fourth 
place finish.

Since then I've been racing the car in SCCA Nationals. My best 
finishes have been fourth places. I did get two first places for older
cars at Pocono but I don't really count them.

It looks like I'll do this season with the Lola and move up to a
Formula Continental at the end of '94 if I can sell this car. 
Hopefully, I'll be able to afford a car that's reasonably competetive 
in Nationals.

Glenn

    What: NHRA/IHRA Drag Racing
    Where: Lebanon Valley, NY, Thompson Dragway, OH, Atlanta Dragway, GA.
    With: Various cars, but I'm trying to get my 454 Z/28 ready for a 
    good season this year.  I runner-upped in Thompson once.
    
    What: NASCAR 
    Where: Riverside Park, Agawam MA.
    With: One of those race to wreck your car later deals.  I did real
    good for the equipment I had (Buick Apollo), but got myself stuffed into 
    the wall eventually.  Right in front of my wife who was less than 
    enthusiastic.  Now I watch (crew) my friend spend his money on a Late 
    model Pontiac that has yet to see Lanier Ga's pavement (driven by us at 
    least).  His B-Stock Monte Carlo blew up last year and that was the end 
    of his season.
    
    What: SCCA Autocross
    Where: Longmeadow Ma, & Manchester Ct.
    With: '70 LT-1 RS Camaro.
    Won 1st place, modified.  That was it.  My friend (champaign wishes &
    beer budget) bought a Sports-2000 (lola) that was written off at
    Lime Rock CT.  When he brings it down to Road Atlanta, we'll see what
    happens. 
    

    
    Hi,

      I have not long been with Digital and only recently found this
    conference. I am at SQF ( Scotland ). I spent three years doing it in
    the Forests of Great Britain. It has been very interesting reading
    about the exploits of the Rally enthusiasts on the left hand side of
    the pond. 

     I finished my last event in 1991 and have not competed since, which 
    was a round of the British National Rally Championship. I was a 
    privateer in the truest sense of the word with all the financial 
    outlay coming from my own pocket. I would love to hit the Forest's 
    again but the British loose surface rallying is a rapidly dying 
    privateer sport. The cost of competing at a National level is totally 
    prohibitive, admittedly motor sport was never cheap. I do not know what 
    it is like for entry fees in the States, but the last National 
    round I entered over here was four hundred and fifty pounds and that
    ( Roughly $800 ) and that was back in 1991. Thats before you even start 
    on car prep and general event to event costs. The cost is high as the 
    prices have been pushed up and up by the Forestry Commission ( the owner 
    of approx 95% of all Britains Forests ). The Forestry commission justify 
    the large increases in the price of use of the track because of the 
    regarding required after a Rally and the general damage done to Forest 
    Enclosures by spectators. They are also quite keen under pressure 
    from the rambling associations and general environmentalists to see 
    the end of events in the Forests of Great Britain.

      In my last year I managed to get meager backing and competed at an 
    International Level and would have entered the 1991 RAC Rally but with 
    2 months to go some kind sole decided to pinch it, leaving me in the 
    lurch. How is Rallying governed in the states. Over here it is by
    the RAC Motor Sport Association and Ultimately governed by FIFA ( the
    European Motor Sport authority ). Are the spectators over there just as
    crazy ( EG Sitting on the outside edge of a 90 Degree corner which is
    situated after a half mile strait ). The worst incident I ever
    encountered was when I was barreling down a nice long slightly 
    downward straight which appeared to be covered in marbles and not
    gravel, to encounter Mum and Dad pushing baby in the pram in the 
    middle of the track. To this day I do not know how I missed them.

    Any way must cut loose.

    Best wishes for the New Year to all and may you gain those sort after
    Pots.

     

       

The US rallies are sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and 
the Canadian rallies by the CASC.  General costs (as of 3-4 years ago) were 
about $100-$150 for single venue events - $200 for divisional/regional and 
around $400-$500 for Nationals.

The vasy majority of teams are basically unsponsored.  Probably the top 10 
or 15 teams have serious backing from someone.

Only twice, out of 24 events I did, did I come home with more money in my 
pocket than when I left.

Dave

    HELLO, FROM OUT WEST COLORADO...
     I raced Go-karts and presently racing Mini Sprints. Mini Sprints are
    open wheel cars like their big brother World of Outlaws, and the same
    size as Midgets. They run motorcycle or snowmobile engines and are 
    either chain or belt driven. I am running a 600 c.c. Kawasaki Ninja,
    and have run KTM and Suzuki also. I have had many heat race victorys
    but do seem to have enough cubic dollars for main event win yet but
    still trying. Have been racing Mini Sprints for 8 seasons.
                                HAPPY RACING
                                        CARL

    OOOPPPSS, I WAS SAYING I --DONT-- HAVE ENOUGH CUBIC DOLLARS..
        NOT THAT I DO HAVE ENOUGH CUBIC DOLLARS..
                       I AM SURE YOU ALL KNEW THIS ANYWAY..
                                          CARL

Re: .8

Hello!  It's great to see another rallyist in this file!  It sounds like
you've been quite successful.  The costs of rallying in the US, as Dave
mentioned, are quite a bit less in the US than what you report for national-
level events, however, getting permission to use the forest roads is one of
our largest problems, too.  Usually the issues are public access (they don't
like to close roads) and the damage the cars do to the gravel road surface
(and to a lesser extent the drainage ditches and the trees beyond...:-)
There has not been much pressure from environmental groups (yet), most likely
because the sport is almost unknown in this country, unlike in Europe of
course.

Most entries here are completely privately financed.  I suspect the number
of teams with more than token sponsorship is even smaller than what Dave
said; I only know of 2 teams with factory sponsorship, and one has pulled
out this year (Subaru).

As for spectators in the US, I could only reply, "what spectators?"  Since
it is such an unknown sport, there are very few; mostly locals and friends
of race teams out looking for some good action photos.  With only a few
exceptions, I don't believe I've ever seen more than 50 spectators along
any one U.S. stage.  Since all North American rallies are secret events,
the routes are not made available to spectators, so they follow directions
provided by the organizers to any of a few convenient spectator areas and
are kept well back from the tape by a corner marshall or two.  They do
usually find some good corners for spectators to view, though, and it also
works well from a safety standpoint since they can blow a whistle each time
a car approaches (though most are amply loud to be heard from some distance).

Rallies are all sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America, which as a
general rule, doesn't seem to care much if the sport lives or dies, so
no effort is made to popularize or publicize it, so fields are small (usually
fewer than 60 cars) and relatively uncompetitive, and purses are no better.
In Canada they are more organized and better sponsored, and crowds there will
number into the hundreds, still a manageable number but quite a bit less
than in Europe.

If you find yourself over in the States, you might want to try one of our
events.  There are several people providing "rent-a-racer" deals that include
a fully-prepped car and service during the event.  I think you would find
most of our rally roads here to be quite scenic, smooth and fast.

Good luck, I hope you can get back into the sport someday, it's the best!
Feel free to contact me offline at any time on this subject!

Carl

Hi,

I've been hillclimbing and sprinting in the north UK for about 10 years now.
Unlike Dave who used to rush around up dirt tracks at places like Mt Washington
which is several MILES long, we tootle around smooth tarmac for about 1000 YDS!!

I've long wished I could do Mt Washington after Dave wrote me such a wonderful
description......

Mike