Dennis,
Well, out here in California since the oval season is 10-12 races, there are many engines out here that are that old and older. Are they competitive, well I guess that is all in perspective. Sure, they are 45+ years old, they have a job and responsibilities they are required to attended to on every Monday after a race. They are happy they get to roll the car on the trailer at the end of the night, and if for chance they win, that is just frosting on the cake.
Did they win? Maybe.
Or did they race in a pack of cars and get the enjoyment of racing while getting to load the car back on the trailer at the end of the night, maybe that is the win for them.
This really is not about winning or losing to the majority of the Legend racers. Sure they want to win, but sometimes it is more about the sport than the win. These guys done not spend big money on cheater sealed engines or brake calipers, they just race.
I understand you are a dealer and I truly respect you for speaking up for the racers on this and several other forums. Early on in this post, you said this was a bad deal. Was it a bad deal because of the time frame or because they want to upgrade the seals because of the 1% of the cheaters?
Okay, now the date has been pushed back, but it still is a bad deal. Every racer is on the hook for the $200 in shipping charges, they could then be responsible for the $150.00 "tech fee" and then if anything is illegal they are responsible for more cost than that. Sure some engines are going to need rebuilding and that is the time to reseal.
All other engines that have the old style seals can be checked locally by using the tools provided to the INEX tech inspectors.
Take it from an engine guy, me;
The only things that cannot be inspected regarding illegal sealed engines by a local tech inspector are two things. The cylinder/deck height and radial gas ported pistons. Now, if either of these two illegal modification were done to a sealed engine the gain(s) are minimal. The gas porting causing excessive ring wear so they are going to be blowing oil by the end of the season and the deck height is not going to make that much difference. But, it can be determined via the Whistler of excessive compression ratio due to the reduced deck height.
So, those two things are not found by the local inspector, but the engine is sealed with the new seal. The engine is allowed to compete and wears out. The engine is then sent in for rebuilding and those items are corrected and the engine is now back into 100% compliance.
If for some reason a sealed engine stomps everybody into the dirt, it is time for the INEX tech inspector to look closer or a racer needs to protest that engine. that is why there is a INEX technical inspection process as well as a protesting process, but you have to put your money where your mouth is.
I have said this before when talking about brakes, wheels, shocks, and now the new hot topic re-sealed engines, this is all about money plain and simple. Lets say for example USLCI just certifies 3000 engines in the next year, not counting additional work that might be needed or illegal parts found and replaced, just re-certification only at the amount of $350.00 based on the shipping and tech fee. Why that comes up to a cool $1,050,000.00, that rights over a million dollars.
Hmmm, over one million dollars just to look at engines, put a new seal on it and everyone is now "legal", until the new seal is found a way past and they are in the same boat with people complaining about cheated sealed engines.
Now, lets talk about brakes...
It has been common knowledge now the new INEX/Wilwood brake package is going to cost the racer $400.00. So, lets say USLCI sells 3000 sets of those this year because they make the old stuff obsolete since they work just as good as the current big $$ BM parts. Now, I can tell you out here is California the road race program has zero of the 25-30 cars with BM parts and the oval group has about 10%. So, now the new INEX brakes show up at the track and someone drives in 20" deeper, guess what everyone has to have them or you cant even keep up, let alone be competitive.
So, let look at those numbers for a minute...Let say they sell 3000 of those brake kits at a cost of $400.00, that is a mere $1,200,000.00
Yep, 1.2 million dollars..
When ultimately all that has to be done, is the tech inspector needs to inspected the calipers. If they have round o-rings instead of the Toyota/INEX "as delivered" square cut seal, the driver is disqualified and the parts are confiscated. Seem like the BM product would go away pretty quickly.
Oh, I know the poor old Toyota celica calipers are getting hard to find, which is also one of the justifications of the "new brakes". BS, I can call my supplier and get a set of calipers any day of the week. If that really was an issue, why is USCLI not casting those caliper in the 2" & 2 1/8" varieties, they made them in 2 1/4" overseas without any concern.
Why because they cannot charge you, the racer $400.00 for a "better brake system to combat the high prices of the BM products" if the cast the stock calipers in 2 & 2 1/8".
Yep, 1.2 million + another million plus for engine resealing. It is going to be a good year at USCLI. I wish my SMI (TRK) stock showed such a big profit. I bought 100 shares back in 95 for $10.00, it is running at $17.23 today.
Dennis, don't get me wrong and this is not an attack on you. I have been around a long time and I am probably just as invested than you, if not more so. I currently own 4 Legends cars and 2 roadsters. I have seven sealed engines with one "nationals only" green sealed engine that has been raced a total of 7 times. This engine is not even a blitz 4, it was a factory Yamaha INEX sealed engine that has had the valves adjusted and a double spring put in the clutch. I have over 20 open 1200's everything from core engines needing to be built to a full endurance engine I use for our racing endure series that has billet cams and flat slide carbs.
One difference between you and I regarding dealing & racing with INEX, is that it is people like me, that buy from dealers like you that keep you in business. Sure you have invested money to operate your business and so have I. But everything I have to race with INEX is not for sale, I own it and have no plans to sell it.
We can all agree, this series is affordable in the overall cost of racing. But, the current management is taking that affordability away with every step they make lately. It was great to be able to be out on the track racing with my two sons from my income from my job, I surely could not do this with a sprint car, late model and even a go kart.
But, you are going to have a hard time convincing me how this is good for the racer; $2,250,000.00
Randy - RPM
