Attn Crate Late Models

B

Benton Raceway Park

Member
Staff member
I would like to get opinions on crate late model rules, what set of rules or sanctuoning body do you want? I have been in contact with a few and we are trying to make a decision but would like our racers opinions as well. We are going to do our best to work with racers, without drivers we have no show and with no show we have no fans. No fans, no more track for you to race at, we all need each other, lets work together to make this place a success.
 
benton track

why dont you guys post on midsouthracing.com to get some feedback for the rules,thats the website we use down here where the track is.nobody gets on stlracing because we dont race in st.louis area.I think you will get a better response from drivers in the area,not the st.louis area.I see your going to run ump modifys,after seeing who the tech guy is,dereck despain,i understand why.he and his buddys run peavly which is ump,i have talked to freinds that where going to run benton,that use to run malden,but all this talk about ump has run them off.as far as crate late models we ran nesmith,i think youll find thats what the guys want down here.I had raced at benton since it opened we have never ran ump rules,and our cars arent built around ump rules,dont understand why your so dead set for it,all your doing is eliminating cars in bentons own back yard,if i bought peavly and moved up there i wouldnt completly change the rules so the cars that had been running there couldnt run there anymore,thats suicide.the best thing to do is to use malden rules across the board.I hope management has there thinking cap on because i dont want to drive 3-4 hrs round trip every weekend to the track when it takes me 35 minutes to drive to benton.
 
If you know anything about mods u know that everything is the same every where except tires and everybody around Missouri is on ump tires now and stl racing is what we look at because Benton actually just as close to stl as Arkansas and far as dereck goes they raced down south more than pevely and be damn happy someone is putting the effort that he has to help get it going. There will be some good cars there this year can't wait to knock the dust off and try driving again when we debute our new chassis in may! Thank you dereck and Clyde ! Bworley.
 
Thanks Brian, you are correct. Modifieds are pretty much all the same (except IMCA which are not around here anyway) except for the tires.
Benton has been using Stlracing since about 2000. We are however working on getting our stuff on midsouth as well.
Also, I have owned a modified the last couple of years, and out of about 30 nights of racing, alot of which were at malden and Poplar bluff, we only went to Pevely 2 times. After I was contacted about helping out with Benton, I sold my car to avoid any conflict of interest and so that I could direct more of my time to the track.
Derek DeSpain
573-275-0302
 
mr.worley i do appreciate that someone is trying to open the benton racetrack,that was my hometrack since it opened in 1990.I would really like it to stay open since malden will soon be a cottonfield,benton is the closet track for the malden cars to run now. derick I did some research on the ump website and saw that fredricktown was on there list is this the reason you want to go ump,so your friends can run fri at fredricktown and benton on sat. night ? if so you dont have the tracks best interest at heart,because the drivers down here dont want to buy 8-10 more wheels and tires and have to make changes to there bodys to run benton,therefor they will not run benton.take care of the local guys that are ready to go and will be here every week before you try to pull cars from 2-3hrs away,those guys arent coming anyway they have too many choses in there own back yard and if they get rained out they still wont come if the track isnt sanctioned and if the track was sanctioned the few times they do come down wont keep the lights on.I also seen on the fredricktown website yesterday afternoon that the owner has decided that they will not open this year.also i heard benton will not be sanctioned,if so the guys that run ump will not come to race at benton if they cant collect points.most of the cars that race at a race track are within an hour away lets take care of those drivers first,those are the guys that are going to keep the track open. dont know why people that dont have a racecar or has never drove a race car try to influence management to run ump mods and crate latemodels, nesmith is what we run down here. derick, you say that stlracing has been the website since 2000,the track has only been open 2yrs out of the last 12yrs and its been at least 5-6 yrs the last time its been open,the sooner you get the info on midsouth the better.this is a golden oppurtunity to get the malden cars to come to benton, if you keep talking ump you will drive the locals away.after a track gets a bad reputation for cutting the pay after getting started,writing bad checks and lying to drivers to get them to the track will make them leary about coming back,so this will be an uphill battle for benton. I really hope that it will work this time.have a good pay scale and dont cut it after a month of running,give it time to catch on and maybe the car count will grow as the season progresses like i said once a track has been down for as long as benton has been, it will be an uphill battle.since malden and fredricktown both being closed benton might have half a chance of making it.
 
dude, if your crying this hard now whats it gonna be like for the management when you show up. btw stl racing is where I always got my info when I raced there.
 
We have been, and will continue to be, very open to racers opinions and suggestions. Of the response that we have gotten on the modifieds, it has been about 2 to 1 in favor of the UMP rules. There are in fact 5 modifieds in the Cape/Jackson area and 3 more around Perryville, all of which wanted UMP rules.
 
not crying danny just pointing out the facts,you know benton has never ran ump, how about the cars from malden race track,have you heard from those drivers? all i have heard about is what the drivers up north want.since malden is closed benton is the closet track otherwise we have to drive 1 1/2-2hrs to a track.I wish benton the best of luck
 
You are incorrect, Benton was UMP the last couple years it was open. We have had very few Malden racers contact us. If the crate cars are what you are not wanting to be UMP, get the racers to call and let us know. We have not made a decision on that yet. Actually, I made a call to Nesmith a week ago to inquire on sanctioning fees and rules and was told they would get back in contact but havent heard anything.
 
I raced at Malden in crates both sanctioned and unsanctioned it really doesn't matter what you decide somebody is going to cry if you chose Nesmith fastrac pcra or ump so just pick one and let the crying begin just tech them hard very hard
 
9+jr.. Per your statement... Benton has only been open 2 out of the last 12 years.....So how much success has it seen? Very little Id say...So why would you want to WHINE and COMPLAIN when a man comes in, and shells out money and is willing to try something new that works elsewhere..While not the same ole sanction you are used to, at least the track has the foresight to see there may be more to life than, "what we do down here"...Because we ALL know how well that has worked for Benton, Poplar Bluff and Malden in the past... If it was working......those tracks would be teeming with cars, and the promoter would be retiring from his day job...That hasnt happened!!.Give it a chance....Think OUTSIDE the BOX. JMO Jason Brewington
 
anytime a track has been closed for awhile,and especially when drivers dont get paid and lied to,its hard to get them to come back and thats what happened at benton and poplar bluff.as far as malden the owner phil santie his health has taken it toll on him and has forced him to close.I do appreciate someone trying to get the track going,just aggrivated that they are not getting the word out on different forums like midsouth.thats where most of us in the area go to,I wouldnt have known any of this was going on if it werent for a friend in farmington,if i were management i would try to get the word out on as many forums as i could and hold a drivers meeting.I see derick had posted on midsouth last night and got an immediate response,thats all i was asking for,now the word will get out and the drivers from malden can give there opinion,just seem like they were asking everybody but the local drivers what they wanted.with malden cars with nowhere to run youd think they would ask for there opinion.and with fredricktown not opening benton might have a good car count if they can combine the cars from malden and fredricktown.like i said before benton is about 35 minutes from my house would really like to see it succeed,have a good day.
 
We absolutely want the cars from, malden to come and race with us. As it stands right now, the street stocks, e mods and modifieds can come and race with us without changing a thing on their cars. Sure the mods are at a disadvantage with their tires, but that is a minimal change considering the overall cost of racing a car. The crate cars are a little bit different, I understand that and we want the rules to be so that as many cars as possible are legal to come and race with minor or no changes. If guys are not willing to make small sacrifices in order to race hear rather than drive 2 or 3 hours, well then we cant help that. We do not wanna exclude anyone.
We have put a lot of thought into all this, and at first glance it seems to be a no brainer, run malden classes and malden rules, get malden cars. But what we have found, (and yes I have talked to and am friends with, several malden racers) is that malden car counts were struggling, with the exception of big shows. Then you take away a portion of those cars that are actually committed to their own Saturday night home track already (Doniphan, west plains, atwood for example) and it becomes clear their just simply arent enough malden cars to survive on. We believe that regardless of the classes or rules, that if we have good guaranteed payouts, fair rules, strict tech, and fair and consistent calls with absolutely NO favortism that we can make it work.
I did post on midsouthracing and have had not 1 reply, online or on phone.
 
Benton Raceway Park said:
We absolutely want the cars from, malden to come and race with us. As it stands right now, the street stocks, e mods and modifieds can come and race with us without changing a thing on their cars. Sure the mods are at a disadvantage with their tires, but that is a minimal change considering the overall cost of racing a car. The crate cars are a little bit different, I understand that and we want the rules to be so that as many cars as possible are legal to come and race with minor or no changes. If guys are not willing to make small sacrifices in order to race hear rather than drive 2 or 3 hours, well then we cant help that. We do not wanna exclude anyone.
We have put a lot of thought into all this, and at first glance it seems to be a no brainer, run malden classes and malden rules, get malden cars. But what we have found, (and yes I have talked to and am friends with, several malden racers) is that malden car counts were struggling, with the exception of big shows. Then you take away a portion of those cars that are actually committed to their own Saturday night home track already (Doniphan, west plains, atwood for example) and it becomes clear their just simply arent enough malden cars to survive on. We believe that regardless of the classes or rules, that if we have good guaranteed payouts, fair rules, strict tech, and fair and consistent calls with absolutely NO favortism that we can make it work.
I did post on midsouthracing and have had not 1 reply, online or on phone.
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the most interesting part of this post is the willingness to enforce "strict tech".
 
UMP will be honoring NeSmith engine rules this year from what I have heard. Correct me if I am wrong but that means the only the difference is tires and spoiler I believe. With UMP having a hard tire rule, less tires would be needed to compete.
 
dont know why people that dont have a racecar or has never drove a race car try to influence management to run ump mods and crate latemodels
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If this is directed towards me, I may not own a racecar now, but I did race for many years in the 80s-90s and have driven some even in the past 4-5 years.

What I do see is more UMP tracks succeeding and more non-sanctioned tracks failing.

As far as crates goes UMP - NeSmith.. what is the real difference in rules besides tires? NeSmith requires a Crate USA shoulder plated Hoosier D55 or D21 and UMP requires a Hoosier LM40 or WRS55. Engines seals are interchangeable between sanctions. Both require either GM factory sealed bolts or their own series seals. In the case of their own series seals, each series has said they will honor the other series seals.
 
you just posted late last night give it time,car count is struggling at a lot of tracks,peavly is doing well because it is in a large populated area.when the tracks started cutting the pay scale with racing fuel and tow gas on the rise that has hurt car count along with people losing there jobs.nordyne in poplar bluff is closing and 500 people are losing there jobs.If you have a good guaranteed payout and dont cut it that would be a plus,its going to take a awhile to gain the trust of the people with the past history of benton alot like fredricktown you didnt know if it was going to be open from week to week,that not good for guys with sponsors.
 
9+jr..If you want to see the track become a success, it may be wise to post on Midsouth encouraging others to support, and talk it up a bit...
 
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