The EPA wants to make it illegal to modify your car for racing

Flying Penguin

Active Member
http://www.autoblog.com/2016/02/09/epa-illegal-modify-car-racing-sema-official/

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]A proposal by the [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Environmental Protection Agency[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] could mean bad things for racers and car enthusiasts across the United States. According to the Specialty Equipment Market Association ([/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]SEMA[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]), the [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]EPA[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] wants to make it illegal to modify your roadgoing car for racing, and could even prohibit the sale of aftermaket parts that mess with emission control devices.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Tucked away in an EPA proposal titled [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles—Phase 2[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] is a section that indicates this sort of [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]vehicle modification[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] is a violation of the clean air act. Here's the exact wording, [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]found on page 862 of an official EPA document[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]:[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]EPA is proposing in 40 CFR 1037.601(a)(3) to clarify that the Clean Air Act does not allow any person to disable, remove, or render inoperative (i.e., tamper with) emission controls on a certified motor vehicle for purposes of competition.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]SEMA[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] met with the EPA to confirm the agency's intentions, and issued a statement saying, "The EPA indicated that the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts for use on converted vehicles illegal." The association added, "SEMA will continue to oppose the regulation through the administrative process and will seek congressional support and judicial intervention as necessary."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Cars used exclusively for racing have not always been held to the same emissions standards as their roadgoing counterparts. [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]This EPA document[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] outlines exactly how the Clean Air Act applied to cars used exclusively for racing, as well as [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]new cars[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)] the EPA and various automakers classify as "competition" models. Here, it was simply not allowed to modify cars that would be used for both competitive [/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]and[/BCOLOR][BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]recreational use.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]"This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles," said Chris Kersting, president and CEO of SEMA.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=rgb(255, 255, 255)]The EPA is expected to publish its final regulations in July.[/BCOLOR]
 
The total emissions produced by racing vehicles couldn't possibly be statistically significant when compared to all the other cars on the roads every day much less emissions from other sources. EPA going after stuff like this is nothing more than grandstanding and putting on a show for those with little sense.
 
The only thing this is gonna do is stur up car Enthusiast and racers. It will never happen! Their doing what they want by everyone sharing it. Just a way to stur the pot and place money in their pockets by taking contributions From the tons of people who will oppose it!!! Bullshit is all it is!
 
The only thing this is gonna do is stur up car Enthusiast and racers. It will never happen! Their doing what they want by everyone sharing it. Just a way to stur the pot and place money in their pockets by taking contributions From the tons of people who will oppose it!!! Bullshit is all it is!

I think you have a very valid point and that all of this could be a bull crap money grab.
 
The automotive industry in the United States has always lived off of racing. To ban modifying cars for racing, don't they realize the far reaching implications? Tractor pulls, several classes of dirt racing, SCCA, American LeMans series, off road racing, monster trucks, several classes of drag racing in the IHRA and NHRA.....and what's sad is that more emissions were probably emitted in my commute this morning than in a whole season of racing in all of these sanctioning bodies and classes.
 
Very lengthy article that describes all the new "interpretations" the EPA is using to ban modifications to engines: http://jalopnik.com/the-epas-crackdown-on-race-cars-explained-1758111546

In a nutshell:

Previously track-only, non-street legal vehicles could contain parts that didn’t meet emissions standards. The EPA has something else in mind now, and it could put a meteor-sized dent in the $36 billion parts industry—not to mention grassroots racers everywhere.

And it still could become technically illegal for someone to modify their car for racing in a way that doesn’t meet emissions regulations. One section in the document said the EPA “may assess a civil penalty up to $37,500 for each engine or piece of equipment in violation,” though the EPA says it cares more about these cars being used on public roads and manufacturers.

It must be noted again that this proposed rule deals specifically with emissions, not other racing modifications like suspensions or roll cages. But it’s hard to imagine a race car performing to its full potential if its builder has to worry about meeting emissions regs, no matter what series it competes in.
 
This is what happens when Congress allows Federal agencies to create rules and regulations instead of making the laws themselves. There is no way to vote out the people who run these agencies and Congress has little power over them- other than cutting funding. Hard to imagine Congress having the courage to defund the EPA over this.
 
I wonder how long it will be before I won't be able to license my pre-emissions street cars as well?
 
Time to bring back the Offenhauser. It was created before the Clean Air Act regulations and was never used for production street cars.
 
To comment, you’ll want to go here, to the Federal Register, first. There you can find the full text of the proposal, and can find and cite the 40 CFR 1037.601(a)(3) section that’s hoping to exclude competition cars from the 40 CFR 1068.235 nonroad competition use exemption. It can’t hurt to be specific.
Then, you’ll go here, to Regulations.gov, and if you follow that link there that will take you to the specific page for the EPA document in question.
There, you’ll see this comment button:
lulbdrabddql1kbbtqjo.jpg

Click there, and it’ll take you to the comment page. Follow the instructions from there, and feel free to copy and paste from our articles on this if that helps. At this moment, the document has nearly 225,000 comments, so let’s try and get that number up even higher so there’s no way the feds can ignore this.
Hopefully, if enough of us express concern at this proposal, and the overall lack of respect for small-scale racing that it represents, we will be able to stop this in its tracks before it can potentially cause the racing community any harm.

From http://jalopnik.com/how-and-why-you-can-weigh-in-on-the-epas-proposed-race-1758288770
 




Back
Top