Crate lates at St Louis area tracks?

Mikeb7777

Mikeb7777

Member
I am not trying to start world war 3 here, just starting to see crate late programs really picking up and putting on good shows a bit north of us at Jacksonville, Quincy, Macon, Lincoln etc, and I was thinking with the sportman class being pretty low car count at i55 if maybe they would benefit by replacing them with Crate lates? I know they may not be able to afford that purse in addition to the other classes and that Street Stocks are also an option, but it doesn't seem like there are to many of them out there either. Would Tri city , Highland, Belle Claire consider adding them? Seems like Fayette county could benefit since they don't run late models very often at all. Just a thought. Discuss?
 
I am not sure I55 will be looking to add a class to replace sportsman when they are done. Crate Late Models have been tried in the Stl area and fizzled out. I think the b mod class has solidified itself a the sportsman replacement. Much more comparable in cost. Late models with a crate are still just as expensive to repair after a crash as a super.
 
voigt30 said:
The St Louis race tracks pretty much screwed the pooch on that form of racing!! was a good class of cars had a lot of good racing.
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I agree. The crate class had a good car count for a few years, but the tracks wouldn't tech the motors or the cars around this area and that's when it started going downhill.
 
It's like the B mods. What's the point if lap times are so close at some tracks. My 4 year old can't tell a difference between a mods or B mods and it bores him to watch the same race twice.
 
I have only lived here a year and a half so I didn't realize that crate late models were run around St. Louis area before. That's a shame if tech reasons were the downfall of it. I think it gives the fans another fun class to watch, and yes I am sure it's still pricey to maintain a car for that, but not as expensive as Super Lates. (Which I love)

My original post wasn't meant to say the sportman guys would have to convert to crates, maybe a few would, and some others I am sure would build a B mod probably. I merely meant that the sportsman class is dying and Macon is the only other place that even runs it, so adding crates in place of it would mkae for a better show. (heck as a fan, I would take Micro Sprints instead of sportsman too! (maybe i55 is to big for them?)
 
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Lack of tech was why I quit running crates. I drove to Georgia to get a real good Legal 604 dynoed at 436hp. I had been running the ULMA limited class west of Stl. And was ok with being underpowered against steel blocks, at Lucas Oil Speedway, but the crates got a bonus of $300 for best finishing crate and $100 for 2nd and 3rd best finishers so there was a good incentive to run it.
I went to Tri-City a handfull of times, and side by side against several of the cars that pretty much dominate it was obvious there was a power difference!!! Not a handling advantage but a very clear power difference. So I didn't come back to Stl. until I had motor to run with Supers again. It's a CT 525 crate but at least I know my place. Crate division was meant for engines at least to be equal. They clearly were not! If anyone wants to argue they are very narrow minded. They might even bring up Lake Ozark where a lot of those same guys also would run. But The Lake track was a track that evened everyone out by its own. Always slick never a cushion to run on. Not at all like the Stl. Tracks. Would be cool to see crates back in Stl. But tech enforcement would be vital.
 
Just curious....question for the fans, not drivers or track owners: with B-Mod and Sportsman being equal in every regard but car count, would you rather watch 29 cars start and 9 finish with 10 cautions between the start/finish? Or, watch 12 cars start and 9 finish with 1 or 2 cautions between the start/finish?
 
I get where you are going with that especially since the B mods created a parking lot on the front straight in the feature at i55 saturday. This fan would still rather see the 29 B mods and multiple heat races with about 6 or 8 that could possibly win and yes hoping that cautions are kept to a minimum then to watch the same 10-12 sportsman with the same three cars ever winning, C-4, 62 or 77.

but I am a bit of a hardcore fan and also did used to annouce at a race track.
 
As a fan I say merge the modified classes. Drop the 4 cylinders and make the street stocks the same track to track and tech em all.
 
I'm with you on look alike classes being merged. But for Amods the engine rule would have to be changed pretty radically from where it is now. But we end up with Lates, Mods and 4cyl as the classes eventually. Stock frame classes like stockcars and sportsman are dieing, you can't find a good car to start with like we used to.
If I could buy a good monte carlo for $100 and build my own cage and run on a good cheap DOT tire. I think my Wife, Son and I would all be racing right now. As it is all we can afford is one latemodel and it's a budget deal at that! Time changes things. Wish it all stayed the way it was in the 90s when I started this habbit.
 
I thought people were reproducing frames for stock cars? I love watching the IMCA stock car/hobby stock classes online.
 
A guy I know came every week to Bellville with a crate car and raced against the supers. (not just him but a lot of guys). I asked him why when Tri-City ran crates? He told me that he earns $100 dollars to start at Belleville, which he usually could due to car count. He said he used to at TC but the last time he did he had to run the semi, which he won.
He started near the rear of the feature and passed like 15 cars and finished 6th. He got paid 60 bucks. He guessed the tracks figured since you're not running a $30,000 engine that you didn't need a decent check, but went on to explain that it's still a late model and he couldn't even buy a tire with that money, let alone paying for crash damage. I knew right then the end was near. That and lack of tech.

Brian
 
Everyone wants "tech" there aren't that many unbiased people that actually even know what there looking at so it's going to be hard to find anyone to do tech especially for the small amount of money it would pay for the large amount of bitching they would have to hear
 
Kermit the Frog said:
Everyone wants "tech" there aren't that many unbiased people that actually even know what there looking at so it's going to be hard to find anyone to do tech especially for the small amount of money it would pay for the large amount of bitching they would have to hear
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BS.....UMP had a sponsored tech program through Mullins engines. No cost to UMP!!! UMP failed to send motors to be teched! UMP ruined this class. Sammy sucks again!!!

BTW...I have discontinued sponsoring any race team tires due to the Hoosier/UMP conspiracy (stealing money from local racers.) Until you local racers take action and do something about this I will be sitting on the sidelines watching you throw your race dollars down the drain!
 
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Would not be much tech if every class ran open engines and choked them with the carb. I personally think having 2 classes with the same bodies was a stupid idea ARP makes some nice looking street appearing bodies.... I'm sure more fans would love to see a real stock car class. Hell if you made the A mods run a late model front nose and fenders and paid them right there would be a need for a weekly late model show.... most fans wouldn't know the difference... I'm not hating on Lates just stating my thought's
 
kreke13 said:
BS.....UMP had a sponsored tech program through Mullins engines. No cost to UMP!!! UMP failed to send motors to be teched! UMP ruined this class. Sammy sucks again!!!

BTW...I have discontinued sponsoring any race team tires due to the Hoosier/UMP conspiracy (stealing money from local racers.) Until you local racers take action and do something about this I will be sitting on the sidelines watching you throw your race dollars down the drain!
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The tech if there is going to be any needs to happen at the track the night of the race not a week later where no one could see it take place but I doubt Chad or Dean want to stay at the track late to check engines is the point I was getting at as far as not sponsoring tires I get where your coming from and appreciate what you've done in the past but it's very easy to say mean things and be very opinionated about things from a distance but very difficult when you have to see and communicate and get along with people 2-3 days a week possibly 7 during summer nationals I don't agree with every thing you say and do but I also don't agree with everything Hoosier /UMP does either but I try to respect you all as best I can if you start your own series and get all the STL tracks on board I would support your series but one guy bitching about things to another guy that probably doesn't have the power to change things isn't going to gain anything but two guys being mad at each other remember we're supposed to be having fun and have a positive outlook on things right?
 
Kermit the Frog said:
Everyone wants "tech" there aren't that many unbiased people that actually even know what there looking at so it's going to be hard to find anyone to do tech especially for the small amount of money it would pay for the large amount of bitching they would have to hear
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Spot on Rusty. I can't imagine why anyone would want that job.
 
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