mini sprint racer

A Little of This and That...

2012-01-31T18:12:00.000-08:00

The excitement of the Shootout and the Indy Circle Track Expo are now over and its time for the long haul between now and the first time we get to hit the track. Wasn't sure what to talk about this blog, but did make a commitment that I would try to blog more regularly...so here's to doing my best to keep my promise.

The Indy Circle Track Expo
We always enjoy going to the Indy Circle Track Expo. Its a good chance to catch up with some of our friends and customers that we haven't seen for a while. This year my dad pulled together a larger than usual collection of inventory for us to take to the show to move. Our decision to go up the morning of the show is never a popular one, especially when it comes to the 4:30 a.m. wake up call. Despite the ice, snow and rain, we did make it in time to setup our small booth. We were positioned right next to Jimmy Wood of US 24 Speedway fame. He told us that he is really looking forward to the mini sprints returning to his track this season. We also got to talk with several of the Illinois and Wisconsin lightning sprint racers that seem to make the trip to the show every year. Shane Morgan was the first by the booth. Again, it was nice to finally put a face with a name. I also always enjoy talking with Nick Sheridan and the Branhams. I have become quite a fan of Nick Sheridan's Facebook posts. His winter tales of trips on his snowmobile across the lake to his favorite watering hole and back are entertaining. I also ran into Nick Hale and his dad who are excited about continuing their progression into full size sprint cars. Ryan Broughton and his dad Tony also stopped by and chatted about their first year in a full-size sprinter. I finally got the chance to meet Dave Bender, one of my dad's customers and all around nice guys who has been working on assembling a mini sprint over the past year. Greg Watson and his son Alex were also by to say hello. Greg ran dwarf cars for several years but has now turned the steering wheel over to his oldest son Alex. They seem to be really enjoying the sport and are looking forward to the non wing races this season. It was encouraging the meet several more new faces to the mini sprint / lightning sprint scene. It appears that the class is definately growing. In between catching up with customers and friends, we did manage to sell a few things also.

Motorcycle Powered Cars Gain in Popularity - Although I would often like to think that the lightning sprint / mini sprint racers are the only ones who know the secret of the cheap, reliable horsepower represented in today's sport bike motors - the variety of vehicles being built by Speed Partz customers reminds us otherwise. One area that is experiencing strong growth is the mini buggy market. Basically these are sand rails that are powered by sport bike motors. Many of the cars are homebuilt. Below are pictures of a few of our customers rides that are either complete or in progress.

Above are photographs of Tut Cote's mini buggy. He races this vehicle in Southern California and has a cool website called www.minilites.com. Looks like fun.

Here is another mini buggy. This one is a work in progress by Kentucky's Danny Knott. Danny purchased a set of headers (from Viper Pipes - there's my shameless plug)for the buggy he is building that will be powered by a Honda CBR 1000. For more information on the mini buggy scene, be sure to visit www.minibuggy.net.

Motorcycle powered racing cars don't just go on dirt. They go on asphalt too. Here is another customer's vehicle - an Sports Car Club of America, D Sports Racer that is powered by a Suzuki GSXR 1000. Wayne Briggs of Fairfield, Ohio and his son campaign the car.

Indoor Kart Racing League Banquet - Props go out again to Josh Wagar and the guys at Full Throttle Karting. Their passion for racing and desire to create a first class customer experience are very evident. As I've detailed in previous posts, we participated in an indoor karting league over the past few months. Its been a real blast with both my daughter and I participating in seperate divisions. This past Monday evening they had a banquet that I wish every racing banquet could be just like. An informal banquet with great sandwiches from Jimmy Johns, a short award ceremony and then the best part of all a night of racing. Competitors from their various leagues came together for a good time on track. They put a record number of 15 karts on track. Although a little hairy at times, it was definately a lot of fun. We also got to try our hand at Full Throttle's new slot car track. It definately proved that not having your butt in the seat makes it hard to get around the track. It seemed like few of the cars even made a full lap. I also had the opportunity a few weeks ago to take a group of friends from work out to the track. I got a real kick out of hearing how much fun they had as they each climbed out of their karts. I still would really like to put together an event for all of the mini sprint / lightning sprint guys. I'll keep you posted.

Jason Soudrette's Dusaki - Its always interesting to see what little projects are lurking in racer's garages. Here is an interesting one - Jason Soudrette's Dusaki. It is part Kawasaki, part Ducati. Jason's dad was recently at the shop and started telling us about some of the bikes he and Jason have been building. The Dusaki sounds very interesting including the Ducati suspension components that he has been modifying for this Kawasaki. Jason is a member of the Asphalt Junkies a group of local riders who tear it up on twisting country roads. Jason and has dad have also been at working chopping the bike pictured below up to turn it into a bobber.

Dash Designz - Be sure to check out my latest product, Dash Designz switch labels. I've been using them on my own car for a while. Dash panels are expensive - when most of the time you really don't need the panel or the switches, just something to dress it up. These are just stickers that come pre-cut and ready to place on your dash.

They are available for $12.95 a set through Speed Partz CLICK HERE

More Indoor Racing..I recently made a pair of custom Shox Skinz shock covers for Tim Buckwalter who will be competing this weekend at the indoor at Atlantic City, NJ. I visited his Facebook page and found this video of the event from a few years ago. Looks pretty interesting. Tim says that they built a car for this year's event from an old 270cc micro sprint chassis. Good luck to Tim this weekend.

Enough for now...be back soon.

Final thoughts on our trip to Tulsa

2012-01-06T03:23:00.000-08:00

No story on the Shootout would be complete without at least one picture of the golden driller.

I have to start by thanking my family for allowing me to do what I enjoy. A special thanks to my mom and dad and daugther Sami for making the trip with me - its just not as fun without them along. Our trip to Tulsa will be something that I always remember. I remember my first trip to the SCCA Runoffs in Atlanta as a spectator. The circus atmosphere of a big event is electric and the Shootout was no different. I believe the final car count was 785. Put that many cars, trailers, drivers, mechanics and fans under one rough and you definately have a one of a kind event. It is neat to get be a part of something that big.

www.shoxskinz.com

The field of battle for the Tulsa Shootout

Having several days now to review video and replay things in my mind, there is a lot I would do different. As you might guess, the track was dry and slick yet racey.(not sure if that is how you spell that) Unfortunately based upon some of the carnage I witnessed early in the week I had slipped into safe mode and had resigned myself to just trying to put it in the feature and come home with a respectable finish. We ended up 7th out of the 40 cars that were there. In the feature I just played it safe driving around the bottom. After crossing the finish line I drove the car in high just out of curiousity and it seemed to work. This fact was cemented after I returned home and watched race video on You Tube that showed the front runners up high just below the cushion. The changes my dad made to the car prior to the feature were dead on. I believe the car was much, much better than the ride I gave it. Its always easy to say I would have, could have or should have...but I definately should have been more aggressive.

My dad and I on the grid waiting for our first practice session

www.viperpipes.com

I can say that running without the wing has me excited about the upcoming season. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association has several non wing races on its schedule this year and I hope to run at least a few of them. At the end of the week in Tulsa I felt like I was just barely starting to get a feel of what the car should do without a wing. I still have a long way to go before I am backing it in there like those with more non wing experience. I would really like to take the wing off and go practice at 35 Raceway early in the spring. I think it would be a great non wing track for our cars.

www.speedpartz.com

This shot gives you a better idea of just how big this place really is - thats 785 cars, associated trailers, drivers, fans and mechanics - all under one roof with room to spare

If I've often complained about not having enough time--the Shootout does provide that. With so many races to run, the time between on track activities can be long. It did however provide a chance to meet some new folks and do some catching up with those I already knew. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed meeting some of the people that until this time had just been names on Facebook and other website pages. Racing people really are good folk. We pitted right in the middle of several of the folks from Colorado. Guys like the Giegs remind you of why racing is such a great family sport. No matter the circumstances they always greeted us with a smile and were enjoying the weekend as a father and son team. I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with both Jeff and his dad. Merrill Lamb is a name that I have been familiar with only through the results pages on the internet. He and I raced side by side for several laps during the feature. I knew from the results pages that he was a fierce competitor - didn't guess that he would be such a nice guy. I also enjoyed meeting the infamous Wayne Davis and driver Scott Krueger. I wish them all the best with their event in Florida early this year. If my schedule works out I would definately enjoy making the trip. I also happened across Canada's Aaron Fell eating dinner in our hotel. He has been fast both years but also experienced trouble both years. A character of our sport but also a nice guy that talked pretty openly about setup. We pitted next to Colorado's Dale Johnston and enjoyed talking over setups most of the weeked. Like I started, a lot of super nice people. I hate to mention any names because I know I probably left someone out.

www.minisprintbook.com

Post session discussions - a special thanks to Don and Adam Waters of AFCO for their continued guidance and support

Traveling like this also gives you the opportunity to get to know some of the regulars much better too. There was a fairly small group from Ohio this year - myself, T.J. Heil, Trey Gustin and Eric Semple. T.J. and I shared transportation to the event. I have to thank both my dad and Phil Heil for driving the cars out. I was planning on driving, but last minute changes at work meant that I was unable to leave early enough to drive. I was really worried about my dad going that far solo and appreciate Phil's willingness to make the drive in my place. I could tell by the banter between my dad and Phil all weekend that they enjoyed their ride out - even if Phil wouldn't let my dad stop to eat as often as he might have liked. My daughter quickly figured out that Phil was the entertainment for the weekend and especially enjoyed his rendition of Jerry Seinfeld's popular Helllooo schtick from the third floor balcony of our hotel. T.J.'s mom Kathy also ensured that there was actually some photographic history of the weekend. Our cars for the weekend looked very similar. One of the side benefits was that Kathy mistaked my car for T.J.'s and recorded part of one of my races. My family is not real good at taking pictures. It was also nice to spend more time with Trey Gustin and his dad Spud. I still remember when Spud was just getting started in the mini sprints. His stable now includes a couple of sprint cars and the mini sprint that his son drives - I am not sure but think that might make us both old. With a teenage daughter of my own, I beginning to appreciate being around young people like Trey and T.J. (and many of the others I race with). Their parents should be proud of the way they respect others and also conduct themselves.

Having someone along that takes pictures actually means that there is some pohotographic proof that I was there

I also had the opportunity to put my marketing hat on for a while on Saturday and get out and promote our Viper Pipes venture. While things have gone well on the 1000cc mini sprint front, we've had little exposure to the 600cc market. I started out just passing out flyers, but found it was much more effective to carry around a couple of our mufflers. Nick has worked hard to manufacture a quality product and people were very receptive. I am hoping that maybe we can make a bigger splash in that market.

Putting two cars in one twenty foot trailer was a bit of a jigsaw puzzle - but it all worked out in the end.

Hoping to make it back the hotel early in ancticipation of an early travel day we decided to pull our trailer out into the parking lot before the racing was over

That's all for now. In closing, I would like to thank Lynsey Tilton and Kevin Greer for their coverage of the Rumble. Please be sure to visit the front page of www.minisprintracer.com and click on the Ft. Wayne Rumble link to read more. Best wishes to everyone in 2012. I hope to post more regularly on the blog this year so stay tuned.

We Made It Back

2012-01-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

All in all a pretty successful outing. I finished 7th, TJ Heil finished 9th and Trey Gustin finished 10th. The track was dry, slick with not much room to pass. I hope to put more of my thoughts down later today. Headed over to the shop to unload.

Gustin transfers out of the B main. Had a nice run from 8th to second. Feature next up tonight

2011-12-31T13:30:00.001-08:00

Sent from my iPhone

Qualifiers

2011-12-30T17:25:00.001-08:00

Good news is we are all in one piece after the qualifiers. I am sorry I don't know where everyone finished. I finished second after starting on the pole. Which means no passing points. TJ Heil finished second in his qualifier. Trey Gustin looked really good in his qualifier and led the first few laps until he got in a little to hot and spun. Unfortunately we don't know if any of us made it in yet. Would be great to know before bed.

Sent from my iPhone

After 1st round of heats

2011-12-30T11:11:00.001-08:00

Fasse - 2nd
Gustin - 3rd
heil - 2nd
Semple - 3rd

Qualifying races later this afternoon. a lot of carnage this morning

Sent from my iPhone

Still practicing

2011-12-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

Plan was to wrap practice up by 3:30 and start heat races. They are just starting second round of practices. If I've ever complained about not having enough free time now I do?

Morning session was pretty uneventful. Wasn't real fast. Just turned some laps. They had to work the track a lot early but it seems to have come in pretty good now. Will be anxious to see how it is after another 53 sessions.

Weather is awesome, sunny and 65. My daughter asked why they don't run outside? The shuttle driver told us that their weather is extreme this time of year either blustery cold or pretty mild like it is now.

Gary Scelzi

2011-12-29T10:55:00.001-08:00

It looks like drag racer Gary Scelzi's kids are running 600 cars

Colorado lightning sprints

2011-12-29T10:53:00.001-08:00

Meeting a lot of really nice folks from around the country that run lightning sprints/mini sprints

Working on the brakes

2011-12-29T09:13:00.001-08:00

Track

2011-12-29T07:54:00.003-08:00

Pits. 800 entries

2011-12-29T07:54:00.001-08:00

Hustings

2011-12-29T07:47:00.001-08:00

Camp for the weekend

2011-12-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

Airport security

2011-12-28T13:25:00.001-08:00

I wonder if this is the first time they've had someone try to smuggle a brake caliper bracket through airport security

We're on the way!

2011-12-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Its been a busy couple of weeks leading up to our departure for Tulsa. It doesn't seem to matter whether its the first practice of the year or getting ready for a big event like this, it always seems that everything comes down to the last minute. Throw in the general business of the holidays and it causes everyone a little bit of stress. The good news is that the cars have arrived in Tulsa. My dad and Phil Heil left yesterday morning with my car and his son TJ's cars. Although they ran through a bit of snow and nasty weather early in the trip, they reported that things cleared up once they got through St. Louis. My daughter and I will be leaving today and hope to make it in late tonight. T.J. and his mom are traveling out this afternoon. We also talked with Spud Gustin who reported that they expect to arrive mid afternoon today. I guess next up on the agenda is the long wait (from what we understand) to get the cars into the facility.

We'll be attempting to bring you as much in the way of photos and news as we can from the event. We are also very excited to have Lynsey Tilton and Kevin Greer reporting from the Rumble Series in Ft. Wayne. Be sure to check it out as Lynsey as already started to post some information. Click here for the Ft. Wayne Report We wish everyone competing this weekend the best of luck.

Here is a photo of the cars TJ and I will be running in Tulsa -- just before loading them into the trailer.

Counting Down to Tulsa Shootout

2011-12-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

We are a little more than a week away from it being time to load the cars into the trailer and head out to Tulsa for the Shoot-out. I am looking forward to going, but there is still a lot of work to be done to get our car ready. I am hoping to wind things down at work early this week in hopes of spending a full day to tie up all the loose ends.

Here is a photo of my car with the engine back in. Just a few short days ago it was spread across the shop floor in a hundred pieces. As noted earlier, mid season a gear disentigrated in my motor sending metal throughout. A special thanks goes out to Hud Horton for getting everything cleaned up and put back together.

Boomerang Cars - T.J. Heil and I are sharing a trailer for the Shootout this year. T.J.'s dad Phil has been busy putting a car together for him to run out at the Shootout. Both the car I am running and the car T.J. is running are boomerang cars -- meaning they came back to their original owners. The car I am running was mine three or four seasons ago before being sold to Ronnie French and Hud Horton. I wish I could have racked up the number of wins Hud did in it. They upgraded to a new FOZ G2 last season and we bought the chassis back. Since we didn't want to take a brand new car to Tulsa last year we put on new components on the chassis and prepared it for the Shootout. When we were forced to miss the Shootout and got behind on our plans for 2011, we just decided to run it for the season. The car T.J. will be running is also a boomerang car. It is the original car that he started in mini sprints with just a couple of years ago. When they decided to move to a G2 the chassis was sold. When they heard about the number of non winged races the MMSA had planned for 2012, they sought the car out and bought it back to build a non winged car.

Here the two cars sit in the shop being readied for the trip West.

Putting on the graphics - I've gotten to where I really enjoy putting the graphics on a race car. While I've mostly done stuff on my car, I have started to do some cars for customers. Here are a few shots of the scheme I am applying to T.J. Heil's car. I continue to place updated photos on the blog so you can see how it is coming along. While I've started to use wraps more and more, I am going old school on this one and actually using layers of vinyl.

Check back soon for more.

Its been way too long

2011-12-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

Its been way too long since my last post. I can't complain, this year has been a very busy year at work. Unfortunately things didn't go the way we had hoped at the track and we only made it to five races this year. We had to cut the season short when a gear in our transmission disentigrated sending particles of metal throughout the engine. It's amazing how much you miss doing this stuff once it gets in your blood. I am definately looking forward to next season.

The Shootout – The good Lord willing, we are headed to the Tulsa Shootout to end out our year. We are busy trying to put together a car and motor to take to the Tulsa Shootout this year. Driving at the famed Tulsa Expo Center has been on my bucket list ever since my first visit to the Chili Bowl several years ago. Up until the lightning sprints were added to the Tulsa Shootout racing card it was however near the bottom of the list. I had checked into renting a midget for the Chili Bowl, but quickly discovered that it was beyond my pocket book. Last year when the lightning sprints made their first visit to the Expo Center I was loaded to go when we received news the evening before our departure that my father-in-law had passed away. So this year we’ll be giving it another shot. I do have mixed feelings about going since I would like to support the Midwest Mini Sprint Association who will be running that same weekend just a few short hours away in Fort Wayne, Indiana as part of the Rumble Series. I am hopeful that the event at Fort Wayne goes well and becomes an annual thing. We have received calls and e-mails from several drivers that plan on attending and are scratching their heads on setup. Unfortunately when it comes to racing on concrete we don’t have much advice to offer—due to our own inxperience. If I didn’t have a desire to drive at the Expo Center at least once, it would be impossible for me to justify the added expense of the trip to Tulsa when there will be great racing going on so close to home. I am however looking forward to the opportunity to meet lightning sprint drivers from around the country. We’ve done a few events that pulled in drivers from multiple states and have always found the off track banter to be almost as fun as the racing. I would like to wish the best of luck to drivers competing at both events this year.

I am hoping that we can revive the Tulsa Shootout Journal we did last year. You can revisit all of last year's entries still by at http://tulsa.blogspot.com/ I would also love to do one from the Rumble. If anyone is interested please let me know. I can set it up so you can e-mail or text news in from your cell phone. Just drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.

visit: www.speedpartz.com

A recent FaceBook entry caught my eye. It was a photo of Ryan Broughton’s ride for 2012 – a full size winged sprinter. Ryan is coming off a stellar year in the mini sprints that saw him notch a string of wins. It was only a few short years ago that I used Ryan in my book, Mini Sprint Racing 101, as an example of the type of driver the sport was attracting. Ryan made the step from go-karts to upright mini sprints—just as his dad had done several years earlier. Now continuing with the family legacy he makes the step into a sprinter. This got me to thinking about how the lightning sprints / mini sprints have really gained favor as a training ground for tomorrow’s open wheel stars. 2012 promises to be a year that further extends the value of the lightning sprints / mini sprints as a training tool for tomorrow’s stars. Schedules across the country point towards a class that allows its competitors first hand experience in similar equipment at the very same tracks were the big series run—for a fraction of the cost and effort. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association alone has put together a full schedule at several of the midwest’s premier facilities.

Early on I had the pleasure of writing stories about two of our sport’s success stories, Craig Kinser and Brad Sweet. That has been several years ago now and there have been many, many more that have come along since that time. I sat down and tried to list all the local drivers that I have run against that I know have made the transition from lightning sprints, mini sprints to full size sprints or midgets cars. It’s a pretty impressive list – I apologize for those I have left out. Hud Horton, Logan Hupp, Spud Gustin, Jason Soudrette, Nick Bilbee, Beau Stewart, Tom Rhodes, Tim Allison, Lewie Christian, Kirk Jeffries, Jimmy Kite, Brad Kuhn, Shane Cottle and Dane Carter.

As a long time competitor and fan of the mini sprints I am excited about the interest and growth this class is receiving right now. Hopefully young, aspiring drivers continue to find the class as an important stepping stone in their climb up the ladder. Hopefully the class’s fan base discover the class as an opportunity to catch a rising star.

www.shoxskinz.com

Viper Pipes offering stainless header sets – We have decided to offer stainless steel header sets for upright mini sprints. To start with our stainless steel headers will be offered as a special order item that will take a few extra weeks to deliver. We hope to have photos posted on our site in the next few weeks. Stay tuned to www.viperpipes.com for more information.

Here is a photo of our stainless collector.

www.viperpipes.com

Karting – A great way to keep the rust knocked off during the winter – This winter my daughter and I have joined an indoor karting league in hopes of adding a little racing excitement to the cold winter months. We joined a 10 week winter league at new facility in Cincinnati, Ohio called Full Throttle Karting. The league has proven to be a blast. We’ve had the chance to race against several road racers, auto-crossers and track day enthusiast. As a guy who has not turned left and right for a very long time, it has been a bit humbling.

The Full Throttle facility just opened in the fall of 2011 and is operated by a group of Sports Car Club of America enthusiasts. It was obvious on my first visit that they had done their homework. Full Throttle Karting is easily one of the nicest karting facilities I have ever visited. It is well thought out in every facet. Drivers sign in using a computer system that expedites the entire process. Drivers are assigned to a heat right at the time they purchase the session. I really liked this since at some of the other karting facilities I have visited you were forced to simply wait in line. At Full Throttle you are provided a heat number and time. As a member you can even call ahead and reserve a time. Waiting is not a big deal though as they have a very nice lobby area with big screen televisions, game and a slot car track.

When its time to go racing, the facility is even more impressive. A neat, clean equipment room is where you get your protective gear, if you didn’t bring your own. This is also where first timers go through a short orientation session. I thought this was a nice touch as everyone wants to get the most out of their session – and waiting around for folks that don’t understand the flags or the general flow of things can easily waste precious time in an eight minute session.

I was most impressed with the track layout. Most of the tracks I have visited have been a lot of fun, but offered very little grip and were not very technical. On my first visit to Full Throttle, I realized that getting around this track required some thought. Concepts like entry, apex, exit, braking zones and an analysis of which corners were most important all required some consideration if you wanted to achieve a reasonable time. It is one of the first indoor kart tracks I have been to where you don’t just keep the loud pedal mashed the whole time—at this track you can actually overdrive the kart and cost yourself on the clock. One of the owners explained to me that they had gone to great pains to design the track – even to the point of doing serious computer simulations with both novice and experienced drivers. I have been told that at this point it is believed that Full Throttle has one of the fastest indoor karting tracks in North America.

After your session you can get a print out detailing every lap of your session and how you stacked up against the competition for your session and the week. This information as well as all of your past sessions can also be accessed via the internet – using the password you created on your first visit.

I have taken several of my friends to Full Throttle and my experience has been that once you run your first session, they’ve got you hooked. For that reason it is nice that they actually offer the opportunity to compete in supervised racing events that give you the opportunity to do more than just turn laps—but to actually race.

The first event that I competed in was an hour long, endurance race. Three driver teams qualify and then race for 1 hour. Each team is required to rotate their three drivers during the event. I teamed with a couple of friends that race lightning sprints and we had a blast. At the end of the event we missed winning by 17 seconds. Which ended up being the cost of some really slow driver changes—its no fun being old.

The leagues have also been fun. While they run leagues several nights during the week, we are in one that competes on Saturday mornings. I run in the adult league and my daughter runs in the youth league. The format is pretty simple. They start with a short driver’s meeting and followed by an eight lap qualifying session. The twenty five lap feature is started straight up based upon qualifying times. As noted earlier I have been really surprised at the level of competition. There is a very small gap separating the entire field each week. You would be shocked at just how much energy it takes. I know that part of it is my forty something body, but even some of the younger guys have said they are thoroughly spent at the end of the session. I’ve joked with a few of them that it is probably one of the best deals in racing right now. For a very small investment in time and money I can go have fun racing equipment that I don’t have to do maintenance on and be back home by noon. Be sure to check it out at http://www.cincykarting.com

Here is some video from a few weeks ago. Not the greatest quality, but I think it will give you a pretty good idea of the track layout.

Be sure to LIKE our FaceBook Fan Page. Everyone who likes are page is automatically in the running for one of our monthly give-aways. Congratulations to November winner Stephanie Davis Lovell. Stephanie won a pair of Shox Skinz shock covers. CLICK HERE to visit our FACEBOOK PAGE.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Still some good racing yet to come

2011-09-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

There is still some great racing to go this year. Unfortunately I threw the towel in early this year after all the rain outs and finally destroying a motor. Time to start working on things for next year.

Viper Pipes Website

35 Raceway is running their Fall Fest racing event tonight. It will be the Fall Nationals Open for 1000cc Mini Sprints there tonight sanctioned by the Midwest Mini Sprints. I recently spoke with Bill May who told me that it is something that he wanted to do to say thank you to all the guys from Ohio that made the effort to come over to Indiana and race this year. Bill also told me that he is already hard at work on next year's schedule. Sounds as if he already has a great schedule put together with several additional possibilities in the works. Hoping to get all of the notes I took during our discussion into a story in the next few weeks.

Speed Partz

I recently recieved the third printing of my Mini Sprint Racing 101 Book. This has been a fun venture for me. It is kind of gratifying when you get e-mails or talk with new drivers at the track that tell you the book helped them get started. Prior to the last printing I had to go in and update much of the information to keep it fresh. New cars, new series,etc. Check out the book at www.minisprintbook.com

Last Saturday I tried a different kind of racing - a go kart enduro at a new track in Cincinnati, Ohio. The format was pretty neat. A short qualifying race and then an hour long enduro race for a team of three drivers. Each driver was required to turn at least eight laps. At the end of the event we ended up in second place. We Should have won, but unfortunately our driver changes took too long. I guess we'll have to start working on our driver changes in the shop. Hoping we get to do several more of these during the winter as I think it will be a great way to keep my driving skills dusted off. If you haven't had the chance to visit Full Throttle Karting - you need to. It is a first class facility with a very well thought out track and all new karts. Be sure to check it out at www.cincykarting.com. The enduro race we competed in was for the BMW Club. I was thinking it would be fun to put one together for the local open wheel community. Stay tuned, I will see what I can find out.

Upright mini sprint racing continues to grow across the country. One of the new groups that has been very active is the Illinois Lightning Sprint Association. This coming weekend they are putting on the Al Archdale Memorial at Peoria Speedway which will pay 1500 to win and 100 to start. I know that several of our local drivers are making the trip. Best of luck to everyone. For more information visit Illinois Lightning Sprint Series Home Page

Its getting to be that time of year and some nice used cars are starting to come back into the shop. If you are thinking about getting into a mini sprint for the 2012 season be sure to visit Speed Partz

That's all for now!

Finally....

2011-06-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

Finally a pretty good weekend of racing all the way around. It appears as if Ryan Broughton is going to be a tough act to follow or maybe better put, 'catch' this season as he scored his fourth victory of the 2011 season at Waynesfield Raceway Park on Saturday evening. Broughton was followed to the line by Nick Daughtery and Kevin Roberts Jr. The hard charger of the race was Lee Underwood who passed thirteen cars during the feature. Best of all with the M.M.S.A. also in action on the same evening there were 22 cars in attendance. In looking through the results it was also very nice to see several new names -- showing that the ranks of mini sprint racers in our area continues to grow.

The Midwast Mini Sprint Association (MMSA)was in action at Brownstown Speedway on Saturday evening and Kokomo on Sunday. We were lucky enough to make it to Brownstown Speedway after a week of trials and tribulations (more on that later). I believe 26 cars is the number that I heard in attendance for Brownstown on Saturday evening. Again it was good to see several new names and faces at the track...along with some of the old ones that we haven't seen in a while. When the dust settled for the night it was Colin Ambrose bringing home the victory, Kevin Rice second and Rod Henning thrid. As I noted last year, Brownstown has to be on my list of favorite places to run. The facility is really neat--sitting just outside of town and the well maintained county fairgrounds. The racing surface is smooth and relatively flate making for some really good racing action. I hope to return there a few more times this year.

It appears that the Midwest Mini Sprint Associations version of Sprint Week could be one of the biggest ever with (hopefully I've got this right) 7 nights of racing in 8 days. Beginning on Friday July 8th a special Shootout race has been scheduled by T&E Promotions at the Madison County Fairgrounds that will pit non winged mini sprints against TQs. On Sunday July 10th the group will run the Allen Rupenthal Memorial at Windy Hollow Raceway in Owensboro Kentucky. The Ambroses have worked hard to ensure a big purse for the event in honor of their friend and former car owner. Next up on Monday the 11th is a non winged race at Bartholomew County Fairgrounds and then a race that was just announced Saturday evening at Brownstown on Tuesday the 12th. The next stop on the MMSA Sprint Week will be Brownstown again on the 14th and then on to Bloomington Speedway on the 15th. Things wrap up on the 16th at Paragon Speedway. That's a bunch of racing in just a few days. I hope that everyone will support their efforts to tackle such an undertaking.

The sport of mini sprint racing is growing not just in the United States, but also across the pond in Australia and New Zealand. The shop (www.speedpartz.com) has been doing an ever growing business with competitors in both countries giving us the opportunity to make the acqaintance of several drivers and fans. Two of these folks are Adam Raw (NSW Australian club president & D.J. Raws, club champion) The pair have planned a trip to the states during the Midwest Mini Sprints Speedweek and are hoping to put D.J. in a car for a few races if they can locate a ride for him. Adam has worked hard to bring an international flavor to our sport and recently setup the first challenge series between Australia and New Zealand. They are hoping if they can get DJ a ride here that they can respond in kind by giving one of our drivers a shot at competing in Australia. If you've got a car that you can put DJ in, please contact Adam Raws at adam.raws@hotmail.com.

As I mentioned we had a few trials and tribulations with our car over the past week and a half. I bring them up just as a learning exercise in case anyone else runs into similar problems. It all started a few weeks ago at Lawrenceburg when we through a chain cracking our block and breaking the shaft that runs between the water and oil pumps. After getting the case on our motor welded back up, we also replaced the oil pump with a used (but what we believed to be, good oil pump). Once reassembled we were unable to get any oil pressure in the engine. We talked to several fellow competitors who explained various methods for getting the oil pump primed - which can be a difficult tasks. Despite all the good advice, we were still unable to get any oil pressure. As a last resort we finally replaced the new (used) oil pump with our old oil pump...instant oil pressure - after a bunch of frustration.

I need to give a shout out to Kevin Rice. We've raced with Kevin for the last several years, but haven't seen him around for the last couple of seasons as he toyed with TQ midgets and even retirement. He was back at the track at Brownstown last Saturday evening in his new FOZ Car and picked up where he left off with a second place finish. Nice job Kevin and its good to see you back at the track.

Another intersting tidbit that we learned on Saturday night is that the Ambroses have a 410 sprint car for this season. Didn't get any of the particulars on where and when they plan to run, but wish them the best of luck.

I also enjoyed speaking with Andy Bradley on Saturday evening. Andy has a pretty cool occupation as a commercial pilot. After spending the last few years flying an Indiana medical examiner around the state, he has a new job flying an 80 passenger commercial jet. Andy also told me that since his schedule will be difficult for a while, he has made arrangements to give another young driver a chance at competing when he is unable. Andy has told me before that Allen Ruppenthal gave him an opportunity when he needed it and he plans on returning the favor.

Looks as if Waynesfield is the place for racing over the 4th of July holiday. If you've never been there, the Shobes are a great bunch with a really nice track and facility...well worth the trip.

Anytime Soon!

2011-05-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hoping to go racing anytime soon. We were ready to go to Waynesfield last week and made a last minute decision to stay home based upon the weather channel. The later in the day it got with no rain, the more I started to think I made a bad decision. Around 8 o'clock I learned that they had called the event due to rain. The news came with mixed emotions as I had hoped that they would get the first race of the year in up at Waynesfield, but a little glad I didn't miss anything. I guess will give it another shot this weekend. I understand there was 21 cars in the pits. I was anxious to see how some of the guys that were new to the FOZ cars would do in their first outing including Garry Loney and Lee Underwood.

The bigger surprise for the weekend was that the Midwest Mini Sprint Association was able to get their first race of the year in at Brownstown Speedway. My original plans were to go to Brownstown for the non-winged event. Again based upon the radar and the amount of rain over the previous week I was betting against them running - I was wrong. I haven't seen any results posted yet, but understand that they had 16 cars in attendance, considering that we counted several cars that were just not quite done yet. The winner was Colin Ambrose. Not a bad start. They had a few pretty good tumbles. I am anxious to go to Brownstown this year. We did the non-wing event last year and despite a tommy tip-over (that was my own fault) really enjoyed the track. www.midwestminisprints.com

It appears that 35 Raceway Park is considering making a move from 600cc upright mini sprints to 1000cc upright mini sprints. We were asked to send one of our Viper Pipes mufflers for testing late last week. I understand that Ryan Broughton and Ricky Taylor turned some laps. I was pleased to hear that our 14" muffler met 35 Raceway's stringent decibel requirements. www.viperpipes.com It sounds as if they are planning a race for the 1000cc mini sprints at 35 Raceway late in May on a date that doesn't conflict with any of the other series.

This weekend should be a real test with the mini sprints scheduled to appear simulaneously at 4 different area tracks including the MMSA at Kokomo, AMSA at KC Raceway, Waynesfield's weekly show and Twin Cities running their own special event.

Our new tachometers have been a strong selling item, so much so that we've had trouble keeping them in stock. If you've been trying to get one - we finally had a large shipment come in. http://www.speedpartz.com/ace_1100.htm

One of the other new products that we have been working on is the Anti-Gravity Batteries lithium racing battery. These are pretty amazing little batteries. On our car we were able to save 11 pounds by using the 6900 model of the battery. This is the model recommended for 1000cc mini sprints and weighs in at just 2.9lbs. They also offer a model the 4600 that is better suited for 600cc modified midgets and sidewinders. One of our customers CJ O'Leary registered a victory with the UMRA TQ midgets using one of the new batteries. His crew chief said they were really happy with the battery. Click here to view product on website

I was recently invited over to a practice day at the Indianapolis. One of my earliest racing memories was skipping a day of school and riding over to practice on the back of my dad's motorcycle. I remember we rode out in the rain. It continued to rain for a while once we arrived at the track, but the weather finally broke and we ended up having a great day. In the recent past I have not been as big a fan of the 500 since it seems to be missing a lot of the good local stories of sprint and midget drivers getting a shot. I think one of the last good stories at Indy for me was watching Jimmy Kite turn laps. I remember being at 35 Raceway when Jimmy made the move up from Georgia. I would have never guessed that his career would have gone as far as it did. Hopefully there will be some more good stories in the future.

That's all for now.

Announcing Al Archdale Memorial

2011-04-22T03:47:00.001-07:00

On Saturday October 1st the Illinois Lightning Sprints will present the Al
Archdale Memorial at the 1/4 mile high banks of Peoria Speedway. The event
will pay 1500 to its winner with more money coming in daily. Place this big
event on your calendar early.

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Off to a slow start

2011-04-20T05:22:00.001-07:00

The challenge so far this year has not been on the track but instead with
mother nature. In Ohio and Indiana both the AMSA and MMSA have each had
their season openers called because of weather. I just heard that the
MMSA's opener was already cancelled as of Tuesday night because the track
at Brownstown was already under water.

Video of a new 2011 FOZ G2 Mini Sprint

2011-03-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

Peeks of Spring

2011-03-22T05:36:00.000-07:00

It has has been nice to finally see a few days where the temperature tops 60 and the sun is shining. I've never been one to give much credence to the whole 'seasonal depression' phenomenom, but I'll have to admit this winter was definately tougher than most in the recent past. It seemed like the snow on the ground would never melt away. While I was looking forward to some of the winter time racing options that were available to the mini sprints, personal comittments were a priority and we ended up missing out on all of them. I'm really looking forward to our first few visits to the track as an opportunity to shake off those winter 'blahs'.

Although I definately didn't keep up on the blogg'n the way I had hoped over the winter, we did make a few significant changes to the site. One change that I am hopeful will catch on is a MESSAGE BOARD just for upright mini sprint racing. I know there are several good message boards out there, but there don't seem to be any that are strictly focused on upright mini sprint racing. I would encourage supporters of this form of racing to make use of the message board so that we can turn it into something of value. Also if there are businesses that are interested in advertising on the message board, please let us know. I have also created a few tools that should make it easier for organizations to post their results more quickly - with applications that will easily work from any Smart Phone. This should even allow updates to be done right from the track. If your organization is interested, drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.

Racers in the Ohio, Indiana area should once again be fortunate to have plenty of options when it comes to opportunities to race in 2011. I apologize, I am on the road and don't have them in a great format. I will try to put together a nicer downloadable version soon. This is a snapshot from available information a few weeks ago. I know that some of the groups still had a few TBAs on their schedules. We'll try to go back through and update when we have the chance. Good news is that all and all it looks like a great season with plenty of opportunities to go race your mini sprint.

April

16 Sat AMSA Law

23 Sat MMSA Brownstown

29 Fri AMSA Moler

30 Sat AMSA Law / Unsanc. Twin Cities

May

7 Sat MMSA Brownstown / Unsanc. Wayne

14 Sat MMSA Paragon / AMSA KC Raceway / Unsanc. Twin / Unsanc. Wayne

20 Fri MMSA Bloomington

21 Sat MMSA Brownstown / AMSA Law / Unsanc. Wayne

28 Sat Unsanc. Wayne

29 Sun

June

4 Sat AMSA Law / Unsanc. Wayne

5 Sun MMSA Kokomo

11 Sat Unsanc. Wayne

18 Sat AMSA Waynesfield

25 Sat MMSA Brownstown / Unsanc. Wayne

27

July

2 Sat Unsanc. Wayne

9 Sat Unsanc. Wayne

12 Tue

13 Wed

14 Thur MMSA Brownstown

15 Fri MMSA Bloomington

22 Fri AMSA Moler

23 Sat AMSA Waynesfield

28 Thur MMSA Brownstown

30 Sat MMSA Paragon / AMSA Law / Unsanc. Twin / Unsanc. Wayne

August

6 Sat MMSA Brownstown / Unsanc. Wayne

13 Sat AMSA US 24 / Unsanc. Wayne

19 Fri

20 Sat AMSA Law / Unsanc. Wayne

27 Sat MMSA Brownstown / AMSA Law / Unsanc. Wayne

September

4 Sun

24 Sat AMSA KC

October

1 Sat AMSA LaW

I have posted some photos from the Speed Partz race shop. It has definately been busier this year than any time over the past two years. This not only includes the old familiar faces getting ready for the new season, but many new ones. In the past month alone we have seen six new cars and four used cars sold. The sport still continues to pick up steem. I was recently at the shop on a Friday afternoon when a fellow rolled in with a Bailey with an old GSXR 1100 strapped on board. He was bringing the car in to figure out what updating he needed to do to get ready to race. His story was like so many others we hear. He had raced a multitude of different cars from go-karts to late models. He said he loved racing and the current economy had made the mini sprints look even more attractive--so he decided to take the leap. We'll look forward to seeing him and many others like him at the track this year.

As I've said before one of the things I enjoy the most about being associated with the shop is some of the product development tasks that I get to work on, two of our biggest successes in the most recent past have been the new digital tachometer and ultra-lightweight lithium battery. I've just started working on another one that shows early promise. It is a set of headphones that easily mount inside of your helmet--to stay. They have a quick disconnect tht hangs out the bottom of the helmet making it even easier to get in and out of the car. They should be economically priced at somewhere in the $30 range. I am currently doing some testing to see if they will provide enough volume for our application. Stay tuned.

One area that has been a point of struggle over the past year and a half since TP Wings exited the market, has been wings. We were lucky to find Aero Wings who builds an exceptionally nice product that is well priced for our market. Even with a strong supplier they continue to be a hot commodity in our area. My dad recently made a trip to pick up 12 wings and was down to 3 before he ever made it back to the shop. Aero Wings allows us to offer conventional wings and internal slider wings (special order). Another batch is due on its way, but I would caution if you are going to need a wing that you reserve yours early.

I am always getting myself into things that I really shouldn't. My latest purchase is a go-kart. Karting is where I got my start and something I really enjoyed. While I don't have any plans to race it, I do know that karting is one of the few forms of racing that offers the opportunity for easily accessible track time. With the ever collapsing amount of time I have available - there is a certain appeal to something that might let me go practice when I have the time. I know locally that tracks like Camden Ohio's G&J Kartway still let you show up pretty much whenever you would like, throw down a few bucks and turn laps til your hearts content. Now we'll see if I really find any spare time to make good on the promise.

We still have one used car in our shop that is looking for a good home. For the right person, it should be a great deal. It is a 1999 Henchcraft. It currently has a 600cc engine in it, but could easily be updated to take a 1000cc engine. It would be a great buy for someone wanting to get into the sport cheap.

Liquid Powdercoat Finish - Midwest Lightning Sprints Announce Season Opener

2011-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Track Address: 1649 Highway Y, La Monte, Missouri 65337

Track size: 3/8 mile

Other Classes running this night: 305 Sprint Cars, ASCS Warrior Region 360

Sprint Cars

Pit Passes $30

Pits Open: 5pm

Hot Laps: 7pm

Races:7:30 pm

Non members are welcome, NO temporary membership required for this season

opening event. ONE $50 Gas card will be given out at the drivers meeting Courtesy of

Lincoln Heating and Air, Columbia MO

Motels: Approximately 10 miles east of the track in Sedalia MO. Holiday

Inn and Express 660-826-4000, Comfort Inn 660-829-5050, Super 8, 660-827-5890

Contact information:

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2011-03-09T09:49:00.001-08:00

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2011-03-07T17:29:00.004-08:00

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2011-03-07T17:29:00.003-08:00

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2011-03-07T17:29:00.001-08:00

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2011-03-07T17:28:00.003-08:00

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2011-03-07T17:28:00.001-08:00

Rambling...

2011-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

I was disappointed to hear that there was a poor car count in Florida. I heard second hand that there was somewhere between 9-12 cars in attendance. I know that a lot of hard work went into putting the event together. It is hard to say if car count was a lingering effect of the economy or if there were just too many choices this winter. Not that I have much room to talk since I didn't make any of the winter events this year...not intentional just the way it worked out. I know that the trip to Tulsa was a very big financial comittment for those who went. I know for me it would have been tough to make two trips like that in one winter. I did notice that apparently Casey Shuman made some laps in a mini sprint. Would love to get in touch with him and see what he thought.

Looking to get started?

2011-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

If you are looking to get started in mini sprint racing, here is a great car to do it in. This is a Doemelt Chassis with a CBR 1000cc engine in it. Nice looking car and a great deal for the price. More information and better photos available at http://www.speedpartz.com/used_doemelt55.htm

Another New FOZ Race Car

2011-02-16T10:25:00.003-08:00

Just stopped by Speed Partz and snapped a picture of this new FOZ Race Cars G2 that is going together. It has a Yamaha R1 nestled into it and should be on the ground pretty soon. It is turning out to be a really nice piece. Seems like things are really picking up across the country for the mini sprints. A couple more are going out to Kansas this weekend and their are two more coming off the jigs headed for Indiana in the next few weeks. Was doing some work on the upcoming preview issue of Mini Sprint Racer for 2011. Looks like right now their are 44 events in the Midwest for the mini sprints, on 28 different dates. It sounds as if there are a few more dates that might happen also. There seems to be a lot of interest around some non-wing events too. Hopefully it is a good season.

Cool Stickers

2011-02-16T10:25:00.001-08:00

Here is an item that we've started producing that is cheap, but has recieved a lot of comments. We call them idiot stickers, but a lot of people have told us that it really dresses the cockpit of a race car out very nicely. Unlike the actual panels that many people sell, these are just stickers that you place right on the cowling. Best of all, unlike the expensive pre-made panels these switch labels can be placed whereever you would like and are only $12.95 for a pack. They can be ordered through Speed Partz. Here is the link: http://www.speedpartz.com/panelpak.htm

Shop work

2011-02-09T09:44:00.001-08:00

We have been pretty busy in the shop with several builds going on. The R1s
sure seem to be popular this year particularly the 09.

Rob Winks seems to be lined up with some pretty good sources and says he
has been selling quite a few of them. He feels that we will probably see
prices on the upswing just based upon availability. The downturn in sales
in the sportbike market the past few years has meant fewer crashed bikes
and ultimately salvaged motors.

This sure has been a hard winter. Really makes you long for the sun and the
chance to go racing. I am not sure who all is headed to Florida. I talked
to Drew Dorsett at the recent Circle Track Expo in Indy and he indicated
that he was planning on making the trip.

I always enjoy seeing which open wheelers are making the move up into the
stock cars. Two names I recognized in this Saturday's ARCA race are recent
Chili Bowl winner Kevin Swindell and Dakota Armstrong. Best luck to both.

Shop work

2011-02-09T09:31:00.001-08:00

Shop work

2011-02-09T09:30:00.001-08:00

Trip to the V-Twin Show

2011-02-09T09:29:00.001-08:00

Made a trip to the V-Twin show this past weekend with some friends and saw
some pretty neat stuff. I'm not too much into the big customs, but did
really like this XR 1200. Looking forward to the Indy Dealer Expo in a few
weeks. It has been a great opportunity to scope out new products.

Great for getting started

2011-02-09T09:22:00.001-08:00

We still have 3 used cars in the shop that would be great for someone just
getting started. Priced to meet most budgets.

Back to Blogg'n - Bigelow in the house

2011-01-24T18:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.speedpartz.com/ace_1100.htm

I was pretty excited about the group that stopped in the shop last Saturday. If you're slow on the take like me, you might not recognize the gentleman on the far left - he is famed midget, sprint and Indy car driver Tom Bigelow. Tom and nephew Buddy Luebke came in to pick up a few wings and additional parts. Buddy has pulled a couple of Sipple chassis out of the barn which he plans on runnng this season. Buddy has been running midgets the last year and was interested in what the Midwest Mini Sprint Association has planned for this year regarding a few non-wing races. When we were talking about the places that the MMSA runs, I brought up Kokomo. Tom perked up and said 'Oh you guys run at Kokomo, I've been busted up a few times there'. It was then that I realized that I remember a couple of years ago when Luebke and his uncle Bigelow were a team at the Chili Bowl. I came pretty close to having a racing legend in our shop and not even knowing it. I am glad he obliged us the photo next to our car. I went online and discovered that Tom is a member of both the midget and sprint hall-of-fame. Tom's a pretty humble guy and probably never would have said anything about it. I asked him if he ever thinks about getting back in a car again--he said he thinks he will leave up to the youngsters in his family. He did mention that he might try to get one of his grandsons into the mini sprints. Tom and Buddy L. are more proof that you meet some of the nicest folks in racing. I hope Buddy L. gets to come down and race with us a few times this year.

You've probably heard me make mention of a really cool new battery that we are going to start carrying. I recently had the chance to meet with the company's owner out in California. A really nice guy with what we believe will be a really neat product for the mini sprint market. Check out the story we put together after sitting down with Anti-Gravity Batteries, Scott Schafer. Click here to read the story

Check it out. A Yamaha R1 being positioned in a FOZ Race Car. I am pretty excited about the upcoming season. I recently counted up six drivers that will be driving FOZ Cars for the first time. I won't name any names since everyone seems to like keeping their plans for the upcoming season under wraps. I will say that I think that we will have several of the promising up and coming shoes in our cars this year. Best of luck in 2011 to all of the FOZ Race Cars drivers.

We will be at the Indy Circle Track Expo this weekend showing off our new Viper Pipes products. If you make it over to the show we will be in booth 509. We'll also have along our new tachometer and battery. They are really nice products that you will want to be sure to check out. We have also added new products and video to our Viper Pipes website. You can visit it at http://www.viperpipes.com/.

I was pretty excited to see the new Waynesfield schedule for this year. Looks like there will be plenty of opportunity for the 1000cc mini sprints there this year. This has always been one of my favorite tracks and Greg Shobe has been a supporter of the mini sprints since the very beginning. Good news in my book.

I am looking for someone to help the site out with updates from DuQuoin since we will not be able to attend. I have it set up so that it is very easy to do updates. If you are interested, drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.

That's all for now. Check back soon.

Viper Pipes T.V. Released

2011-01-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

We recently released our first of what we hope will be many episodes of Viper Pipes T.V. In this first episode we are showcasing our new Viper Pipes R1 right side exit headers.

If you haven't checked out all the videos and photos from the Tulsa Shootout yet, go to Our Tulsa Shootout Blog

Promotion for Racing Down Under

2010-12-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

I got this from our friends down in Australia. It is a advertisement for an upcoming event - nice footage of the mini sprints. It also shows some other pretty wild looking classes they run down there. Would any of us be brave enough to run those motorcycle side cars on dirt? I think the backdrop for this advertisement is that Australian mini sprint/lightning sprint champion Adam Raws is making a trip to New Zealand to compete against their best. The guys down under all tell me that their hoping someday we see a truly international mini sprint/ lightning sprint championship race.

Midget Pay-per-View from DuQuoin this weekend

2010-12-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

The midgets are up this weekend at DuQuoin. Just a reminder that the mini sprints will be running just around the corner on January 29th. Looks like they have Pay-Per-View for the weekends events. Might be a great chance to get a look at the track. Its been a few years since I've been there, but I really enjoyed the whole facility.

New Viper Pipes 10" Stubby Muffler

2010-12-15T04:45:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest out of our Viper Pipes shop. It is a 10" Stubby Muffler. Although probably not as applicable to the upright crowd, the 10 inch mufflers are getting bigger with the modified midget crowd. We are now able to offer mufflers in 10, 12, 14 inch models. We can also build custom lengths upon request. The new 10 inch model weighs in at just 2.9lbs. We are also able to offer all of our mufflers with a ceramic coated core and canister. The combination of the ceramic coated core and canister provides a significant performance enhancement over a straight stainless muffler. Be sure to check out our complete line of mufflers and headers at http://www.viperpipes.com/.

Still working...making progress

2010-12-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

Still trying to get our car ready for Tulsa. Making progress. Just waiting on wheels and hubs.

Headed West

2010-11-29T18:09:00.000-08:00

Our 2010 G2 chassis is getting a fresh 2008 Yamaha R1 motor before heading
West to its new home. This motor was incredible. It literally looked
showroom new. Word was that it has less than100 miles on it.

More progress

2010-11-29T16:01:00.001-08:00

The motor went in today

More progress

2010-11-29T15:59:00.001-08:00

Today the engine went into the car.

Slow but sure...

2010-11-27T17:28:00.000-08:00

I have spent a little more time working on the new 'used' car we plan on running in the indoor races this year. Hope to drop the engine in this week. The old bodywork that I am using is pretty rough, so I am getting a chance to practice my skills at using wrap and the bodywork repair kit I posted in the latest issue of Mini Sprint Racer Magazine. My plan is to have this car be entirely wrapped. No paint at all. Below you can see the white wrap I used on the hood and armguard.

Here is the armguard prior to being wrapped. If you're interested in having your wing, entire car, trailer or even individual numbers and logos made up, we are now able to do it in-house. We even have our own installer. If we can help you out, leave us a message at 513.549.7048 - We usually check for messages several times throughout the day and will have someone get back with you fairly quickly. We like doing graphics, they are really fun.

Here is a set of headers that Viper Pipes just finished ceramic coating. This is a set with 2 seasons of racing on them. Viper Pipes will be running a special on ceramic coating through the end of the year. Just $89.95 to coat a new set of Viper Pipes headers. Additional charge will apply to previously run headers since additional blasting, cleaning and etching is required. If you're interested, give Viper Pipes a call at 513.204.9036

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-25T07:57:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that the holiday season is already upon us. We are almost a month away from the Tulsa Shootout. We recently sold my car from last year and now we are scrambling to get a car done for Tulsa. I actually just started on another one a few days ago. I am using an old FOZ chassis that came in on trade on a new G2. The good Lord willing, I am hoping to run it at Tulsa and DuQuion before turning it into our rental car for the 2011 season.

I have had the week off of work which has given me time to at get started on it. So far we have put the floor pan and motor plate in, bolted the seat in and assembled most of the front and rear axles. Now we are waiting for additional parts to come in before going back to work.

Here is the start of the car I plan on running out in Tulsa. Plenty to get done!

Activity has started to pick back up at the shop and we've got plenty of used cars in stock to choose from. We've got everything from a race ready 1999 Henchcraft that can be purchased for $3,800 to a pristine FOZ Race Car with only seven races on it with a fresh Yamaha R1 on board for around $12,000. All in all we've got six really nice used cars in stock. If you're considering getting started a trip to the shop is probably worthwhile. It is probably one of the few places where you can get a good look at cars from several different manufacturers at several different price ranges.

We have a shop full of used racing cars. We have cars from most of the different manufacturers and cars that should meet most budgets. If you are interested in stopping by to look, call 513.874.2034.

My time off has also provided the opportunity to make some changes to the website. We are working hard to make the site a tool to develop the mini sprint / lightning sprint community. Our most recent changes include the creation of a message board/forum and changes to our News and Results section. I've had several people ask if I know anybody with room in their trailer for another car to make the trip to Tulsa. I thought the message board might provide a good opportunity to match folks up. The News and Results sections have actually been setup to make it quicker and easier for the owners of the associations and tracks that support mini sprint / lightning sprint racing to post their news and results. I am hoping that this new tool will reduce the time required to post significantly. Posting is basically as easy as sending an e-mail. I would encourage the owner / managers of any of the tracks or organizations to contact me if they are interested.

I took time off yesterday to take my girls down to Earlywine's near Maysville Kentucky to do a little motorcycle riding. Its a pretty neat place. It is a great big tent/building that houses an indoor motorcross track. I am sure it is an expensive building, but it would be really neat to have a place like that were you could run mini sprints locally during the winter. The girls had a great time chasing around the track--eventhough it was cold and miserable outside.

One of the big news items coming out of the recent Midwest Mini Sprint banquet was an announcement that the series would be hosting at least five non winged mini sprint events during the 2011 season. So far all of the events will take place at Brownstown Speedway. I ran at the track once this season and really like it a lot. I think having these non winged events should really help the sport continue to grow. I know that there are several people who have indicated they would be more inclined to get involved if they had the option of running non-winged.

We've opened back up the Motor Mart. The Motor Mart allows an e-mail to be sent to several shops at once regarding requests for engines. It is another service that we hope will make http://www.minisprintracer.com/ a stop on every racers web search. CLICK HERE to visit the Motor Mart.

I recently ran into mini sprint racer, Jeremy Perdue during my lunch hour. Jeremy just opened a new Jimmy Johns sandwich shop. It is located in the Bridgewater Falls shopping complex about half way between Cincinnati and Dayton. From the looks of things that day things are going extremely well. Jeremy is building a new car for the 2011 season and says that he is working hard to get the new location running well so he'll have time to race. If you're in the area stop by and see Jeremy--they make a great sandwich.

We're going live from Tulsa. We have been working hard to lay in the infrastructure on the website so that we can go live from the Tulsa Shootout. If all goes well (and we have decent Internet access) we hope to provide reports from the event. We are actually hoping to set several people up so that they can provide reports from the event. We'll keep you posted as we get closer.

I'll try to keep posting photos as we put the car together that we are planning on running at Tulsa. I am also working on a couple of really cool new products that should be unveiled in the next month. Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

More SEMA

2010-11-05T18:16:00.001-07:00

More SEMA

2010-11-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

2010-11-05T18:07:00.001-07:00

IMG00216-20101103-2029.jpg

2010-11-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

2010 SEMA Show Random Stuff

2010-11-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

Videos and photos shot with my cell phone so they are not the greatest quality, but some pretty neat stuff out here at the SEMA show.

Used Cars are In

2010-10-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

At the end of every season we do our best to bring in a good inventory of used cars to meet every budget. This year we have a really good selection of used cars available already. Starting at just $4500, we have four really nice cars for sale. I haven't had the chance to post photos of each one, but I wanted to get them out as quickly as possible since I know there are many people already kicking tires for next year and several looking at buying a car to go to Tulsa.

2010 FOZ Race Cars G2 Roller - Less than 10 races old, this car has top of the line components throughout.
2007 FOZ Race Cars Race Ready, Yamaha R1 - This car has less than 12 races since new and has not been run since being completely freshened throughout. This is a great deal at just $12K
2010 Bailey Roller - This car is brand new and has never been on the track - $6500
Bailey Mini Sprint - Top five car can be purchased race ready for $6500 or as a roller for $4500

Speed Partz is your one stop shop for cars, parts and accessories. Stop in and see all of the used cars we have in inventory. Call 513.874.2034.

Over Already???

2010-10-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

I would have to lie to say that I am not disappointed with the abruptness that the season came to an end. I didn't get started until July this year and certainly would have liked to get a few more races in. I guess that's how it goes though. Dave Rudisell is a man of his word and has promised Terry Eaglin that he would not run any of the classes that are competing at Brownstown's Funfest this weekend. If you haven't been to Brownstown, I would certainly recommend it. It is an awesome little joint!

Bill May recently phoned in and said that his intent was to keep the Midwest Mini Sprint Association rules unchanged for 2010. He is also reporting that they should be back at all of the same tracks they were at last year with a few new things in the works. This is a real positive for mini sprint racing in the Midwest.

Is the timing right to make a wholesale change from calling our cars mini sprints to calling them Lightning Sprints. There seems to be a lot of momentum building that way and most of the country has already made the switch. I have been asking folks that stop into the shop what they think and have been finding most are in favor. I would love to hear others thoughts and might even put together a short story on the idea. Drop me an e-mail at sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com with your thoughts.

www.viperpipes.com

Upright Mini Sprint Racing in Florida? If you've been reading the posts on Indiana Open Wheel you have likely noticed that there is now a group that is making a run at promoting upright mini sprint racing in Florida. This could a great thing for winter racing--possibly. Hope to post more about the new group in the near future.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

Congratulations go out to Kevin Roberts Sr. on his A.M.S.A. championship. Kevin has come along way as a driver and was always running in the top group this year. Kevin was in the shop earlier in the week and said that this is the first time that he was okay with the possibility of an event getting rained out. Kevin's son Nick was along and was not of the same opinion as his dad. Nick has also had an excellent season and was within reach of third place.

There certainly is a lot of buzz going on around the continued growth of mini sprint racing and the Tulsa Shootout. There are a lot of potential competitors starting to kick tires in the used car market. We have a fresh batch of used cars in stock right now including a FOZ G2 roller, An original FOZ that is race ready and pristine, a brand new Bailey Roller and a race ready Bailey. If you're looking for a used car or just want to see a cross section of what is available be sure to stop in at Speed Partz. Located just North of Cincinnati, Ohio off route 75.

http://www.speedpartz.com/

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the showing our FOZ Race Cars customers put on this year. Beau Stewart finished second in the points--just five points behind and put up the most wins in the A.M.S.A. this season with a total of four. Hot Rod Henning followed Stewart with multiple wins on the season in A.M.S.A. competiton. Both Stewart and Henning had additional wins at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. I was able to pull one win out of the hat and thought I was bound for a second win Beau caught and passed me late in the race. Brett Burrows scored two wins in his FOZ car competing just to the west of us in Illinois and Missouri this season. Youngster David Applegate finished 8th overall in the A.M.S.A. points and also was crowned Rookie-of-the-Year in the season. As mentioned above Nick Roberts earned a fourth in the seson end A.M.S.A. points in his FOZ. There were several more customers that had top five finishes this season. I would like to send out a personal congratulations to all of our customers.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

It is with a great deal of sadness that I recently learned of the passing of Alan Rupenthal. Although the greater part of the time that I knew Alan, our roles were always that of competitors--whether on the track or or in business--we always seemed to get along well. I used to always tease him about our initial acquaintance. We were running in the Nationals at 35 Raceway and Alan was starting two rows behind me, somehow he launched off someone else wheel and sent me flipping. He came over right away and apologized, but he was good fodder for friendly banter from there on out. Mini sprint racing is just for fun and is certainly not something that competitors or business owners will ever make much money from doing. It really is something that you do for the shear love of the sport--and Alan certainly had a passion for the sport. One of my favorite memories of Alan was his grandson's short stint behind the wheel of one of Alan's cars during a summer visit. Anyone who knew Alan knew that he didn't have much patience for running anywhere but right at the front--but working with his grandson was different. Alan's love and pride in his grandson came through as he encouraged him to take it easy and get comfortable in the car. R.I.P.

Now that the seasons over, its time to get to work in the shop. Time to clean up from the season and get things in order to start winter rebuilds and fresh builds on new cars. I am actually looking forward to spending a little more time in the shop this fall and winter. Nick Hummel and I have been working hard at getting our new business http://www.viperpipes.com/ setup. There has been a lot of work getting the shop set-up for manufacturer and working on new product development. Stay tuned as I hope to publish more about what we are up to in the coming weeks and months.

I enjoyed putting out the first couple issues of Mini Sprint Racer Online Magazine last year. I am hoping now that things have settled down a little to put out a few more issues. Look for our next issue sometime in the next few weeks. I am currently working on an article about the differences between an upright mini sprint and a modified midget. I am looking for photographs that show a modified midget with the bodywork off that would show the seating position and the engine position in the car. If you can help me out, please send photos to sfasse-at-fozmarketing.com.

New low cost digital tachometer is full of features

Earlier in the season I wrote about a new digital tachometer that we would be trying. We used it for the entire season and loved the functionality it provided, but most of all loved its low price - $139.95. It features a programmable tachometer that registers all the way up to 20,000 RPMs, with both numerical and bar graph displays. It has an orange backlit display that makes it easy to read. It also has a programmable shift light. I loved using this feature. I would just program the light to come on at the desired RPMs. I could easily catch the light out of the corner of my eye without actually looking down at the tachometer. It also has a water temperature display that even comes with an adapter and also has a programmable warning light. Other features on the unit that you may or not use include a battery volt meter, hour meter, fuel gauge. You can order this digital tachometer online at Speed Partz or by CLICKING HERE

http://www.fozracecars.com/

We'll be blogging often to let you know what is going on in and around the shop. Stay tuned.

Product Updates

2010-09-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ohio / Indiana Mini Sprint Racing Well Represented at Grain Valley, Missouri

Although there were several people that had talked about making the trip to Grain Valley, Missouri for the Mini Sprint National being held there, in the end only two of our local guys made the trip. Drew Dorsett and Rod Henning each made the long drive out to Missouri in hopes of scoring the $2000 portion of the winners purse. While both represented the Ohio / Indiana area well on Friday evening, rain brought an early end to the weekend. On Friday evening Dorsett won his heat race from a 7th place starting position, while Rod Henning finished second in his heat from a 6th place starting position. Both driver proceeded to win their respective qualifying features on Friday evening. Dorsett started on the pole of his qualifier and cruised to his victory, while Henning started outside the first row to win his qualifier. A few calls we recieved from the event told us that Dorsett and Henning were both definately the class of the field and were looking to put on a great show on Saturday evening. A total of 28 cars were in attendance for the event. Congratulations go out to both drivers.
Aluminum Steering Wheel

One of the items that I get frequent comments about in our race car is our aluminum steering wheel. Not only is the natural aluminum finish pretty cool looking, but it is much lighter than traditional wheels. It also provides a much better grip than other wheels I have used. We recently added this steering wheel to our inventory for a very economical price of $59.95. To check it out or order, | CLICK HERE |

Viper VPX Muffler

My wife makes fun of me when I am working on my latest venture--Viper Pipes. She said I am like a kid with a new toy. I was really excited at the end of last week when I opened up the package I recieved back from Aesthetic Finishers. I am now parterning with them to perform the coating on our Viper Pipes VPX mufflers. Both the core and canister are coated with a metallic ceramic coating. Using this coating allows us to keep the mufflers ultra-light while allowing them to produce more horsepower since the coatings effectively assist in the movement of exhaust gases through the unit. Be sure to visit http://www.viperpipes.com/ or | CLICK HERE | for more information.

A Serving of Humble Pie

2010-09-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

We made the trip to Brownstown last night to run with the Midwest Mini Sprint Association. It was our first trip to the track and our first time running without a wing in several years. I loved the track and facilities. It is a very wide large 1/4 mile slightly banked oval. The facilities are some of the neatest I have seen with quaint wooden covered grandstands and plenty of green. It is another one of those cool little Indiana fairground tracks that is located just on the edge of the city of Brownstown. It was a pretty easy 2 hour trip from our shop just North of Cincinnati.

There were a total of 19 cars in attendance. The night got off to a wild start as Seth Wilkerson climbed the tire of another competitor and flipped out the end of corners 3 & 4. Wilkerson flipped high in the air ripping the fuel cell out of his car leaving fuel on the track which resulted in a lengthy red flag for cleanups. We won wing. The next heat race also witnessed a pretty good flip as Alex Shipman and Rod Henning got together. The Ambrose brothers past experience in TQ midgets was evident as they ran 1 & 2 for the first half of the second heat. Colin Ambrose was pulling away until engine problems sidelined him, giving Lynn the win. The final heat would find Seth Mottsinger out in front. Seth told me that he has been doing double duty running a midget with the POWRI Midget series. He says that they routinely get 30 midgets. He has also been running sprints occassionally and has recently purchased his own sprint car. Nick Hale was second in the heat putting on an impressive showing chasing Mottsinger down. Not to disappoint, the third heat also produced a pretty spectacular flip. I will apologize for not knowing the driver's name, but he was pushing it pretty hard and went into the turn and caught a rut and got the car upset. He tumbled a few times before coming to rest on all four wheels, but his night was finished.

The feature is the reason I titled this blog "A Serving of Humble Pie". I was lucky enough to draw the pole for the feature. We made several changes to the car for the feature, and would have liked to make just a few more...but we weren't prepared with some of the things required, namely easy up shocks for the front, a left front brake and a tire that would give us a few inches less stagger. With that said, the car was much better and I was starting to get a little more comfortable in my driving. While I grabbed the lead on the start, Lynn Ambrose went around me on the outside coming off of turn 2. I then slid a little wide and Seth Motsinger went by me. I was able to get a good drive down low coming off of 2 and get back by Motsinger. I then drove the car into turn 1 too hard and washed up giving Drew Dorsett room to get underneath me. After a few laps I started to settle into a little more of a rythm and felt like we might be able to get back up and challenge Dorsett. I had found a wee bit of bite coming off two very low...maybe too low. With about seven laps to go I clipped one of the earth mover tires coming off of two and broke the left side radius rod ending our night and leaving me feeling pretty disgusted with myself and most of all feeling pretty humbled. Lynn Ambrose went on to win the race with Dorsett running second and Colin Ambrose finishing third in a car he borrowed from Mike Mensendick.

Despite our poor finish I really had a blast with the wing off and most of all enjoyed finally getting to run at Brownstown Speedway. It will definately be added to my list of favorite tracks. Although we haven't had the chance to attend many of the MMSA races this season, it was great to see some faces we haven't seen in a while and encouraging to see several new ones. Bill May stopped by the trailer to let me know that things look positive for next season. He said that Brownstown has indicated that they will add additional races for the mini sprints next year.

As for non wing racing, I think everyone had a great time. Although many will disagree with me, I am not sure that a steady diet of non-wing racing will be good for the class. There is no doubt that there is a great deal to be learned without the wing on and that it is quite an equalizer when it comes to engines. While I am hopeful there will be at least a handful of these events next year, I think this event served as a reminder that the crashes are a little more violent and harder on equipment--especially on the larger tracks. As a class that is touted as an economical alternative the costs of last evenings mishaps could be a turn off to some. Finally, although I'm probably being a bit of a sissy, the pillow that we run on top of our cars might make it a bit easier for older guys like me to get up on Monday mornings and make it in to work. Bill May indicated that he is considering running a series within a series that would have the cars running without wings once a month. I think this would provide a nice blend. I've even wondered what would happen if 35 Raceway tried a non-winged 1000cc class?

Congratulations go out to Drew Pollock on his win Friday evening at Waynesfield Raceway Park. It sounds as if other drivers with strong runs included Ryan Broughton and Garry Loney. I was disappointed to hear that Dean Miracle has called it quits at Waynesfield. It seemed that he was starting to build momentum with several classes including the mini sprints. From what I have heard it was the struggle filling the stands that was at issue. It reminds me that we need to thank all of the promoters that give us a chance to do what we love. It is a thankless job that often doesn't produce much in the way of a financial reward. I have heard a few pretty positive rumors that are already floating around regarding the future of the track. I guess we'll just have to stay tuned.

It's a Non Winged Weekend

2010-09-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.viperpipes.com/

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

It's looking to be a good weekend for mini sprint racers with a few different options. Tonight (Friday evening) the mini sprints will be running at Waynesfield Motorsports Park with the wings on. Saturday no matter where you run, it will be without a wing. U.S. 24 Raceway in Indiana will be holding a non wing clash that will see mini sprints and TQs running together with the wings off. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association will be visiting Brownstown Speedway for a non winged event also. This weekend provides drivers the chance to get ready for what promises to be one of the biggest non-winged mini sprint races of the year, the Tulsa Shoot-out.

I recently received a flyer in the mail for the Tulsa Shootout. I was happy to see that there is a full day of practice available on Thursday prior to the event. I talked with Kevin Roberts at our last race at Waynesfield and he indicated that he might try to put together a second hauler that would allow folks to pay to have their car taken to the race-so they could fly out and back. I am hoping to get a message board up at some point so that people could post if they have a spot available in their trailer for the trip. It might be a great way to get a few of your gas dollars back, while also helping someone out.

http://www.fozmarketing.com/

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

I am really looking forward to the trip out to Tulsa. A few years ago we ran at DuQuoin. The action on the track was a blast, but it was also fun to get a chance to hang out with our racing friends. We had the chance to meet mini sprint racers from across the country. It would be cool if we could find a hotel that we could try to get as many of the mini sprint racers to stay at as possible.

http://www.fozracecars.com/

My dad recently participated in an article in the Performance Racing Industry magazine. The mini sprint/micro sprint market is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing markets in racing. The article is interesting because it included comments from some of the top players in this market. I am hopeful that we will see the continued growth of this market as it makes sense as a training ground for young guys and an inexpensive way to stay involved for the older guys like me. It also highlighted the continued confusion between an upright mini sprint and a modified midget or sidewinder. I have included a link to the article: Performance Racing Industry Mini Sprint Article

http://www.speedpartz.com/

Activity in our shop has remained brisk for this time of year. I guess the promise of doing a little winter time racing has produced both new interest and has the normal crowd working harder to keep their cars ready. We have recently done a few engine swaps for folks that are either switching over from a 600cc to a 1000cc or are just putting in new motors. We've also seen several more people coming out to look for cars and even a few that are taking their old cars out of moth balls. I was surprised to recently see the car of Brandon Watson in the shop for some work. We ran with Brandon many years ago. Its good to see that both Brandon and his father should be around at the races in future.

I had to throw a picture of this FOZ Race Car that is currently available for sale in our shop. Although it is a couple of years old, it is one of the nicest turn-out used cars that I have seen. Although it has less than probably 10 races total on it, it was recently overhauled with frest paint and parts by owner Mike Garvey who says it is time for him to retire. If you're looking for a really nice car--this one deserves a look. It is race ready.

http://www.adrenalinets.com/

Waynesfield Weekend Wrap-up 8/6

2010-08-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the American Mini Sprints Association (A.M.S.A.) was off and the Midwest Mini Sprint Association (M.M.S.A.) was running at Paragon Speedway. Since Paragon is a pretty good trek for us, we opted for the shorter trip to Waynesfield Motorsports Park. While I would really like to try running at Paragon, I'll have to admit that I really enjoy running at Waynesfield. We ran nearly an entire season at Waynesfield a few seasons ago when they were running upright 600cc mini sprints. The 1/3 mile oval is both fast and racey, with a surface that has been pretty smooth almost every time I have been there. Finally although not large, the facility is nicely equipped and turned out. To the best of my knowledge it is one of the few facilities that runs a semi-weekly show for upright mini sprints. It appears that the formula is working as there weekly shows are picking up new drivers along the way. During our visit on Saturday evening visit there were a total of 23 cars in attendance--only four cars were what I would consider A.M.S.A. regulars. A special thanks goes out to Dean Miracle and crew for helping our sport grow.

Since we're not very good at taking pictures, I like it when I run close to T.J. Heil. His mom is great with both the still camera and the video camera.

http://www.speedpartz.com/

I was actually probably as ready to race as I have been all year. My dad was making a trip to Pennsylvania to pick up wings on Saturday morning (we now have a good inventory of top and front wings back in stock) and wouldn't be getting back until time to leave for Waynesfield. This meant that I needed to have everything ready to go when he returned. It was nice to spend a little more time than usual getting the car ready--it seems to help me get my head in the game a little better. Not too many big changes to make just the usual clean-up, re-blocking the car and changing sprockets.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

We got on the road a little after three o'clock. On the way up we passed another Cincinnatian making his way towards Waynesfield, first year driver Adam Jackman. We rolled into the track a few minutes before 5:00 p.m. and found our way to a parking spot next to our friends the Heils. Hiking up to sign in I ran into a few friends that I used to race with before their move to full-size sprints- Lewie Christian, Kirk and Dennis Jeffries. It was great to see them and catch up a little bit.

http://www.adrenalinets.com/

There are several really nicely turned out mini sprints at Waynesfield, but I was partial to one of the cars that was making its first outing this year, the FOZ of Becca Stiefl. My dad told me that he has been working with the Stiefl's for several weeks as they have been putting their car together. I've included a picture of Becca and her new car below. They have really put together a pretty professional operation complete with matching shirts. Becca's dad Steve reported that after her first night of practice she felt very comfortable in the car and was able to manage a 8th place finish the first night out. Nice job.

Becca Stiefl in her new number 328 FOZ Race Car

I still have a phobia of drawing my own pill, or tab in the case of Waynesfield. Phil Heil was in line behind me so I made him pull the tab for me, he drew a 41. The 41 placed me outside the second row right next to Phil's son T.J. Newcomer Trey Gustin was starting on the pole in my heat in his 600cc upright mini sprint. Trey has made a few starts with the 1000cc cars. So far I've been pretty impressed with him both on track and off track. He appears to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. If the name sounds familiar it's because his dad Spud ran mini sprints before moving up to full-size sprints. I got a pretty good start and came out of the second corner in second position behind Nick Daughtery where I would run until the finish. The car was good, but would have been much better if I had listened to my dad's advice to raise the car a round.

Trey Guston in his number 80 mini sprint

http://www.viperpipes.com/

Sometimes there is a certain amount of luck involved in racing and on this night it was falling my way as the invert placed me outside the front row for the feature. Garry Loney was on the pole for the feature. Loney has been fast everytime I have run with him and I definately was hoping I could outrace him to the first corner. I stayed high through turns 1 and 2 and ended up in the lead going down the backstretch. This time I decided to listen to my dad and make his suggested changes. The car was really good. Its kind of spooky running out front because you don't know who or how close anyone is running to you. There was a red flag and a couple of yellow flags which were definate causes for concern. I knew that there were some motors and drivers that had the potential of driving around us on the start. My fears came true on the last restart as Beau Stewart pulled around me on the topside. I was able to hold on to cross the line in second place. Disappointing when I had hopes of a victory, but a good run all in all.

It was great to see the grandstands full for the evenings racing. The big draw was the second annual Jack Hewitt Classic. Although there were not all the big names there that we have grown used to seeing at Lawrenceburg, the racing was tremendous just the same. Matt Westfall put on a charge from the middle of the pack to finish in second place. Matt is always fun to watch and appears to have it pretty well dialed in at Waynesfield were he has already captured four features this season. Another noteworthy performance in the sprints was Todd Keen. Todd was in contention throughout the feature and did a very nice job of working the bottom of the track. Todd is only a year removed from the mini sprints. Congratulation to Todd on a fantastic job done and for proving the value of the mini sprints as a training ground for drivers looking to make the move to sprints and beyond.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

Congratulations also go out to Lynn Ambrose on capturing two victories in one night at Paragon Speedway. The M.M.S.A. ran the feature scheduled for the night, but also made up a feature from a few weeks ago that was previously scheduled during USAC Sprint Week. I was also pleased to hear that Allen Rupenthal made it out to the track. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Allen as he continues to recuperate.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

It's been a great couple of weekends for the FOZ Race Cars overall. Beau Stewart's win at Lawrenceburg Speedway the weekend before was followed up with his win at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. T.J. Heil at a strong run at Lawrenceburg to finish fourth. I finished fifth at Lawrenceburg followed to the line by another FOZ of Nick Roberts. I was able to hold on for a second place finish at Lawrenceburg while T.J. Heil and Becca Steifl finished seventh and eigth respectively. Last weekend Brett Burrows showed that the cars work well with the wing off to as he beat a strong field of 21 cars in Peoria, Illinois with the Illinois Outlaw Lightning Sprints. Congratulations to all of our FOZ Race Cars customers.

Brett Burrows and his number 51 FOZ mini sprint.

The American Mini Sprints Association is back in action Friday and Saturday of next weekend. Friday evening the group rolls back into Moler Raceway Park while they make their second appearance of the year at Waynesfield Motorsports Park on Saturday evening. If you scroll down you'll see more pictures that I took with my phone and the track. I am hoping to do short posts to the blog on race nights in the future.

This week's Adrenaline Outfitter's Shirt:

Visit http://www.adrenalinets.com/ to order your shirt.

Pits

2010-08-07T15:43:00.001-07:00

Pits

2010-08-07T15:42:00.001-07:00

Pits

2010-08-07T15:41:00.001-07:00

Track

2010-08-07T15:39:00.001-07:00

Pit shot

2010-08-07T15:37:00.001-07:00

Shot from waynesfield pits

2010-08-07T15:36:00.001-07:00

2010-08-07T15:34:00.001-07:00

We are at Waynesfield for the jack hewitt classic. There are 22 mini
sprints in attendance.

Mini Sprint Racing in the Tulsa Expo Center

2010-08-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Although I normally start my blogs off with a report of the last week's racing activity, this week I wanted to start with ‘THE BIG NEWS’. It was announced during Saturday evening’s A.M.S.A. drivers meeting that upright mini sprints will be included in this year’s Tulsa Shoot-Out. If you’re not familiar with this event, it is the event run several days before the infamous Chili Bowl at the Tulsa Exposition Center. The event will be run on the same track as the Chili Bowl. The dates of the event are Thursday December 29th through Saturday January 1st. The mini sprints will shed their wings for the race. This event has the potential to be one of the biggest events in the country for mini sprints. It was indicated at the drivers meeting that this will be a multi-year deal. It holds the potential to draw competitors from points across the country. It also provides anyone with dreams of competing in the Chili Bowl a cost effective alternative. Calls are already coming in for car rentals and some are even considering purchasing cars just for the event. I am planning on doing a more comprehensive story on the event in the coming weeks—so stay tuned. Here a few pictures of the track that I took when I was at the Chili Bowl a few years ago.

Here is a link to a video that I found on http://www.maximumdirt.com/ that shows more of the track | Click Here |

Here is some in-car camera footage that is pretty good also | Click Here |

This past weekend we ran with the American Mini Sprint Association at Lawrenceburg Speedway. I am not sure why, but car count was down with only 23 mini sprints in the pits. I am guessing that it might have been because of summer vacations, etc. Despite the smaller turnout, racing action was still intense with plenty of good drivers and equipment in attendance.

My night of racing got off to a great start with a visit by Don and Adam Waters of AFCO Racing Shocks to our shop. They set me up with two of their brand new double adjustable gas shocks to try for the weekend. The father and son team came in and set to work outfitting our right and left rear corners of the cars with the shocks. The whole installation of both shocks and remote adjustment controls took less than one hour.

My first session on the new shocks was hot laps. Although we only got five or so laps, I could instantly tell a difference. True to Don’s words, the car felt much more stable or settled. I was pretty amazed with how well it transitioned from straight-away to corner back on to straight-away. Although tempted to start adjusting on the shocks for the heat race Don and Adam said that the car looked really good and that the shock indicators were dead on—so just leave it alone.

A quick storm passed through prior to our heat race, causing more question regarding our setup. I started my heat in fourth place and quickly moved into third on the first lap. The remainder of the race I chased Rod Henning and T.J. Heil. I was very happy with the way the car handled during the entire heat race. While we were able to reel Heil in a little, I was never close enough to try passing him.

For the feature we raised our car up and put a few extra turns in a couple corners. I started the race outside the third row. For the first few laps of the race the car was on the tight side and I slid back a few spots. On the yellow I started cranking on the cockpit adjusters and was able to get the car to a point where it was very comfortable for me. Through a few passes and some attrition, I made it up to fourth place, however my last pass happened just prior to a caution so I was placed back in fifth place where I finished the race.

After the race Don asked me to fill out a research and development form for him. This made me take more time to stop and think about what the car was doing than normally. I was really impressed with the more stable feel of the gas shocks. After hot laps and the heat race I would have told you I would have liked them even if they weren’t adjustable. However, after missing the setup by a bit in the feature, but having the opportunity to compensate on-track with the cockpit adjusters—I liked the shocks even more. We have put together a short product video for Speed Partz TV. Just click the play button below to watch the video (right pointing arrow) We hope you enjoy it. |CLICK HERE| for purchase information.

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Time to get ready to go racing - Friday @ Noon

2010-07-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

It's time to get the car ready to go race at Lawrenceburg Speedway this weekend.

7/26/10

2010-07-27T05:02:00.000-07:00

Although ti’s been over a week since I last raced, its been a busy one and I haven’t had a chance to blog. My intentions were to make my first visit to Brownstown Speedway with the M.M.S.A. during Sprint Week, my plans changed as I was leaving for the race. As I was backing out of the garage I ran over the family cat. Although it looks like she is going to be okay, a trip to the veterinarian placed us far enough behind schedule that we had to cancel. The story of running over the cat produced some great stories about how others similar experience. It sounds as if I missed a great race. Congratulations go out to Seth Motsinger on his win.

Since we missed Brownstown, the decision was made to stay close to home on Friday and attend the A.M.S.A. race at Moler Raceway Park. I’ve got a real mental block when it comes to Moler. We haven’t had the best luck there. It all started a few years ago when I lost a chain and destroyed a motor. Our next trip was on a night when they had exceptionally bad track conditions leading to the eventual cancellation of the race. We got to spend a little time with Kevin and Kim Moler last year when we rented the track so that my daughter, wife and A.M.S.A. rookie Brandon Longworth could get some track time. Former street stock driver Kim Moler and her daughter also took a few laps in our mini sprint. Kevin told me that he would not bring the mini sprints in until mid season this year to make sure he could deliver a smoothing racing surface. He was right as the track was in very nice shape.

My mental block came through in my heat race performance as I was excessively cautious, finishing in fifth position—one spot ahead of where I started. David Applegate deserves mention for his strong performance in the heat race. I think this was the youngsters first heat race win in 1000cc competition after spending his rookie season racing a 600cc upright at 35 Raceway. The win earned Applegate the pole for the feature. I started the feature inside the fifth row. I was happy with my start in the feature, unfortunately it was called off due to a spin. I wasn’t quite as successful on the restart, however started picking up positions a few laps in. The car was very good for the feature. There was a little bit of moisture left at the bottom of the track. If I could get the car down in it, it would leap off the corner. Unfortunately, I’m seldom consistent enough in my lines to hit such a small band on the track each time. When the checkered flag fell I was in fourth position. Given my history at Moler I was very happy with my finish and am looking forward to going back. Kudos go out to Ryan Broughton on his win at Moler. As I mentioned earlier the track was a bit of a challenge to get a hold of—and Ryan did a very nice job of pedaling the car around the track.

The M.M.S.A. was also in action Friday evening at Bloomington Speedway as part of Indiana Sprint Week. Mike Kiser’s trip from New York was paid off as he claimed the $1,000 prize. It wasn’t without a little work though, Garry Loney led fifteen laps of the race. Loney is in his first year in a 1000cc mini sprint after running a 600cc upright last season at Waynesfield. I’ve had the chance to run with Garry a few times now and have been impressed each time.

On Sunday I started a whirlwind tour of France to visit one of our customers at work. It was a lot of traveling in a short period of time, but this time I made it out of Paris and got to see some of the country side and the beaches. The customer visit was pretty cool as I got an up close look at one of the manufacturing facilities that builds aircraft engine for General Electric. It’s pretty amazing how large the components on those engines are. My train ride out to the coast also took me through Le Mans. If I would have had more time, I would have loved to make a trip out to the famous road course. After a long flight home, I am happy to be back on U.S. soil.

I continue to work on new product ideas for the shop and have a few new ones to report this go around. There are a couple of items that are specific to our new race car that have drawn comments over the past several weeks.

Wing wraps – On my past two racing cars I have employed wing wraps instead of traditional paint and vinyl. There are several benefits to wing wraps. They appear to be much more cost effective than traditional paint and vinyl. They provide greater flexibility in the quality and quantity of graphics that it allows you to place on the car. Finally as long as you use the right materials they are durable and fairly easy to apply. I recently have entered into a joint partnership with a leading provider of wraps that will allow us to provide wraps of all kinds, including a special deal on 16 square foot wings. For a limited time we will be able to offer the printing of wraps for both sides of the wing for $169.00. Unless significant design is required, there will not be a design charge. We can also apply the wing wraps to your wing for an additional charge. For more information give us a call at the shop 513.874.2034.

Dashboard decals – I designed and printed switch decals for the cowl of my new mini sprint. It’s kind of a small thing, but they have received much more attention than I would have ever expected. The one comment I got was that they really finish the car off and make it look professional. Not wanting to miss out on an opportunity, I’ve had them professionally printed and packaged for sale. We now offer a set of switch decals that can easily be applied over standard toggle and push button switches. The set sells for $12.95 and includes decals for; Power, Fuel Pump, Starter Button, Fan and Wing. I also have the capability of designing specialized decals upon request. These dashboard labels can be ordered through Speed Partz at http://www.speedpartz.com/panelpak.htm.

Tachometer – If you’ve read past blogs you probably remember me writing about the full featured $139.00 tachometer that I found. Unfortunately the original distributor that I was working with went bankrupt. After a little bit of detective work I have been able to reconnect with the tachometer. The tachometer provides a 20,000 RPM readout with recall of high RPM for the session. It also has a programmable shift light and water temperature read out. It is also backlit for easy viewing at night. The tachometer can be easily programmed for many different engine configurations. The first shipment of 10 units is due in sometime in the next two weeks. I probably won’t add them to our website until we get a larger shipment in. If you are interested in one of them just give my dad a call and get on our list. You can call him at the shop at 513.874.2034.

Adrenaline Outfitters – Since I’ve been in college one of my ambitions has been to design and market my own line of t-shirts. My idea was to develop a line that is aimed at the true racer. Not something that you could purchase at a retail store, but instead something that would have a bit of a cult following. While I had them up and going pretty well a few years ago, I got frustrated with the task of managing inventory. It seemed like whatever sizes I had on the shelf—it was not the size the customer was requesting. Recently I have entered into an agreement with a third party company that takes care of printing and fulfillment. So far the arrangement has been working very well, allowing me to concentrate on the design and marketing of the shirts, while greatly improving delivery and customer service. I hope to start featuring one design each blog. This week I am featuring one I call Loose Nut. It is one of my initial designs and has been a popular one. These shirts can be ordered online at http://www.adrenalinets.com/.

The good Lord willing, hope to be back out at Lawrenceburg Speedway next Saturday evening. That’s all for now. Thanks for reading.

A Full Week of Motorsports Stuff

2010-07-15T05:41:00.000-07:00

This week has allowed me to enjoy motorsport from all sides. I started the week off on Monday with a trip to Big Rock ATV Park in Maysville, Kentucky to ride dirt bikes with my daughter and a few friends. A very hot day, but enjoyable riding. Friday night was my first outing in the new mini sprint at Lawrenceburg Speedway as part of Indiana Speedweek and finally a trip to Mid-Ohio on Saturday to visit Vintage Motorcycle Days.

Friday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway the A.M.S.A. joined USAC for the opening round of Indiana Sprint Week. A total of 35 cars pulled into the pits including five cars from New York. My good luck at the pill draw hit the rocks with a number 32 coming out of the bag. I started outside the third row in the fourth heat. In typical fashion I spent too much time getting to business and ended the race in fifth place, one spot out of a qualifying position. I really hate going through the B-Main, but guess I should look forward to every chance to get myself accustomed to the new car.

In the B-Main we started in fourth position. A total of 19 cars started the B-Main with several strong runners included in the mix, making it feel a little more like an A-Main. Within a few laps we had managed to move our way into second position behind Ryan Braughton. Although I felt like we were starting to pick up on Ryan, the car popped out of gear in between turns one and two. I wasn't sure what happened at first believeing that I had lost a chain. Thankfully another car spun on the same lap and I was able to regain my second place position on the restart. The car was handling great and although I felt like I had a chance of running down Ryan, I just ran out of time.

Be sure to visit CMI Racing Vids. Colin was recently at Twin Cities Raceway Park to tape the MMSA action. It was a great evening of racing. Be sure to pop over to his site to order your copy.

http://www.cmiracingvids.com/

My second place finish in the B-Main at least earned me a spot for the feature; although deep in the field. The few tweeks my dad made to the car delivered a car that was well suited to the racing surface by the time the feature rolled around. Although we got decent starts and started to gain positions, we were once again plagued with the mysterious problem of the car jumping out of gear. Almost every other lap the car would jump into neutral as we passed through turns one and two. Each time was a set back to our progress, leaving us to an eventual 11th place finish. Although I was dissappointed in my finish, I am very excited about how the car was performing. I think we've determined the fix for our gear problem.

Looking forward to getting back out on the track Thursday evening as the MMSA visits Brownstown Speedway.

I recently received this photo from J&T Photos who take all the shots at Waynesfield. We are lucky to have great photographers covering several of our tracks. I wanted to give J&T a special shot out since they helped me with this photo for an article an industry publication is doing. Visit http://www.jandtphotos.com/.

This is a first in mini sprint racing in the midwest and hopefully a good sign for its future. During USAC's Indiana Sprint Week, mini sprint drivers have been treated to the opportunity to run no less than five times in eight nights between the A.M.S.A. and the M.M.S.A The week kicked off with the AMSA with the USAC sprints at Lawrenceburg. The AMSA then moved on its own to KC Raceway. There was also racing action on the same evening at Chillicothe. On Thursday evening the MMSA opens with the USAC Sprints at Brownsburg and follows up on Friday evening at Bloomington. On Friday evening the AMSA is also at Moler Raceway Park. The MMSA then finishes things off at Paragon Speedway. Sounds like about as much fun as a mini sprint racer could have in a single week.

http://www.viperpipes.com/

There is always a lot of fun scenery when a big race roles into Lawrenceburg. Friday night was no exception. One of my favorite attractions was Josh Shaw and his nastolgic sprinter that were pitted next to us. Josh is building replicas of sprints long ago and pulls them in on a flat bed trailer attached to an old pickup. I have posted some photos of Josh's set-up. If you'll look closely you'll notice that the car is the Ellison Special. The famous sprinter depicted in Dave Argabright's series that ran over a several month period in Sprint Car and Midget Magazine.

My daughter Sami and I made the trip on Saturday morning up to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the Vintage Motorcycle Days. Before switching to dirt we spent a lot of time at Mid-Ohio racing Formula Fords and Formula 2000s. If you have never been to Mid-Ohio, it definately deserves a visit. It is a beautiful setting for a racing facility. Its also worth checking out Vintage Motorcycle Days if you've never been. They have a swap meet that has to cover several acres. You can find just about any type of bike or part you are looking for at the meet. The event includes road racing, motorcross, trials and flat track. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

One of the things that I have enjoyed doing early in this summer is spending some time with my family dirt biking. I finally have everyone on a bike including my two daughters and wife. We've made a handful of outings so far this year and I've been very proud of just how well they are all coming along as riders. Here are a few pictures from last weeks outing.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

I recentlly began work on yet another new product. As I mentioned earlier, my family and I have been doing some dirt bike riding lately. Many of the dirt bike riders make use of the Camel Bak. A system that allows them to carry water or fluid along for the ride and actually take a drink without stopping. I recently purchased one of these handy little rider accessories and wouldn't be without it. It got me to thinking about a way to use it on my racing car. Although one might question why it would be needed during such a short race, you would be shocked at how much fluid you can really loose in such a short period of time. The only problem is that there really is no good way to attach it to the car. I started prototyping a pouch that would easily and securely fasten to the car and have been trying it out the last few races. I have gotten quickly attached to it. The new design attaches to the rear uprights of the car and has a special tube and bite valve that just dangles down in the cockpit where it can be easily reached when your ready for a drink. I use it sometime sitting on the grid, during cautions and red flags. I now have it ready to go to market under our Shox Skinz brand name. It will be called a Hydra-Pak and is currently available for $49.95. Although we haven't put it on the website yet, if your interested you can call us at 513.874.2034 and request the Shox Skinz Hydra-Pak.

The Hydra-Pak is designed to easily attach to the rear upright on a mini sprint, midget, TQ midget or sprint car. It is secure and can be easily removed whenever you would like.

The blue tube with a special bite valve dangles down in the cockpit and can be easily reached for a quick drink on the grid, under caution or a red flag.

That's all for now. I hope to be back next week with another blog. I have a few additional products that I am working on and hope to have a race report from Brownstown Speedway.

Rambling 6/28/10

2010-06-28T19:45:00.000-07:00

We finally have finished our own car. A big thanks goes out to everyone that helped put it together. I have been taking a real ribbing because my biggest job this go around was putting the stickers on. Unfortunately that is about my speed—since I am mechanically challenged. The first night out for the car was this past weekend as the American Mini Sprint Association (A.M.S.A.) visited Waynesfield Motorsports Park. Although I’ve said it before this is a track that I really enjoy. Dean Miracle and crew made gracious hosts for the A.M.S.A.’s first visit event to this facility this year. A total of 27 cars were in attendance for the event.

Our evening started off a little rough. We made it all the way down the front straight-away before the car quit. At first I thought that something in the throttle pedal assembly had come loose, however after being pushed back into the pits, we traced the problem down to an electrical gremlin—where or which gremlin we just weren’t sure. Luckily the problem wa spotted—our ECU had come unplugged. I was extremely nervous about going into the race without any laps in our new G2 FOZ Chassis. To make matters even worse I would be starting on the pole in my heat (an honor I owe to Beau Stewart’s dad Dennis). I’ve decided that it is best that I don’t draw my own pill—it is almost a certain guarantee that I will start at the back of my heat. Over the past several races, my daughter has been the designated pill drawer (if that is a word). She’s growing up quicker than I like and this gives me a great excuse to make her come to the races with me. She had a prior commitment for the night, so Dennis Stewart would deliver my luck for the evening in the form of a number 3 pill draw.

Despite starting on the pole, I quickly relinquished the lead to Kevin Roberts Sr. in the 4K. I thought I might catch up and get back around Kevin, but the car was much looser than I like and I struggled through turns 1 & 2. At the end of the race the ECU came unplugged again causing me to loose momentum rather quickly right upon turn entry. With no where to go Rob Winks tagged me in the rear end. Although Rob was gracious enough to come over and apologize afterwards, it certainly was not his fault. The good news was that I coasted to a second place finish in the heat. The bad news was that my new car already had battle scars. The funny thing is that getting that first bruise on a new racing car is almost like initiating it. The first new car I ever had was the first FOZ Race Car that we built. After it was completed I was standing in the garage admiring it when my dad walked in and said “you better get over it”. I did just that. My first event was a national at Lawrenceburg a few years ago. This was also the first time I ever had an adjustable shock. Although we were moving up through the field nicely, I decided I could make things better by cranking the shock down. The next time into the corner the car got a bite and I turned it right into one of the big earth mover tires on the inside of the track. It bent the front end pretty well. I called John Godfrey and told him that I was sick about crashing our brand new race car. He said it would be okay, just put it back together and race it. He claims they are normally faster after you bend them the first time. He was right, we put it back together and ran it the next night and eventually the remainder of the season with no problems. This time we got off a little bit easier with just a few cracks in our tail section. Nothing that a little borrowed white racing tape couldn’t cure.

For the feature I lined up outside the third row in sixth position. I got a pretty average start and didn’t loose any positions in the process. As I started to get more comfortable with the car we were able to pick up a few positions. After a few laps we went to a red condition after Mark Hery and Kevin Roberts Jr. got together, leaving Hery’s car on its side with Roberts car perched high atop. Robert’s car had to be picked off the top of Hery’s car with the boom on the tow truck. Luckily everyone was okay and damage to the cars didn’t appear to be to severe. Several additional cars apparently spun to avoid the incident and were sent to the tail of the field for a restart. Despite turns 1 & 2 being super slick, as the race went on I was getting more and more comfortable with the new car and eventually was running in third place. As luck would have it second place running Nick Daughtery would loop it coming off the very slick turn 2 putting me in second place for the restart. Once we went green I though I might have a chance at the win as we got into lapped traffic, but my biggest obstacle—being old and out of shape would stand in the way. A second place finish our first night out in the new car was definitely better than I had hoped for.

As I stated in a previous blog, one of the things I am hoping to do is pick out a couple of drivers that deserve mention...and make mention. There were two drivers that I thought deserved special mention this week.

I was chased to the checkers by Lee Underwood. Although I've only competed against Lee a few times and no very little about him, he appears to be another one of the talents that is gaining experience in the mini sprints. I could hear his engine close behind me for much of the race. Congrats to Lee and his family on a nice run and thanks for loaning me the tape.

The other driver that deserves mention is Nick Roberts. Nick finished in fourth place driving the FOZ his dad drove last year. A victim of the multi car melee the week before Nick was in the shop the one day I stopped by a lunch. I claimed that his brother was quiet in a previous article, but I think Nick might even say less than his brother. I asked his dad how you get him to talk and had to laugh at his response, "you gotta step on his foot". Great job Saturday evening Nick.

The Midwest Mini Sprint Association also ran two races over the past few days. On Friday evening they were at Salem's Thunder Valley Raceway where they took the wings off. They had a good field of fifteen cars with The Ambrose brothers leading the charge. Colin Ambrose finished first, followed by Lynn Ambrose in second and Lynsey Tilton in third. I have not seen results yet from the groups Monday evening race at the Shelbyville county fair.

One of the more satisfying portions of the evening was getting to use a product that I helped to develop. I’ve spent plenty of time talking about our work to develop Viper Pipes into a provider of economic, quality racing exhaust systems for motorcycle powered racing cars. My new car has a complete Viper system and muffler. Although extremely partial, I think the system looks great and performs very well. It was also very rewarding to see our Viper Pipes systems on some of the other cars at the track.

Unfortunately we’ve had too many opportunities to sell our new wings, and Saturday evening would be no different, with two cars getting upside down. Although I've said it several times Larry Bland always provided us quality wings and finding a replacement was difficult. We have recently partnered with a father and son team that go by Aero Wings. Although I haven't had the chance to meet with them yet, my dad said that they are all around nice guys who seem to have a well established operation for building quality wings. We are offering both front and top wings.

As competitive as racing is, it is also quite a big family. Please keep the following members of our racing community in your prayers as they recover from illness and surgeries. Alan Ruppenthal of ERC Chassis/Midwest Mini Sprint Association. Beau Stewart's mom Bea and Merrill Calvert who are both recovering from surgery.

That's all for now. Hoping for good weather this weekend, so we can go out and try it again.

2010-06-12T18:17:00.000-07:00

Not a great weekend for racing. I spent the morning with the garage door up watching the rain pour down. It should have been a great weekend of racing for the mini sprints. The A.M.S.A. was headed for KC Raceway for the second time this season, while the M.M.S.A. was to be back at Twin Cities Raceway Park. Hopefully next weekend the weather cooperates as the M.M.S.A. hopes to get their first race of the season in at Brownstown Speedway.

It was great to hear that they had a good car count for the midget show at Montpelier before the rain struck. I am hopeful that this non-wing upright thing catches sail. Although I wouldn't want to see the winged deal go away, I would enjoy the opportunity to run some non-wing events each year. I think there are still a few chickens like me around that have to get up to go to work on Monday's that enjoy the landing afforded by the wing. I guess that's just part of my old age showing. I am embarrassed to admit that last year I played men's league hockey and actually got into the routine of taking Advil before the game so that I could get up and go to work the next morning--isn't that sad. At any rate I am hoping to run the non wing shows up at Liberty Indiana this summer. It's a fun little track and gives everyone a chance to do some Friday evening racing. Additionally, both the A.M.S.A. and M.M.S.A. are dipping their toe into the water with a few non wing events this summer.

It has been a hectic year so far for our shop (more on that later). We finally got started on our own FOZ G2 this week. While I really appreciate Greg Nicholas inviting me to run his car at Lawrenceburg and Waynesfield, I am anxious to get into my own equipment. Running other peoples stuff makes me nervous. The new G2 is off to a good start this year with Rod Henning scoring four victories including 2 at Lawrenceburg, 1 at K.C. Raceway Park and 1 at Waynesfield Raceway Park. Beau Stewart has also visited victory lane with the A.M.S.A. this season in his FOZ. Jamie Paul has a non-wing victory in his FOZ.

I took the day off from work on Friday and started assembling our new car. Although it seems like progress is slow, everything has gone pretty easy so far. Although it is probably pretty optimistic, I am hoping to be ready to go for next weekend. Here are a few pictures of some of the early work I have done so far on the car. Sorry the photos are a little blurry, I took them with my cell phone.

The table of goods...

My freshly powder coated frame.

The floor pan is now installed...

The steering box is installed...

The battery box... that's it for day one.

As I stated earlier, it has been a hectic and interesting year around the shop so far. I work in the steel industry during the day and have seen first hand how hard the recession has hit many of the fabricators and machine shops that we sell to. It seems like many of the companies that seemingly weathered the worst part of the recession are struggling to make it out the other side. Unfortunately many of the racing businesses we deal with have are suffering the same fates. Two of our primary vendors have closed up shop during the past few months. Although there absence has left a huge whole in our product offering—the worst part about it is that they are long time vendors and really good people.

Shortly after the beginning of the year S&S Headers closed up shop. S&S Headers were one of Speed Partz first suppliers. The owners of S&S Headers, Betty and Loren, were the kind of people that my dad really enjoyed dealing with—as honest and sincere of people as you could find. I am not sure that anyone understood what a service they were providing the mini sprint community. They built a great product that was economically priced (perhaps too low). I certainly had no idea how much was involved in building headers and mufflers into we started trying to find a replacement. I knew that Loren was really sharp, but was even more impressed when we took several different mufflers to test on the dyno and the S&S muffler out performed the rest. In the end the only way to address our issue was to start a separate company building headers and mufflers. We have been at it for well over six months now and are finally into full production mode. At the current time the new company, Viper Pipes, offers headers to fit the Yamaha R1, Suzuki GSXR 1000 and Kawasaki ZX-10. We also offer three different lengths of mufflers for upright mini sprints, modified midgets, dwarf cars and TQ midgets. Although the phrase ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ is trite it rings true of our muffler. Although quite a bit of research and tooling was required, we are confident that we have a muffler that measures up to those built by S&S.

The second blow to our product line-up was TP Wings decision to withdrawal from the production of wings. I am sure this was a tough decision for Larry Bland. Larry is a long time supporter of mini sprint racing and quite a shoe behind the wheel. In fact he and his wife even headed up the A.M.S.A. for a few years. TP Wings was known industry wide for the quality of their product. Building wings is a thankless job. Ask anyone that has even attempted to put a kit together on their own—there is a lot of time and effort that goes into constructing a wing for very little return. We had a whole loft full of wings that went very quick. I had my name on one of them and kept checking everyday when I stopped by at lunch to make sure it didn’t disappear. We spent the last few months looking for a replacement. Although we’ve had a lot of offers, in the end everyone comes to the same conclusion—it’s just not worth the effort. I am glad to announce that we now have a solution in place. We just loaded ten new top wings into our shop’s loft. Although a few are already spoken for, we still have some available.

While it has been great to see a few things finally come to a positive fruition, there are a others that have not. One of the biggest disappointments was my work on an economical tachometer. I had been working with a California based company on an offering that was perfect for motorcycle powered racing cars. It offered a lot of functionality for just $149. We completed our testing and the day I called to place my first stocking order, I was told that they had filed for bankruptcy. Now I find myself back to the drawing board.

Unfortunately the beginning of this year was so hectic that we didn't get the opportunity to do an open house. We rent the second half of our building out to a shop that deals in customized motorcycles. I always enjoy making a trip around the corner to see what cool things they have going at the time. They recently held an open house and boy do they know how to throw an open house. They had a great crowd, a band, stunt riders out in the cul-de-sac and plenty of food. If you're into bikes, your next trip to the shop should include a few minutes to visit Spitfire Customs and Out of the Box. Here are few pics of the open house.

I try to pick a driver for each of my blog posts that I feel is worthy of mention. If you look at the top of the A.M.S.A. leader board right now you’ll find a very deserving young man—Kevin Roberts Jr. The whole Roberts family has stepped up their efforts this year with new equipment and top finishes. One of the things I have always liked about Kevin Jr. is that he goes about his business with little fan fair, yet is generally near the top at the end of every racing evening. Last year he found victory lane driving old equipment. Over the winter he purchased Ryan Broughton’s new style ERC and has already been impressive. The Roberts are a competitive bunch. Kevin Sr. has told me on a few occasions that he doesn’t really think he can afford this, but wouldn’t trade the opportunity to spend time with his boys for anything.

I would also like to thank Kevin Spencer for his quick turnaround on the wrap for my wing. Kevin recently made a large investment in the equipment required to print wraps. Some of you might remember Kevin from the track were he competes in the mod-lites. For some of us that have been around even longer, you will remember his dad Kenny Spencer who drove mini sprints before switching to late models. Wraps are a cheaper alternative to paint and then vinyl. If you’re in the market be sure to visit Kevin’s website at http://www.ksvinylgraphics.com/.

I have to apologize, I have been crunched for time and haven't kept up with the use cars we have available through the shop. If your looking to get started we have two good deals available including a turnkey 1000cc Doemelt mini sprint that has been updated with all new FOZ Race Products parts and a Bailey that can either be purchased as a kit (plus some) or a roller. I hope to get them posted yet this weekend. If you're interested give the shop a call 513.874.2034

How about this for the ulimate racer's cooler. I guy recently dropped this off at the shop.

That’s all for now. Here’s hoping for good weather next weekend. I’ll try to post some pictures with progress on my new car through the week.

Wrap-up from Last Weekend

2010-05-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

Finally a great weekend for racing! We visited our first American Mini Sprint Association race of the year at Lawrenceburg Speedway. A very strong field of 28 cars showed up to take the green flag. There were several new cars in attendance. The Lawrenceburg facility seems to just get better and better every year. I am so lucky to have a facility within 30 minutes of my home. The noted improvements for this year are a paved entrance to the pits and gravel throughout the pits. I have never done a good job of drawing pills and it appears that I am not off to much better of a start this year. We drew third heat, third row inside. Unfortunately we haven’t cracked the code on the Honda yet; still running in safe mode. We just escaped the heat with a fifth place finish—enough to get us a spot deep in the field for the feature. I enjoyed watching the B-Main. There are several new drivers and quite a few look like they should be competitive pretty quickly. The first two laps of the feature seemed to take forever to get under our belt. For us it was one of those nights were just hanging in there provided a respectable 6th place finish. There were a few cars that were really fast for the night, but experienced mechanical difficulties. Although I would always prefer to be more competitive than we were, all in all it was a great evening of racing for us. I really appreciate Greg Nicholas letting me get my first few starts of the year in his car.

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

Although the primary driver in Merrill Calvert’s #3 mini sprint is son-in-law Ian Beveridge, you never know who will turn up when Ian is unavailable to drive. Saturday night evening it was short track midget ace Mike Fedorcak. Fedorcak’s claim to fame is the unique munchkin midget that he built in 1989. Since that time several more have been built for the winter indoor season. Fedorcak finished 8th in his heat race, 4th in the B main and 13 in the feature.

http://www.viperpipes.com/

A.M.S.A. owner Jerry Tague had several comments for the driver’s meeting. He noted that he remains very happy with his new weight rule and is convinced that it has created a more level playing field. He also commented on the July 24th non-winged race at Logansport Indiana’s US 24 Raceway. He said they recently tested Calvert’s 2 cars on the 1/6 mile oval and found it to be very racy. Visit the A.M.S.A. website (www.americanminisprints.com) for more information.

http://www.speedpartz.com/

One of the nice things about running with the A.M.S.A. is their attempts to make the group seem more like family. After the event on Saturday evening racers, fans and crews were treated to a barbeque dinner. A special thanks to Mert Tague and Sheila Calvert for preparing and serving up such a great meal.

http://www.adrenalinets.com/

I enjoyed the opportunity to spend a few minutes chatting with Jeremy Perdue (driver of the number 21 mini sprint). Jeremy is a pretty busy person. In addition to a full-time job, he also works for the Hoffman’s race team and spends a couple days a week training two fighters for cage fighting. Jeremy is in his second season of mini sprints and is a transfer from the TQs.

Great pictures from the American Mini Sprint Association race at Lawrenceburg are available at http://www.brandonmurrayphotos.com/p904056177.

It was great to see the car count both the A.M.S.A. and the M.M.S.A. enjoyed over the weekend. It’s always a concern with both groups running so close together on the same night. The A.M.S.A. had 28 cars and the M.M.S.A. had 20 cars. A total of 48 mini sprints running on the same night less than an hour apart is a pretty good indication of where this thing is going. The M.M.S.A. actually ran two features. One of the features was a make-up from two weeks ago when a damaged catch fence cancelled the nights racing.

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

I am proud to be part of a sport that still honors some of the fundamentals that our country is built upon. In an age when teachers have to be careful about even making reference to God, I am thankful that tracks like Lawrenceburg still start the evening with a prayer. The track chaplain has even started providing a short service prior to the evening’s festivities that is directed at drivers and crew.

I was recently invited to participate in a unique event. Although I haven’t matched it up against the calendar yet, I am hoping to participate. The event is called the 24 Hours of Lemons. It is a 24 hour race at Nelson Ledges Road Course that takes place in cars that have to be purchased for no more than $500. This doesn’t include safety equipment like seats, roll cages etc. Each team is required to have at least four drivers. I have been told that in previous years they have had as many as 100 teams in attendance. The variety of cars is pretty astounding. I’ve seen everything from a VW bus to vintage Mustangs. I’ll post more information as I find it out.

First race of the season and other stuff...

2010-05-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.shoxskinz.com/

I finally got my first race of the season in for 2010, a little later than I would have hoped and not in my own car, but enjoyable just the same. I have to thank Greg Nicholas for letting me run his car for the night at Waynesfield Motorsports Park. I have been axious to try the 2008 Honda CBR 1000 engine that he runs. We had a decent night, even though the engine kept going into 'Safe Mode'. Apparently 'Safe Mode' occurs when the motor senses there is a problem. It puts the motor into a state where it doesn't rev very high. We managed an 8th place finish against a tough field even though we ran almost the entire feature in 'Safe Mode'. We'll have to see if we can find a cure against this aggravating problem as I think the motor has real potential.

http://www.viperpipes.com/

I have always enjoyed racing at Waynesfield. It is really a fun track and overall great facility. Dean Miracle and staff did an excellent job of getting the race in as they worked against threatening weather. To their credit we were loaded, payed off and headed back for Cincinnati by 9:15. From what I was told, it was one of the most competitive fields that Waynesfield has seen so far this season with the introduction of their 1000cc class. When the dust settled, Rod Henning in his newly designed FOZ G2 chassis would take the win. I apologize for the shameless plug, but it is gratifying to see one of our cars take the win over some of the areas best equipment and drivers. It has been a good start to our season with Beau Stewart and Jamie Paul already claiming a victory also. There were a few drivers walking the pits that just don't have their cars together yet, but indicated they would be out in the next few events. I am hopeful that the car count at Waynesfield will continue to grow. It has the added benefit of having a go-kart track on-site also. Like Lawrenceburg, a competitor could start in karts, move to mini sprints and finally transition to sprints without ever leaving the Waynesfield Motorsports Park. It is definately a track that the mini sprints are lucky to have as an option on their calendar.

http://www.speedpartz.com/

I really wish I could have attended the event at Twin Cities Raceway Park a few weeks ago where the ASCT unveiled their new midget series. While the message boards have detailed the difficulties that plagued the evening, there was also a great deal of excitement generated by the event. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk about non-winged mini sprints/midgets. I have only had a chance to run a mini sprint without a wing a few times, but can tell you that I had an absolute blast. The ASCT has additional events planned for their midget series this year. While I certainly want to see the groups that are in existence supported, it appears that some of these events don't conflict with the other group's schedules. I hope that the ASCT midgets are well supported at these events. In total it appears that there could be as many as 12 non winged mini sprint dates available to competitors through the end of the season. The following dates (some tentative) have been posted by these groups either on their web pages or on Indiana Open Wheel. I would drop these promoters an e-mail to let them know that you are in favor of what they are doing. I have also heard rumors that Bakersfield Raceway Park in Linton, Indiana is considering turning their non wing 600cc upright class into a 1000cc non winged upright class. Not sure if this one is true or not.

June 4th - Montpelier Speedway - ASCT Midgets
June 25th - Salem Thunder Valley Raceway - MMSA - Salem, Indiana
June 26th - Scott County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Scottsburg, Indiana
June 28th - Shelbyville County Fairgrounds - MMSA - Shelbyville, Indiana
July 2nd - Union County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Liberty, Indiana
July 24th - U.S. 24 Speedway, Logansport, Indiana
August 6th - Union County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Liberty, Indiana
August 14th - U.S. 24 Speedway - MMSA - Logansport, Indiana
Sept 10th - Union Country Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Liberty, Indiana
Sept 11th - Union County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Liberty, Indiana
October 8th - Clay County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Flora, IL
October 9th - Clay County Speedway - ASCT Midgets - Flora, IL
July 24th - US 24 Speedway - Logansport, Indiana

http://www.minisprintbook.com/

I enjoy keeping track of some of the young talent that is currently competing in the midwest. I recently came across the website of Lynsey Tilton (http://www.lynseytiltonracing.com/). Lynsey is a young lady that has been competing in mini sprints for the last couple of seasons. Reviewing her website it was interesting to see that she has quite a racing resume. She has raced motorcycles, BMX, go-karts, midgets, sprints and is now competing in 1000cc mini sprints. While Lynsey appears intent on climbing the ladder, I am most impressed that she is using the mini sprints as an opportunity to continue to maximize seat time. I am really bothered by the path some of the so called 'driver development' programs have set young drivers on. There are a least a couple that I have been watching that have showed promise as drivers, but are currently spending all their time chasing sponsors, attending media events and attempting to play the role. The saddest thing is they are missing out on the best part of racing--being on track. I might be all wet since we have unfortunately reached a point where perhaps the marketing/pr role a driver must play might have surpassed a driver's role on the track. I have to give a shout out to Lynsey and family. It is nice to see someone chasing their dream while actually remaining grounded enough to know that seat time still plays an important role in driver development.

http://www.fozmarketing.com/

I apologize I didn't meet my goal of publishing another edition of Mini Sprint Racer magazine by the beginning of May. As is most often the case, time has been at an absolute premium. I have written a story about last year's MMSA champion Scott Bradley and have also written a few tech articles. Hopefully I'll get the chance to publish sometime soon.

More Viper Pipes progress

2010-04-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Finally we have the first several sets of pipes and collectors finished. It's taking a lot of time and effort, but with a little luck we'll get this Viper Pipes project all the way off the ground. Stay tuned.

Progress on my Viper Pipes Project

2010-03-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Although progress has been very slow coming, we are making slow progress on my Viper Pipes project. Here is a shot of our new Tri-Y collector. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

2010 Dealer Expo in Indy

2010-02-16T18:13:00.000-08:00

We spent the first half of the day Sunday at the 2010 Dealer Expo in Indianapolis. Although the show was smaller than in years past, it is still amazing how large the powersports industry is. It is always a fun trip. I am a big fan of all the cool graphics at the show. This year my daughter Sami went along. She really enjoyed it, but her biggest thrill of the day was getting her picture taken with Travis Pastrana. She is a big fan of Nitro Circus and came home with stickers and posters to plaster in her room and on her motorcycle.

The show is a great opportunity to search for new products for Speed Partz and I think we found a few that will be big hits. We are still working through the details, doing a little more research and hoping to release them in the very near future.

I am pretty excited about the next issue of our www.minisprintracer.com e-zine. I've received some help and I think it will be something that everyone will enjoy. We've got a few new advertisers, a few columnists and reviews of a few new products for our market. I am hoping to publish by month's end.

Mini Sprint E-Zine Will be Back

2010-02-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all that responded to our first Mini Sprint Racer E-zine. We've had over 1,000 people read our first edition and we are currently working hard to produce our second edition which we hope to launch sometime in late February. Although I am not sure where it will go we have several exciting things happening around the project. We've had a few people step forward that will be contributing articles. One area that I am looking forward to is a personal fitness trainer that will be providing us information on how to get our bodies ready for the upcoming season.

We've also had quite a bit of interest in doing another outing in the go-karts. I plan on announcing our next karting date in the next few days. For now the snow is falling, but racing season is not far away.

Indoor Race for Uprights, January 30th - Louisville

2010-01-19T05:54:00.001-08:00

Looking for cars to run exhibition race at Freedom Hall in Louisville Ky Saturday Jan 30. We will support a monster truck show. We've run this thing for about 10 years now, always had a lot of fun with it. The track is about the same size as Kemper. If you are interested call Bill at Dad's Muffler Shop 502-778-6833.

Mini Sprint Racers at the Chili Bowl

2010-01-14T17:49:00.000-08:00

Mini sprint racers should be feeling pretty good about the schedule for 2010. Most years its seems like we are waiting right up to the very last minute to see what our schedule is going to be, this year both the MMSA and AMSA have the majority of their races already booked. Looks like it is going to be a great season.
I wonder how many drivers at the Chili Bowl this year have roots that can be traced back to upright mini sprint racing. A few that I know for sure are Brad Kuhn, Shane Cottle, Matt Sherrill.