MoparStyle Racing Update

First off, we have a couple of NMC cars for sale and on eBay.

The first is the 10-second Demon my son Dallas has raced since he was 16 years old. He won the NMC class at Zmax earlier this year. I'll let the eBay ad give the details, or you can find them at www.MoparStyleracing.com

The other NMC car is a 12.0 car that I built for my daughter — but she never found the time to dedicate toward the sport. Again, go to the eBay ad or www.moparstyleracing.com for the details.

Next — is the 60 Plymouth wagon. I visited Texas Thunder on Friday, and Mark has assured me that the car will be ready for the first NMCA race in March — if we choose to race that series in 2010. It will receive the 580 motor just pulled from Big Red Ram (after it is rebuilt) and an automatic transmission. While the car has yet to be named — we know it will be "Texas Thunder" red with checkerboards and applicable graphics.

With the Memphis track being our closest haul, and now it closing — I'm thinking that I'll need to consider my options. Word is that there will be a 4-5 race NSS series running in the Heartland in 2010 — but it is a bracket race (write an number on the window), which I'm not a big fan of. I like running the NSS rules with the different classes. I'll wait for the details of that race series, and what track replaces the Memphis track.

Speaking of details, as soon as anyone knows the racing dates for NSS and/or NMC ins 2010 — please post the events at http://nssracing.ning.com/

I pulled the motor out of the Big Red Ram, and it will receive a set of steel rods, milled zero decked, new cam and springs, rings and bearings — and go into the Wagon. In the meantime, Diamondback Engines is putting together an aluminum 588CI that should be a good deal more powerful than the one that has been in the car for the last two years. I intend to run that Big Red Ram in non-points races where I can let it all hang out and not worry about points. Right now, the paint is being stripped from under the hood (Big Daddy's sig stays), a coat of primer, 4 coats of color, and 2 coats of clear so it will be nice and pretty when I open the hood next year.

While it isn't really NSS or NMC related — we're getting ready to squirt "Texas Thunder" Red on it, and reassemble as a 9-second, all motor, tube chassis true street with a small block.

Finally, on eBay I have a Charger 500 that was cloned (with real parts) into a Daytona back in the 70s. Check it out — and pass along to your friends if they might be interested. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290364469352&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Has The NMCA Become Regional?

I've always known that the NMCA was Eastern half of the US and I was on the outside border of it — but it appears that they're going to cater to the North-central region now. If you live in IN/IL/MI/TN/KY/OH you have five to six of the tracks within 500 miles. If you're a NSS racer — that is great because the Classics is also in that area — as will be a new series.

The closest track to me was Memphis — and it is 650 miles. The second closest (Bowling Green) is almost 1000 miles. Now that I've lost my closest track I hear all of the people in the 6-state region (most them not making more than two races in 2010) justifying why they should put another track in their stomping grounds (another race in Bowling Green or St. Louis) instead of accommodating others (without a single track within 900 miles) who would start to attend NMCA events if they got to know it. I'm getting the impression that NMCA is listening to the North-Central racers because of a statement they've got a call in to St. Louis.

Well Gateway is nice — but two weeks prior to the NMCA Nationals is the Monster — at Gateway. The week before that is the Bush race. Based on how busy they already are in late September and early October, and the reputation that they've gotten with regards to out of control of track rentals — I would guess that might be a hard track to get for the Nats — or at least the most expensive track.

I'd asked why they didn't make it easier for the Texas racers here — especially knowing of all of the NSS and NMC racers. I was told last year that they tried Houston once — and it didn't get a draw. Well if they're going to compare an one-time half-hearted attempt many years ago against tracks that may have had 15 races in the last 25 years — then no argument will work. I believe that's where we're at.

While in Memphis — the worst kept secret was the 4 or 5 race series that features NSS starting next year in the Heartland. While there were 32 pissed off NSS racers waiting for two hours in the staging lanes for a track cleanup after an accident, that after 7 hours since the first round because of bracket races, and add to that dew falling all over the cars making it impossible to see out of the windshields (yet NMCA was obviously going to run us anyway) the number of people claiming they'd run that new series instead of NMCA next year appeared to grow.

Why I've felt welcomed by the NMCA — those NSS racers who have been racing with the series a lot longer than I say that treatment of they NSS drivers gets worse every year. At one time it was one of the big classes of NMCA — but now while it is only one of the largest classes of participants, it is not really appreciated for it. Many feel that NMCA could take us or leave us — and if the class were to go away — no sweat off their ass. I'm personally wondering if those guys might be right with that opinion.

I was asked by a couple different people if Dallas and I would commit to run this new series — with promises of bigger purses. I said that we were going to commit to run the entire NMCA series — as I really have a strong goal for a Championship ring. I did say that we'd run whatever races that weren't a conflict with NMCA.

Now I'm starting to wonder about that decision — and if I should do it the other way — where I run the new series and any NMCA race that isn't too far and doesn't conflict. I guess if there isn't a National (or even just an Eastern US) series — I might as well run a Central-Central series over a North-Central Series.

But it makes me wonder if maybe a few of us ought to get together and plan a true Eastern or maybe a true Southern (Texas to Florida) series for just NSS and NMC — and contact tracks to piggyback with other events. A couple of smart guys could put together a package to go to PRI this year and present to the big vendors for contingencies — convincing them that the contingencies would be heavily policed. It would only be for two classes per event — and we might be able to convince enough of them, if they had proper assurances. With the tracks — if we could find events needing a little help on the draw at the quarter mile tracks — we might be able to convince them to have the entire NSS and NMC entry fees to go 100% into the purses.

I know that there are quite a few of us wanting to run a series, but don't have one we feel appreciated at — or that we can afford to run because of the distances.

Your thoughts?