Hi Everybody,
As some of you know, there is a contingent of you that have experienced premature wear on the 2040 tires this year. I sent an e-mail to 3 of the Hoosier execs on Monday AM. I was very impressed with the response time and the professionalism they showed me.
Irish Saunders is the Director of Competition and he is responsible for all the testing and product development for Hoosier. Irish and I have been friends for about 10 years. Hoosier experienced the loss of Terry Newton this year as he retired early and it has provided Hoosier with some pains. Irish informed me today that he is aware of the problem and they have implemented the fix. He guarantees me that he can provide us with the same product that we have become accustomed to. We will have to get through our current inventory and look for better things with the next shipment.
The race at Stateline is upon us. Joe and I have struggled with his applications for the event. I couldn’t open his attachments with all the pertinent info and he has nothing but trouble with his server and his website. He is overnighting some applications to me so I can fax them to you. It is very important that we preregister so that parking is held for you. He would love for you to call him and let him know your intentions for the weekend and he will fax applications to you.
Parking starts on Thursday afternoon. If you have a big rig it is very important to get there and parked. There is an open practice on Thursday evening. It is open to all the cars that are competing that weekend. It is $10.00 per car with driver. Remember that dinner is provided after each event over the course of the weekend with your pit pass.
I had mentioned at the last drivers meeting that I may be able to help some of you with some expenses. I have had no response from anybody. It is really important to try and support this event. So please contact me if you are on the fence and I will try and help.
I will be gone Tuesday at about 1:00 for the rest of that day. I would love to get the tires to you this week or over the weekend if necessary.
If you have any questions, please call me or Joe..
Joe Doellefeld
208 661 5123 cell phone
Hey Guys and Gals,
I have been working with the Red Lion Templins Hotel in Post Falls, Idaho for favorable room rates. This hotel is beautiful in its setting right on the Spokane River. The view is phenomenal and the amenities are great. It has a fantastic bar for all you late nighters and the food is great at the restaurants.
The rates are 89.00 per night for doubles or singles. This is a very good rate. The rates are applicable starting on July 30th. The block is under Mike Minegar Racing. I don’t have any clue why they used that, unless they saw me race in 1969..
If you have any problems making reservations, please call Piper at 1 208 777 1417. Please use them if at all possible as Joe Dollefeld has been working hard with them for this event for a long time.
You won’t be disappointed.
Mike
The event is 100 laps. We will run heat races. Please remember that you start the day on your race tires purchased this year. There is no practice on anything else. We will be checking as you pull out for the first practice session. I would suggest you don’t even bring any other tires. That way no mistake can be made.
CarbonX will be putting on a little demonstration on their product during the drivers meeting. I also will have underwear to sell again if you didn’t buy last year, or you would like another pair for the incredible price of 50.00. Please be prompt on the meeting time.
I have all my team back for 2009. I’m very excited about that. No new people for you guys to break in.
I want to include some things I’ve worked on through the years. I’m always thinking about what makes a great driver. And I have other people around me that think of the same things. I started a list of attributes that great drivers have. I’m including this list for the less experienced drivers, the ones looking for role models in the pit area to emulate. If you want to be a winner both on and off the track, these are many of the things you have to work on. Also if you have anything to add to the list please feel free to email me your suggestions.
Thanks for all your participation. It looks to be another great year for the CarbonX Rocky Mountain Challenge Series.
Great Drivers:
Great Drivers are smooth, both on the throttle and on the brakes.
Great Drivers drive what they have.
Great Drivers are calm on the track and in the pit area.
Great Drivers are patient.
Great Drivers heed the officials and scorers.
Great Drivers help teach others to be better.
Great Drivers have great spotters.
Great Drivers let other drivers get straight if they do tag them.
Great Drivers don’t block on the racetrack or use their mirrors and radio’s for their betterment.
Great Drivers don’t point fingers and they accept responsibility for what they do on the track.
Great Drivers drive ahead of themselves on the track.
Great Drivers ask questions instead of assuming things.
Great Drivers don’t make high risk moves in early laps.
Great Drivers watch the flagman. Great
Drivers understand what makes their race car work.
Great Drivers don’t hang their race car outside of another car waiting for a line up.
Great Drivers know where their car is on the track.
Does the guy on the outside have enough room??
Great drivers act as a professional who represent themselves, the series, and the sport well.
Great drivers are positive role models for all ages.
Great drivers seek first to understand then be understood.
Great drivers find ways to improve the sport.
Great drivers take time to promote.
Great drivers work to make sponsorship a win-win equation.
Hi Peeps,
Hope ya’ll had a great Christmas and New Years celebration. I am still working on the schedule and as of yet it’s not totally nailed down. Doug is not prepared yet to commit as he has to do the drag race schedule in conjunction with the circle track. The Boise track situation is still in negotiations and is far from over. So bear with me and keep the faith. I want to tell you about a couple of rule changes that we are gonna make. I wanted to get these to you as soon as I could so that you could plan accordingly. There has been lots of talk over the last 5 years about track width differences between coil over cars and big spring cars. I have done research through the years that has made me satisfied that we have done the right thing.
With that being said, I think the time has come to revisit this rule package. Let me explain why at this time we are looking at changes. The perimeter “tour type” chassis is the most plentiful car out there. They can be found and purchased at fair and reasonable cost. These cars, as of about 7 years ago, were all built to be 56% left side bias. They also were designed to run heavier than our spec head engine weight of 2850. As a result, these chassis that run in our series always struggle with getting left side bias and running the lighter weight. They would always be forced to make a choice between the two. In the economic environment we are living in I want the tour chassis to be a viable alternative to the competitors.
I also believe that even if I sat down everyday and tweaked the rules there will always be a “car of choice” in the series. That is just a fact of life. The secret is to not have that go back and forth. So please understand that I have put lots of thought into these changes and have included several people in the process.
I also want you to understand that I’m creeping up on these changes so that the results can be read over an entire season. I think sometimes rule changes are knee jerk reactions to people complaining. This is not the case in this situation.
Two changes are going to occur. The first will be track width on the coil over cars will increase to 66”. Please keep in mind that I still want the body to cover the tires. This is very important because if your still running the tour body on your car it was built to only cover 63.5” of track width. The ABC body package can be tweaked around to cover the wider track widths.
The second change will be car weights. 50 pounds will be added across the board. Spec Head package will weigh 2900 pounds with the open motors at 3000 pounds.
Let’s move to the 604 crate motor package. I want to thank a couple of unnamed motor builders that I have been working with on these decisions. It occurred to me, with their help, that I didn’t want to build a set of rules around one engine. The crate engine, at this point, is an alternative package available to those who want a relatively inexpensive way to get involved. I will state again that I have no intention of making the crate the “preferred engine package” in this series. For 2009 I am leaving the carburetor open on the 604. At this point I don’t want to force anybody to buy a new carb. The 650 HP Holley seems to be the carb of choice but I want to leave it open. I am going to write a claim rule for the engine. The RMCS series only will have the right to purchase the engine for the GM replacement cost. The RMCS will also have the right to ask you to pull your engine for dyno purposes. If the engine dyno’s over what we feel is within the parameters of a pretty extensive database, we will confiscate the engine and return it to the competitor at the end of the season…or something of that nature.
The weight rule for 2009 will be 2750 lbs. We feel 150 lbs is a good weight break for the 604. Let me again explain why. There are several cars that are “Tour Type” chassis that are involved and want to compete with the 604 package. These cars are at a distinct weight disadvantage. In order to maintain any left side bias they are forced to weight them up. Hopefully this weight rule will help them with their cause.
As always with rule changes, I’m sure that these don’t satisfy all the masses. I’m hoping that they help the majority and affect a minority. If you have any questions please call Barack Obama on Jan 21st. 2009.
He will surely help with anything you may need.
Mike
Hey Everybody,
Thought it was time to catch you up on what’s happening. Went to Reno and saw a lot of people and made new friends. Always a busy three days but also can be fun. I met with Joe Doellefeld and pretty much locked up our date for the 200 at Stateline. We are working on the tire deal for the 200 right now. It will no longer be an 8 tire race. The RMCS will be officiating the 200 this year. Hopefully INNSA will go to the Hoosier 2040 with us. That would make things easier for all involved.
The schedule will be out by January 15th. At this point it looks to be 4 at RMR, 3 at MVS, and 1 at Stateline. The Boise deal is still being worked on. I wish I could tell you it was a sure deal but these things just seem to take longer than we would like. As soon as I know something concrete I will let you know.
I wanted to quickly address the 604 crate motor and it’s relationship to the RMCS. There are probably things you have heard and I want to put the rumors to rest. There are rebuilders out there that can give you a totally legal 604 that produces roughly 450-475 horses. These engines are sealed from the rebuilders and are deemed legal upon teardown. This is what I have been told by several reliable people. These engines price out at around $16,000.00. That is complete with all the pulleys, power steering pumps, carbs…etc. I want to emphasize the fact that I do not want to become a crate engine class. I have said it again and again. And this is exactly the reason I don’t want to become a crate engine class. I had a great talk this morning with the engine builder and we have been friends for a long time. He is going to do some dyno work for me with the 390 carb on one of these engines. I should know some numbers within a couple of weeks. This will help me determine what direction I am going to go with weights and tech. I am sorry this project has taken so much time but I want to make sure I’m doing it right for everybody. He also told me that he could build a nice spec headed motor for the same or less, that would have better parts and pieces and a few more horsies.
I am also in the process of doing RMCS t-shirts. They are gonna be cool. The winter time is best for getting these done. As soon as the artwork is done I will email it out to you and then you can order. If you would like sweatshirts let me know.
Till we talk again, Mike
Well the trip to Seattle went well and I spread the word about our series and also talked about our rules package. Lots of interest over in the WA. area They have been struggling with the two series trying to compete for the same tracks. Great news came out of the mettings with the merger of the Arca West Late Model Challenge Series and the ASA Late Model Tour. This was badly needed and I commend Jerry Loesch and Scott Ellsworth. The reason this means something to us is a couple of events in the future for us. I think we will wait to 2010 so they get there feet under them and get all the rules ironed out.
Off to Reno in the morning for the Promoters Workshop. Hopefully I can have a pretty accurate schedule in the next couple of weeks. The Chaparral deal continues on without any clear answers. I wish I could report that it was done but I can't. I have had two or three calls in the last week about people buying cars to run in our series so keep the faith and I will be back on here next week.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving....Mike
Hey Everybody, Thanks for the great banquet. Fun times had by all. Congrats to Dan Koyle for A-1 Heating Rookie of the Year. Also Thane Alderman for Sportsman of the Year. Steve Jones won the Five Star body. It was an evening filled with laughter and even a few tears. You guys and gals never cease to amaze me with your attitudes and fun loving spirit. I'm off to Seattle tomorrow with Steve York to give my talk about the success of our series. It won't be hard as I have tremendous feelings about what we have accomplished in five short years. I turn around and go to Reno for the Promoters Workshop on Dec 3rd. To tell you what a great wife I have, that is her birthday. She has been putting up with me missing it for 13 years. I feel real good about things at Magic Valley. Eddy and I have been on the phone every day since the banquet. Things are good.
Mike
