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January 2002 This is The Racers Network ™ Monthly Newsletter. We hope that you enjoy the following articles. Contents: We hope that you find this issue to be informative. If you have any suggestions for Future issues, or have an article or story you would like to contribute Please send e-Mail To the following address fwallace@racer-net.com ********************************************************************** Dearborn, Mich., Dec. 2001 -- Ford Racing and the United States Auto Club (USAC) today announced the formation of the Ford Focus Midget Car Series presented by the Southern California Ford Dealers. This new series will begin competition in spring of 2002 and contest a tentative 20-race schedule at as many as six tracks in Southern California. A cooperative effort between Ford Racing Technology, S.C.R.E.A.M (Small Car Racing Engines and More) of Torrance, Calif., and USAC, the Ford Focus Midget Car Series is designed to address the growing need for affordable, reliable, entry-level racing opportunities. Midget racing has long been recognized as a preferred venue for young aspiring drivers, and the Ford Focus Midget Car Series is designed to give young racers a cost-effective avenue to pursue racing. "We hope the Ford Focus Midget Car Series becomes one of the first steps for young, aspiring drivers looking to go racing," said Dan Davis, director, Ford Racing Technology. The Ford Focus Midget Cars will be based on the current Midget car chassis but will be powered by an internally stock, 2.0-liter Ford Zetec engine currently found in the Ford Focus the No. 1 selling car in the world. A reliable and affordable foundation for the series, this engine was developed by Ford Racing Technology and S.C.R.E.A.M. and generates 175 horsepower at 7,000 rpm. But more importantly, it's designed to last an entire season with no significant maintenance. "Building this program around the production 2.0-liter Ford Focus Zetec engine made complete sense," said Davis. "The engine is such a capable powerplant that the performance was there from the beginning. We didn't need to change anything internally within the engine to get the performance we were after." Ford Racing Technology and S.C.R.E.A.M. have developed an engine that's affordable, reliable and basically maintenance-free when compared to other forms of entry-level racing series. Adding to the value to this program, the Southern California Ford Dealers will contribute to the Ford Focus Midget Car Series purse, making it one of the most attractive purse structures of any entry-level race series in the country. "The Southern California Ford Dealers are very excited to be part of this new series," said Sam Scott, Ford Division Racing Marketing manager. "We know our customers are interested in racing at all levels and this new series gives the Southern California Ford Dealers a way to become involved on a regional level. The dealers see the value and benefits of associating Focus with racing and they think their customers will too." "The long-term plan for this program is to grow it beyond Southern California," said Davis. "Ideally, we'd like to have a number of regional series eventually competing under a national umbrella program that could even lead to a national championship." ********************************************************************** Memphis, TN., Dec. 2001 -- LMTRA is currently in the planning stages. It is the goal of the series to develop a Professional staff, finalize rules and determine an attractive points and payout program for racers. After examining the rules and requirements of several series, it has been determined that a low-cost, high horsepower, but very safe form of truck racing needs to be established and entrench itself by competing on paved ovals and road courses within 300 miles of Memphis, Tennessee. Late Model, full sized Silverado, F-150, and Ram series, (1996 and newer) Chevrolet, Dodge, and Ford fiberglass bodied trucks with full roll cages, 6500 rpm V-8 350, 351, and 360 cubic inch based engines racing on paved ovals and Road Courses. It is the goal of LMTRA to promote the series in the most professional manner as possible. This series is not, and will never, be about "buying" a championship. If horsepower need be regulated, it will be through the use of rev-limiting chips. These will be installed by LMTRA officials in the only series legal sparkbox, the MSD 6AL. We hope to never have to use the chips, but if RPMs constantly exceed 6500 rpms, or one or more makes of truck show an unfair performance advantage, rev limiters will be imposed. If you compete in at least 75% of the LMTRA series races, you'll be competing for a year end Championship. A very nice season end check, magazine articles, and other promotional material will be included. LMTRA is proud to announce we will have guaranteed payouts all the way through the field. Even if you finish last, you will earn some money. We feel racers should be compensated, no matter their luck that weekend. For more information, e-Mail LMTRA at: lmtratrucks@yahoo.com Or visit the LMTRA web site at: http://www.lmtra.freeservers.com/index.html ********************************************************************** NASHVILLE, Ind., Dec. 2001 -- Officials from the American Speed Association have announced that the mandated engine program for the upcoming 2002 ASA Racing Series season remains unchanged. The series will continue utilizing the General Motors Vortec ASA 5700 introduced prior to the 2000 season . The announcement comes after months of negotiation between ASA and GM regarding a GM proposal that the Pendleton, Ind., sanctioning body mandate an upgraded version of the sealed, factory-produced engine. "In the best interest of the series, we have decided to continue utilizing the current engine package configuration for the 2002 season," commented ASA Executive Vice President Brian R. Robbins. "GM Powertrain and the Vortec Engine Brand had asked us to consider utilizing an upgraded version of the engine for 2002, but we simply ran out of time to mandate a change." Beginning in 1998, General Motors and ASA embarked on a joint venture with the objective of introducing electronic engine management to oval track racing, utilizing a high-performance, factory-built powerplant similar to the LS1 engine package currently found in Chevrolet Corvettes and Camaros and Pontiac Firebirds. After two years of extensive research and development, ASA announced it would mandate the use of a sealed engine for the 2000 season, manufactured by General Motors at the Romulus Assembly Plant just outside Detroit, Mich. With minor modifications to the production engine, the GM Vortec ASA 5700 was introduced to stock car racing in March of 2000 at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. Over the course of the past two seasons, ASA drivers have logged 483,881 laps or 270,600 miles on the engines in 40 nationally sanctioned events, with minimal failures. In addition to the remarkable durability of the engines, perhaps the most notable benefit has been the economic impact for the teams competing in ASA. The GM Vortec ASA 5700 engines are sold to the teams for just $12,000 each, and several teams have either run a full 20-event season utilizing a single engine or have run 20 or more events with the same engine over the course of the last two years. Compared to the aftermarket V6 powerplants utilized by ASA teams from 1992 through 1999, each costing $30,000 or more, it has been suggested that the Vortec program has reduced the teams' engine budgets by as much as $100,000 per season. The announcement to continue with the current engine package was made during the 2001 ASA ACDelco Series National Awards Banquet at the Opryland Hotel Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday evening, December 7. The 20-event 2001 ASA Racing Series season is scheduled to begin on March 23-24 at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida and will make its second visit to the West Coast for the April 6 and 7 weekend with preliminaries and qualifying on Saturday night followed on by a nationally-televised (live on TNN) Sunday afternoon race at 1pm pacific standard time. ********************************************************************** Irwindale, Calif. - - Irwindale's new NHRA Street Legal Dragstrip will accelerate in to full swing in the 2002 season with regularly scheduled racing events on three Sundays and its very popular "test and tune" sessions on two Thursday evenings per month. A number of special events featuring individual car clubs or corporate entities will fill in the ambitious schedule very soon. NHRA Street Legal Drag Races will take place on the first and third Sundays of each month with NHRA Junior Dragsters taking to the 1/8th mile 'Strip on the last Sunday of the month. On the first and third Thursdays of each month Irwindale's already Thursday night "Test and Tune Sessions" will hold forth starting at 4:00 pm with everyone welcome to try their hand at cutting a good light and laying down a hot 660-foot pass. Irwindale drag racing director Jim Partridge has been very pleased with the initial response to the facility. "We got a terrific start at the end of 2001, but we're still learning, still trying to make the program as responsive as we can to what our competitors want to see," said Partridge. "Our track crew has really come together, the facility is second to none, and the competitors really seem to enjoy our style of operation. We are very much looking forward to the 2002 season and expanding on the popularity that we're already enjoying, this track is something that's already become a strong part of the community and will be even more so in the coming year." The Dragstrip now has a 24 hour information line: (626) 305-1562 ********************************************************************** SpeedVision, which covers all forms of motor racing, was acquired by the FOX television network in July 2001. SpeedVision will change its name to Speed Channel, when it is re-launched on Feb. 11, 2002. Speed Channel will contain a "channel within a channel" which will be devoted exclusively to NASCAR. NASCAR TV will feature nine hours of NASCAR programming each day. The programming will include enhanced race replays and highlights as well as qualifying for Winston Cup and Busch series races. It will also feature classic races, news, and talk shows. The Speed Channel, based on SpeedVisions current base, will be available in 45 million homes. The NASCAR TV portion of the programming will air from 3 PM to midnight on weekdays. There were petitions and e-Mail campaigns against the FOX/NASCAR take over of Speedvision, but all attempts have failed. Right now, no one knows what programming will be removed to make room for NASCAR TV. So...... if you want to view sports car, F1, boats, motorcycles, airplanes, and every other form of racing....... You better make sure that your VCR is good-to-go. ********************************************************************** In the year of 2001 The Racers Network was visited by over 1,310,300 "unique" visitors, and produced in excess of 15,694,700 hits. Not only are these statistics outstanding, but more importantly we produce results. Below is the response from a current The Racers Network user, who recently sold his Vintage Race Car. Hi, I wanted to thank you for your web site that sold my Crossle Sports racer listed in the Vintage section under Vintage cars. Can you please add it to the list of SOLD cars. Thanks, I will definatley use your site for the next car I need to sell! Sincerely, Jeff Jagusch http://www.racer-net.com/vintg029.htm (this ad was posted 11/21/2001 and marked as sold 12/21/2001 ** NOTE ** In the last 3 months (Oct - Dec), we have been responsible for selling 48 race cars and trailers for a combined total of $1,027,195.00. The Monthly Sales Report is a new feature for the site. Check it out http://www.racer-net.com/salesrep.htm ********************************************************************** Do you have the need to race the Big Boys? How about in a NHRA Pro Street car? The Racers Network has the solution to your desires. It's classified advertisement is as follows: 1965 Chevelle Malibu. Turn Key, Garaged car. Big block motor by Zimmerman ($11,000 invested in engine), new trans. Dyno over 600 H.P. Ready to race the big boys. Indiana. Possible trade. $13,500.00 Phone: Bill (765) 483-0870 e-Mail: jwest@in-motion.net The Advertisement can be seen at: http://www.racer-net.com/nhrsp011.htm ********************************************************************** We are striving to make The Racers Network the best place on the internet to buy or sell race cars, trailers, transporters, parts, and tickets. We believe that we are presenting the classified advertisements the way that you want to see them. But, we also realize that there is always room for improvement. We value your input and ask that you let us know about ways in which we can improve. Send e-Mail to fwallace@racer-net.com ********************************************************************** The Racers Network is the #1 ranked InterNet site for MotorSports classified advertisements. We offer affordable advertising opportunities. With over 15,694,700 hits in 2001, we are the perfect place to have your company seen by racers worldwide. We are trying hard to be the best source on the Internet for racing related classified advertisements, and we are succeeding. We need your support. For information about advertising your company on The Racers Network go to: http://www.racer-net.com/adinfo.htm ********************************************************************** See You Next Month !!! |
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