Mud Drag Rules

[BadDawg]

I have been in contact with the folks who run the Soda Springs race. They sent me their rules for this year and said they agree with us that Aftermarket blocks do NOT belong in Pro Stock and below. I haven't gotten an answer back yet about what they think about classing diesel trucks. Up untill now they have not distinguished between them and anyother "Stock" truck. I will attach a copy of their rules for your reading pleasure.

[markh]

Looks good. I will print it out and compare with our revised rules. Seems like it mirrors our rules.

May 5th is getting close, Is everyone ready???

[BadDawg]

I just got a reply back from Dale Mason (he's my contact in Soda for the rules). Here is what he said about the diesels. Sounds like they deal with them the same as we have.


Darrell,

We always place the diesel trucks that have been chipped or programmed up into Pro stock, when they chip the computer it is essentially changeing the stock ignition, so that puts it into the pro stock class. If the truck comes stock from the factory, which all the diesels come with turbos now, and have no tire modifications or suspension, we would put it into stock. We very rarely have had any diesel trucks enter our race and the ones that have entered they have been chipped and we put them into prostock. You make a very good point though, but I don't know haw many you would get to enter if you had a class for them.

Thanks

Dale Mason

[rickje]

In Pro Stock #4 says naturally aspirated single carb, and factory fuel injection. So if the diesel is running a turbo that is all right? Just sounds f*** up to me

[BadDawg]

Here is the message I sent to Dale asking about the diesel issue:

"Hi Dale,

........................................
............Thank you for a copy of your rules. We had another question about the rules. We have had a few folks upset that they have to run against Diesel trucks that now come with factory turbos and lots of horsepower and torque. Not to mention that they can be "programmed" to add well over 100 to 200 more horsepower. So far all these truck owners have been up front with what they have done and we have played it by ear when we tech them in. However, we foresee issues that could pop up. The tough part is that a completely stock diesel truck shouldn't be bumped up into a class where they have to run against highly modified rigs. We considered creating a class just for diesels but there may not be very many in that class. Have you folks thought about this at all?

Thanks for getting back to me. Hope to see you this year in Soda.

Darrel"

You already read Dale's answer. I plan to look into this more as I check out the other major mud racing organizations rules (again).

Like I had said before, I can see both sides to this. If the rules were written to include FACTORY turbos would that work? On the other hand, If I were to show up with a showroom stock full sized diesel truck and I was told I had to run it all the way up in the Mud Modified class because it came with a turbo I would be very upset.

Sometimes I think it would be easier to do the rules like we did in SAND drags....A weight to cubic inch ratio in all classes. That way a 6000 pound, 300 hp full size pick-up wouldn't have to race a 1500 pound, 300 hp Jeep. But we had problems there too because there are always those who lie about how big their engines are.

So far I haven't seen a good answer yet, other than creating a diesel class or two. :what:

[markh]

I think Dale hit it on the head, if we have a Diesel that has a modded computer then they should be in PS, other wise it would be classed based on tire size and such. The turbo is afterall a stock engine component.
I don't think we will be seeing that many Diesels to warrant making new classes for them, if we do see lots of Diesels domminating their classes then we could consider making a set of seperate classes for them. But why cut the pie into so many little pieces if we don't have to.

[GlenC]

I dont see why this is such an issue. I think the rules are fine the way they are. When the rules are written up the people who write the rules try to think of everything they can then blend it together to make it fair to as many people as possible. There are always one or two items that makes somebody unhappy. What is wrong with a bone stock diesel truck with a factory turbo racing in stock class? If the same diesel truck has 37 inch tires and a chip it gets moved up in classes. Why is this not fair? You have a six to eight thousand pound diesel truck going up against trucks that are a little more than half that weight. Not only do I not see an advantage to the turbo diesels but the couple of trucks that race with us rarely even place. I raced my 01 Ford a couple of years ago in Mountain Home when we broke the spider gears in the Willys in order to not lose the points. It was chipped, lifted and had bigger tires. Not only did it not place I had to be towed out. If anything I would think the diesel truck owners would think its not fair to run against a 300 hp Jeep.

If we try to rewrite the rules every time to account for every possibilty there would be 30 classes with one or two trucks running each class. Last but not least before I get off my soap box consider how many upgrades can be done to a truck with a carburated gas engine compared to a truck with a turbo diesel engine.

[BadDawg]

:popcorn: This has been soooo much fun. I agree that leaving things as they are is best. From my research and emails it appears that the HMRA and NMRO don't distinguish between diesels and anything elce. The rules that address turbos, blowers and injection systems are aimed toward Gas engines because of the BIG advantage they recieve from those add-ons. If a gas engine came with a factory turbo then it appears that it's considered STOCK too (i.e. Toyota V6 Turbo, Supercharged Land Rovers, etc.).

Have we beaten this enough???

[diff-dragger]

Too much of this,:whine: not enough of this:drive:. It's real simple: If you don't like the rules, then don't race.

[rickje]

Well as far as I can tell from reading the rules I can't see eny where it is ok to run a turbo on gas or deisel but when we change the rules to make some people happy and just say that is the way it is that is some f*** up racing.

[Chevycrew]

I say leave the rules alone, too late to be changing things now... rick if the turbo is stock, its allowed, the rules clearly state "stock" injection systems allowed. This includes factory turbos on gassers or diesels, just like the larger tires allowed for h2's because its "stock"