Looking ahead to the 2011 racing season

Looking ahead to the 2011 racing season at Beatrice Speedway, it looks like there will be some changes made for the better. At Octoberfest 2010, pro-ams were allowed to race with the factory stocks. When the announcement was made, there was a lot of discussion on the DirtDrivers message board about the rules.

Current pro-am rules at I-80 Speedway at Greenwood mandate 3,400 lbs minimum weight, 360 cubic inch engine and 11 to 1 compression with a 4412 carburetor. They also use a different tire. Factory stocks at Beatrice are similar to IMCA stock cars with the exception of having to weigh 3,100 lbs, running a 4412 carb, being able to add a spoiler and hood scoop and allowing IMCA Hoosiers or American racer tires. There is no cubic inch or compression rule.

The discussions on the message board suggested that the factory stocks would be faster because the rules would give them the advantage. A pro-am started on the pole in one of the heat races and won. He started up front in the Feature and finished 7th. We had 17 cars race in the factory stocks at Octoberfest. I don’t think we had that high of a car count during the regular season. Also consider that there were a few of the regular weekly cars that weren’t at Octoberfest. If they had showed up, we would have had over 20 cars in factory stocks that night!

I talked to one of the pro-am drivers about the difference in cars. He feels that when the newer “metric” cars started showing up on the racing scene, the front geometry of the pro-ams was a lot better than that of the metric cars. However, the metric cars have improved with being allowed weight jacks and “correcting” the upper control arm mounts for better steering geometry. He feels that the metric car currently has the upper hand in the handling department.

Beatrice had IMCA sanctioned stock cars but they were dropped when the car count became too low. IMCA touts their point fund, but unless you race multiple tracks, their point fund might come close to paying the cost of your license. When Beatrice raced pro-ams, there were rumors for several years that they would be dropped and naturally the car count dropped until they were dropped from the program. There have been rumors since about 2004 or 2005 that the factory stocks were being dropped and the car count has suffered.

There are still a few pro-ams sitting in garages in our area, and there are pro-ams currently being raced that would come to Beatrice at least on a part time schedule if they were allowed to. One of the pro-am guys I talked to is building a car for his son, so that would make 2 new cars at Beatrice Speedway at least part of the time.

I would propose that the pro-ams be allowed to race at Beatrice under the same rules that the factory stocks currently use. Let them weigh 3,100 lbs and have the engine of their choice, instead of being limited to 360 cubic inches and 11 to 1 compression. They already use the same carburetor. Let them run their pro-am tire, the Hoosier IMCA tire or the American racer. Remember, more cars in the pits mean more people in the grandstands.

I have heard that some of our local teams will be changing classes in 2011. At least one hobby stock driver is moving to a factory stock, and a modified driver is having a factory stock built. I also heard that a couple more factory stocks are being built in the Fairbury area. Hopefully everybody who raced factory stocks at Beatrice in 2010 will be back, and with the anticipated newcomers, our car count will increase.