Elite changed chassis? (1 Viewer)

I think a lot of this is follow the leader. "That guy goes fast so I have to have what that guy has." Happens in every class of racing. Happened in Top Alcohol Funny Car when I ran it for 25 years. There is an old saying. "There's a million ways to go slow, but only one to go fast."

I spoke to a current NHRA Pro Stock multi car team owner I've known for years when shopping for a car for myself, and he said Rick Jones' cars are second to none with regard to quality, fit and finish. He also said many feel the chassis tuning window is larger on a Haas car compared to other manufacturers of pro stock cars. He buys Haas. More people run Haas cars so there's more data on them. But like someone said, a lot of them are rebodied older cars (possible years old) and they have a lot of data on them. You don't see many two or three year old cars for sale very often.

When I was researching Pro Stock Camaro options to run in Top Sportsman I heard in the pits all the reasons to buy from every one of the chassis builders (including opinions on Bickel's cars not mentioned here) and I heard all all the reasons to avoid every one of them, too. I like nice stuff so in the end I was purposely looking for a Rick Jones' car. I spoke to Rick Jones about building a new car but the price meant I would have to put my retirement plans back a week or two. Rick, and the guys I talked to there, are great guys BTW.

A few weeks ago I finally found what I was looking for. A Pro Stock Camaro built by Rick Jones that has won in IHRA, that has been very well taken care of by it's owner, crew and crew chief, and has very low runs on it. It's run in the 6.20's at 226 without nitrous straight as an arrow. I just bought it as a roller less engine and trans and I'm waiting for it to be shipped to me. Plus it's my favorite color (see avatar).

These are file photos:

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Looking good! You going to build your own engine or major supplier?
Inquiring minds want to know!
 
I talked to Chris Magaha and he said the Hass cars are more forgiving on the chassis tune up. That's what I had been thinking. RJ builds a great car and he is still with the team. Winning is all important!
 
Isn't a turbo motor the best bang for the buck ????

I would think the same thing. However, if Pro Mod is any indicator, I don't know how well you could stage one with the necessary accuracy required for bracket racing. Maybe it's different on the lower powered turbo cars, I don't know........

Sean D
 
Ken Maune I've been told the turbo cars don't repeat as well as the other combinations when the weather moves around. And since top sportsman is a dial in class that might be a problem.

Marc White thanks for the tip. :) But I don't want to chase nitrous bottles all weekend. And on a related note, I like superchargers but I also like the idea of a clean look with no hood scoop or superchargers and injectors sticking out of the hood.

I'm picking up a super gas car next Wednesday in Ohio that has a fresh all aluminum Brodix 598 from PAL with SR20 heads on it. And it's supposed to have around 1,300 hp with one carb. I'm trying to work out a deal with the seller because he has a near new 555 Procharger motor he wants to sell that makes 2,100 hp. If that engine deal doesn't work out I may just pull the 598 out of the super gas car and stick it in the Camaro to see what it does. Using the hp and weight calculators on line they say it should run around 7.10-7.20 with it but I'm not that optimistic. With the way the class is going you might not make a 32 car field running that slow. And it isn't a hipped block which means you can't add too much more power to it without risking tearing it up. The 598 has a brand new rotating assembly.
 
Looking good! You going to build your own engine or major supplier?
Inquiring minds want to know!

The problem is I want to be a BBQ racer after killing myself for 25 years in TA/FC. At my age (still younger than Marc White) I'd like to go back to the old days at Orange County where when we were bracket racing the big decision was tri tip or cheeseburgers on the grill. And because I know nothing about anything with regards to fast bracket racing I think I would be smart to grab a hold of someone else's years of experience instead of forging my way through the forest on my own. Some here know things aren't going so well at home right now with my beautiful wife and I don't see myself being able to put the kind of time it would take just to round everything up and then assemble the thing. That's why I jumped on a turn key super gas car thinking I could buy a great car and go to Fontana on a Saturday for a break. And before I've even had time to go get it I thought about it I decided maybe top sportsman would be more my style, so now I have two cars in escrow, so to speak. Either way it should be fun. The super gas car is a Charlie Stewart '63 Corvette so should sell quickly if that becomes the decision.
 
RG, Trust me after a weekend of working on our fuel car the advanced age sure lets me know I'm no spring chicken anymore. And It's only gonna get worse with this years baby big show car. BUT, I'm way to stupid to listen to the aches and pains and quit. I love it way to much! Looking forward to following your Top Sportsman baptism. Even if it's sans hood scoop. Again, that Camaro is just gorgeous.
 
Sean I've heard similar stories about JH. He must look at all the cars he's built kinda like they're his "children". Doesn't matter who owns them or what class they are in now. He watches out for them.
Tony Maglizzi was that way. Only if you were one of his customer's he treated you like his son or daughter! Man, I really miss that guy!!
 
Anyone at the 4 wide today see if Enders and Jeg are in the same Haas cars that they were racing in Houston?
 
Randy, I'm just curious as to how you're going to be able to work on a door car after all those years with the flopper. That after the body is off everything is in the open.
 
Randy, I'm just curious as to how you're going to be able to work on a door car after all those years with the flopper. That after the body is off everything is in the open.

I'll just turn on the factory air and relax. My hope is there is significantly less to do on it. No more between rounds motor swaps, that's for sure.
 
Randy, the one thing you are going to immediately notice in TS is that consistency and not perfection is all that matters. You can perfect your set up over a year or more, but at any one race all the car needs to do is be consistent .... it can have 10 problems and still repeat. I vote for venturing out with your own set up and slowly working it to your own perfection .... in between turning the meat on the grill. Spare valve train parts is your number 1 reason for spares (if you have a good tranny) because making HP is a little hard on those parts.
 
Enders in a post race interview today mentioned they changed cars at a previous race and were running better. Near the starting line after Enders won they interviewed her crew chief, Rick Jones, and he said they were running better since making some changes.

Neither of them mentioned that the car change was to a Jerry Haas chassis.
 
Alan gets to go first. LOL. After Pomona was good to us in 2012 I announced my retirement from racing. What I actually meant to say was "In my retirement I'm going racing." :)
Nice car, may good luck follow you wherever you race
and keep the shiny side up
 
In his finish line interview after winning Nobile mentioned how great his new Car was. He specifically said it was a Jerry Haas car.
 
The nice thing about top sportsman is that if my RJ car is .001 slower I can change the dial in. :)

I met up with this world famous guy this week to pick up the owner's package, Racepak stuff and to arrange final shipping of the car. As you would expect, he took me to one of the Baltimore area's finest hole in the wall Italian restaurants for lunch.

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Randy, the one thing you are going to immediately notice in TS is that consistency and not perfection is all that matters. You can perfect your set up over a year or more, but at any one race all the car needs to do is be consistent .... it can have 10 problems and still repeat. I vote for venturing out with your own set up and slowly working it to your own perfection .... in between turning the meat on the grill. Spare valve train parts is your number 1 reason for spares (if you have a good tranny) because making HP is a little hard on those parts.

Right you are. Frank Gugliotta and I had a long lunch conversation about procharger equipped smaller combinations like Chip Rumis runs verses 800+ cubic inches naturally aspirated. I'm undecided. But the decision will be based on the HP vs maintenance issue. Frank thinks 800+ cubic inches with fuel injection would be the best option for lower maintenance hp without the snorkel scoop on the hood. I don't want to mess with nitrous bottles.

This is in JR Carr's new Jerry Haas car. They DNQ'd last weekend.

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Randy.
Tommy Turner out of Florida has a Schmidt combination, 948 cubic inches, no nitrous, runs 6.40-6.50 all day long and I don't believe it's any kind of maintenance headache. Just start it up and drop it in drive. It's so reliable you could dive it to In&Out if you didn't feel like firing up that grill.

Can't wait for my test drive.
Alan
 
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