So alot has changed since I've last updated this... didn't realize its been almost 5 months since I gave an update. At this point, the car hasn't changed much due to just trying to save up the money for the expensive parts to complete the rebuild (shocks, springs, wing). But even after that, I would still need to sink in another $7k-$8k to get it exactly where I want it. Building it is one thing, racing it is another. As most of you know, there just aren't any road courses very local to the Knoxville/Crossville area. Nashville was the closest, but its been shut down for now. Road Atlanta is the next closest at 4 1/2 hours away. The rest are all 5-10 hours away. Diesel fuel costs, plus all racecar expenses (tires, brakes, fuel, fluids) are just very expensive. While I'm sure I could compete with my car just fine the way it was before the wreck (with no aero), it just won't be a front running car when someone has all the aero parts on their car. It would be like taking a SS prepped vette and running it against ASP vettes.
So, the plan is to sell off all the parts I've been accumulating. I had a new clutch, hood, front fascia w/ splitter, lexan windows, 2-piece rotors, extra set of CCW Classic rims, 2 sets of Hoosier tires saved up but will now all be sold. That money will be used to finish building the car back the way it was. The biggest difference in the setup will be that I switched from a leaf spring setup, to a coilover setup. I found a good deal on a used set of single-adjustable coilovers and those will be installed on the car. I already had a stock hood and front bumper and those will now be installed instead of the aero parts. The biggest things to complete now at this point will be to paint the car, and get the ABS fixed (it was leaking the other day and its possible we might've damaged it when we took it off earlier this year to get the frame fixed). I will also be installing the control arms back on the car as they will now have PolyE bushings instead of stock rubber bushings.
This should let me finish the car up by hopefully September 1st. The car will go to paint and get painted back the way it was before the wreck. I plan to race the car at Nasa's event in South Carolina at the Carolina Motorsports Park November 10th-11th. If everything goes ok and the car does well and has no problems, it will go for sale at that time. I won't be racing it anymore and it will remain for sale before I move on to the next project.
I just don't feel that I can financially "play" with the guys in the class that I run in. I know in the next coming years, I will have a house payment and I just can't see me road racing at this point and doing that too. Maybe in a few years I can come back to it again and run the same class. Without any sponsors, very little prize money and all the funding coming from me, it's very difficult to keep pace with other competitors.
But its not all gloom... once the car sells, I plan to stay in racing. I feel like this racing will be much more affordable and much easier for me financially. It will be completely new to me and I'm sure very challenging. I grew up watching it as a kid and always thought it would be cool to run those type of cars. Now is the time to give that a shot. I won't give it away just yet... but I think it will be fun and I'm looking forward to the transition.
So yeah, I'm going to give dirt a shot and looking to get into the late model class. But it will be in the crate/limited late models and not the super late models. Biggest difference would be a crate motor that you can't touch vs. a mostly unlimited motor for much more $$$. The bigger prize money is for the super late models, but just for starting out... I think limited is the way to go.