One 2016 presidential candidate is implementing the slogan “Make America Great Again” during his current campaign. While the stakes may not be quite as high, many racers, fans, and promoters around east Tennessee are now looking to the Limited Late Model class, a division that has been a staple of weekly racing programs in this area for years, and hoping to “Make the Limited Late Model Class Great Again”. Car counts in that division have dwindled to the point that several tracks this season have run features with only single-digit numbers of cars in their races. And more, Tazewell Speedway recently announced that the class would be suspended until further notice due to the lack of participation.
During last weekend’s Limited Late Model, or Steel Head Late Model, race at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. and at the recent practice session held at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn., InsideDirtRacing.com went to a number of competitors in that division and asked the question, “What can be done to help the Limited Late Model class survive, or even thrive, in east Tennessee?”
Posted below are the various responses from those drivers:
Jason Cardwell(07) is a former Limited Late Model champion at 411
Jason Cardwell: “Really, I think the cars are out there. You’ve got a few here and there that run different tracks. Everybody’s going to have to get together and race as a group. But as far as rules, I don’t think you can go changing the rules because everybody’s invested a lot of money in these engines so you can’t just go changing things right now. A series would work out great, I think. That way everybody would be together and racing in the same place. I think it’s(a series) a good possibility. We’ve got good track owners around here and I think they’ll work together.”
Cory Hedgecock(23) and Trevor Sise are two top Steel Head drivers in the area
Cory Hedgecock: “I don’t think the Tazewell deal is going to hurt anything. I think it’s going to do nothing but help all the other race tracks.
“I think they need to back the rules up just a little bit. They don’t need to go back to the original Tazewell motor. They need to take away raised runner heads, I mean I’ve got one, but they need to take it away. They don’t need the light cranks, there needs to be a crank weight rule. Porting is fine because you can do that in house. They need to take away titanium valves because that’s a lick, that’s about $900-1000 for an intake and $1000 for exhausts. And that would cut back RPMs by doing so and you wouldn’t be tearing the motors up as much.
“I think it will be fine but I think we need to get a series together, we all need to work together. We definitely need the Steel Heads going again because it is another Late Model class and it gives everybody a chance to race. I’m sure we’ll all figure it out some way or another.”
Dakotah Knuckles: “I guess everybody just needs to get together and seriously sit down and talk about it. We’ve talked about everybody trying to get together and running a circuit, just getting together and running one track each weekend then going somewhere else. We need everybody doing the same thing. I think they need to get rid of the raised runner stuff and have everybody running on the same stuff where it’s more competitive because right now it’s just a money thing with who have got the most money running up toward the front. If everybody was in the same horsepower range it would be all around better competition. I don’t know if the tracks will ever do something like that, to be honest. I don’t look for this class to stick around, but I hope it does.”
Jason Trammell
Jason Trammell: “That’s a tough question, but I’d say the Sportsman class is going to have to have a little bit more refined rules of who can race that class. And the Steel Head class is going to have come together with every track and try to work on one set of rules, not necessarily get rid of the raised runner motors but we’re going to have to do something. If we don’t do anything else, we could do something like run a series where one track runs Steel Heads one night then the next week another track runs them, but I don’t really know the best answer. But the Sportsman has definitely hurt the Limited Late Models. I just don’t know what you can do to fix that class to help our class.
“Most of the guys that have raised runners now have had them for two or three years so what are we going to do with those motors? Are we just going to set them in a corner and use them as boat anchors?
“That’s what is bad for us, we’ve got a motor here that we can’t use unless we run Supers or something and that’s a problem too. Really, it’s the guys complaining who don’t have those motors and that’s the guys moving to Sportsman. Everybody is saying those things cost $30,000, but they don’t cost $30,000. I just know there’s a lot of people that have raced as long as I have that are running in Sportsman and they were running Steel Heads. To me, that needs to be a beginner class. This deal up here(Sportsman at Volunteer Speedway) is different because it’s more of a Crate Late Model class, but at places like 411 and Tazewell it needs to be a starter class and there needs to be some type of rule that after so long those guys can’t race there anymore.”
Josh Henry: “I would say it will take a lot of motor changing. I mean you’ve got people spending $25,000 or $30,000 to win $1,000 and only $100 to start. You can have a good Super Late Model motor and race for $400 or $500 to start. I just think it’s the motors and making sure people have motors that are not $30,000 but get them down to $10,000 or $15,000 and I’d say you could have a booming class again. It would be a great thing if everybody(all the tracks) had the same rules. You know, if you want to go race at Tazewell you could just put it in the trailer and go or if you wanted to go to 411 or Bulls Gap and race you could do that. It’s hard to go to different places and have to make sure you’re legal. It sucks only being at one track because I like to go to three or four and run. It’s a lot more fun to be able to race at other places.”
Layne Clifton: “There’s a lot of different opinions on it, but honestly, I’m not sure what can happen. My motor now is a motor from four or five years ago when the motors were still smaller and we’re having trouble competing now with these bigger motors. I think it’s going to have to come back to smaller motors and less money. I mean $10,000 or $12,000 motor is going to have to be the max in this class and not $20,000 to $30,000. The Sportsman class is great and I like it a lot but it’s really hurt the Steel Head class. It either needs to be Sportsman or Crates. There’s just too many classes of Late Models right now. It really needs to happen that the tracks have similar rules so that somebody can’t come in with a Tazewell motor that’s going to be way bigger. They all need to be just about the same. That would help tremendously.
“Even a series that had a uniform set of rules and all the tracks adopt those rules would help a lot, in my opinion. The way things are going this year with the Steel Heads going down hill, we’re either going to have to start running Crates or something else.”
Mitchell Childress: “I just think we’re going to have to go back to the same engine package that we had two or three years ago, the 52 pound crank and all that stuff. They’ve let all the motor rules get out of hand here in the last couple of years. I think if we went back to what we had two or three years ago when we had 18 or 19 cars every week. I think if we went back to that your car count would go back up because here locally everybody can’t go out and spend $25,000 on a Steel Head motor. I know I can’t. I think if something doesn’t happen here in the next couple of months this class will probably be gone or we’ll go back to Crate racing or in Sportsman and most of us don’t want to see that happen.”
Greg Estes: “I think they need to put it back together. It was one class then they divided it, I think Tazewell started it. I was told by Tazewell that there were so many back markers running two seconds slower than the front five or six guys and it was getting dangerous because you were closing on them so fast and you couldn’t avoid them. That was causing a lot of wrecks. They decided to split the class in two and create a Sportsman class and a Steel Head(Limited) class and a lot of guys ran Limiteds for a while an then they dropped down to Sportsman to be more competitive, I suppose. And then, it got to where it was hurting the Steel Head class and it’s getting worse and worse.
“And the same thing is happening in Sportsman where there’s a big disparity in speed between the front five and the back five. They need to put them back together an maybe give the Sportsman a 100 pound weight break or maybe some sort of tire choices. All the tracks around could have 20 plus cars for the Limited and then they could pay more because they would be cutting that class out and pay $1,200-to-win and better back through the field.”
Drew Kennedy(37) races in the Limited Late Model class across the area
Drew Kennedy: “In my opinion it’s going to take collaboration by all the tracks. I know this track(Volunteer) has got the most wide open rules and a lot of places are trying to put restrictions on these motor rules. I think that’s really how it should be because when there was restrictions I felt like that was when the class was more affordable and more people could race.
“It’s getting to where it’s more like a Steel Head super class now so it’s weeding the little guys out. Before you know it, it’s going to be a thing of the past. I think a series would be something to try. To my knowledge, there’s never been one. There’s been a series for everything else so it would be worth a shot if somebody had the time and patience to put one together. I’d be all for supporting it. It would take some time and some people biting their tongues for the tracks to adopt a uniform set of rules. It works for Crate, I know that’s a different deal with the sealed motors and it would take a lot more tech with the Steel Heads, but it would be worth a shot. I think it’s too competitive of a class to see it go away. It would be a shame to see such good racers and equipment not have a place to go. If this class goes away, it’s going to put a lot of guys out of racing , period.”
Shawn Gage(Crew Chief for Vic Hill’s Super Late Model and consultant for several racers around the area): “The biggest thing is track unity. Everybody has to get on the same page instead of competing against each other. Whether it’s Bulls Gap on Friday night or 411 on Saturday, which 411 has had a great car count in the past because their reputation has built their weekly racing because they’re probably one of the top tracks in the southeast. If a racer wants to race, they know they can go to 411 and race. Here at Bulls Gap we are all trying to get back that way so maybe it would be a good deal for Bulls Gap to race on Friday night and 411 on Saturday nights.
“As far as the cost of the cars and the engines, you’re at half the price of a Super motor but you still get the same effect. These guys are running around here(Volunteer) in 12.7 seconds but you can still have a lot more excitement than a 13.3 second lap in a Crate car. Everything is getting more expensive, tires are getting more expensive, it’s everything and not just the engines. The cars are getting more expensive, everything. People just place blame on the engine rules, but it’s not really just an engine rule. It comes with an engine rule, a tire rule, sometimes a shock rule and you’ve got to just put all those categories together to be a class. I think the biggest thing is track unity. When they work together, it will happen. It’s not a cost deal on engines, a $20,000 engine(Limited LM) compared to a $40,000 engine(Super LM) is pretty economically feasible.”
As you can see, the opinions on the matter of Limited Late Model survival vary. Look for a follow up to this piece coming soon.
