By now everyone has received the latest issue of the newsletter. In it Seymour is asking for suggestions on how to make the Slant Six racing series bigger and better in the years to come.

I thought it might be nice if everyone shared their thoughts on what needs to be improved and what needs to be left alone.

For the guys that are currently involve what do you want to see for next year? Changes, additions...etc?

I know there are quite a few slanters on this board and .com that do not race... what would it take to get you guys out there and involved? What would you like to see in order to attract more racers?

We have a solid base of 15-20 cars that make 3-4 races a year but we need this to grow if the series is to prosper.

LETS HEAR THOSE SUGGESTIONS! THIS IS A "BRAINSTORM" THREAD, ANYTHING GOES

I have a few things I am trying to work out for Bristol next year and as soon as I know if they will be possible I will post it here to get some feedback.



Tom Drake

Thanks for getting this thread started Tom, everyone please give input.

Some things I have pushed for is a "Fast Street" award and also to get races in different parts of the country so everyone can have a chance to get to a race, even if it's just to watch.

The key to keeping this series going is to bring-in new people and to offer some new "fresh" stuff every year, for me, that is what keeps it interesting.
DD

I would like to see a race closer to Florida. The proposed race in Reynolds Ga. is a good start. There are quite a few slanters in Florida and south/central Georga. They are not as willing/able to travel as far as I do. By haveing this race we might be able to get more of the Florida slanters to the track. I might not be able to travel as much next season. As it is now, the closest race for me is about 10 hrs each way. Reynolds would only be about 6 hrs.

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Charrlie_S
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I would like to see a race in this neck of the woods. The current ones seem to be in the mid-west or the south.

All of us in Southern California and the San Diego and the Inland Empire area should get organized to bring slant racing to our neck of the woods. We could have a West Coast vrs. East Coast match series...Dave

Charrlie, Florida is full of great race tracks. What is the biggest Mopar show if Fla. and where is it held? Who promotes it? Maybe you could give them a call and see what you could work out? Florida sounds like a great place because you draw from the current core of SE guys.

GT63 & kesteb - What are some big Mopar shows in your area? Maybe if two or three slant 6 guys start approaching the promoters you could get them to give it a try. If you can not find someone to put up a purse maybe have a winner take all race...where everyone put $20 in the pot and goes for it anlong with the SSRN points being awarded.

What do you think?

Tom Drake

The only thing we have is the Spring Fling in April and I believe they have something similar in San Diego. All these events are all v8 dominated. Limedust70 has put together a slantsix gathering for the last couple years locally and is attempting to get more of us involved. Him and I will hopefully be meeting for a show at edlebrock on Oct 4th and due to his past experience, will ask his opinon of what it would take for us to get Pomona raceway or someting similar for a future race...Dave

Dave,

You might try Irwindale 1/8th mile or the newish Redlands (out in desert somewhere) track. Pomona will be really tough to get since they have strict noise ordinances and too many people trying to run it already.

Seems like there would be enough people in the NE too. The biggest thing would be getting people to sign up and commit to it, so as to have a good turn out.

Good luck!

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

For the SoCal / LA / San Diego Slanters, we should try to support the new Mopars at the Strip - Las Vegas event.
Yes, it is a few hours drive but Las Vegas Speedway is a really nice track and we already have an "in".
2004 dates are March 19, 20 &21 if I remember right, with some coordination and promotion we could do some fun stuff along with the racing.
DD

Excellent advice Doc, gives me time to get the GT in shape.

Since the original slant 6 rules were patterned after NHRA Super Street what do you think about having a .500 protree 10.90 index race at selected events. We probably have six or seven cars that could make the index easily and would mean less breakage and a better show. There are also a few cars that with a little effort could also make the index.


Tom Drake

An index class could be fun if we could count on a good field.
Some may not know what racing in an index class is about so an expaination about how the index works may be in order.
DD

Index racing is pretty simple. Instead of choosing you dial-in, everyone runs off the same dial in. For Super Street/Hot Rod it is 10.90 in the 1/4 and 6.90/7.00 (NHRA/IHRA) in the 1/8. The class is run off a .500 Pro tree instead of a sportsman(bracket) tree. The object is to run as close to 10.90 as you can without breaking out.


Another area that I think needs to be address is to try and make it as fair for footbrake cars as possible. We do not have enough cars to run two classes but can try and minimize the number of times box and no box runs each other. All races currently run a Qualified ladder. This does two things:
1) This means that the no box cars have to run a box car in the first round. Most of the box cars are the faster ones in attendance so they qualify in the top half of the field.

2) It also tends to work out where the same people are running each other in the first round most of the time.

If when the slant six class was called to the lanes and the footbrake cars went first, and the box cars held back for a minute or two, then the footbrakers would fill up the lanes first. This would mean for the most part that footbrakers would be running each other in the first round and vice versa. This is not a guarantee but would minimize the occurance.

This would also insure that some of the footbrakers would make it deeper into the race and maybe attract a few more people to come out and give it a try. Nothing could be more discouraging to the first time racer than to have to race R.Hamby or D. Rose in the first round.(Both good racers) How many races do you think they would attend if this happened every time?

Now I know that there are footbrakers that make it rounds now but I am mainly interested in the new racer or the guy sitting in the stands that would not try it because he might have to run a box car.


Any thoughts?


Tom Drake

Tom, there is some merit to lining street cars up together in early rounds. It would give them more incentive to come out and compete. If a lot of guys with street machines start coming out and winning, some of them are going to go back and start tweeking their machines to do even better. One step at a time is how many of us have built our race cars. I think it could grow our series. Just some food for thought.
Ron

Hey guys hows it going?

I would like to see a street car trophy or something like that. I think it would get the numbers up at the races

Andrew

ps. I would also like to switch to 36 hrs days so I can get my work done and then I could get to the track!!!! HaHa

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