Friday September 30, 2005

I have to first give credit to enthusiasts such as Todd Messinger of Pelican Park Speedway and Matt Wilder of HOST Slot Racers (and many others) for helping to inspire this series.

The accomplishments of these craftsmen are simply works of art in my eyes. After seeing one creation after another, I finally got the chance to drive a couple of modified models at a race event held by Mark Thomas in Louisville, Kentucky.

These cars were some of the most fun I have ever had in this hobby. When I came home...I decided it was time for me to get started! I was not ready yet to try and tackle one of the modifieds (I do not possess the skills these guys do!), but I thought that I could do something else. I remembered back when I was a teenager that our local dirt track raced 2 classes: Sportsman and Modified. The Sportsman class cars still had to have the fenders on the front along with the wheels either flush, or slightly tucked under the body. With these set of rules in my mind, I began building the first car in my collection: a 1965 Chevelle. Since then, we have added many more and plan to keep going.

Other racers on our forum decided to join in and now the field has grown faster than I ever thought possible. The work of these enthusiasts never cease to amaze me. Although we are just building just about anything we want, we seem to have followed a few simple guidelines to make the racing even and challenging.

What will you need?

All you need is a Pro-Track Hardbody Roller chassis and a model kit of your choice.

What model kits do we recommend?

For this class we advise most any 1/25th scale kit. We try and use models that you would see at your local track slinging mud. The options you have are almost endless with kits from all major model companies having perfect candidates. There are even some specialty kits available dedicated to this form of American Racing. Head over to www.dirttrackracecars.com and check out what they have. I have seen these kits in many local hobby stores so of course support your local dealer, but if you can't find them you can order online.

We like 1/25th scale because many of us have 1/32nd scale tracks and although the cars still rub each other in the corners (and sometimes down the straights) the slight difference in size just makes getting around the corners in a crowd easier.

We also like using kits that have a full tub interior. This is not necessary of course, but it does make the building process a little easier. We are starting a list of kits that fall into this category and we will keep you updated on the live forum as we add to it.

This Photo Was Taken On An Artin 6 lane 1/32nd Scale Oval Track Built By Mark Thomas of Louisville, Kentucky.

Here are a few examples to give you a better idea:

What Rules Are There For Building?

NONE! This is a scratch-builders class...and you can do what you like.

For us, we are racing these cars stock. In other words, the Pro-Track chassis is kept with the original motor and gearing. We do of course cut or adjust the chassis to fit our project. We also use the interiors from the model kits as the base to mount the chassis.

Here are some examples:

Hot Glue is your best friend in this series. (At least for me it is!) All of our models were built using a very inexpensive mini-hot glue gun found at Wal-Mart in the craft section. Hot glue is very strong, yet is a little more flexible to help absorb the punishing hits these models take. It is also good to use because if you want to change something, or make an adjustment, it is easily cut away with an Exacto knife.

We are not adding any magnets or weight, just building a body and mounting it to the chassis.

It is very simple really, and easier to build than you might think.

And that is all there is to it. The fun we are having with this class is hard to put into words. We enjoy building and racing cars that we remember from our youth at the local dirt track. Half the fun is building these cars and seeing each new model come to life on our layout!

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