Seekonk Speedway holds rules meetings for 2010
Seekonk, MA — With an eye toward the future, Seekonk Speedway held their annual rules meetings with all competitors on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 27th and 28th. While most of the bantering was over different procedures, some changes did come out of the meetings.
The biggest change in the rules centered around the Late Model division. For the past two seasons, competitors from area speedways could come in and compete under the New England Late Model rules package, but only for up to 6 shows. In 2010, any Late Model can come in and compete for the full season, but must run either the current Seekonk Speedway Late Model rules, which will go virtually unchanged for the upcoming season, or compete under the American Canadian Tour (ACT) rules package. This will allow competitors from tracks such as Waterford, Lee USA, White Mountain and more to come in and compete for the 2010 Championship, instead of being forced to only a handful of events.
“We want to expand our Late Model division for 2010,” Race Director Dave Alburn Stated. “I didn’t want to force a change to our competitors at a cost to them, and I feel that we have some of the best teams around. But from a business standpoint, I see where the Late Models may be heading, and don’t want to cut ourselves, or our fans, short.” Another rule change for the Late Models, and as well for the Pro Stocks, is any competitor running a stock Camaro type snout, will get a weight break of 25 pounds.
In the Pro Stocks, the only other clarification was for the cars that compete with a non-crate engine. If they decide to compete with an open-competition style engine, there will only be a 50 pound penalty assessed.
In the Seekonk Sport Trucks, most of the talk was surrounded around the body configuration. “I want the bodies to resemble trucks from the front to the rear,” Alburn added. “I don’t want the slanted back panels. This is a Truck division, and I need for them to resemble the trucks on the road.” It was also stated the flywheels must remain solid, meaning no holes drilled into them. There must also be a 2” inspection hole in the bottom of the bell housing, to allow the Tech Inspector to get a look at the flywheel without removing the transmission.
One concern in the Street Stock division is the cost of the rear ends in the cars. There are several options out there, including the Ford 9” rear end. In 2010 there is the allowance of the full floater rear ends for the Street Stocks. There was also the clarification in the exhaust rules. There are 2 mufflers mandatory, and MUST have a 3” inlet port and outlet port.
The Pure Stocks did not get any changes to the cars, but did get some clarification on the procedures for handicapping and driver eligibility. The driver cannot win more than 3 championships in the Pure Stocks, as this is a beginner division. Drivers are required to retire from the class upon their third title, regardless of how long. In the handicapping of the features, the winner of the previous race will start last in the field. If you miss the previous week, you will start just ahead of the previous week’s winner.
The claimer rule in its current form will undergo a change. From being able to purchase the complete car, a driver finishing second may claim the engine from the winning car. The parameters and fee is to be determined at this time. Roll cage setup and design was discussed, as well as a compression and cam rule. Those are to be determined at this time.
The Seekonk Youth Racing Association was part of the meetings as well. This younger generation class was not without discussion for a few topics. It was stated that transponders will be mandatory for 2010. This is for a variety of reasons, including driver development and scoring. It was also brought up that the restrictor plates for the 600 class can be leased for the season. Instead of picking up a plate each week, a team will be assigned one at the opening practices, and will be responsible for that plate all season long. A fee will be assessed if the plate is damaged, and must be available for inspection at any time. This is not mandatory, but recommended, so teams will not have to remove them at the conclusion of each event. The competitors brought up the possibility of a gear rule for the 600 class, as well as driver eligibility in each of the SYRA classes.
This is just an overview on the rules meetings, and do not outline completely what was talked about. Before making changes to the cars in any of the divisions, the management requests that you contact your divisions’ tech official with any questions or clarifications.
The next event on the calendar is the 64th Annual Awards Dinner and Celebration. This gala will be held on Saturday, January 16, 2010. It will be held, as always, at the Venus De Milo on Route 6 in Swansea, MA. Tickets are $30 per person, and can be purchased through the speedway office. Join us as we close out the 2009 season in style.
Sources: Kevin Boucher/Seekonk Speedway PR