IMCA sees key Modified, Late Model changes as ‘necessary’

VINTON — It's been a few weeks now since IMCA released its rule book for the 2017 racing season, and those affected by rule changes have had some time to let it all digest.

While there wasn't any gigantic shift in rules for any particular division, two changes caught attention from racers in Modified and Late Model competition. Chief among the changes were the addition of a two-inch rear spoiler for Modifieds running the 604 crate engine option, and in Late Models, a change from triple- and quadruple-adjustable shocks back to single- and double-adjustable shocks.

That shift back to a spoiler — Modifieds with crates had three-inch spoilers in the engine package's initial season, then went to a two-inch spoiler; then down to no spoiler in 2016 — was a move IMCA President Brett Root called 'necessary.'

'It needs it,' Root said. 'We know what a three-inch spoiler does and what a two-inch spoiler does and we wanted to go back to what we knew because we felt like the engine cost of the open, claim motors was skewing in the other direction that was taking us back in a direction that wasn't good for the division in general.'

Rule books for racing sanctioning bodies are ever-changing, but most often more for clarification purposes. Root said changes in language often serve simply to more clearly define a rule or regulation on which the IMCA offices have received tons of calls.

But with this one, Root saw the change as a macro-level effect. The crate vs open engine debate is fervent, mostly among those who prefer open motors to crates. It's often cited by open motor supporters that innovation in building an engine is one of the pegs on which racing was founded. But with cost-cutting measures a necessary thing to keep racing alive, the crate and open will be racing against each other for the foreseeable future.

'In order for this crate engine to be cost effective — in terms of how the average racer looks at it — they have to be competitive,' Root said. 'There's no point in having it in the rules if it's not competitive or can't win races. That's basically how we look at it.'

Root said IMCA doesn't keep specific stats on results tied to engine type because racers will run both at various times. But in going to races, watching week-to-week and then looking at track and national champions at the end of the year, Root said it's close to a 50-50 split. The success of crates or opens depends a lot on the size and type of track on which the racer competes.

Throw in the variance in chassis, tire life and driver, and ultimately there's never going to be a one-size-fits-all solution as long as the crate is an option.

'It depends on the circumstances of each racetrack. That's the challenge these two engine options present for us. I don't think there's a perfect set of circumstances or rules that will address everything completely,' Root said. 'Obviously the racers at a track where they don't think it's necessary feel it's some sort of unfair advantage we're providing. But for every racer who says that, you can find a racer who says, 'I couldn't compete this year without it.' That's the balance we're trying to maintain.'

Social media can take a change like the spoiler and make it bigger than it is. Root said the feedback on the change has not been as bad to him or others at IMCA as it's been on Facebook and Twitter, but that's par for the course.

Some of the racers who run both saw the change as something of an inevitability. Open engines cost more to run. A rule change that makes the cheaper option a seemingly better one makes sense.

That said, a guy like Dunkerton driver Troy Cordes — who owns and races both opens and crates — echoed Root in terms of what can win races. The spoiler makes his decision on what to run more often a little easier, but he said it's not a change that will make things unfair.

'I think it's going to give the crate motors a little bit of an advantage, but it goes back to saving money,' Cordes said. 'I don't know, though. I know plenty of open motors who won back when we had a spoiler on there, two years ago in 2015. There were open motors winning still. It's not something that's impossible to me. But it also isn't something we'll likely try when there's an engine so much cheaper to run.'

In terms of Late Models, shocks and suspension were the biggest focus because of the money attached to the triple- and quadruple-adjustable shock packages.

Car counts for IMCA Late Models have dipped in the last few seasons, and after drivers meetings late in the season — the most prominent of which was held at Independence Motor Speedway after SuperNationals — officials came away with that being the biggest issue.

Bump-stops were also removed from the front suspension in the rule update. Andy Eckrich, who runs Precision Performance with his family, as well as has made shocks a key component of his business, said he understood and liked the changes, for the most part.

'I understand stopping it before a whole lot of people get them because it costs way too much money for that, for what we're racing for,' Eckrich said. 'I think we can be just as competitive on single- and double-adjustable anyway. I guess I'm OK with that. I think it's a good thing to squash before we get to that point.

'Without the bump stop, I'm worried about over-travelling and bending expensive suspension or making the cars harder to drive. But I'm not freaking out about that because I feel like we can find a way to make the cars handle without it.'

Both Late Model changes make suspension a little cheaper and a little simpler to deal with, Root said.

Ultimately IMCA had to make a change to get Late Model car counts back up, he said. Like the Modified spoiler change, making racing more inclusive from a cost and competitiveness standpoint was always the goal.

'Those rules were a little bit too advanced, I think for where we needed to be for weekly racing,' Root said. 'There's a fine line there between letting the cars evolve and them evolving so much to where somebody can't understand it.

'What's changed is the spring and shock technology. We think that's pulling car counts down or having an adverse effect on car counts. From a performance standpoint, it's a competitive advantage to know that kind of stuff.'

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