Column By: BRETT HORLACHER / RPW – ALBANY, NY – Many say that knowledge is power and there’s fewer places where that proves truer than in the sport of racing.
With the second annual Modified chassis seminar put on by Elmo’s Speed and Supply and Jam Performance, over 300 of the racing world’s hungriest-for-knowledge racers filed into their seats at the Polish Community Center in Albany, NY for an all-day affair this past Saturday.
Even though the event itself was held in Albany, NY the attendees were from not only New York but also the neighboring Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut as well as Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Making it an international affair, several attendees were also from north of the border in Canada.
“We took a lot of constructive criticism last year,” Chris Reckner, owner of Elmo’s Speed and Jam Performance, said. “This year, we hoped to make the seminar a deal for the weekly racer. We wanted to make sure that first, you’re ready to go racing. However, we want the racer to know what they can do when they’re at the track to make their car that much better.”
Chris opened the seminar with a similar statement and the notes started flying as each presenter did their best to impart as much knowledge as possible.
The first speaker was Michael Jackson of Swagger Factory apparel with information regarding how fire suits are manufactured, and safety rated. He followed that with care instructions for suits and similar equipment.
Things of note, he stated that whenever a fire suit is dry-cleaned, it causes the heat rating of the material to decrease. A fire suit should be cleaned with mild detergent in a washing machine on the delicate cycle and allowed to air dry.
Finally, he answered questions from the group and offered $100 off to any competitor that would pre-order a sit and get fitted at the seminar.
Second was Bob Henry of Henry’s Exhaust. Henry covered care instructions to ensure the longevity of race exhaust. This included capping the end of the tail pipe, proper mounting to avoid stressing the material, allowing the header to dry after washing and applying a penetrant to the header to ward off corrosion.
Henry was also excited to give details on the new version of DIRT legal headers offered by his company, including how his headers were shown on the dyno to have double-digit gains in torque vs competitors.
Following that, Patrick Meehan of Halfmoon, NY’s HICO Fabrications covered topics designed to avoid catastrophic failure of some of the race car’s most expensive and intricate components. This included transmissions, rear ends, driveshafts and steering boxes.
Following the theme of the day, the things that weekly racers could do to ensure that their upkeep and maintenance would allow those vital components to go for the long haul. Each was covered to ensure that things like fluid are changed regularly, levels were checked and all components having the air properly bled from them.
Finally, Meehan ended with tips associated with checking components after on-track incidents. This will generally allow any necessary repairs to be minor or at least be minimized.
Chris Reckner then covered topics related to tire preparation such as weekly care of tires. This included the washing, drying and checking of them.
Information about tire grinding, siping and grooving was also be covered with an emphasis on what kind of tracks and conditions each type of tire compound and / or treatment would prove beneficial.
The final session was headed by 2023 Albany-Saratoga and Fonda Speedway Modified Track Champion, Demetrios Drellos, as well as Ryan Susice and Bob Slack of Bicknell Racing Products. Their part of the seminar covered a broad topic they called, “transitioning from scaling to smashing.” That information rolled into topics covering on-track suspension tuning for track conditions.
The discussion started with things to check while scaling a car. For those unfamiliar with what scaling is, to scale a car is the action of putting all four wheels on scales, on a level surface, to see where weight is distributed in the car.
While the car is up in the air, before being on the scales, there are several things that can be checked. These include driveline integrity, bolt tightness and the status of the rear slider.
After a car is scaled, the coil springs that contain the shocks can be taken off the car and tested at static load. This is equivalent to the car running down the straightaway as well as dynamic load, and to the car in the corner.
With the discussions had questions answered and information put out for all in attendence (a list too long to talk about here), there are sure to be more well-maintained and ready to go fast cars at tracks all over the region coming in just a few short months.
Reckner was full of gratitude for all who attended.
“I want to say thank you to everyone who gave us feedback from our last seminar,” he said. “I also want to thank everyone who attended this one. We look forward to seeing everyone at the tracks we support this summer and if anyone has questions, at any point, we’ll always be available for you.”