Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

I was reading on the R19 website that the Outlaws allow any car size to challenge the Outlaws. It was said that 305's raced against the Outlaw 410's and they were just blown away, which is understandable. Now coming to around our area, would a 305 be competitive with say and IMCA 360 or a Jackson 360? Would a 305 even stand a chance? I say this because I would like to race sprints someday and if I found a descent 305, would it be worth it? I did find a race ready 305 car with a 2001 Eagle chassis. on racingjunk.com for $5,000, which seems pretty affordable. I would race with IMCA mostly since I live in Arlington. Just some brain teasing questions for a week until some racing action this weekend!

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I would have to say you would not have much of a chance against Jacksons 360's at Jackson or any big track, smaller one maybe but not likely.Ryan Voss ran fair against them friday but track condtions were in his favor in Spencer.An IMCA sprint is a little more in the league of a 305 but still has more power I would say at Arlington you would be ok you just have to keep that 305 going if you back off or have to check up your done.If you can find a cheap roller car you can buy good used ASCS 360's for around 10-15 thousand.

We just finished racing our 305 (Ryan Voss) 5 nights in a row. 4 of the nights were on 3/8 tracks against 360's. One night was with other Midwest 305 cars on a half mile. Here were the results.

Kasson, MN with IMCA 360's finished 5th

Allison, IA with Midwest 305's finished 2nd

Spencer, IA with Jackson 360's finished 10th (started 11th)

Hartford, SD with 360's finished 8th (started 16th)

Husets, SD with 360's finished 7th (started 3rd, won heat)

I don't think that we would be very competitive on a half mile with 360's but smaller tracks tend to equalize things, even more so when they dry out. If you decide to buy a 305 don't expect to get a hard hitting one for $5000. Like anything to do with racing, and speed, it takes good equipment to be fast. We feel we have excellent equipment with our car and motor (including our motor builder) but $5000 wouldn't begin to touch it.

Hey Law Enforcer call Doug Bratrud from Jackson. He has a kick ass 305 motor for sale. Its comes complete from oil pan to carb. 507-840-1815.

Well, I'm not in the market right now, but I will be in a couple of years.

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I heard that on average an IMCA sprint driver spends between $4,000 and $8,000 on an engine, and if $5,000 wouldn't even touch it for a good 305 engine, why race a 305? I can't remember the exact amount, but the guy who won the 305 Nationals at Knoxville last year had $20,000+ into his engine. Doesn't that completely defeat the purpose of a 305? I thought that a 305 was supposed to be affordable. A few years ago I remember my uncle talking to one of the Tostensons and they would build a race ready IMCA sprinter using all new parts for around $18,000. That's if they built it. That was about 3 years ago. Now if you would use say a XXX chassis which is fairly cheap and an engine around $6,000 and you built it yourself, it would be pretty affordable I think. And you can't tell me that an IMCA sprinter isn't competitive. Jesse Smith ran his IMCA car against the IRA 410 sprints last year and he made the feature. His engine couldn't have been too "expensive" as in out of IMCA rules if he used it against other IMCA sprints the same night because I'm sure he would've been claimed after he would blow everybody away.

Another thing-where do most drivers get their engines? My uncle was wondering where drivers get a Mopar IMCA 360 engine.

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I was refering to the whole racing operation, roller, motor and spare parts. Our motor would be something under $10,000. But, with spare wings, 4 RR wheels, 4 LR wheels, 2sets of front wheels, spare front axle, and tires along with the roller, the entire operation would be in the $15-$17,000 range. Not really too expensive to be able to go racing.

The reason we have a 305 is that our original intent was to race Jackson. Then we decided to go with injection and race with the Midwest 305 Association. (That reminds me, we have a good 2 barrel carberator 4-sale). Then we had some success running with 360's on small tracks so actually the 305 has been a good choice as we have more options.

We would entertain buying a 360 if the right deal came along but for the time being we have a number of options and we are happy with the 305. It would be ideal if a couple of tracks closer to us like Spencer, Worthington, Luverne, Britt, or even Husets or Hartford would start up a regular 305 program but I don't know if there are enough around NW Iowa, SW Minnesota to justify it. Maybe if there were a couple of these tracks willing to do it, more 305's would surface.

Just my 2 cents worth.

That seems to be the problem with 305's, not many places around here have as a regular program. I thought Luverne was going to have them. It seems that 305 and IMCA 360 seems to be in the same price range to go racing.

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3D,

Didnt you get DQd at Hartford earlier in the year? I guess they didnt like you running 3rd with that 305, huh?

Stan Meissner

lawn enforcer your completely right. Jesse Smith ran with the IRA last year,made the feature with the slowest time of all them and started 25th and ended up fifteenth. And on top of that he came out of the B feature sending how many 410's to the seats to watch....then beating out 10 other cars to finish 15th. I have seen the 305's run and i watched the 3D car run at kasson with a 305. he was not lacking any power over anyone down the straight aways granted it is a smaller track. if the conditions were right and dry slick i would bet some good money a 305 would run with some random 410s on a small track. Jesse smith with his 360 beat alot of guys in the IRA down the straight aways. he runs in the low 500 horse range....alot of them 410s put out how much horse??? not to mention the money in them.305's would compete easily at jackson or imca.

Yeah, I heard that some of the IRA guys were in the 750-800+ hp range, and they were beat by a simple IMCA engine. Probably $7,000 against nearly $20,000+.

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Rizzo. Yes we were DQ'd at Hartford. We didn't have the right restrictors and, rules are rules. We didn't think it was so funny at the time but laugh about it now. 16th to 8th last Saturday and we are "legal" now. We just need to get there more so we could get a better starting position.

Pimp. I don't think we would be competitive at Jackson. Straightaways are too long. It is kinda like when injected 305's run with the other Jackson 305's. Injected 305's do show more power just as 360's would show thier power over us.

Stan. Thanks for posting the great picture. Was that at Kasson? Next time you are at a race where we are, stop by and introduce yourself. I think you run a great forum.

Who is this jesse smith? and were does he race at every weekend?

jesse smith has been racing three years, fourth year now .rookie of the year his frist year and national imca point champion last year and arlington raceway track champion. he races arlington weekly and some specials if they are around he is going to try with the IRA again in a couple weekls when they come back to arlington. he would be real intersted in driving a 410 for someone with his car if anyone is interested. great driver....

Smith was awesome last week in Arlington when he was in front and he spun out, went to the back of the pack and worked his way up to 2nd, Bill Johnson was just too far ahead by the time Jesse made his way back to the front, and it seemed Jesse was having trouble with turn 2 as his car always seemed to want to go off the track. He was always a consistent driver being in the top 5 all the time, and now he starting to rack up wins. It would be great to see him in a 410 against the IRA rather than using his 360 (which he did great with last year) I think he could extremely well against them in a good 410. I think Tostenson would be good with a 410 against the IRA also.

Just a side note-where has Tony Norem been when he isn't in Arlington on Saturday nights? Is he just taking some nights off or is he racing somewhere else? His car is always fast when he goes to Arlington and he is fun to watch.

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correction:

lawn enforcer the sprints ran a double feature in arlington last weekend.... smith never spun in the first feature and got second and billy won...but then in the heat race billy blew up...so in the second feature smith started outside third row and managed his way into third then spun and was sent to the back, (12th), single file start and came back to win not to mention lap half of the field...... it was pretty impressive!!

No wonder I was confused in trying to remember what happened-Arlington had double features! Thanks for setting me straight wwpimp9w! I just thought that all happened in 1 feature, but then I was thinking that Billy Johnson won, but Smith did too. Boy, I was confused!

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