So this is going to come as a shock to no one, but I am completely and utterly consumed with the idea of racing a truck in the 2014 ChumpTruck series. I am not looking for more than one race and my target is Virginia International Raceway because that is the closest track to me that they have announced the series will visit. No dates have been announced or anything, but I am guessing somewhere in the summer of 2014 is when I’ll need to have a rig ready, or have begged someone enough to turn some laps in their truck.
In case you missed my breathless announcement the other day, the newly formed ChumpTruck series takes the model of ChumpCar (buy a beater car, make it safe, then race the thing like you stole it) to a whole new level of greatness by applying the same formula to big rigs and then racing them on road courses like VIR, Daytona, and Laguna Seca to name a few. Why would anyone want to do this? Probably because it is the best idea in the history of mankind.
I have not been this worked up about an automotive event coming along since…I have never been this wound up about an automotive event coming along.
My love of big trucks, tractors, and other lumbering machines is not an act. I certainly love cars, drag racing, autocross, road racing, and all that stuff too but my earliest mechanical fascinations as a kid were tractors and big rigs. I remember watching American Sports Cavalcade when they covered the Great American Truck Racing Series (see program scans below!) competing on the banks of Dover Downs or the long flat straights at Pocono and just reveling in the fact that this huge trucks were going 120 to 150mph flat out. It was amazing to me and probably highlights my inner “ugly American” where bigger and faster pretty much means better. The fact that there is now an opportunity to actually live out that childhood fantasy is amazing to me and while it seems like a long shot I am going to put together a plan and try to become a one race wonder in 2014.
I am approaching this thing like I have some other situations in life since I have been an adult. Years ago when I was working in management at what amounts to a trucking company, we were presented with a major league change in the way our system was going to operate. The end result was that the drivers who did all the work were going to have their lives thrown into a tumbler. We’re talking about dudes who had run the same routes for 20 years getting totally throw out into new places and dealing with new challenges. Predictably, the roll out meeting was a disaster and a near riot ensued. Once I was able to corral my guys and get them off to the side, I proclaimed that we’d handle this thing like we’d handle eating an elephant, by taking one bite at a time. I was grasping at straws and as soon as those words left my lips it was like the whole group was slipped a happy pill. They bought in and we managed to slog our way through this big awful change one day at a time, one route at a time, one stop at a time. It wasn’t easy but I didn’t have anyone try to punch my lights out like some other people I worked with did.
The point of that story is to illustrate my approach on this truck thing. Do I have the money in my pocket to run out and just scoop up a forlorn old rig? Hell no, but the max you can spend on a truck is $5,000 and there are lots of potential candidates around here for less than that. I have a couple local guys interested in being a part of this madness and a few of them are even loopier than I am so that’s working in our favor. Then there’s the space to work on it, transporting it, fuel, adding the roll cage, etc, but again….all bites of the elephant. For now, we’re sending each other Craigslist links of trucks we think may be a good choice, talking about what we should be looking at for models, years, checking curb weights, and doing all the same stuff that any racer does, which is looking for holes in the rules and a competitive advantage with our truck. The chances we’re able to pull this off? Way less than 100% but then again, there’s a motivating factor in that too.
When I spoke at my former high school last year to the graduating class I advised them to dream big and be aware of the “pony look”. That’s when you tell someone what you are doing (i.e. writing about hot rods for a living and trying to race big rigs) and they look at you like a five year old who just asked for a pony at Christmas time. You know the look. The sort of forced smile and tilted head followed by a, “Ohhhhh….that’s nice.” I told them that the more “pony looks” they got, the better off they were. Too few people think themselves capable of doing stuff that they have dreamed about. You are only guaranteed to lose in life if you never try so screw the pony looks…I want to jam gears in a racing big rig. I also advised them to find and embrace their inner idiot. That’s the part of you that will never, no matter the circumstances tell you NOT to try something like this. Your inner idiot is a huge part of being able to overcome and achieve things. Removing reason is a great tactic on occasion.
So what if I fail? I’d fail at trying to build a competitive budget racing big rig. Tell me where the shame in that is again?
(Thanks to Doug Garrison for the 1988 GATR program!)
What’s next, Chump Mopeds?
That sounds delightful. I’m in!
If this ends up like 24 Hours of Lemons, it will be about outlasting the competition. I’d certainly stay away from anything newer than about 2000, to avoid all the electronics on the engine. A 3406 Cat or NTC Cummins would be the way to go. Too bad you’re so far from California where they use big horsepower single axle tractors to pull doubles dump trailers and tankers. Look for bigger fleets getting rid of older units, they are likely to be better maintained. Have you ever driven a 9 or 13 speed? They don’t shift the same as Brutus, you’ll have to learn to float the gears.
Looking for a truck that is paperwork-less is the direction to go I think. The cheaper you can steal the base truck for, the more money to Mod it and spend on racing. The transportation of said racing Rig will cripple most backyard racer’s budgets.
Think small, like a GMC Topkick, Ford F800, IH 4300-4600, they all meet the GVW rules, and I didn’t see a rule for air brakes only so, hydro juice disc brakes that these kinds of trucks are built with would work better I think.
Another thing to keep in mind is the tires. I read the base rules a few days ago, and from what I remember, they said NO recap steers. So make sure whatever truck you buy has a decent set of steers on it to avoid that cost as well. I’d also make sure the drive tires are more of a road-going/gas saving design than something that has big lugs/treads designed for an off-road type environment (something like you would find on a dump truck, garbage truck, or any other truck that might find itself in the dirt).
Also, something to consider, would be leaving the 5th wheel in place for some form of weight over the rear tires in order to maintain traction. I could be dead wrong in this aspect, but it makes sense in my “I know enough to be dangerous” brain.
Looking for a truck that has an over drive transmission might be something to consider as well. It would save on fuel (then again, its a big rig at wide open, who am I kidding?), and would bring the engine rpm’s down a few notches. Maybe even finding one with a highway gear in the rear axles would be beneficial as well.
I wish you the best of luck and will be staying tuned for updates on this!