North East Wingless Sprint Cars Continue to Grow in Leaps and Bounds
[xyz-ihs snippet=”Posts-Ad”]
North East Wingless Sprint Cars Continue to Grow in Leaps and Bounds.
For a class that was started at the beginning of 2015 with just two cars, fast forward a full year and the North East Wingless Sprint Cars have grown immensely, in a world where car counts seem to fall as season’s progress. It’s nice to see a class where the car counts continue to rise with now roughly 25 cars built between the Accord and New Egypt Speedway’s.
For those who don’t know what these cars are yet, it’s your basic sprint car chassis fitted with a 602 Crate motor with a carburetor ran on methanol. The kicker with this all is the fact that they are self starting with battery, starter and transmission. In fact you can take a dirt modified transmission and use it in a North East Wingless Sprint Car.
They were most recently featured as the support division with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Tour at New Egypt Speedway on June 9th where they turned some heads, especially when one backed out of its pit stall while parked next to the traditional USAC Sprint Cars which had to be pushed around.
Cars sell turn key for anywhere between $10-15,000 turn-key which in this days economy, you can’t beat, especially for the lap times that these cars turn which are comparable to a 358 Modified at New Egypt Speedway for less than half the cost.
So far at New Egypt this season there have been five different winners in five races through the middle of June.
Who races these cars you ask?
Drivers from all walks of life have migrated to this class. There are names like Lou Cicconi who has raced literally anything under the sun in his long and illustrious career and whose family has a long history with open-wheel race cars. Then there are Modified transplants such as Ryan Godown, Neal Williams and Johnny Cornell that have joined the NEWS ranks and both have wins thus far in 2016, Wayne Weaver who has raced everything from Vintage Cars to Modifieds. “Big” Al Cheney who is literally a giant at almost seven feet tall, Cheney is a former Super Late Model standout. Micro Sprint graduates that include Molly Chambers, Heidi Hedin, Rich Mellor, Lee Nardelli, Brody Adamsky and Bobby Butler, and former Legends Car champion Brian Spencer. Even Billy Pauch Jr. has had a successful stint in the North East Wingless Sprint Cars.
“I love everything about these cars, they’re a good bit different than anything I’ve ever driven before from Dirt & Asphalt Modifieds to Quarter Midgets and Micro Sprints, they’re a good deal and they’re affordable and you can come and have fun for under $15,000. I’ve always liked Sprint Cars, who wouldn’t want to try one of these,” said Johnny Cornell at the recent NEWS race where they raced with USAC.
When asked about the similarities between the NEWS Sprint Car and a Dirt Modified. Cornell replied, “A little bit with these cars, you’re more or less on the right-rear a lot like a modified.” Cornell also builds and maintains a few of these cars.
If 19 cars or less show up New Egypt pays $500 to win and $50 to start, if more than 19 show up those numbers get doubled to $1000 to win and $100 to start.
Three time New Egypt Speedway 358 Modified champion Ryan Godown is one of the newest drivers to jump in a NEWS Sprint Car and had success with it his first night out picking up the win.
“These things are pretty cool, I think it’s going to take off, it’s inexpensive and it’s really neat. It’s about as close as you’re going to get to a USAC Sprinter,” spoke Godown after his recent win in a car which featured his familiar No. 747. “I hope a lot of sportsman guys and younger guys that can’t afford bigger cars get involved because it is affordable and it is a lot of fun,” said Godown.
The class isn’t just being noticed in the Northeast come to find out.
“We have been getting phone calls from people in California, Arizona, Georgia and even Australia with an interest in building these cars. It’s a great way to step up into a big car without spending a ton of money. You can spend $20,000 on a 600 micro or you can race a full size sprint car for $15,000,” said Joey Liquori who handles the day-to-day phone calls about the NEWS Sprint Cars.
Many people seemed to doubt this class from the start but as the weeks and months go by the critics seem to get more and more silent as the car counts go up.
Fans seem to be getting more and more excited too as the car counts go up, not many race tracks east of Indiana feature wingless sprint car action on a weekly basis.
From the looks of it, this class isn’t going anywhere soon. Car counts continue to rise which will ultimately generate more competitors, which will create new fans which will help our sport survive.
[xyz-ihs snippet=”Posts-Ad”]
