A cutaway (above) and an assembled...
A cutaway (above) and an assembled 5.7L V-8 LS1 engine (below). While not exactly a production engine, the racing version is not too far removed from the street-going version found the Chevrolet Corvette, Camaro and Pontiac Firebird.
Three-time ASA champ Butch...
Three-time ASA champ Butch Miller piloted his No. 52 Meijer Pontiac at ASA's 2001 opener in Irwindale, Callifornia. "Weve got three engines," says Miller, "and we keep rotating them in our cars to see when theyll break, but they just wont."
Now in its second season under new rules, the revolutionary ASA ACDelco series continues to rock the short-track world with its sealed-engine package, low costs and dramatic race action.
The phenomenal GM Vortec 5700 motor costs only $12,000 and lasts more than a season with only oil changes and spark-plug checks.
It has slashed as much as $250,000 per season from the engine bills of leading teams. And now the 33-year-old ASA (American Speed Association) plans to spread its low-cost formula deeper into the short-track scene.
Stock Car Racing magazine has been tracking the ASA series as it enters its second year. Weve talked to drivers, team owners, technicians and organizers, even executives of GM and BF Goodrich, makers of the mandatory Traction T/A radial tires. This is what we found from the championship thats going to change the heartland of American circle-track racing.
The Engine: They Cannot Break!
GM Vortec ASA 5700 Engine Specs
Materials: aluminum block and heads, steel oil pan, plastic intake manifold
Used in: Chevrolet Corvette/Camaro and Pontiac Firebird street cars
Its like a dream that you never imagined could become reality. An engine for a major racing nationally-televised championship and a feeder series for NASCAR Winston Cup that costs only $12,000 and needs virtually no maintenance
But thats what the ASA is celebrating as the organization heads into its second season of competition with GMs astounding Vortec motor which is basically the same engine you get when you drive a Corvette, Camaro or Firebird out of the showroom.
"The only internal parts that are changed from the production engine are the rod bolts, valve springs and camshafts," says Steve Moore, a technician with Katech Inc, an engine development company that works with GM.
"You can buy all these parts from the GM catalog and build an identical motor for your street car," he adds.
"In 1999 there were 35 engine blow-ups with the V-6 engine we were using then, but in 2000 with the Vortec V-8, we didnt experience one failure during racing," says ASA marketing chief Mark Gundrum.
"We were dumbfounded. We knew how good the engines were and how they should perform, but they really exceeded our expectations."
The old V-6 was a typical high-maintenance, high-cost racing engine. The iron-block unit hammered out 480 to 500hp at a nervy 7200rpm, with a redline as high as 8500rpm. But it cost up to $40,000 from specialist engine builders, and often required a $5,000 freshening after just four races, according to the ASA.
So imagine the joy of team owners who are now entering their second season with the same engines they ran all through 2000! Imagine the savings not just in engines but in labor time in the race shops.
The initial batch of 300 ASA Vortec engines was manufactured in just two hours by GM before the 2000 season. And they have proved so durable that the factory hasnt had to make more units for the 2001 series.
"Teams were skeptical about the engine at first," says Gundrum. "No matter how many times we told them how good the Vortec was, they continued to order as many engines as they had done in the V-6 period. They didnt believe how reliable it would be, and they didnt think they would all be consistent in power output.
"One team bought five engines and dyno-tested them all. They found a variation in peak power of just one-and-a-half horsepower!"
"Weve got three engines and we keep rotating them in our cars to see when theyll break, but they just wont," says three-times ASA champion Butch Miller, driver of the No. 52 Meijer Pontiac.
The new ASA package makes life tougher for top drivers, says Scott Hansen, pilot of the No. 5 Structural Transport Chevrolet.
"The motor, the tires and the basic center of the car are the same, so drivers with less experience are more competitive," says the 26-time ASA winner.
His view is vindicated by results in last years ASA championship, when nine different drivers two of them rookies won at least one race, and ten different drivers, including four rookies, earned at least one pole position.
"You used to be able to find a good place to run on the track for 200 out of 300 laps, and then find a way to get to the front," says Hansen, who has won more than $1.3 million in ASA prize money. "Now you have to be aggressive all the time, and when theres 100 laps to go you need to be running in the top five."
But Hansen, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, is not complaining, he loves driving the new Vortec engine. "The old V-6s would shake your teeth out, but the Vortec is really smooth. Its got good torque, and it takes total abuse. Ive overheated em and run em down on oil, and they dont blow up."
BF Goodrich, builder of the series mandatory Traction T/A tire, is making a special version for the four high-banked tracks on the ASA schedule Nashville, Tennessee, I-70 at Odessa, Missouri, and the bowls at Salem and Winchester, Indiana.
"We had some tire problems at Winchester last year," admits Goodrichs racing manager Todd Steen. "The cars were getting up to speed faster than the tires were building up pressure. So this year the tires for those tracks will have a different configuration to cure the problem."
Escalating costs in raw materials have forced a $15 increase in the Traction T/As to $190 each but its still a bargain package because of their durability. Joey Clanton kept the same left-side tires during his winning drive in the 300-lap season opener on the St. Augustine half mile and only changed his right-side tires at lap 115.
"That means he did 185 laps on the rights," says Steen. "The tires stay consistent for so long that a driver will never get track position back if he keeps pitting to change them."
ASA cars may soon carry aircraft-style "black box" recorders as a safety aid in analyzing what happens in accidents. The electronic technology may also be used to guard against cheating and improve TV viewers enjoyment.
"We tried the box when we were testing the cars in 1999. It would only weigh 3 pounds," says ASA Executive Vice-President Brian Robbins.
The box would allow TNN which screens all ASA races live to show top speed, engine rpm, G-loadings and braking and acceleration points. And it could provide real-time engine information such as:
"It would be just like the equipment on a Formula One car," says Robbins.
"We are aware that, although the Vortec is a sealed engine, a rogue team could try to cheat," says a GM engineer. "Thats the nature of the racing business. This way we can catch anyone who cheats."
ASA Expands the Low-Cost Formula
The ASA is estending its sealed-engine, low-cost formula to other series and tracks following the success of its ACDelco championship.
"We will take the Vortec engine to the weekly racer who is currently paying a lot of money for after-market engines," says marketing executive Mark Gundrum.
Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which will host two ACDelco rounds this year, is the first track to join the ASAs Member Track Program.
"Its a three-year deal," Gundrum explains. "In the first year we provide public-relations, marketing and technical support and a contribution to the tracks points fund.
"In year two, the track will mandate the Vortec engine in a featured division. And in the third year we will introduce the rest of the ASA package our chassis, the body and the BF Goodrich tires.
"Our goal is to provide a structure for racing that is similar to other sports. Everyone who starts playing basketball plays with the same ball on the same size court. But with auto racing, you buy a quarter midget, then you throw away everything you have invested in when you move up a class."
If it catches on, the ASA philosophy will cut racing costs dramatically. But it could also radically alter the technical variety of the American circle-track racing scene and create more than a few problems for engine builders and components manufacturers.
ASA teams bought 169 Vortec engines for 2000
Car count increased by 12 per event: 46.6 in 2000, 34.2 in 1999
Cars covered 229,485 laps - 182,084 miles * in 2000 without an engine failure
4 teams competed in all 20 rounds using only 1 engine
Competition got tighter with the Vortec:
Margin between top 10 qualifiers dropped from 0.301s in 1999 to 0.226s in 2000
Cars running on the lead lap jumped from 7.95 to 11.75
Cars running at the finish rose from 22.6 to 27.1
Figures courtesy Jeremy Troiano, ASA