Lancaster's shape helps make it a bit unique among dirt tracks. A big half-mile in length, the track's greatest features are the long, parallel straights and the high banks. The paper clip shape draws comparisons to Martinsville, and the comparison is appropriate, except that Martinsville lacks the banking found at Lancaster. The banking and the length of the straights make for hard transitions on corner entry, but the speeds stay high all the way around the track. A fast lap for a Late Model is 20 seconds flat, and when the travelling Super Late Models come to town, they can knock more than a second off that time.
This past season, in an attempt to help racers keep their costs down, McManus and Plyler introduced a spec engine rule for the Late Models and a crate motor option for the Street Stocks. The spec motor features a Brodix head and intake that cannot be ported, while the crate motor is Chevy's standard oval track crate engine. Plyler says that although racers were wary of the new engines at first, they are catching on. "We had to do something to help the racers get their costs down," he says. "Although sometimes I think a racer is his own worst enemy when it comes to finding new ways to spend more money on his car. The cars running spec or crate motors get a weight break, and I think we've gotten it dialed in to where all types are competitive with each other. We didn't want to make the cars with the handbuilt motors noncompetitive, just give the racers another option. So far, from what I've seen, I think the lower-cost engine options are here to stay."
That, essentially, is the mantra for Lancaster Motor Speedway-here to stay.
The DivisionsFor 2005 Lancaster Motor Speedway ran seven different divisions. Here's a breakdown with the key defining features of each:
| Late Model | Cast-iron handbuilt, orspec motors |
| Late Model Stock | GM Crate motor only, 2,400 pounds |
| Super Stock | American RWD cars only, 102-inch minimum wheelbase |
| Street Stock | Same body rules as Super Stock, additional limits on engines, GM crate motor option |
| Super Stock Four | Four-cylinder motors, same make car body, OEM roof, aluminum body panels allowed but must conform to stock body lines |
| Pure Street | American RWD cars only, V-8 engine must remain stock |
| Rookie Four | Four-cylinder motors only, entire car must remain stock except for safety modifications |