Track Tac

days of no prep racing how was it

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billy4809

Member
I was just wondering how the days of no prep racing compared to todays racing with prep. just watching others over the last 3 to 4 years where we race at everyone is chasing the bottle constantly just wondered how it was before everyone used this so called tire magic. I still believe personal that a kart with the proper setup and tire combination can still win, but I still do the prep deal just cause I see it as more of a bandaid for a not properly setup kart with the right tires just wondering how it was then compared to now.
 
The way it was in our area in the early to mid eighties was run a dirt track oval on Saturday night and then run a asphalt road course on Sunday afternoon with nothing but a rear sprocket change and a change in air pressure to achieve stagger for the dirt oval. Then equal the stagger back up for the road course. Same tires. Same clutch. Same engine. Straight rail karts. Nothing else existed then. Stock Flatheads with ignition points and a ignition plunger running off a flat ground into the crankshaft. Then in the mid-eighties, everybody started using homemade prep from the body shop suppliers or the hardware store. Just using a old paint brush once a day during the week and then each time you went on the track when you were at the track. No one had a rotisserie or a durometer. We did start having our worn out asphalt tires retreaded with a softer compound for dirt. That helped a lot on no bite, wet tracks. Even on those hard tires, the back end only came around on me one time during practice. If karting used a sniffer to prevent tire prep like many of the big car sanctioning bodies, the tire prep suppliers would have to find another line of work. I hear some of the penalties for prepping big car tires are severe like a one year ban for driver and owner. I too believe that once a properly prepped red clay oval comes to feature time it is basically a paved track for the lower powered classes. Thinking back on karting in the 1980's, I would like to do every bit of it all over again. It was simple, cheap and fun.
 
The banning of prep, nearly destroyed the WKA.
Their end of the year race, in Daytona, went from in the neighborhood of 2000 karts, to near 200 karts.

Perfect example of making a rule, with no serious thought about it's consequences.
Altho the use prep is now OK, WKA has never yet recovered from that decade old (MOL) decision.
 
There was a great article floating around online about tire prep in stock car racing and how it is/isn't enforced. My personal opinion, there is no way to avoid it unless the track owns all the tires and you bolt them on while on grid, even then favoritism can come into play
 
We prepped way back when and didn't know we were using prep. Used stuff that we thought just super cleaned the tires, making them feel like an old grade school eraser. It was copier toner cleaner.
 
The only way to take away the advantage of prepping is to let everyone do it. If you ban it, some will still do it and have an advantage.

Race asphalt, then prep isn't really a factor. (but tire cutting is)
 
I have no likes or dislikes about tire prep. I am totally neutral on the tire prep issue. If the EPA ever realizes that the prep goes on tires that touch soil possibly leaching "dangerous" chemicals into that soil, tire prep will cease to exist and the race track owners will not be able to pay all the fines for the environmental cleanup that meets Federal regulations. I think we old-timers should get off the tire prep drift and tell the young fellow what karting was like before the tire prep started. I remember going down the straightaway at a asphalt track in 1982 and having my engine cut out. Time to go in and take the flywheel and points cover off. Spray the points out with contact cleaner to get the oil out that had leaked past the plunger and you were good for 2 or 3 complete race days before you had to do it again. No offset flywheel keys. No temp/tach gauges existed. Just drill the metering holes to WKA spec and the jet to what ever you thought would work on an old tiller engine with methanol and then you were ready to race.
 
I am not against tire prep I think it is a part of racing but I did want to hear about how racing was without not out to start a no prep war.
 
Your glory day paintings are painted with the same brushes everyone was using to prep back then. It was happening. Early to mid 90's when I raced as a kid prepping was becoming well known. Things like that usually happen for decades by the ones who are in the know before it comes main stream. So don't believe the hype. It's not a band aid nearly as much as you like to believe. Those are just lies people tell themselves who don't want to get on the wagon and just accept it's a dirty game, but you have to play to win.
 
we where prepping in 1981 home prep and then wiggins came up with something that worked yea he was a kid he's first product
 
Back in the early 80's we used mineral spirits, toluene, even diesel fuel. Now almost every prep on the market is based on Hot-Lap or a copy of it with various amounts of ester.
 
I know exactly when I first started using prep (homebrew)...1987. Before that, we ran treaded tires (Burris T2s.) The closest thing we did to cutting or prepping them was to take the kart to a local school parking lot - make a few laps in a circle about the same radius as the track we raced at to wear camber in the tires to match the stagger we were running. After the races, we'd stop by a local car wash and pressure wash the kart and tires.
When slicks caught on, we grooved, siped, prepped, etc until just prepped slicks were the fastest way to go. Tracks have sure changed as well over the years. Seldom do you find a loose, soft, or heavy kart track anymore. They tend to pound them to death now to make them hard and slick.



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Thanks and God bless,
Brian Carlson
Carlson Racing Engines
Vector Cutz
www.CarlsonMotorsports.com
26 years of service to the karting industry
765-339-4407
bcarlson@CarlsonMotorsports.com
 
It was FUN. It was a recreational hobby. Without having to spend money on prep ( 1 quart of prep = 1 entry fee ) I had money to race on Friday and Saturday and sometimes run asphalt on Sunday twice a month. With no prep it meant you had to hone your skills as a driver. After a heat race you cleaned off the dirt/mud made an adjustment if needed and had time to visit/bench race with friends or watch other races, not slave over a hot box or wash and prep tires. And guess what, we had winners and losers. Did I mention how much FUN it was. Slideways racing was a BLAST.
 
with all the prep going on,.. I wonder how many people are taking self protective measures... simple as gloves, goggles, and a well ventilated area. I'm sure most of these are not good for the skin or airways.... if your cutting a tire after it's been prepped, either with at bit or sander... that's a lot of free flying chem-dust ... I guess i'll be an also ran... and enjoy the ride... I have no interest in getting into the chem wars... but I understand why people do it.
 
There is a dead on accurate way to test for tire prep at the track. A portable mass spectrometer. They are , unfortunately, expensive to the tune of about 70 grand last time I checked. Anything else is a waste of everyone's time.
 
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