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| Hamner Racing Engines will be have restrictions imposed after dyno testing following the Snowball Derby. (Hamner Racing Engines Facebook) |
By: Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining
OPP, Alabama (March 13, 2019) -- Huge news coming out of the Super Late Model world today, as the Sealed Engine Alliance Leaders (S.E.A.L) has imposed performance restrictions to Hamner Racing Engines after dyno testing following the Snowball Derby revealed a slight advantage above the other engine providers.
S.E.A.L released the information today after officials representing the Southern Super Series, Champion Racing Association, CARS Super Late Model Tour, and SRL met yesterday with representatives from Hamner, McGunegill Engine Performance, Progressive Engines and RW Race Engines following several dyno tests to determine the level of performance of each engine.
Engines from several teams; Kyle Busch Motorsports (Hamner), Jett Racing (Progressive) and Team M Motorsports (McGunegill) were impounded and sent off for testing following the completion of technical inspection for the 51st Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida back on December 2, 2018.
As a result of the testing, a 1.350” restrictor will be instituted for Hamner Racing Engines effective immediately. This includes teams using those engines at this weekend’s Southern Super Series season opening 43rd Annual Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Opp, Alabama.
“You really won’t see much change on the race track,” according to Southern Super Series, Snowball Derby and SRL Chief Technical Inspector Ricky Brooks. “Most of the race tracks we go to, the teams have more power than they can use, but it’s when we get to the bigger tracks that the restrictor will put the useful performance back in the range of the others.”
Donnie Wilson, the 2016 Southern Super Series Champion, has come out stating that in response of this announcement, he will forgo participating in this weekend’s Rattler 250.
Wilson has been
“The Approved Body Committee and Sealed Engine Alliance Leaders are turning Super Late Model racing into crate racing,” said Wilson today on his Facebook Page. “All of these engine builders are winning races every year but all of a sudden making one engine builder run restrictors, which in my opinion is totally BS. Four different engine combos can’t make the the same HP and torque; we all know that, but at the end of the day all of them are winning races and they want to handicap one of them this is unacceptable in my book maybe the other three engine builders should work harder on their product! My two cents. I will be not participating at the Rattler this week.”
Fellow competitor Stephen Nasse responded in the comments of Willson’s post.
“So you’re saying the other three engine builders should cheat like Hamner did to get more power?? It’s simple. They all definitely do it, but the point is of it being LEGAL, 18hp is a ton.
“You and I both know that and to say that (it) hasn’t helped every Hamner motor win the races it has over the past two years is silly. Cheaters get tossed. It’s as simple as that and that’s what they are doing.”
It should be noted that there has been no allegation of wrongdoing by Hamner Racing Engines by S.E.A.L, only that those engines performed higher than the others. Results from the dyno testing has not been made public at this time. These measures have been constituted in an effort of a balance of power.
While this news is surprising, coming only days from Rattler 250, it’s not a surprising tatic by technical inspector Ricky Brooks, who is a member of the S.E.A.L, along with Southern Super Series promoter Tim Bryant, CRA co-owner R.J. Scott, and ARCA Midwest’s Gregg McKarns.
Brooks made balance of power adjustments during the World Series of Asphalt Racing at New Smyrna Speedway in February after a technical dispute during the the first Pro Late Model race of the World Series. That call involved changes to the engine-rev limiter combination of Jeremy Miller after being challenged by racer Hallie Deegan after the race. Short Track Scene had complete coverage of this incident >> here.
My hot take on this that if Hamner Racing Engines was found not to be in violation of the rulebook, and simply producing a better performing engine by working within that said rulebook, then there should not be a restriction. Instead, the onus should be on the other engine builders to raise their programs to the bar set by Hamner.
PixelatedSPEED will be on location for the 43rd Annual Ratter 250 this weekend, and will follow up on all of the details surrounding this announcement.
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I have all three different spec motors and they all three have different intakes on them there is no rule on the intake and what they can build others just need to get more out of there motors like hamner does..
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