been around for awhile ;just don't post much. cant type or spell. well what i am looking for is a good chassis/fab shop.bloomington/normal is ground 0 to say 100 miles in any direction. will be greatfull for any help.

ok forget the distance limitation. are there any good shops in centtral IL worth recamending? thanx for any and all help.

Depends on what you are wanting done.

first sfc and mini tub. then 9in and cage. your from peoria right? do you know if Cleco motorsports is still around? thanx for any info.

http://www.midwestchassis.com/

Eric Vicary, is the owner, he does some very nice work.

Eric does nice work. He's built 3 or 4 cages for our NASA Road Race cars.

Sidney
Bloomington, IL

i was not aware of any road coarse's around here. where do you go to race?

good to see some locals.

yep;just waiting out another central il winter.

tell me about we just got another inch of snow.

screw this im moving to texas

watch out for the 'dillos crossing the roads; they will make a mess out of your nose.

Chris,

We race with NASA at tracks all over the Midwest. Autobahn Country Club at Joliet, Blackhawk Farms near Rockford, Road America at Elkhart Lake, Wi, Putnam Park near Indy, and Gingerman in Michigan. NASA also has HPDE with Instructors for guys not ready to race wheel to wheel. I'm telling you...you do an HPDE w/ us and you won't build a drag car! More info at www.NasaMidwest.com.

Sidney
#64

what dose HPDE stand for? right now my car is a street fighter with a auto(350TH or 700R4).but i do have a old hardly used Dough Nash Proshift 5spd if i desided to go road racing. do they have class that a moded srteet car with a cage would fit? i always argued that the trueist test of driving skill is road race'n. btw sidney whats the fastes you've gone on that looong straight at road america, just curious?

Chris,

HPDE stands for High Performance Driving Event. We have (4) different classes of HPDE with different passing rules. HPDE 1 is for beginners and you get an Instructor for the entire weekend. Your car would be fine w/ the auto for HPDE 1 but I wouldn't recommend an automatic beyond that. They can't handle the heat and can upset a car during downshifting/upshifting as they are very difficult to control when really pushing it.

According to the Tracmate, I've done 147 mph down the back straight heading into 12 at RA. That was in American Iron, this year in CMC should only see 130 or so.

Go to www.nasaforums.com and lurk around there. We have just about a class for everything.

Sidney

hey sidney i want to thank you for the info. i have already checked out autoban country club's web site. looks like fun. got some things to finish up before i get into something new. btw what track do you vist most. maybe catch up withyou around mid summer and check out a event.

We race at several tracks within a couple hours of Bloomington:

May 16-17 Putnam Park. It's west of Indy off I-70. About 2 hours.
June 13-14 Blackhawk Farms. Just west of Beloit. Again 2 hours.
July 18-19 Autobahn CC. About 1 hour 15 minutes.
August 8-9 Blackhawk Farms again.
Sept 5-6 Gingerman. This track is near South Haven, MI. Probably 5 hours.
Oct 10-11 Putnum Park.

Sidney

hey sidney i was wondering if there were any other locals doing this, or are you the lone ranger out there? is it feasible to race street car? dont have anything to replace it yet.

I have a couple teammates in the Eureka/Metamora area that both race 3rd gen Firebirds also.

It's not really feasible to "Race" a street car but what you'd be doing in HPDE is not "Racing". It's High Performance Driving and not racing wheel to wheel. In HPDE, street cars get to play on a racetrack and the drivers get to learn how to be a better/faster drivers. There is very limited passing and then only with point-bys. We do not want people running into each other in their daily drivers!

Sidney
#64

me and my cousin who lives in mackinaw and he has an '88 iroc along with my 89 GTA auto-x in rantoul quite a bit. i've wanted to try HPDE though too.

Matt & Chris,

Feel free to email me for more information about NASA, HPDE, and racing.

SFrank944@aol.com

I've done the parking lot autocross thing at Rantoul and ICC for a few years then stepped up to High Speed Autocross and in 1999 went racing wheel to wheel. I've raced (3) 3rd gens and currently race an '89 Firebird Formula that never saw the street. Between my other teammates...we've done it all w/ 3rd gens. and would be happy to share our knowledge. We've seen too many guys think they know better and end up spending crazy amounts of money just to come back and do what we told them in the first place.

Hope to see you guys at one of our events this summer,

Sidney

Matt and Chris;

Hope to see you guys at an event this year.

Bryan
#18 CMC
Look for these cars;

Hey hey Ive seen these cars before.. at our shop on our dyno!!!
I like them very cool!

Hey Tony,

We'll be down to F&C Customs on Saturday March 28th for our Annual Tech Inspection and Certified Dyno runs. You going to be around?

Sidney

I might just have 2 swing in 4 that..

Great, hope to see you then

Between my other teammates...we've done it all w/ 3rd gens. and would be happy to share our knowledge. We've seen too many guys think they know better and end up spending crazy amounts of money just to come back and do what we told them in the first place.



Sidney[/QUOTE]

So for BEGINERS (like me) would you suggest the solo courses first?

Absolutely! With NASA, you have to progress through the HPDE steps before being allowed in the Competition School. (Unless previous race experience.) Our HPDE program has instructors and classroom sessions that really help develop the skills of a driver new to the track and necessary before even thinking about racing wheel to wheel. Some drivers progress through the steps faster than others so expect anywhere from 1 to 2 years before being allowed in the Comp School.

More info here: www.nasamidwest.com

Good luck,

Sidney
CMC #64