Don't take tips from 4x4 Power

Don\'t take tips from 4x4 Power

Just got done reading the article 4x4 Power did on mud racing. First of all, NMRO doesn't do many events. Why build for NMRO if they don't race in your area? Check local rules instead. Also, the "no internal mods" in class II is as false as can be. Chris Holloway's truck (shown in the article) makes about 400 horse, but still pulls the minimum vacuum required in '99 & before. 'Course, classes I & II will NOT check vacuum beginning in 2000, so now it's pretty much anything goes. And if you go to a BOG event, the large tires common in class II mud DRAGS will likely put you into a non-street class. Class III is anything BUT street legal. All of the class III trucks shown in that article are purpose-built racers that arrive at every event on a trailer (as do most of the better class II trucks). Class III trucks may LOOK like street trucks, but they definitely are NOT. The Miller Time truck pictured in the article blistered my 125-foot G.U.M.B.O. track in less than 3 seconds 08/14/00. That is a RACE truck, NOT a street truck! And where they got the idea that class IV required a windshield is beyond me. Also, outside of NMRO I can probably count on one hand the number of organizations that have something equivalent to both class V and VI. Most combine them into a single class (it's all the same racers just with different rear tires anyway) & some groups have a single class that'd cover IV, V, VI and tractor tires all in one.

So, it's nice to see an article on racing & also to know the NMRO rules when building your truck in case you want to run with them. But, I'd say the best approach to building a racer is to gather up all the rules from all the potential groups you'd race with (they'll ALL be different), and then plan your truck in a manner that it can be competitive in as many classes as possible with as many groups as possible. Really ups the fun factor this way.

TEX

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G.U.M.B.O. Mud Racing