Technical The rules said all cars must have mechanical fuel pump

The rules didnt say "all cars must have functional mechanical fuel pumps", did it?

 

OK, but you know why they have that rule, right?

 

Been reading Smokey Yunick again?

 

Trickery is good!

 

Rules are made to be broken. HRP

 

The rules at my place of work say , you must wear approved foot wear...

 

We ran in a hobby class at our local dirt track. The rules for the class stated that the car must have the factory front frame rails, so naturally everyone built the cars using the factory rails.

One year, some guy showed up with a full on tube chassis and a fiberglass body (in the hobby stock class). The guy had the front frame rails tacked to the tube chassis, they were basic ballast, I don't even think they were on the front of the car! They let the guy run, the rules said it had to have the factory frame rails, it didn't say the rails had to be used to support the car.

Needless to say, the class got out of hand very quickly. It wasn't a place for beginners to start racing any more. A few years later, the class no longer existed, wasn't much difference between it and the late model class at the time. It ended my time as a race car owner. Gene

 

Better pumps are out there..

 

I've always been more of a cruiser than a hot rodder but you have gotten my attention......are there really hi perf mechanical pumps out there?

 

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea...FUEL-PUMP-BELT-DRIVE-KIT-ALK.jpg&action=clickDoes this qualify

 

If you have a "thinner interpretation" of the rules [than the rule makers intended] an 8-71 blower is technically a fuel pump.

This was like my husband's argument with the scrutineers over non-complying engine mods.
He said "the rules said Suspension was free.......and everything on the car is suspended, except the wheels"

 

Now this is a thinking guy... . Was the argument successful?
Marcus...

 

Yes, there are. It will be a couple days before I can look at the car I help with, but I believe it has a Holley pump on it, and there are others out there.

 

Thats alright you don't have to go to all that trouble I was just curious......its not like I will ever buy one for my car.
Thank you for answering my question Sir.

 

That is an old trick, just make sure you put an oil pressure switch on your electric fuel pump.
Nothing like being upside down with a fuel pump still feeding the fire.
Seen it and my friend is lucky he was not a crispy critter.

 

I had a welding instructor race a Mini with a gutted starter and no ring gear as rules said must have starter but did not say had to be self starting.

 

Ha, we could see some good stories here. I was once part of a race team and the rule book stated that the series major sponsor decal must be displayed on the rear 1/4 panel of the car. The engineer of the team had an issue with the sponsor so he stuck the decals on the inside of the panel in the trunk!! It got very interesting in the scrutineering bay.

 

Old carburated trick : sealed tank & use the fuel pump( pumping air) to pressurize the fuel(constant flow & no pulsations). Worked fine to pump Methanol to my '97s on the Flathead in the Sprinter!

 

Anyone care to explain why this fuel pump rule exists?

 

So when the engine shuts off so does the fuel automatically.
SPark

 

As W.C. Fields once so aptly put it : "Anything worth having is worth cheating for".

A friend of mine who is an EE worked for a team running late model stock cars. All cars were required to use a computer supplied by the racing association that was in a sealed box. The team hired him to make an upgraded computer and connections. They hid the computer in the valley and by-passed the wiring to the sealed box. They never got caught and the won more than their share of races.

The "Smokey Yunick" reference is particularly apt.

 

I would not be proud to win by cheating. I would rather win with driving skills and superior engine tuning. Might as well go buy a trophy if you're going to cheat...

 

That whole situation was the fault of the race director or head steward or whoever had the final say. Where I used to race, some where in the rules it had a statement that said who had the final say. That person should have said "Nice try son, but HELL NO!" The other line in the rules was "If it is not specifically allowed it is expressly prohibited."

 

Jeff Gordon quote from the film refuse to lose: "show me a crew chief that is not worried about passing a tech inspection and I will show you a car that will probably not win"
from memory so I may not have the quote exactly right

 

You wouldn't be doing much winning these days.

 

That is not cheating that is reading between the rules. Cheating is showing up with a car that is under weight, an engine over on cubic inches ect...
If the rules don't say you can't then you can.

My father has build several oval track chassis over the years, the last one was a street stock.
The rules said the battery had to remain under the hood. Most people took that to mean leave the battery in the stock location.
Since you want the weight as low, to the rear and the left he put the battery just ahead of the driver's foot well.
It was still under the hood there for no rule was broken.

That's way N.A.S.C.A.R. has a not fit for competition clause which means you can have a car that didn't break any rules but if they don't like it, it can't run.

 

Plenty of guys over the decades have made a name for themselves just this way. It's not cheating, it's beating the rule book, and beating your competition, being smarter than all of them. That is something to be proud of.

 

The best argument I ever heard was in the movie Get Back To Dirt about the street stock class at Devils Bowl Speedway Texas.

The tech inspector says "That's not a stock part."
The driver replied "Of course it is, was in stock when I bought it!"