Schnick Motorsports

Q2: How fast can you go?
By NHRA rules, drivers 8 and 9 years old are limited to 12.9 seconds which translates to about 48 mph top speed. When a driver turns 10, they may run in the modified class and go as quickly as 8.9 secs or about 72 mph top speed. New for the 2000 racing season is an advanced class that allows 13-17 year old drivers to go as fast as 7.9 seconds or 85 mph.

For 1999, our cars were both pure stock gas running engines which enabled the cars to go about 15.0 secs with a top speed of around 42 mph.

In 2000, we are upgrading the engines on both of our cars. For Nicholas' car, the new engine will put him in the modified class and he should be seeing times in the low 10's. See our Pictures page for a picture and detailed description of this new engine. For Chrystal, we are limited to the 12.9 sec rule and are having an engine built to take us to that limit.

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Q3: Is it safe?
We consider this sport safer then Soccer, Baseball, Hockey, or Football. All sports that are generally accepted as kids sports.

Our drivers have never received so much as a scratch from driving. Whereas, when they played league soccer and baseball, they regularly would come home scratched and bruised.

The NHRA as the sanctioning body makes and enforces rules based on years of racing experience to ensure the safety of the participant and the spectator. All events have emergency crews present at the track just in case. In our first year, we never saw or heard of an incident that injured the driver.

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Q4: How big is the car?
The cars are about 13 feet long nose to rear. With the wings installed, they are about 2 feet longer. They are about 3 feet wide in the rear.

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Q5: What are they powered by?
By NHRA rules, all Jr Dragster are powered by a Briggs and Straton 5 horsepower block based engine. The engines can be heavily modified. A stock B&S 5 HP engine is roughly 13 cubic inch in displacement. The most extreme modified that I have heard of bored and stroked the engine up to 22 cubic inches. An engine of that level of modification would generate roughly 30 HP.

In 1999, both of our cars had pure stock engines. In 2000, both cars will have some level of modifications.

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Q6: Where did you buy your cars?
We bought our cars used from individuals. The first car we bought through a contact we made by talking to the builder. The second car we bought through a contact we made at the track.

I recommend going to the track you will race at to try and find a car or who the people at your track buy their cars from. The best time to pick up a used car is at the end of the season.

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Q7: How much do the cars cost?
A new car ready-to-run roughly equivalent to the cars we have would cost between $3000 and $3600 depending on where you bought. The people who built are cars no longer build Jr's.

The same cars used fetch about $2000 to $2400.

Most chassis builders will build a car to your needs with or without an engine.

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Q8: What does it cost to race?
JDRL membership costs $25 per year to be a member and a driver.

At our track, racing each week costs $10 per car and driver plus $12 for each adult. We also change oil every week which costs around $4 and the fuel costs $4 per gallon which we use about 1 gallon per week with two cars.

The rest of the costs are food and drink which will vary according to your eating and drinking habits.

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Q9: What to modify to get to 12.9 seconds?
12.9 seconds is a lot easier then I would have guessed. Simply changing from gasoline to alky will get you most of the way there. Doing other modifications to the car will most likely get you past 12.9 requiring you to find ways to slow the car down and/or teaching your driver how to pedal.

For my daughters car, we are drilling out the stock B&S carb to run alky. We are also putting in a rod, a piston, better valves and springs, and a billet flywheel.

We are not limiting the exhaust port in any way and we are going to use a short single stage exhaust to try and detune the performance.

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Q10: How do you modify a B&S Stock carb to run Alky?
Behind the main needle valve, there is a jet. Behind this jet, there are two holes.

We drilled the holes out to 0.0625 and 0.028 and replaced the jet with a 0.059 jet. Note: This procedure should be done carefully as it is very easy to oversize the holes. Also, do this procedure at your own risk. There is not guarantee implied or expressed that this procedure will work for your particular application.

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Frequently Asked Questions