Where are all the Super Stock trucks that were being built???

When the super stock race was first announced it seemed like everyone was building a truck for the class. Well the race in Feb. rolled around and only a handful of trucks showed up. Everybodys excuse was that they didnt have time to finish. I wont lie it came down to the week of the super stock race before I knew if we were going to make it. Then at TS only 6 trucks showed up...what happened? I have been talking to Gary and we just want to make sure the interest is still there for this class. It will still be the BIG MONEY class in Bradenton, FL next Feb. Just trying to see what happened to all the trucks that were being built. If some of yall were building a truck and didnt go through with it what was the reason you changed your mind? Just trying to get some feedback. This thread is not for suggestions on rule changes so dont start that here. Thanks

I'll be back with mine (white 2wd), just making some changes to try to hang with yall.

SuperStock

I wish there were more trucks also Will!! I think this is a kick ass class. It's more about the tuning and chassis setup than who has the biggest wallet. Less carnage and round after round with less by runs works for me. I will run my truck with this setup just because I want to make it as fast as possible with in these rules. I hope others do aswell. I would like to see the class at Buck's race later in the year. Jeff

You know I'll be there:Cheer:

Big foot ate them...

DIESEL_POWER said:

Big foot ate them...

Click to expand...

Wade stay out of here you never have anything productive to say. Your not coming to this race next year anyways because it doesn't guarantee to benefit YOU financially in any way. Last time I talked to brian he was still planning on having this class for his race on October 15th. Maybe he will chime in but as far as I know its a go for the Diesel Truck Jam!

I'm intrigued. Would like to know where they are all at s well.

syrupdawg said:

Wade stay out of here you never have anything productive to say. Your not coming to this race next year anyways because it doesn't guarantee to benefit YOU financially in any way. Last time I talked to brian he was still planning on having this class for his race on October 15th. Maybe he will chime in but as far as I know its a go for the Diesel Truck Jam!

Click to expand...

Not trying to mess with your thread, It was just a joke man......and accually i am planning on going. You and others act like the purse dont draw you....but it does and it helps a ton. i've been racing for a long time, gas and diesel, you wanna know why gasser racing is still growing and were kinda real slow to get moving? they pay out at every event for every class....something to think about.

and FYI the big money goes into the faster classes..not the slower ones.

It it were not for gary getting the purse so high for this class, it would never excist and folks could care less, but they spent money they did not have to gain a potential 25K at a once a year race, sorry but the economy will kill this fire.
im all for this super stock class, it's a good thing, but dont act like the money dont matter to you, i know better.

If we figure out a way to get people in the seats, the money will come with them. Part of doing that involves a field of more than 3 trucks. The 2.6 class has proven that it can be a fairly quick class. Nothing like Wade or Darren's truck, but my wife can still drive my truck to work if she wants. Will's truck proves that a older truck can compete, while mine proved a heavy truck can hold it's own. The single turbo is simple, yet effective. Part of the problem this year was people on this forum and others crying about the turbo rule*bdh*I bet more than a few wish they would have shown up and ran. Now Gary's trying to give everyone as much time as possible, and if we want a say, we should be supportive.

Carry on

Super Stock

Well said Arron!!!! It takes more than a couple of trucks and it takes fan's in the seats! I also think it takes trucks that will go rounds with very little by runs. The fans want side by side racing and they will come. Jeff

I actually would have joined the super stock class wether the payout was 25k or 1k. I've been to a couple races where the class payed very little. I was looking to step up to a faster class but not quite ready to cut my truck up for pro street yet. I don't necessarily agree what you say about the fastest class deserves the most money if there is only 2 vehicles in the class. I think there is a balance between the level of competition and number of competitors that are in the class. I'm going to do everything I can to help this class go. Now where did the interest in this class go? Where did all the people that were excited about the big money disappear to? Its time to start planning for the big money class next year but we need to see some feedback.

I know of a few trucks that were being built for super street that missed the Florida race have now been made into pro-street trucks.

Well, I do have some good news about the race in general. I have gotten a lot of phone calls and PM's about wanting to sponsor a class! :cheer: I think I have the purse covered, just got to work some detail's out. The biggest new's that I have so far is kind of sad to me, but I do understand his obligation's. Jeff Garmon will be in no way, shape, or form be helping me with this Outlaw race, or Super Stock in 2012. I am completely and totally on my own for this race. I will be needing some help in various thing's in the upcoming month's. I have already gotten some interest in helping me on the sponsor side of thing's, and I really appreciate it. So, Southern Diesel Performance will be hosting an Outlaw race in Bradenton, Florida next February!!!!!!!! All that I ask right now is your support in making this a good wholesome family event for us and future generation's to remember. So bring it on, and let's get some racer's and spectator's and vendor's support, cause we are gonna have a RACE!!!! Gary

Gary, I support this class 100% - it's the kind of competition that diesel motorsports has needed for a long time to foster quality growth.
That's why we loaded an unfinished entry on our GN for the long $$$ trip to FL, to support the event & our co-sponsors while honoring our commitment to both.

Since Super Stock is a transformative class, we decided to field a seriously out-of-the-box truck filled with radical/experimental modications... this is far from our 1st rodeo, so we knew a project of this scope typically demands ~9 month build schedule - however, we barely had half that to finish for Bradenton.
Still, we came within days of meeting deadline - after over $100K of shop time invested by the time we left for FL.

Each time we've targeted an event goal, our build schedule was torpedoed by a vendor at the 11th hour - some of the balls that were dropped were more avoidable than others, but I have nothing bad to say about any of them - stuff happens, most especially in the trailblazing realm where we've taken our Dark Horse SS Special... a place where Murphy's Law seems to wield more power than gravity.
Even though LazarSmith tries to control as many aspects of our work as possible to avoid these issues, we simply can't do everything within our shop (an impossible task for anyone) - so we're occasionally at the mercy of others' diligence, schedule & attention to detail.

Here's a brief rundown of a just few of the roadblocks which delayed our project's completion:

The custom tool-steel cam I designed got lost in the sauce at the heat-treaters, so by the time I had it Red-Labeled to the shop (Monday) we only had a couple days left before FL.
We broke a C4 toolbit on our 2nd receiver groove late that afternoon, overnighted a C6 in & had a head to install Tuesday evening.
Among other issues, those destroyed our chance to field a truck at the inaugural SS race, but I had everyone in the shop switch from "go" to "show" work at 3AM Wednesday so the truck would at least look good.

After the next round of work prior to TS, we discovered 6AM Monday a vendor had shorted us ONE 80-cent valve lock, an unusual part sourced from another time zone, without which the cylinder head could not be finished.
Or course we overnighted a replacement set in.
Due to the novel design of the intake & exhaust manifolding, another cylinder head simply wouldn't work.
In view of the rain interference at TSX, I don't regret the decision I made that Tuesday to stop pushing the guys 24-7 to make the event.

Our latest "tragedy" dates from late afternoon last Friday - got a call from the thermal coater that the barrier had run out before the supply of valves did (they had valves from several of our customers' heads in work), even after I'd specifically requested the Super Stock pieces to be finished first... so we were 7 valves short of a full set, and I don't allow things to be done half-a$$ed in the shop.
Naturally, the holiday weekend meant more barrier wouldn't be available until Tuesday morning! :banghead:
Now I've just returned with the finished set, and we've lost another 4 days of build time, so our chance to take the Super Stock truck on Power Tour has become impossible... so we'll be driving our sled-puller from FL to MI instead. :woohoo:

The shop has been open 24-7 far more in the last 6 months than it ever was in the previous 12 years, and the 4 of us have worked harder for this project than on anything previously - and for a couple of us that's going back almost 30 years of working together.

Lastly, we appreciate all the support & encouragment we've received!

None of this is meant as an excuse or an attempt to garner sympathy - it's the nature of the game & we enjoy playing... I just hope this provides a brief behind-the-scenes glimpse of what it takes for a project of this magnitude on top of all the normal shop production & service.

Thanks if you've taken the time to read the whole post - it's well worth it for the insight.

:clap: Well said, and I really appreciate your effort! It's people like you that keep me in this sport and make me want to give back. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that ya'll will make that long and expensive trek to Florida come February!

Man talk about some bad luck. Sorry to hear that. Hopefully I can get.mine together to enter next years race

Wade, id hope by now that you would have figured out the difference between the gas a diesel world. Yes, ill agree that in the gasser world, fast times=big money but in the growing world of diesel motorsports and the common guy with a built truck, full on 8-sec drag trucks, rails, and pro-streets is not the name of the game. We dont all have the shops, money, time to build full on toys like that. Have you yourself ever been to a pull wade? Ever seen the amount of trucks in the 3.0 class versus the work stock guys? I mean really, pull your head out of your ass and see whats actually going on here. Diesel motorsports are still in the beginning stages and the big purse needs to be where the guys are racing, and thats in a class like this. Now after the class has a bigger following and more competition, more people with sponsorship dollars will have a bigger budget to start moving to faster classes. Were all still working with OUR dollars, not BIG MONEY sponsors with ginormous budgets.

Just like the gasser world, it has to start somewhere and this is it. We dont all have X amount of dollars to throw into a tube framed built drag truck. It all starts small, just like the modifieds and early funny cars back in the 50-60s.

Drasko said:

Wade, id hope by now that you would have figured out the difference between the gas a diesel world. Yes, ill agree that in the gasser world, fast times=big money but in the growing world of diesel motorsports and the common guy with a built truck, full on 8-sec drag trucks, rails, and pro-streets is not the name of the game. We dont all have the shops, money, time to build full on toys like that. Have you yourself ever been to a pull wade? Ever seen the amount of trucks in the 3.0 class versus the work stock guys? I mean really, pull your head out of your ass and see whats actually going on here. Diesel motorsports are still in the beginning stages and the big purse needs to be where the guys are racing, and thats in a class like this. Now after the class has a bigger following and more competition, more people with sponsorship dollars will have a bigger budget to start moving to faster classes. Were all still working with OUR dollars, not BIG MONEY sponsors with ginormous budgets.

Just like the gasser world, it has to start somewhere and this is it. We dont all have X amount of dollars to throw into a tube framed built drag truck. It all starts small, just like the modifieds and early funny cars back in the 50-60s.

Click to expand...

sledpulling that may be the case, but in drag raceing it's about the folks in the stands, the faster cars bring the fans---everytime. gas or diesel. economics has alot to do with this too. now i might be wrong, but thats my opinion, as i have witnessed this.

another thought....if you dont support the faster pro classes, there wont be one to watch....

Its not like the boys in the gasser world started in a top fueler right? you have to start somewhere right? Granted i was still swimming in my dads nut sack when drag racing was in its early stages but im certain it started the same way we are now. big money down low to the FASTEST class with actual competition at every event. people dont show up to TS to watch 2 rails roll down the strip. they show up to watch the fastest "competition" and i dont call the 2 rails and a couple tube framed rigs a huge showing for the fans entertainment. granted i appreciate the engineering that you guys have in those top levels and im all for it but the rest of us arent there yet. when we have the backing to do so, ill highly agree with you on where the big money belongs but until then, it is where it should be in my opnion.

DIESEL_POWER said:

and FYI the big money goes into the faster classes..not the slower ones.

Click to expand...

From a manufacturing standpoint. That is the exact opposite for diesels. Gas has lots more vehicles per class. Most products offered for diesels out there in a high volume are NOT for the fast guys. Most of the products for those vehicles are given free (like the AirDog on your truck) or at a discounted cost IF a regular manufacturer can even provide a product to work on such a vehicle. I'd give Darren Morrison a unit for free no problem if I could provide one that would work. But I can't. You guys are the advertising side to the people in the stands that base their buying on the fastest ride on the track. The QUANTITY of vehicles in a class is what we look for as a manufacture. Not only will this class provide a high volume of trucks (hopefully) but it will also be the market the manufactures are selling to. So it is a win win. :Cheer:

Keep doing what your doing Gary. Its meant to bring out the quantity of trucks to make a big event and give some guys who's pockets are extremely deep a place to play if they are bored racing where they are now. Your time and money spent to help the sport will be noticed and is appreciated.