Abrams, Wisc. – The MORR Rules Meeting came to order with over two hundred fifty Sportsman racers and supporters on hand. Thanks goes out to Kip and Donna’s Flyway for hosting the meeting. The meeting went extremely well as the various topics of discussion brought thoughtful feedback from all in attendance.
The first item on the agenda was the explanation of the TORC – MORR relationship. The MORR Sportsman drivers group will be competing on the same weekend as the TORC PRO Series at the traditional two weekends at Crandon and the one August Bark River event.
The opening weekend of the season will be one of the three types of off-road competition held during the Third Annual Off-Road Super Challenge weekend at Crandon.
2015 MORR Race Schedule (as of 10/26/2014)
June 6-7 Crandon, WI
June 27-28 Crandon, WI
August 15-16 Bark River, MI
September 5-6 Crandon, WI
This leaves the possibility of creating one or two additional Sportsman race weekends.
Matt Krause was introduced as the MORR Sportsman Tech Director, replacing the now retired Terry Severson.
The MORR Sportsman Banquet will be January 10, 2015 at the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. There is a special rate for the banquet which is $119/night. You must mention the “Midwest Off-Road Racing” when making your reservations. To obtain the special rate you must reserve your room by December 10, 2014. The price for the banquet is $45/adult and $15/ kids 12 & under. The deadline for banquet tickets is December 31, 2014. The meal will be buffet style. Look to the MORR website in the coming days to order your banquet tickets. For more information about purchasing banquet tickets and romm reservations please click here.
The afternoon of the MORR Banquet, Board elections are held. You must be a 2014 MORR member, in good standing, to cast your vote. There are seven board members and three positions (Greg Stingle, Justin Folkman, and Don Demeny) that are up for election. If you would like to run for a MORR Board position look to the MORR website in the coming days for the nomination form. As Mike Vanden Heuvel stated during the meeting, the MORR group always needs more participants and more members to get involved with the group. Along with the Board elections, there are several special racer awards that are on the ballot as well. One of which is “Rookie of the Year,” and if any rookie drivers want to be listed on the ballot make sure you contact Mike Vanden Heuvel. For more information about the MORR election and Board nominations please click here.
If you are unable to come to the banquet, and would like to cast your vote, please contact Mike Vanden Heuvel for more information.
The MORR Banquet also includes the group’s silent auction fund raiser. The MORR Board urges all its members to bring an item or basket offering for the silent auction. In the past money from the fund raiser has gone to help with the needs of an injured driver. This past season, MORR helped out a driver that was injured this season with a donation. Remember don’t hesitate to ask any of your supporters or local businesses that your race program frequents for donations. For more information contact MORR Board Member Rob Kinner.
On the subject of driver injuries, MORR highly recommends SFI approved Containment Seats for all race vehicles. The use of suspension seats will not be allowed for 2015. This subject will be discussed and explained more as MORR confirms sanctioning body and insurance. Remember safety comes first when racing. For the safety regulations do perform their job, seats and harnesses must be mounted properly. “If you are building a new race vehicle, build it with a containment seat,” was the recommendation from the MORR Board.
The point was made that the USAC insurance that is included with last year’s USAC membership was secondary insurance.
Matt Krause brought several additional issues that needed to be addressed.
The 2015 rulebook will include diagrams showing proper seat mounting positions.
Transponders must be on for practice. This allows the sanctioning body to confirm that timing and scoring equipment is working properly. If transponders are not turned on during practice, your team will be penalized.
The race vehicle numbers must be of regulation size and color. Please be one hundred percent ready when you get to technical inspection at each and every race.
If you have an issue with your class, make sure you first approach your class representative to express your concerns. It’s then the rep’s responsibility to contact the correct person.
Matt Krause would like to have the rulebook completed by the end of November.
The final topic on the agenda individual and combined class concerns.
The MORR Board announced that Classix and Formula 4×4 would be combined to form one class, officially known as Classix. The Limited 4 and Super Truck classes would also be combined under the Super Truck name. This would mean there would be one green flag, but two sets of rules as the entire group races for one set of points and payback. The purpose of this initiative is to increase the number of race vehicles on the track at one time. The race promoters would like to see a minimum of twelve race vehicles competing on the track.
The need for improved paybacks was mentioned and the best solution to the issue is to obtain actual class sponsorship.
A quick overview of changes that need to be discussed as per class was made by Matt Krause which included:
Light Buggy and Single Buggy
There is a need to review some of the previous rules that were left out.
Super Buggy
The powerplant rules need to be more defined.
Stock Truck
A class competitor mentioned that stock cylinder heads are becoming harder to find, and asked the group to consider a cylinder head rule similar to Super Stock Truck. There was some discussion about the use of stock cast exhaust manifolds versus headers as well as mounting the radiator behind the cab. This discussion was continued afterwards in the class breakout sessions.
Super Stock Truck
Everyone seemed to agree how well the rules have evolved it the point where a good portion of the entry list has a legitimate opportunity for a win every time on the track. The breakout session afterwards covered ignition box location, fuel pump design, coil-over shocks and clarification on transmission modifications.
Kids Karts
The teams agreed to meet to discuss minimal changes during the breakout session.
Combined Classes
The two groups went to work during the breakout session on concepts that would level the playing field when it came time to go racing in 2015.
Sportsman Light
Dan Vanden Heuvel officially introduced the Sport Lite Truck class to the public. The development of the class has been in the works for over two years as PRO-Light competitors were very helpful in the development of this new Sportsman division.
The powerplant will be a turnkey GM LS fuel injected powerplant from Wagner Auto Research. Carl from Wegner was on site with a LS set-up. Wegner will also supply a maintenance plan which includes a one year warranty. Wegner will also offer a contingency plan which will include a driver winning the use of a new engine for the upcoming year.
Charlie McCormick from ATD has created the transmission rules and the approved vendors are
ATD along with Roger Harrison from J & H Transmission.
Dynamic Manufacturing is the exclusive torque converter vendor.
Ray Currie from Currie Enterprises, as exclusive gear vendor, has agreed to supply every Sport Light competitor with two sets of rear gears, one short track and one long track combination.
There were more details discussed during the breakout session at the Wegner Auto Research display. More details on the class are coming in an upcoming press release.
The final topics discussed included, line-ups for restarts, and explanation of race payback.
An impromptu survey about how far competitors would travel to race and the consensus was four to five hours.
The meeting was the largest MORR general meeting in the group’s five year history. Don’t forget the MORR banquet is January 10, 2015 at the Potawatomi Casino & Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.