ADRA 525 Dirtmasters Super Series

Apple Grove, WV. November 4, 2013~ The American Dirt Racing Association (ADRA) presented by Suddenlink will be entering our 4th season in 2014 with some great news! The ADRA is embracing the Chevrolet Performance “Find New Roads” program by making the CT 525 Super Late Model engine our new spec power plant! After many long hours of thought and deliberation along with numerous conversations with tracks, drivers, manufacturers, and even other series the ADRA has made the obvious decision to become a CT 525 sanctioned Super Series. The 604 GMPP crate engines will also be allowed for 2014. Beginning with 2014 and moving forward we will be the ADRA 525 DIRTMASTERS SUPER SERIES” presented by Suddenlink! WE MAKE DIRT FLY!

Racing in general has increasingly become disconnected from the fan base; especially the younger generation coined Generation “Y”, and by no small coincidence add to that division the all-important grassroots racer. This 18-34 year old group no longer relates to our cars as something they might drive. Our cars don’t look like their cars externally or under the hood. Not even the engine block is the same. More and more, late model racing in particular is becoming an exclusive clique piloting grossly overvalued and extremely over-powered death ships completely disengaged from the grassroots racer that made our sport a main stay in the fabric of America. It is time for the “if you can’t afford it don’t race” attitude to cease.

There is a distinct difference between what the weekly hometown racer can and should afford verses the professional racer. It is no different than any other sport. It would be preposterous to expect your local high school football team to compete with even the poorest NFL team. There is no viable reason why we should be allowing our local Saturday night race teams to do the same at their regularly scheduled weekly events either. This equates to allowing a bully to beat up your kids while you stand by and watch: Hardly an atmosphere that fosters growth.

This “Extreme Mechanical Advantage” (EMA) is killing our sport. Keep in mind when it comes to technical rules governing racing, “to allow it for one is to require it for everyone else.” Engines are eclipsing 900 death defying horse power now at a cost of well over $40,000. Certainly for the “Average Joe” racer competing weekly at local tracks where a general admission crowd of 1000 spectators is considered a great night, that is unconscionable.

To control that kind of power the cost of the chassis, driveline, and suspension has also sky rocketed. This may be perfectly acceptable for a team competing with other professional teams in the national spotlight for proportionally lucrative purses but not for the rest of us. Even for the pro’s it is becoming painfully evident by the number of excessive power related accidents reported combined with the number of race teams calling it quits the last few years we have finally pushed the envelope too far. Both from a safety standpoint and financial aspect it is time to “Find New Roads” at the weekly and regional levels of racing at a minimum.

In 2008, GM Performance Parts introduced a viable solution for those wishing to compete on a weekend enthusiast’s budget: The Circle Track 525 (CT 525) 6.2L Engine. Billed as, “Big time horse power at a modest budget designed for Super Late Model-type cars.” This engine is based on the GEN IV LS series of GM small blocks. The same all-aluminum engines that power the extremely popular C6 Corvette, Camaro SS, and the Impala SS. The CT 525 delivers 525 HP right out of the box and will reach 570 PLUS HP in fully tuned race mode. It has been thoroughly tested both on the dyno and in the field. It has performed flawlessly winning races and championships at many levels in several venues. At the modest price of about $7200 complete from intake to oil pan and can be delivered by truck to your location, the CT 525 affords us an opportunity to include nearly anyone qualified to be competing in the Super Late Model division without the customary undue financial hardship. Not only is the CT 525 powerful, it is extremely durable with bullet proof 6 bolt cross bolt mains lasting not just 1 season but in many cases several season with only minor preventive maintenance.

For an added bonus the CT 525 is built right here in the U.S.A. reconnecting us to our own UNION workers which goes a long way towards explaining CT 525’s exceptional quality, power, and durability. Those are values we need to stand up for to help keep American workers working. We can all agree that is the true “Heartbeat of America”.

“We have been asked many times over the past 3 years to start the CT 525 series in our region,” explained Series Competition Coordinator Rocky Estep. “The time has come and the conditions are such that is has become inevitable. Racing is expensive, true enough, but everything has a limit. We have reached ours. We resisted, even denied, the need to make this a 525 series up till now but no more. We tried mixing the classes and adding rule offsets to help the lower budget teams but it just isn’t working. Our mantra has always been; Making racing more affordable and more competitive for more people. The ADRA is digging in our heals and going back to work using our series as a tool to ensure our regional weekly super late model racers and our local tracks have a powerful, durable, competitive, exciting, affordable, and plausibly safe Super Late Model class to thrill our fans with for years to come.”

This will, once again, be a regional series focused primarily on ways to “Find New Roads” in the OH, WV, and KY Tri-State Area. There will be a comprehensive spec rule package governing certain key elements of the car fashioned after the rules used by our southern-based friends at www.525superseries.com . Check in at www.adraracing.net for 2014 rules and information which will be forthcoming in the following weeks as details are finalized and our program is put into motion. We strongly encourage and support all weekly tracks that will transition to this revolutionary class as their Weekly Super Late Models. Go to www.chevroletperformance.com/EngineShowcase for more information on this awesome engine created for the blue collar racer and truly represents the validity of the one of our favorite Chevrolet slogans “Like A Rock”.

THE ADRA 525 DIRTMASTES SUPER SERIES: WE MAKE DIRT FLY!
Suddenlink, WV Army National Guard, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco, Octane Performance Parts, Kryptonite Race Cars, Prostar Designs, Poske’s Performance Parts, Revelution Chassis, Killer Chassis, Dominator, Mastersbilt Chassis, Racers in Christ, Wrisco, SellMyCow.com, Swartz Chassis, American Racer, OVDTR.com, AFCO, Double H Race Fabrication, Lifetime Homes, LLC, Quick Time Suspensions, T & C Motor Sports Photography!

“I’ve got a lot of laps around this place, and you have to set your car up to run either the bottom, middle, or the top, and tonight was the first time I could drive any groove I wanted to whenever I wanted to,” Busha said. “These cars with the Chevrolet Performance CT 525 Engine are so drivable and affordable over the open super late models. It’s just a blast to drive them.”……. Tim Busha, Boaz AL after his $6000 win in the Dega 100. www.525superseries.com

“This is a great opportunity to brand the new Chevrolet SS passenger car with the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series by using the same LS Engine,” Chevrolet Performance Special Projects Manager Bill Martens said. “Not only can we market the new Chevrolet SS in NASCAR, but we can now also market the engine that comes in the production car to even more race fans with the Chevrolet Performance Super Late Model Series at dirt tracks across the country.” …. www.525superseries.com