By DOMENIC MELAIR

Racers generally have theneed for speed, but forthe those not making a

living off the sport, cost contain-ment is an equally importantneed. The RUSH Racing Serieshas developed a formula that hasseen a boom of GM PerformanceCrate Late Model car counts overtheir 12-year existence.

RUSH has extended their suc-cessful formula to SportsmanModifieds, which just com-pleted their fifth year of compe-tition, as well as Pro/E-Mods,Pro Stocks, three divisions onasphalt and non-wing SprintCars most recently this past sea-son.

RUSH Series Director, VickiEmig, has felt there was a needfor crate classes with spec com-ponents for every division whenshe began to see car counts inopen engine divisions dwindlethroughout her region.

“There’s a need,” Emig said ofthe growth of RUSH over re-cent years, that features the GMPerformance 602 and 604 crateengines packages. “We nowhave eight different classesunder the RUSH banner. Westarted with basically zero CrateLate Models and zero racetracks several years ago, and in2018 RUSH visited over 30 dif-ferent race tracks via either ourTouring or Weekly programs.”

“We’re very proud of ourSportsman Modified class. It’sbeen a great partner to our LateModels and we believe the newRUSH Sprint Cars are going to

grow faster than anything we’veever done before.”

By controlling cost and imple-menting spec components, al-most everything from motor,tires, shocks, and even fuel, theRUSH Racing Series has hit ona successful rules package con-cept that drivers, promoters, andfans can agree on.

“RUSH is all about cost con-tainment racing. As we began toexpand into other divisions, weimplemented pieces that hadmade our Late Models success-ful as well as other new ideasthat we felt would be beneficialto their success,” added Emig.

“My father and I owned racecars for 40 years and I was theowner/promoter of Mercer (PA)Raceway Park for 11 years,”Emig mentioned. “I feel thatbeing involved in both sides ofthe industry has really helpedme understand both side of theequation, and I just had a gutfeeling all those years ago thatthis concept was needed in ourarea. Being able to talk to pro-moters and racers and under-stand both of their perspectivesallowed us to create a class fromscratch when others said itwouldn’t work.”

“In my immediate region, the

Modified class wasn't what itused to be when I owned Mer-cer Raceway Park when we had60-70 Big Blocks in western Pa.and eastern Ohio car; it wasthen that we decided it was timeto start the RUSH SportsmanModified class to give Modi-fied-oriented racers a more af-fordable option. It all comesdown to cost and what theseguys can afford to race.

“The RUSH concept that wedeveloped works across theboard, it doesn't matter whatclass it is; it’s basically all thesame.”

“RUSH now reaches fromCanada down to southern Mary-land and everywhere in be-tween. At some point RUSHvisited over 30 different racetracks in 2018 of which ¾ ofthose are weekly tracks. Wehave things going on all thetime.

In order to cut costs, RUSHhas instituted a sealed, spec Bil-stein shock with a few differentvalve options depending on theRUSH class.

“We had the RUSH Sports-man on the $135 sealed , specRUSH Bilstein Shock, of whichthey only have three choices,since the division's inception.Other Sportsman classesthroughout the country requirea steel body shock, but you lookin their trailer and they have 15-20 shocks hanging on the wall;our program eliminates that ad-ditional cost and takes the worryabout numerous options com-pletely out of the equation. Ihave never heard our racerscomplain about the RUSH Bil-stein package and our racing isfantastic!”

Emig has worked with Bil-stein to ensure sealed shocksstay sealed. On normal shocks,a snap ring allows access torevalve a shock, located wherethe shaft enters the body of theshock, also called a rod guide.

When the RUSH Bilsteinsealed spec shocks are assem-bled, a snap ring is wrappedaround the o.d. of the rod guideand then the rod guide will bepushed into the tube; when thesnap ring finds it’s groove it willthen deploy into its seat. Thesnap ring that secures the rodguide in the end of the tube can-not be accessed for removal andthe shock cannot be disassem-bled without cutting the tubeapart.

“The $135 RUSH Bilsteinshock is mandated in my

Sportsman Modifieds, SprintCars and Pro/E-

Mods and optional on the LateModels, Pro Stocks, and thethree asphalt classes at Jenner-stown. The Modifieds have achoice of three valvings, theSprint Cars six, and the ProMods eight and the racing is asgood as it gets. We have alsoseen the package very success-ful on our Late Models and ProStocks as well as win numerousraces on the asphalt.”

“Jim Hiland has been a Bil-stein representative for over 27years. When we decided wewanted to go with a sealedshock program we worked withhim. Every time I went to de-velop a new class Jim's knowl-edge has proven invaluable toour programs and he has alwaysbeen dead on in his selectionsfor the correct package per divi-sion.”

Right out of the box when wetested the Sprint Car package atLernerville in 2017 the driversloved them; the mandated pack-age is exactly the same as whatwe used that very first test night.I surround myself with the bestpeople. It means a lot when youcan bring people in like thatwho believe in what you’redoing and want to help put to-gether the right package for theracer. Pace Performance,Hoosier Tire, Sunoco RaceFuel, as well as Bilstein have allbeen important partners toRUSH in helping me put to-gether these true 'cost contain-

ment' packages. They should becommended for having the fore-sight to see the importance ofcontrolling cost into the futurefor the health of our sport.”

As dirt Modified suspensionsbecome ever complex andpricey, RUSH has also tight-ened up their rules to keep theplaying field level and eliminateunnecessary costs for theirSportsman Modified racers.

“We have pulled our suspen-sion rules down a bit tighter onthe Modifieds as new suspen-sion technology evolves. As anexample, the new left handed J-bar setup and some other newsuspension items are not permit-ted on our RUSH Modifieds.We do not permit them becauseof the additional cost. It may beokay for big blocks and 358s,but I don't believe it belongs inour Sportsman Modified divi-sion.”

Per their 2018 suspension bul-letin, no three or four-bar rearsuspension and no floating bird-cages may be used. No front orrear sway bars, no left side pan-hard bar or j-bar, and no fifthcoil or shock control arm. Onlyone radius rod may be used oneach side of the rear suspensionas well.

For tires, RUSH utilizes specHoosier Tires with limited com-pounds on steel wheels. SomeSeries now allow the Big-BlockModified tires on aluminumwheels. We stayed with thesmaller Hoosier spec tire pack-age and steel wheels simply be-

PAGE CB 28 - 2018/ 2019 AREA AUTO RACING NEWS CAR BUILDER’S DIGEST

- Sanctioning Body For Late Models, Modifieds And Sprints Isn’t Just About Affordable Crate Power -RUSH Focus On Keeping It Simple Grows Its Sportsman Division

VP Fuels has announced the release of threenew products and the impending release of itsmuch-anticpated motorsports calendar.

First, VP unveiled its new Classic, Tradi-tional and Custom lubricant product lines.

“Racers and enthusiasts have relied on VPtechnology for over forty years for specificfuels for their applications,” said RichardGlady, Division Manager – VP Lubricants.

“There are a significant number of enginebuilders and race teams that prefer non-syn-thetic racing oils to protect their engines.

In addition to offering an extensive line offull synthetic and synthetic blend racing lubri-cants, VP has added an extensive line of non-synthetic and custom blend racing andhigh-performance oils for specific applica-tions.”

VP Classic non-synthetic racing oils areavailable in viscosity grades SAE 30, 10W-30and 20W-50 and are formulated to provide su-perior film strength with friction reducing ad-ditive as well as high levels of ZDDP. ClassicSAE 80W-90 API GL-4 Hi-Performance GearOil is recommended for use in traditional clas-sic car manual transmissions that complimentthe line.

VP’s Traditional non-synthetic racing oils inSAE 50 and 60 offers a heavier base oil cutproviding tremendous oil film strength, withthe enhancements offered by the Classics, andbuilt for extremely stressed competition en-gines fueled by racing fuel, gasoline, diesel, al-cohol, or nitro-methane.

In addition, VP’s custom blend lubricantproduct line now offers VP NITRO SAE 70Hi-Performance Racing Oil for nitro engines,VP EX HP SAE 0W-50 High Performance FullSynthetic Racing Oil, VP Diesel CompressionIgnition 1 SAE 5W-40 Full Synthetic Racing

Oil, as well as, VP’s new Hi-Performance SAE75W-140LS Full Synthetic limited slip andSAE 80W-140LS conventional limited-slipAPI GL-5 gear oils.

VP has also launched a new Octanium Un-leaded octane improver.

“Pump gas doesn’t always deliver the per-formance an engine might need,” said AndyDeel, Division Manager – VP Consumer Prod-ucts. “Adding Octanium Unleaded octanebooster can bump up the octane to stop the rat-tle or pinging a car or truck engine might haveto endure under heavy loads or towing.

“The fact that it also makes for acceleratedperformance on the street or the track and issafe for cars with converters or oxygen sensorsmakes this product an all-around performer.”

VP’s New Octanium Unleaded increases oc-tane up to seven numbers and improves throttleresponse and acceleration. It cleans fuel injec-tors, eliminates gum and varnish build-up, andacts as a lead substitute. One bottle treats up to10 gallons of gasoline, increasing octane by upto 70 points.

VP has also announced the launch if ots newSTAY FROSTY coolants for high performanceengines and for race competition.

“STAY FROSTY is a proprietary coolant for-mulated for engines that require additional pro-tection from overheating,” said Andy Deel,Division Manager – VP Consumer Products.

“In street and off-road uses, operating tem-peratures are reduced by up to 25° F comparedto the conventional glycol based coolants.

For race applications, the ready to use STAYFROSTY race formula can reduce tempera-tures by as much as 100°F and since there’s noglycol, track surfaces won’t get slippery ifthere’s a spill or leak.”

Custom Blend Lubricants, Octane Improver Additive Recently Announced New VP Fuels Products

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RUSH RACING, 1) series directorVicki Emig alongside the MercerRaceway Park pace truck; 2) RUSH Sportsman track champion ChasWolbert (No. 3) races with Justin Shea (No. 14) at PPMS; 3) RUSHcompetition director Travis Harry inspects Jeremy Wonderling’scrate Late Model after Wonderling won the Touring Series title.

(Photos by 1 & 3- RUSH; 2- Jim Balentine)

cause we look at costs.”“Racers will say , 'Well you

can get used aluminum wheelsoff of big-block and 358 racers',but I'm in my tech lines I don'tsee too many used wheels ortires rolling through, most arebuying new.”

“When you start looking at thecost of our tire and wheel pack-age as opposed to a big-blocktire and aluminum wheel andyou start multiplying those costit comes out to a big differencein what the racer will spend. Ijust don't think the majority of

our Sportsman racers are buyingused.”

For the RUSH SportsmanModifieds and Pro Mods, In-singer Performance, a SunocoRace Fuel Distributor, providesa pump gas type fuel, RUSH 91,that is mandatory for all com-petitors to run.

“The reason we don't let themgo to just any gas pump to buytheir fuel is that it’s never thesame; they’re close but youcould never tell 100% if every-one was running the same fuelas its inconsistent from pump to

pump. The RUSH 91 gives us abaseline to tech to ensure racersare not running costly racingfuel or using additives. TheRUSH Late Models utilizeSunoco 110, which has elimi-nated the use of extremely ex-pensive oxygenated fuels, andthe RUSH Sprint Cars run theRUSH Visual Methanol alsofrom Insinger Performance.,both also straight forward andeasily teched.”

“We also have a very tightgroup of RUSH Authorized En-gine Rebuilders that are 'man-dated' to attend our annualrebuilder meeting; in fact wejust had it this past Saturday.They traveled in from Canada,Tennessee, North Carolina andeverywhere in between. All ofthe RUSH engine requirementsthat are based on the GM Per-formance Manual #88958668are reviewed as well as numer-ous other important RUSH en-gine related technicalprocedures. If they don’t come,unless it’s an emergency, theyare immediately removed fromthe system. Everything is veryclosely watched.”

RUSH’s headquarters is lo-cated on the border of Pennsyl-vania and Ohio. For theSportsman Mods, their classspawned at nearby SharonSpeedway, which is located inHartford, Ohio.

“I was blessed to have SharonSpeedway and promoter DaveWilloughby be our base wherewe could launch the SportsmanModifieds. We started with anaverage car count around 10cars in 2014 and people said thesame old thing, ‘this isn’t goingto work’. We’ve been in thislong enough to know that you

have to stay the course. Sharon'saverage car counts have growneach year and was nearly 27 anight this past season includingan all-time record 38 for ourManufacturers Night in Au-gust!”

With tracks now seeing thevalue in hosting a RUSH pro-gram, some tracks are startingto double and triple up theRUSH Series in some of theirspecial events, and even at theirweekly shows.

“We run a Touring Series forboth our Late Models andSportsman Modifieds. Periodi-cally, they will be at the sametrack on the same night; in fact,Lernerville's season endingSteel City Stampede had threeof the classes - the Late Models,Sportsman Modifieds, and thenew Sprint Cars along withmany of our Pro Stock and ProMod racers competing in theopen-engine divisions. The 30Sportsman Mods at Lernervillewas a record high for them.

“I think we had almost 100GM Performance RUSH cratecars in at that show, a large por-tion of the total car count!”

Like the RUSH Late Models,which have seen much success

in their 12 years of thrillingfans, the Sportsman Mods arealready proving to be the nextRUSH Racing Series successstory.

“Our Late Models will alwaysbe the heart of RUSH, but ourSportsman Mod class is grow-ing annually and is very strong,our RUSH Pro Mods, ProStocks, and Asphalt divisionsare stable, and of course thekick-off of the new RUSHSprint Car division was phe-nomenal in its first year with 21different cars competing at 11

different speedways in fourstates.

“We just completed our fifthyear with the Sportsman Modi-fieds, and next year will be our13th year of developing the GMcrate engine racing conceptthrough the Northeast, Mid-At-lantic, and Canada.”

With Late Models, SportsmanMods, Sprint Cars, Pro Mods,Pro Stocks, and an Asphalt Se-ries, what will the next RUSHseries bring?

“I think I have enough,” Emigdeclared.

2018/ 2019 AREA AUTO RACING NEWS CAR BUILDER’S DIGEST - PAGE CB 29

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RUSH RACING, 1) At Fulton Speedway, the crate Late Models ofChris Fleming (No. 10) and Sean Beardsley (No. 93) mix it up; 2) Bil-stein’s spec shock is pictured on the right rear of Arnie Kent’s crateSprint Car; 3) Former 410 racer Gale Ruth Jr powers around TylerCounty. (Photos by 1- Mike Johnson; 2- RUSH; 3- Zach Yost)