Bandolero Bandits Get Restricted - The Restrictor Plate Enters The Summer Shootout
By Jason Buckley
In 1987, the face of big track racing changed in NASCAR. Bobby Allison lost control of his car at Talladega Speedway (AL), flying into the catch fence during a race. That same race Bill Elliott set a fast time of 212.809 mph in qualifying. NASCAR looked at the situation, and for safety reasons, decided it was time to slow the cars down.
Entering into the picture was what some deem the answer and others a mistake; the restrictor plate. It was put into use at NASCAR’s two fastest tracks, Daytona International Speedway (FL) and Talladega Superspeedway. The device is placed at the intake area on an engine with holes that redirect and funnel the flow of air in a restrictive nature. The end result is slower speeds on the track due to the loss of power the plate causes. While it did knock down the speed, it created massive pileups at these tracks due to the cars not being able to separate from each other.
In the Bandolero realm of racing, some felt the cars were starting to go too fast during the Summer Shootout at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (NC). While there is an Outlaw division that features drivers with age and experience to handle the increasing speeds at the track, there is also the inexperienced Bandits division. The Bandits are as young as eight years old, some gaining experience behind the wheel of race car for the first time.
For that reason, the restrictor plate will be mandatory for all Bandits when the Summer Shootout kicks off in June of this year.
“Mr. (Humpy) Wheeler (President of Lowe’s Motor Speedway) told me about six months ago that the Bandolero cars were too fast,” said Ken Ragan, General Manager of 600 Racing, Inc. “I thought that even before he said that. There is a lot of safety that can be built into the cockpit of that car. We do all of that but the cars are too fast. So we started looking at it (the restrictor plate) and thinking about that.”
Restrictor plates during the Shootout will not be a first for the small cars. Ragan put them to use at Lanier National Speedway (GA) back in 1999. They did the trick, but some were not too thrilled to see them enter the picture.
“The problem is there is a stigma with restrictor plates,” said Ragan. “Racers do not like them because it slows cars down. I do not necessarily like them. Racers like to go fast, but you have insurance companies saying the cars are going to fast and need to slow down.
“We do not know if that is the right fix. It is a work in progress. We have tried wings that stick up as high as 14 inches on the roof of the cars on the backstretch of Lowe’s Motor Speedway and that didn’t work. We have talked about putting 25 pound steel wheels on the cars. We have also tried one barrel carburetors. We have tried backing the ignition timing up or going back to stock motors. We have thrown all kinds of things on the table. The best fix we have today is the restrictor plate.
“We are in the same shape that NASCAR is in. The restrictor plate isn’t the answer at Daytona and Talladega, but it is the best option they have today. We have to do the best with what we have got and just tell the racers it is a work in progress.”
The Bandolero restrictor plate will be used for all Summer Shootout races in the Bandits division.
Bandolero action at Lowe's Motor Speedway can be intimidating to the new kids in racing.
The idea is to slow the cars down and make them safer for the competitors, but they are not being placed on all Bandoleros. Only the Bandits will race restricted while the Young Guns and Outlaw divisions will race free of the plate. Age and experience is the reason, according to Ragan.
“As a driver develops, they gain experience,” explained Ragan. “If Daytona in July for NASCAR was going to have 18 drivers in the field and it was Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kurt Busch, I say turn them loose. Let them go, they can do it. Where you have a problem is when you bring David Ragan in there and Reed Sorenson. They are young drivers that need more experience. But if it isn’t going to be anyone but Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon, I would buy a ticket and watch them race at 230 (mph).
“But when a father comes in here and buys his eight year old a Bandolero, are you going to throw him out there in the mix knowing they are going too fast for his skill level? That is a mix for disaster.”
In April, a few Bandoleros tested out the new restrictor plate at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on the ¼-mile in preparation for the Shootout. The cars were a few seconds slower than the unrestricted cars, but was that enough?
“They were slower than those that did not have the restrictor plate,” said Ragan. “Steve Byrd told me with a little bit of time he could get the cars within a half a second of what the unrestricted cars run. I hope that half a second is satisfactory to Mr. Wheeler that they are going slow enough. A half a second isn’t much. You can’t really even see that on the track. You aren’t going to even know the restrictor plate is on there once everybody gets it figured out.”
In NASCAR, the series controls the restrictor plate use and distribution. 600 Racing is taking more of a trust role with their competitors, allowing them to purchase the plates at their Harrisburg facility and bring them with when they head to the track in June. With the heavy NASCAR influence in the Legends and Bandolero garage, some might feel this is a mistake as the teams will manipulate the plate or the materials around it to generate more power. The officials will be watching close for this, and heavy penalties will be issued.
“We have the same supplier that does all the templates in NASCAR,” said Ragan. “We have a ‘go or no go’ gauge. We do not want anyone to tinker with that restrictor plate. We trust our competitors. Scott (Reinhardt) does have his tech inspectors and they are going to be checking them close. If anyone ever violates that rule, they are in trouble. It will probably be a deal that you are suspended, don’t call us, we will call you. There might not even be a time set on it. It might be three months or three years.”
Ragan hopes that will not be the case and racers will just want to go out and race.
“We are trying to fix it so we can race and be safer for the younger drivers on these bigger tracks. It comes down to whether they want to race or not. We want to race, so we are trying to help the program.”
