Legends car racing
Legends car racing is a style of auto racing designed primarily to promote exciting racing and to keep costs down. The race car bodyshells are 5/8-scale replicas of American automobiles from the 1930s and 1940s, powered by Yamaha XJ1250, FJ1200 (both air-cooled) or, starting in 2018, FZ09 (water-cooled) engines. The worldwide sanctioning body for legends car racing is INEX.
Legends cars are a "spec" series, meaning all cars are mechanically identical, with the exception of three styles of car (standard coupe, '34 coupe, and sedan) available with 10 types of body styles. New cars are currently offered with seven body styles, however many used cars exist with the "older" styles.
History[edit]
In 1992, Charlotte Motor Speedway officials noticed a need for lower cost racing cars with little maintenance time and cost. They found such a car existed, in the guise of the motorcycle-engined dwarf car, a 5/8-scale, steel-bodied and fenderless 1935 Ford coupé, which was being manufactured by the Dwarf Car Company in Phoenix, Arizona. As the coupé concept was not exactly in line in what they were looking for, and deeming steel replacement bodywork too costly, they adapted the dwarf car concept to fit their needs, creating cars resembling those of the 1930s and 1940s which competed in the early NASCAR modified tour races. To this day, the primary difference between the two cars is the legends have fenders over the tires, whereas the dwarfs have no fenders. The first legends car was unveiled in April 1992 by track president and general manager Humpy Wheeler and road racer Elliott Forbes-Robinson. Legends cars are produced by US Legend Cars International (formerly 600 Racing, Inc.) in Harrisburg, North Carolina. They are the largest mass-producer of race cars in the world.
On January 22, 2010, it was announced that US Legend Cars International would host a million dollar purse race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, from July 15–17, 2010. Three hundred one legends cars were on hand for the inaugural "Legends Million" event. The event was televised live on Speed Channel with Daniel Hemric of Kannapolis, North Carolina, taking the top prize of $250,000.
The event was hosted again at Charlotte Motor Speedway under the name of the "Legends Big Money 100" from 1st-2nd August 2011. The winner was Kyle Plott of Marietta, Georgia. He held off NASCAR driver David Ragan, a past legends car and bandolero champion, to win the 100-lap race at Charlotte.
The third annual Big Money 100 was once again hosted at Charlotte Motor Speedway on 4th July 2012. Tyler Green won the 100-lap feature.
The cars have very tight specifications to ensure cars are quite similar with each other. All cars utilise the same parts, engine and tyres. The only adjustable areas on the cars are: camber angle, caster angle, ride height, tyre pressure, spring rates, wheelbase, and gearing. All of these adjustments are also strictly regulated in the INEX rule book. The overall similarity in the cars ensures good racing, at a low cost. It also puts the race in the hands of the driver and the setup of the race car, instead of being about who can spend the most money.