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PAGE CB 24 - 2017/2018 AREA AUTO RACING NEWS CAR BUILDER'S DIGEST

Has Wegner's W16 Motor Energized The DIRTcar 358 Modified Class?

By DAVE SULLY

When Bob Slack introduced the Wegner motor at Merrittville Speedway in an experimental 358 Modified, his expressed purpose was to provide a low cost power plant to counter the ever increasing cost of fielding a car in that division, which had resulted in a downturn in the formerly burgeoning class. Car counts were down, while Sportsman fields, which use a much more economical engine package, began to grow exponentially. Racing his car weekly at Merrittville, with veteran Billy Dunn in the driver's seat, the motor, which costs about half the price of a conventional 358 engine, drew mixed reviews. Dunn did remarkably well in the inaugural season, actually winning a couple of races, but skeptics pointed out that Dunn won those races more on his ability than on the new motor. Undeterred, Slack, with the full cooperation of DIRTcar's Mike Perotte, have made undeniable inroads, with a number of the motors achieving high profile success, most notably Tim Fuller's 358 DIRTcar Series win at Mohawk last year and highlighted this year with Matt Sheppard's stunning victory at Oswego in the 358 Small Block portoin of the recent Super Dirt Week. Actually, Wegner motors finished first, fourth and fifth in that race, after Tim Fuller won the race last year in a huge

upset. Since its inception and suc-

cesses over the last two years, and with 50 of the motors now in circulation, Slack's goal has not changed.

"A lot of guys have bought them so they can continue racing," Slack observed, "Maybe they have had problems with their regular motors and timewise the ability to get them back in action soon enough wasn't there. This is a reasonably priced quick fix for them.

"There are also a number of Sportsman racers who have moved up that are starting to get them. That's the big key. The Sportsman class is very healthy, and I've been saying for years that the pond is full of Sportsman racers, but the leap to the next pond is $50,000 and guys can't afford it. I think people are beginning to realize that."

The motor being offered today is essentially the same as the original, with some minor changes.

"The only fine tuning we ever did from the original motor was a camshaft change, a change in the length of the primary tubes on the headers, and an intake change" Slack explained,. "Since then, the actual combination has stayed the same."

Importantly, the price has not gone up. "The price is $10,200 US, with shipping, plus between $1500 and $2000 for an insulation kit that you only have to buy once." Slack pointed out,

Along with certain elements

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that any motor would require, it amounts to roughly half the price of the traditional power plant.

As with any new product, there have been factors that needed attention, as Slack freely admits.

"There have been a few issues, one dealing with some bad distributor gears, which was no fault of Wegner's, but it has since been resolved. If Wegner believes that any problem could have been caused by a part they put on at their end, they've been excellent about making it right," Slack allowed,

Thus far, the engine has been consistently reliable. There have been some engine failures, notably Tim Fuller's and Mike Ladouceur's at Mohawk, but

after further review when the motors were torn down, the problem was traced to the distributor gear issue, not their original suspicion that it was an oiling issue.

Another factor with which they are dealing has to do with different fuels.

"There have been some changes in some fuels and we had to go to work and get the carburetor situation straightened around because it was creating a lot of detonation which hammers the main bearings.

"We basically have it sorted out that with certain fuels you have to up the jets a bunch," Slack said. "We had help from some guys who build regular 358s that were going through the same problem. It wasn't a

problem unique to the Wegner motor, but they are under the microscope so to speak. Brett Hearn blew one of them up, but it was suspected that a collapsed oil line or something was hooked up wrong that was the probable cause. I don't know for sure what happened.

"I've always said I feel sorry for engine builders because when a part breaks it causes them a lot of grief, and it's not necessarily their fault."

As for whether the advent of the more economical motors has caused a surge in car counts, Slack was very open.

"To be perfectly honest, it didn't in do our area, Ransomville/ and Merrittville, what I was hoping it would have done. I blame it more on the fact that racing itself is expensive. They want to blame the car builders, but the fact is that everything that goes into a race car costs a lot more money, plus every component has gotten better," Slack stated.

There have been a few local drivers that are now on board, including former Sportsman drivers, Greg Martin and Jesse Cotriss, who bought one last year and won with it. It also allowed some of the lower buck operations to stay in racing. There are currently three of the motors in regular competition at Merrittville - Tim Jones, Scott Wood, and the Slack house car that was driven by Ryan Susice last year, in which he also won.

With two major tracks, Fulton

and Utica Rome moving to the Small Blocks, there may be some movement, but Slack pointed out that those announcements were made just before Super Dirt Week, so any impact will probably take some time. He did note that a lot of drivers already have 358s in that area, so any developments there may take some time to evolve.

Regarding the supply chain, with some reports that there have been delays, Slack explained, "A lot of it is us (BRP) getting used to making sure we have enough stuff in stock. There was definitely a surge at the end of the year that you wouldn't have expected, but I know two guys who had motor troubles who got new motors, and it was on the Monday before Super Dirt Week started.

"We were able to have motors expedited to them right from Wisconsin, and they both had motors to run Super Dirt Week. We've got four to six motors in stock right now.

"People have to understand that you can't decide on April first that you want to race in a week and should just buy a motor, because you might not be the only guy who thought that way.

"I can't have 25 motors sitting in stock. It's not like they're on consignment. We pay for them before they're built. If nothing else, guys can get a deposit in and get their name on one that insures that we keep having them in stock.

"It's the same with race cars. We like to have several motors

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in stock, but if you sell four or

five in a week, it's going to look

like you don't have any motors.

"However, it's like the situa-

tion with Brett Hearn. They im-

mediately called and bought

another one. Wegner responded

in a big hurry, and I don't care

if it's Brett Hearn, Matt Shep-

pard or Joe Blow, if a guy needs

a motor we do everything we

can."

Since the Wegner motor is

sealed, it obviously must go

back to them for repair or re-

build. Slack offered this assess-

ment of Wegner's involvement,

"They've worked hard to fig-

ure the program out and worked

hard to keep up on things. It's

nothing for Carl Wegner to call

me on a Sunday night at ten o'-

clock with an idea or a solution to a problem or planning out his week for shipping motors to us. They really have a full commitment. They build a lot of those motors in the Wisconsin area.

"Carl was involved in the NASCAR deal when that came around. He's very well known. He has motors all over the place. There are eyes on the program here with the dirt stuff, and there are other sanctioning bodies that have taken note of what he has done. I think it has opened a lot of eyes. The W16 is really a slight spinoff of the motors they built for the asphalt cars.

"It's essentially the same motor with a few minor changes. The concept is basically the same. There's a rumor that he won't be able to build as many, but he has a tons and tons of parts of stock."

An interesting development since the project started is that some of the established engine builders are considering whether they can build a cheaper motor. When Slack told Wegner of the revelation, he was all for it, saying he didn't want everyone having one of his motors.

"We're just doing this to keep racers racing," Wegner bottomlined.

"You need competition.." Slack rightly points out. "You need people to keep you honest and you need people to keep you working. If somebody comes out with something better than you, it makes you go back to the drawing board and get better. It's a constantly evolving business."

Supply and demand and its affects on price is another fundamental business principle.

So if the demand takes off, would that mean that the price would increase?

Slack responded, assertively. "With the cost of living going up, there are always going to be price increases, but as far as engine demand driving the price, absolutely not."

Future response will depend on a number of factors. Among them, as noted, a number of drivers already have 358s, and they have good relationships with their current engine builders, some of whom may consider building lower cost motors. Slack is all for that.

"None of this is about selling motors or making money selling motors. It's about keeping people racing.

"It's no secret. We make $500 to sell a motor. If you look at it as a wise business decision, it's not," Slack admitted. "We're not making money on the motors. We want to keep people racing so we can sell product, but there's lots of guys who have put them in Troyer cars, Teo cars, PFC cars, and HigFab cars. Matt Hearn had to put one in one of his cars, and I sent him all the measurements to put the tabs on the frame.

"I don't care what brand it goes in. It's just that if it's one more race car, we all need it. Every race track needs good car counts and good racing. That's what brings people in to watch."

Slack furthered his rationale that in his view, governs the performance engine market.

"Especially after Oswego, people asked me why should I buy one of these motors? I asked them, `What do you have for a motor now? They might say that they have a Morrison or an ERD or whatever they have. I simply ask them, `If that motor blows up, can you afford to fix it?' If they tell me yes, I ask them if they're happy with their engine builder. If they say yes, I

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2017/2018 AREA AUTO RACING NEWS CAR BUILDER'S DIGEST- PAGE CB 25

tell them you don't need to buy one.

"Pete (Bicknell) has a Morrison and an ERD motor. He doesn't run a W16. He has what he has. They're not worn out. He's comfortable with them. He likes them. He likes the people who build his motors, and that's great.

"Not everyone has to have one. Thee are tracks where it's the right motor to have or just as good as a 358, and there are some tracks where it's not as good as a 358. That's no different than anything, wheels, tires, race cars, or drivers. If you're happy with your engine builder and you can afford to keep dealing with your engine builder, then keep dealing him," Slack asserted.

"It's keeping people racing or

introducing them to 358 racing that we want to do. Mike Perrotte and Wegner had a great idea and, somehow or another, we (BRP) ended up being the test pilot for it. It hasn't been easy. There's been a lot of screaming and yelling, but you have to keep in your mind you're trying to do the right thing, to make it so we can all keep racing."

Bob Slack became a bit of a celebrity, silencing critics who thought he was using a special version of the Wegner motor to make himself look good, when he publicly offered to sell the motor right out of his house car to prove his sincerity. He observed that he sold three motors that way, but he won't be doing that any more. It's is time consuming and requires a lot of ef-

fort. The success of the motor has been proven, and the motors that come from Wegner are all exactly the same.

It will take time to see if the Wegner motor will make serious inroads in the 358 market, just as it took time for the Sportsman Crate motor to fully engulf that division after it became mandated. It would have been unfair to teams that had open Sportsman motors to suddenly make them obsolete.

This is an entirely different scenario. Wegner is offering a product that has the potential to keep teams already in the 358 division racing and to offer the burgeoning Sportsman teams the opportunity to move up.

Any movement in both of those arenas would be a boon to racing.

WEGNER ENGINES W-16 - 1) Pictured ready to drop into a dirt Modified; 2) Front of the sealed 358 engine; 3) Tim Fuller turns laps powered by the W-16 engine while parading the logo on his hood.

(Photos by 1, 2- Amber Wegner; 3- Bob Armbruster)

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