2/4/2016
Sprint Source
Rule Changes Greet USAC's Silver Crown, Sprint & Midget Divisions in 2016
As the 2016 USAC season gets underway, an array of rule changes have been set for each of the three National divisions: Silver Crown Championship, AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the Midget National Championship as well as the AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Cars and Western Midgets.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
PRE-ENTRIES:
**Points for submitted pre-entries has been discontinued.
BACKUP CARS:
**If your qualification spot is missed or you have remaining qualifying lap(s), you can make a qualification attempt at the end of the order in a replacement car under normal penalty of not being able to start feature in top 50% of field. If another car is introduced any time after the original entry is qualified, the replacement car will start at the rear of the next scheduled event qualified for.
NATIONAL SERIES AGE:
**Before a person shall be eligible for a license in the United States Auto Club (USAC), and participation in a USAC-sanctioned race meeting, such person must be fifteen (15) years of age or older. A copy of the licensee’s birth certificate must accompany the USAC license application if the participant is between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. A USAC driver membership is mandatory to participate in any USAC-sanctioned event if less than 18 years of age. The age variance will not apply to events held under co-sanctioning bodies or tracks whose guidelines do not mirror that of USAC.
STEERING AND SUSPENSION:
**Wheel cover fasteners made of steel are highly recommended.
FEATURE POINTS (Silver Crown Only)
70 .... 1st
67 …. 2nd
64 .... 3rd
61 .... 4th
58 .... 5th
55 .... 6th
52 .... 7th
49 .... 8th
46 .... 9th
43 ....10th
41 ....11th
39 ....12th
37 ....13th
35 ....14th
33 ....15th
31 ....16th
29 ....17th
27 ....18th
25 ....19th
23 .... 20th
22 …. 21st
21 …. 22nd
20 …. 23rd
19 …. 24th
18 …. 25th
17 …. 26th
16 …. 27th
15 …. 28th
14 …. 29th
13 …. 30th
**Positions 30th through the balance of the field will earn 13 points.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES
PROVISIONAL STARTING POSITIONS:
**For provisional starting positions, all events up to and including May 1, 2016 will be based on 2015’s season-ending top-20 finishers in the car owner points AND the top 20 in current 2016 car owner points. The teams that are in the highest position from either category will be eligible to use a provisional. Points from the 2016 season will take precedence. After May 1, 2016 the current top-20 in the USAC National Sprint Car owner point standings will be used for provisionals.
STEERING AND SUSPENSION:
**Wheel cover fasteners made of steel are highly recommended.
BACKUP CARS:
**If your qualification spot is missed or you have remaining qualifying lap(s), you can make a qualification attempt at the end of the order in another car under normal penalty of not being able to start feature in top 50% of field. If another car is introduced any time after original entry is qualified, the replacement car will start at the rear of the next scheduled event qualified for.
NATIONAL SERIES AGE:
**Before a person shall be eligible for a license in the United States Auto Club (USAC), and participation in a USAC-sanctioned race meeting, such person must be fifteen (15) years of age or older. A copy of the licensee’s birth certificate must accompany the USAC license application if the participant is between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. A USAC driver membership is mandatory to participate in any USAC-sanctioned event if less than 18 years of age. The age variance will not apply to events held under co-sanctioning bodies or tracks whose guidelines do not mirror that of USAC.
POINT DISTRIBUTION:
**All feature points payouts have been increased by 10 points. All feature non-transfers will receive 10 points.
**If an event can’t be completed, all licensed drivers and car entrants will receive 10 points in addition to all points for completed events, such as qualifying as well as heat races AND semi feature. Heat race points will only be awarded if all heat races and semi are completed. If all heat races are completed, but a scheduled semi-feature hasn’t been completed, the top eight finishers in each heat race will receive points as follows: 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
**If the feature line-up has been posted, or less than 50% of the feature has been completed, cars that qualified for the feature will receive 23 points as well as any points earned in the heat races and/or the semi-feature. All others that didn’t qualify for the feature will receive 10 points along with all points earned in any preliminary races. All points earned in preliminary events including qualifying will be counted.
FEATURE POINTS (AMSOIL National Sprints, National Midgets, USAC/CRA, Western Midgets, West Coast Sprints, Southwest Sprints & HPD Midgets)
70 .... 1st
67 …. 2nd
64 .... 3rd
61 .... 4th
58 .... 5th
55 .... 6th
52 .... 7th
49 .... 8th
46 .... 9th
43 ....10th
41 ....11th
39 ....12th
37 ....13th
35 ....14th
33 ....15th
31 ....16th
29 ....17th
27 ....18th
25 ....19th
23 ....20th
Balance of Field: 23 points each
USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS & WESTERN MIDGETS
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT:
**All cars must weigh a minimum of 1035 lbs., including driver.
CAR CONSTRUCTION AND BODY:
**Side panels covering the sides of the engine and/or vertical spill plates may not extend vertically more than the height of the cockpit panels. All parts of the engine between the frame rails must have a hood covering, except for the air filter. Downtubes must be of the standard midget type. Excess panels will be permitted at the discretion of chief steward.
**Right side cockpit body panels must be a maximum of thirty-six (36) inches high as measured from the bottom frame tube. The opening must be 150 square inches and not distract a driver’s vision as determined by the chief steward.
**Left side cockpit body panels may be a maximum of (36) inches high as measured from the bottom frame tube. Opening must be 150 square inches and not distract drivers vision determined by chief steward.
STEERING AND SUSPENSION:
**Wheel cover fasteners made of steel are highly recommended.
ENGINE SIZE LIMITS ALL DIVISIONS/RPM LIMITS FOR NATIONAL MIDGET EVENTS:
**Engine RPMs will be in use at all track sizes 3/8ths of a mile or larger in 2016. Events at tracks with lengths smaller than 3/8 of a mile will not have RPM limits. RPM rules will be based on event location and will be posted on the event entry form and/or supplemental event regulations.
**The use of a double overhead camshaft-type engine must be a Honda K-Series four cylinder in-line, water-cooled and have four valves per cylinder. Teams using this engine must use the Honda OEM cylinder block and cylinder head - maximum 154.6 CID (2533.5cc).
IGNITION AND ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT:
**Any ignition other than magnetos must be approved by USAC prior to their use in competition. It is the responsibility of the participant, not the manufacturer, to obtain proper approval. The current list of approved electronic ignitions for national events includes - MSD programmable 6214, EFI R1i (Red), Electromotive, Magnetos, Electromotive on Esslinger EST.
PROVISIONAL STARTING POSITIONS:
**For provisional starting positions, all events up to and including May 1, 2016 will be based on 2015’s season-ending top-20 finishers in the car owner points AND the top 20 in current 2016 car owner points. The teams that are in the highest position from either category will be eligible to use a provisional. Points from the 2016 season will take precedence. After May 1, 2016 the current top-20 in the USAC National Sprint Car owner point standings will be used for provisionals.
BACKUP CARS:
**If your qualification spot is missed or you have remaining qualifying lap(s), you can make a qualification attempt at the end of the order in a replacement car under normal penalty of not being able to start feature in top 50% of field. If another car is introduced any time after the original entry is qualified, the replacement car will start at the rear of the next scheduled event qualified for.
NATIONAL SERIES AGE:
**Before a person shall be eligible for a license in the United States Auto Club (USAC), and participation in a USAC-sanctioned race meeting, such person must be fifteen (15) years of age or older. A copy of the licensee’s birth certificate must accompany the USAC license application if the participant is between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. A USAC driver membership is mandatory to participate in any USAC-sanctioned event if less than 18 years of age. The age variance will not apply to events held under co-sanctioning bodies or tracks whose guidelines do not mirror that of USAC.
POINT DISTRIBUTION:
**All feature points payouts have been increased by 10 points. All feature non-transfers will receive 10 points.
**If an event can’t be completed, all licensed drivers and car entrants will receive 10 points in addition to all points for completed events, such as qualifying as well as heat races AND semi feature. Heat race points will only be awarded if all heat races and semi are completed. If all heat races are completed, but a scheduled semi-feature hasn’t been completed, the top eight finishers in each heat race will receive points as follows: 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1.
**If the feature line-up has been posted, or less than 50% of the feature has been completed, cars that qualified for the feature will receive 23 points as well as any points earned in the heat races and/or the semi-feature. All others that didn’t qualify for the feature will receive 10 points along with all points earned in any preliminary races. All points earned in preliminary events including qualifying will be counted.
FEATURE POINTS (AMSOIL National Sprints, National Midgets, USAC/CRA, Western Midgets, West Coast Sprints, Southwest Sprints & HPD Midgets)
70 .... 1st
67 …. 2nd
64 .... 3rd
61 .... 4th
58 .... 5th
55 .... 6th
52 .... 7th
49 .... 8th
46 .... 9th
43 ....10th
41 ....11th
39 ....12th
37 ....13th
35 ....14th
33 ....15th
31 ....16th
29 ....17th
27 ....18th
25 ....19th
23 ....20th
Balance of Field: 23 points each
