USAC Racing Forum

Never been to these tracks can anyone please help with gears for jr honda and jr stock for miny indy and jr stock/jr honda and jr animal for the brick yard (thanks for the help)

Crew Chief,Hopefully someone has sent you a personal email or called you by now with some help for that track.I would be more than willing to help you but we as a team have never been to that track either,Hopefully after 99 views someone will come off their secrets on set ups and gears and help a guy out who is just trying to get their kid around the track..  Good Luck.

Crew Chief,
Start with the setup and gears you use on your home track. Run your cars & see how they handle on the new tracks. Ask a local club person about average lap times & current track records for your divisions. Check your lap times, rpms, and drops. How far off are you from your target rpm? Keeping your engine gear the same, use the standard formula for finding your new target gear ratio. Use your gear chart to find out which axle gear to switch to.

This is really something you'll need to discover on your own. Every car/engine are different. Some people like to use lower gears.... others higher. So see what you're running & work to find what works best for your car & driver according to your target rpm, etc.

If you have any questions about what I've posted, just send me a PM. Good luck! :)

Going with your own gear and adjusting accordingly is great if you're planning on running more than one weekend. I think the closer the brickyard gets the more involved last years participants will be and you'll get your answer.

Mini Indy on the other hand might be a challenge. We have never ran there but with out club being 40 miles away and the two doing a states series in the past we've heard a lot about it and it's a whole different monster. I'll try to find out a starting gear from some members who have ran there before.

Any help anyone could give would be very helpful

mini indy, i would start with a 10 split and go from there. ex. 35-25.  brickyard- you have 2 rounds of practice to figure it out, you might start out with a bristol gear and end up with a talledega gear.

Doesn't matter how many weekends you're running there, Burns. It's a starting point. Just because someone may make a gear suggestion on the forum (though as nice of a gesture as it is), doesn't mean it'll be the magic number for 'their' cars.

saw a lot of 10 or 9 splits when we ran.  38-28, 38,29 and as someone else posted even saw the 25-25's.

But it will most likely be a better start than home track gear. For example. What we run at Kokomo is way off what they're saying to run at mini indy. So instead of struggling to get to the right spot because it would take huge changes with only two practice sessions, if I ever run there I now have a better starting point and can fine tune from there.

At Mini Indy, A 9 or 10 split is probably where you'll end up with your Jr. Honda car. Jr. Stock will be more like 25/25 or 25/26.

Brickyard is posted as one practice session only this year.

At Mini Indy we ran a 34 engine, 23 axle and qualified at 6.889 yes missing the track record by .009. That was on a very hot day in May last year with the MAS Vega.  At the Brickyard we ran a 34 engine and 27 axle and made the A easily. That was completely unlocked though.  Another thing to consider is the A40 might just be the ticket at the grands. We ran them against Vegas at Indy late in the season and were competitive.  With the new MBS compound the A40 might be faster.  We have not had enough hot days to test. Just a thought.:)

Which class was that in at the Brickyard?

Sorry, that was Jr. Honda.

Gearing could be a little different from time to time at the Brickyard due to differences in the size when they lay it out.

Open Wheel is right I definatly wouldnt be afraid of running 40's at indy, especially if Hoosier had some 6.0's left on their discontunued list for the jr classes. When the track gets that sticky velcro sound from vega rubber (new ones might not do that as much) I've seen the 40's run on top of it and be fast.   

Open wheel was that a 24 engine and 23 axle(5.49)just wanted to make sure

And for the Brickyard it was 24/27 (6.75)?

Guys that was a 34 engine/23axlefor Mini Indy and 34/27 for the Brickyard.

That is what I thought you meant. :)

WOW!!! At Mini Indy I don't know but I must have been way off with the gear when we were there last!!! But the last race we ran was the state race and we finished 2nd but we took the lead with one to go and got a yellow so had to go back to 2nd and that's where we finished in Jr. Honda but our gears were why different though!!! Hear I thought it was because of the female driver I couldn't get things right so I guess that makes since.

Melmo, My driver is a girl also(Ashton Thompson)  so your driver was not the problem!!:) This was last year, The speeds have went way up since the last time you ran there.  Hopefully, we will be running together there again.  See you at the Brickyard.

open wheel hows Ashton doing? Can't wait for the brickyard miss all you guys!!! Until then have a good one!!!

FYI, we tested at Mini-Indy for three days, 8 hours a day. Junior Honda laps were around 6.754 and stocker was 6.132. We used every tire combo and gearing before we found the right one. The first few days will be fun to watch. Some say the 3 mil tire doesn't work, you will be surprised just what it will do if your car is set right for the tire. The gear selections depends on your on power train. Other suggestions could really hurt you if you aren't careful in what you go with.