1998 National Meeting Short Sheet

GENERAL

The QR will be put into the Coast to Coast. Every member of QMA will receive a subscription to Coast to Coast. The BOD will negotiate contract with Coast to Coast by June 1998.

A committee of regional directors will be creating a new rule change proposal procedure. This new procedure will go into effect for the 1999 National meeting.

Electronic scoring will be allowed at a club's discretion as long as it can be done without penalty or hardship to the handlers. Electronic scoring , if used, will be used in addition to all normal scoring procedures.

New protest procedure.
All protests must be made in writing within one (1) hour after completion of race to the race director or delegate only. Anyone protesting to an official other than the race director or delegate will be suspended from participation. The protest must reference the rule or scoring procedure that was not followed by race officials. Judges calls may not be protested.

No radios and radio communication is allowed during a race or practice sessions.

Challenger class will be investigated by the technical and safety committees and the findings will be brought back to next year's meeting.

Helmets--must have a snell rating 10 years or less behind the current year.

Two handlers per car has been changed to: two handlers per car in the hot chute and up to four handlers may work on any one car in the hot chute area.

No driver or car weights were changed this year.

New hardship procedure.
Qualifying waivers may be requested and will be granted for any reason upon payment to QMA by club, bank, or certified check or mony order the following qualifying waiver fees: To race the States race--100 US dollars per class per driver. (50 will go to driver's home track and 50 will go to QMA.) To race the Grands--150 US dollars per class per driver. (100 will go to the driver's region' States race host.)

Membership dues to start for the 1999 year. 50 US dollar base fee per family with an additional 25 US dollars per driver up to a 100 dollar cap.

Local club rules.
All member clubs of QMA are to comply with all specifications and rules as printed in the QMA rule book and appropriate technical manuals and procedure manuals. In order to accomodate local conditions, regional directors may allow clubs to deviate from standard QMA racing procedures at local, nonsanctioned club races. This includes areas such as practice, qualifying, length of races, starting order, racing numbers, and common fuel. The QMA president must be informed of all permanent deviations allowed by regional directors. This does not include the work rule.At the discretion of the Regional Director, the number of judges may be adapted to fit local events. Not to include Regional, States, or Grand National events.

GRANDS

Effective for the 1999 Grand Nationals.--Preregistration will be done so that the first preregistrant will time last.

Code of Conduct
Occurrences at any Grand National event will be brought for a hearing before the Regional Directors in attendance and to the Board of Directors at the National Meet for disciplinary action. If discinplinary action is deemed necessary, the member (owner, handler, and/or driver) will be barred from all future participation at that event. Depending on circumstances, additional disciplinary actions (such as forfeiture of any awards at the Grand National event or suspension from participation in future QMA events) may be imposed on the member.

North Georgia (Region 3) July 18-25, 1999--Eastern Grands*voted on by respective directors.

Western Grands to be announced after March 1, 1998. August 1-8, 1999.

Dirt Grands to be held at Sangamon County. (Region 5). Dates to be announced.

JUDGING PROCEDURES

Judges will now make only flagrant calls. All calls will be disqualification calls. Cars stopping on the track will go to the rear unless a call is made on another car. Three green DOT will result in disqualification. The following are disqualification calls:
» Flagrant rough driving
» Cutting the infield (all four tires inside the line to gain advantage).
» Disobeying flags
» Liberating fluids or dropping parts under green flag conditions. (Judges must be able to determine which car dropped parts without the aid of a yellow flag to make a call).
» Signaling by handler to driver under green flag.
» Car being operated in an unsafe manner.
» Making adjustment during refuel or emergency stops except as stated in the National Work Rule.

DOT under yellow remains the same. Car goes to the rear but is not charged.

ENGINE RULES
DECO AND BRIGGS

Port rules--Implementation February 1, 1998.

Port Rule---Deco

Intake: (Novice, Super Stock, Modified) The intake port shall be round at the flange and valve seat within 0.015" and 0.825" maximum diameter at the flange, 0.825" maximum diameter at the valve seat. The port may be polished, ground, machined, or sleeved to suit. Welding, brazing, or epoxy and like substances may be used to repair or fill the port. The top of the port shall be no more than .375" from the head deck of the block. This dimension shall be checked with a dial caliper or ball micrometer. The port flange shall be perpendicular within 1 degree max to the head deck surface. Parameter shall be checked with a suitable protractor. The original manifold bolt hole locations shall be used. Threads may be repaired as necessary. From the edge of the valve seat to port flange max 1.050" (see drawing)
Exhaust: (Novice, Super Stock, Modified) The exhaust port shall be round at the flange and valve seat, within 0.015", and measure no more than 0.755" at the valve seat and 0.875" max at flange. The port may be polished, ground, machined, or sleeved to suit. Welding, brazing, or epoxy and like substances may be used to fill or repair the port. The top of the port shall be no more than .400" from the head deck of the block. This dimension shall be checked with a dial caliper or ball micrometer. The port flange shall be perpendicular within 1 degree maximum of the head deck surface. This parameter shall be checked with a protractor.

Port Rule---Briggs

Intake: (Novice, Super Stock) The intake port shall be round at the flange and valve seat within 0.015" and 0.825" maximum diameter at the flange, 0.880" maximum diameter at the valve seat. The port may be polished, ground, machined, or sleeved to suit. Welding, brazing, or epoxy and like substances may be used to repair or fill the port. The top of the port shall be no more than .375" from the head deck of the block to inside top of port. This dimension shall be checked with a dial caliper or ball micrometer. The port flange shall be perpendicular to the head deck: this shall be checked with a suitable square that reaches across valve chamber area to include the same in the measurement retained. Threads may be repaired as necessary. The port flange height shall be the same height as the valve chamber + or - .005" and parallel with cylinder center line.
Exhaust: (Novice, Super Stock ) The exhaust port shall be round at the flange and valve seat, within 0.015", and measure no more than 0.759" at flange and measure no more than .757" max at valve seat. The port may be polished, ground, machined, or sleeved to suit. Welding, brazing, or epoxy and like substances may be used to fill or repair the port. The top of the port shall be no more than .340" max from the head deck of the block. This dimension shall be checked with a dial caliper or ball micrometer. The port flange shall be perpendicular to the head deck. This shall be checked with a suitable square that reaches across valve chamber area to include the same in the measurement. The original manifold bolt hole locations shall be retained. Threads may be repaired as necessary. The port flange height shall be the same height + or - .005" as the valve chamber and parallel with cylinder center line.

Stock/Mod Engine
STARTING JANUARY 1, 1999. Modified engine rules apply to super stock engines except for the following:
1. Intake Manifold: Stock or after market intake manifold P/N AAT-F-444 or AA7-FA-410 only.
2. Carburetor: Same as Deco/Cont Tech Manual number 1 page 2. Number 4 page 3 gaskets are the same.
3. Firing: Same as Tech Manual number 8 page 4 and add no electronic ignition controls or devices shall be used. Conventional automotive b attery operated ignition system with automotive type points and condensor only.
Vaccum fuel pumps will now be allowed for mods and Bs.

Engine Bore--DECO.
"AA" Engine" Bore 2.250" + .060" + .004" cleanup, 2.314" maximum. Stroke 2.000" +/- .015". No overhead valves. Must be air cooled.

Briggs allowed to have a gearbox side bearing and any factory Briggs and Stratton piston rings starting January 1, 1999.

HONDA

Honing and deglazing of the bore is now allowed. Bore size has been reduced to 2.364" maximum.

Lapping the valves is now allowed.

The coil air gap is not a techable item but the spec will stay in the book.

Heli-coiling threads for shrouds (all), valve cover, existing throttle mounting holes, oil drain, and fill holes, one of the coil bolts, and side cover bolts provided is allowed. Dowel holes are not to be modified or relocated, also one carburetor mounting bolt.

Illegal exhaust will not lead to confiscation of motor.

Honda confiscation--Now only the illegal part and not the whole motor will be confiscated. A full motor teardown is required if an illegal part is found.

Honda Suspensions
Handlers guilty of having a Honda engine declared illegal by the National Technical Director shall be disciplined as follows;
First offense-30 day suspension from handling any car participating in any Honda class or division.
Second offense within one calendar year-One year suspension from handling any car participating in any Honda class or division.
Third offense within two calendar years-Suspended for life from QMA. Suspension is open to review by the QMA National Board. For the purposes of this rule only, if a handler has multiple cars competing in the Honda class at one race event and more than one engine is found to be illegal at that event, it will be considered to be one offense. Calendar year is one year from the date of infraction.

Novice Honda
The novice program and its implementation fall under the Regional Directors. Therefore illegal Honda engine parts will be confiscated but the suspensions will not be levied against handlers or drivers for the first offense only.