Oil and water, Hatfields and McCoys, mud and your electrical systems—they just don’t mix well. You can’t do much about the first two, but if you are racing on dirt there are a few simple precautions you can take to make sure electrical foul-ups don’t put a damper on your night.
“There’s not too much you can do besides use common sense where you place your stuff,” says sprint car racer Bill Wilburn. “Sprint cars are not as complicated as stock cars; there’s no starter and some other things like that. Mostly, the best thing to do is place your coil assembly and most of the wiring behind the engine, which will block a lot of the mud and rocks that get thrown up off the front wheels. Some racers will even take it a step farther and put the ignition box in the driver’s compartment, but that’s mostly to protect it from radiant heat off the engine.”
Wilburn also points to a shield sprinters often use to protect the exhaust headers. He says it also helps block mud and rocks from making contact with the plugs and ignition wires.
Jeff Smith is the owner of J&J Race Cars. Along with operating its own race team, J&J Race Cars builds and repairs dirt Late Models for other racers and is one of the largest distributors of GRT-brand chassis in the country. Like Wilburn, Smith says protecting your electrical system from the elements in a dirt race is mostly a matter of intelligent placement and proper upkeep. “We build a box to cover the backs of the gauges that stick out of the driver’s compartment. That keeps a lot of the dirt and grit out. We’ll also put a dab of silicone over all the electrical connections. That’s mostly to keep them from vibrating loose when the track gets rough, but it also protects them some from moisture,” Smith says.
When building a car, Smith is also meticulous with placement. Wires are bundled together, and none are allowed to flop around—the perfect invitation for them to snag on something and get ripped off. Everything is also routed along the back side of chassis tubing to provide another measure of protection.
The critical time for the electrical system is after the racing is done. Water may be the bane of electrical circuits, but it’s also the best way to get accumulated mud off. When cleaning his race cars, Smith uses waterproof bags to keep water out of the carburetor and distributor, but everything else, he says, is “fair game.” After cleaning give all your hose and wire connections a complete inspection. While going over the electric system, now is also a good time to check out brake and coolant lines. Look for loose connections, splits and breaks, and fix any problems immediately. A bad ground can keep you out of a race just as easily as a blown engine—but if you are prepared it never should.
