America's Racing Masters

300 horsepower. Any manufacturer. Built in your garage.

A dirt oval class where driver skill wins, not the checkbook. Pump gas, modern engines, and a tube chassis anyone with a welder and a grinder can build.

America's Racing Masters demo car rendering, blue and yellow, number 1

Why this class exists

Rules freeze a class in the decade they were written. Most of us remember when a 400 small block Chevy was everywhere. Now the aftermarket block costs a few thousand dollars and up. Old street car chassis are getting hard to find, expensive, and unsafe to build on.

America's Racing Masters follows what the manufacturers build today. That keeps parts cheap and plentiful, and keeps the manufacturers invested in short track racing. Not one component on these cars has a single supplier.

~300horsepower, factory rated
7manufacturer families
87 to 93octane pump gas
~2,200pounds with driver

These rules come from more than three decades in short track racing as a driver, car owner, builder, crew chief, competition director, and fan. They are based on real enforcement, not theory.

The car

Engine

Naturally aspirated all aluminum overhead cam V6, about 300 horsepower stock. Stock internals. Factory computer with factory rev limiter.

Manufacturers

General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia, and Nissan. Every engine built by the millions.

Fuel

87 to 93 octane unleaded pump gas. No ethanol blends. No exotic fuels.

Chassis

Purpose built steel tube chassis. Front or rear engine. Front or rear wheel drive. Built in a home garage.

Suspension and brakes

Steel components only. Steel shocks with no reservoirs or remote adjusters. Cast iron calipers, rotors, and drums.

Wheels and tires

15 inch steel wheels. Department of Transportation approved tires, 4 ply minimum. Tire and wheel must pass a 10 inch gauge.

The race format

  1. Qualifying. Best of 2 laps sets the order for the top 28 cars.
  2. Four color brackets. Qualifiers are dealt into red, green, black, and blue brackets of 7 by qualifying rank. The top seed in each bracket gets a bye.
  3. Head to head. Two lap races, single elimination, from a standing start under an overhead drag style starting tree. A red light is an automatic loss. Spin out and you are out. The faster qualifier picks the lane.
  4. The feature. The four bracket winners run a 12 lap feature on an inverted grid. The blue bracket winner starts on the pole.
Red
Green
Black
Blue

Integrity is the deal

Every car is checked and certified legal before it races. Tech uses electronic software, a whistler, a dial indicator, a spring tester, an endoscopic camera, and a portable chassis dynamometer. If tech cannot talk to your engine computer, you do not race.

Get caught cheating and you sit out a full calendar year. Do it again and you are done with this class for good. Gaming the rules drives cost up for everyone, and racers have carried this sport long enough.

Promoters, manufacturers, sponsors

This class is built to make racing pay the people putting on the show. Promoters get a full field of affordable cars and a format that fits a tight night. Manufacturers get their own engines racing on Saturday night. Every major manufacturer is invited.

The demo car is under way

The first car is being built now to prove the price point holds. Raw steel for the chassis was bought October 9, 2026, for about $700. Drawings and the full rules are at the bottom of this page.

Get on the list

Racer, builder, promoter, or fan. Leave your info and you will hear when the first car hits the track.

Full rules

Philosophy

America's Racing Masters is an unspec spec class built around physics, accessibility, and driver skill, not spending. Money does not buy a meaningful advantage. Creativity, effort, and driving ability do. Anyone competent with a MIG welder and a grinder can build their own car. These rules will change as the auto industry changes, so the class keeps following what manufacturers actually build.

Design priorities: safety first, reasonable price, encourage innovation. Simulated lap times are in line with most existing street stock classes, sometimes faster.

Engine

  • Naturally aspirated V6 overhead cam engines of approximately 300 horsepower, with starters.
  • Stock internal engine parts.
  • 87 to 93 octane unleaded gasoline only. No E85. No exotic fuels.
  • Certification uses electronic software, a whistler, a dial indicator, a spring tester, an endoscopic camera, and a portable chassis dynamometer.

Approved engine families

  • General Motors 3.6 liter V6 (LLT). 2008 to 2017 Impala, Camaro, GMC Acadia, Cadillac CTS. Factory rating about 300 to 312 horsepower. Later 335 horsepower versions may carry up to 200 pounds added weight. The LGX variant is discouraged.
  • Ford 3.5 liter Cyclone V6, naturally aspirated only. Edge, Flex, Fusion Sport. About 280 to 300 horsepower.
  • Chrysler 3.6 liter Pentastar V6. Challenger, Charger, 300, Grand Cherokee. About 290 to 305 horsepower.
  • Toyota 3.5 liter 2GR V6, naturally aspirated. Camry, Avalon, Lexus ES350. About 268 to 301 horsepower.
  • Honda J series V6 (J35 and J37), naturally aspirated. Accord, TL, Odyssey. About 280 to 305 horsepower.
  • Hyundai and Kia Lambda V6 (3.3, 3.5, 3.8), naturally aspirated. Genesis Coupe 3.8, Sonata, Stinger. About 290 to 306 horsepower.
  • Nissan 3.5 liter VQ. 2016 to 2023 Maxima.

The list is manufacturer based, not model specific, by design. It prevents scarcity and boutique loopholes, keeps cost low, and simplifies tech. Special trims rated above 311 horsepower from the factory are excluded. Penalties are set by the competition director and promoter.

Engine computers

  • Factory computers only. Anti theft, emissions reprogramming, and network module elimination are allowed.
  • America's Racing Masters can do this for $200 per computer, or use any tuning shop.
  • Factory rev limiter stays at the factory setting and will be checked.
  • If race tech cannot communicate with your computer, you cannot race.

Drivetrain

  • Front engine or rear engine allowed. Front wheel or rear wheel drive allowed. No all wheel drive.
  • Steel axles and driveshafts only.
  • Front engine cars: a driveshaft loop is required within 6 inches of the front U joint, fully encasing the driveshaft. Driveshaft must be painted white.
  • No transmission rules. Factory transmissions on many of these engines cost $4,000 or more, so racers are trusted to find cheaper options. Factory flywheels are available for all approved engines and manual transaxles may be adapted.

Chassis and safety

  • Purpose built tube chassis allowed.
  • Minimum cage tubing: 1½ inch by .095 wall.
  • Six sided main structure.
  • Minimum 3 horizontal bars per side and 4 vertical bars.
  • Halo hoop extending at least 1 foot past the seat edge on both sides and the front, and 6 inches at the rear.
  • X brace over the driver's head tying the main hoops together, with at least 6 inches from the top of the helmet to the bottom of the brace.
  • Proper racing seat and 5 point harness, bolted to the cockpit safety cage.
  • 20 gauge minimum steel floor pan and firewall enclosing the cockpit from the drivetrain and fuel system.
  • Rock screen in front of the steering wheel across the full front opening. 1/8 inch wire or larger, openings no bigger than 2 by 2 inches, securely fastened.

Fuel system

  • Racing fuel cell with bladder required.
  • Mounted between the axles, fully enclosed and isolated from the cockpit.
  • Clean, protected, and structurally supported.

Suspension and brakes

  • Steel shocks only. No external reservoirs, no remote adjusters.
  • All suspension components must be steel. No exotic or proprietary parts.
  • Brake calipers, rotors, and drums must be cast iron.

Wheels and tires

  • 15 inch steel racing wheels with 1 inch lug nuts. Beadlocks allowed.
  • Department of Transportation approved tires, 4 ply minimum.
  • No studded tires. No mud tires.
  • Tire and wheel must pass through a 10 inch U gauge while on the car.

Dimensions and weight

  • Minimum weight about 2,200 pounds with driver.
  • Maximum overall width 76 inches.
  • Minimum wheelbase 96 inches.
  • Drive wheels covered full width by a fender, with a rear mud flap no more than 4 inches off the ground.
  • Rear bumper required, full width of the tires. No sharp points or unfinished edges.

Body

  • No carbon fiber or fiberglass. HDPE plastic, aluminum, or steel only.
  • No wings. No spoilers.
  • Cars must be neat, intentional, and professional in appearance.

Race format

  • Best of 2 lap qualifying for 28 cars.
  • Four brackets of 7, red, green, black, and blue, assigned by qualifying rank. Top seed in each bracket gets a bye.
  • Two lap head to head single elimination races from a standing start under an overhead starting tree. Red light is a loss. Spin out and you are disqualified. Faster qualifier gets lane choice.
  • Four bracket winners run a 12 lap feature. Grid inverts by bracket: blue winner on the pole, black outside front row, green inside row 2, red outside row 2.

Enforcement

  • Every car is thoroughly checked and certified legal before racing. Not knowing is not an excuse. If unsure, ask.
  • Any attempt to cheat: minimum one full calendar year suspension.
  • Second offense: permanent ban from America's Racing Masters.

Platform intent

  • The cars are a modular platform.
  • The drivetrain may shift to the most economical and fair options available from manufacturers.
  • Anything in the show that starts getting expensive to keep around gets addressed immediately.

Demo car raw steel list

  • 60 feet of 2 by 2 by 1/8 square tube
  • 80 feet of 1½ inch by .095 round tube
  • 40 feet of 1 inch 11 gauge round tube
  • 20 feet of 1¼ inch by .120 round tube
  • 20 feet of 1 by 1 12 gauge square tube
  • 20 feet of ½ by ½ square tube
  • One 4 by 8 sheet of 18 gauge

Cost on October 9, 2026: about $700.

Renderings and sketches