Time to join the fun - new AI/AIX build!

[way2neary]

Hey Casey,

That's great news! Your wife is too cool. I mentioned to my wife that yours had convinced you to pursue racing. So, my wife says "are you trying to tell me something?". Well, YES I am!!!!

I can't offer much advice on the build, but it's really great to hear you'll be out there.

[Casey_SS]

I think Bill Buck in Austin did the CMC cage in Morgans F-body.

If you want I can dig up Bill's contact info.

DD

Yes, if it's not too much trouble, that would be awesome. If I can get what I want at a reasonable price locally that would simplify my life considerably. Thanks!

[GlennCMC70]

Like Richard said, build the car in a way as to prevent you from being "stuck" in AI/AIX. Its a great class and I too would love to build an AI car, but just keep your options open.

Also, great to see you making the leap.

[Wirtz]

Bill Buck did the cage in my car as well. Did ok, and was a fair price for the work. There is another guy in Austin that does mainly NHRA cages, Gerald if I remember right. Very nice stuff, all TIG, awsome fit, welding artwork. Normally has a wait list and his prices are higher. He did alot of stuff for me on my old ITS car. Google "Pro Comp Engineering Austin" and you get his number. Maybe a good solution if you get a Blain cage and have it installed locally? Might be quicker than having him do everything. Not sure but he might be worth at least talking to.

As for the car; whatever you do, don't do any work that forces you to stay in AIX. Understand if you want to class there for a while to get things rolling however. As mentioned, you might consider keeping an eye to CMC2. Maybe work out what you could sell your big power for and head to the Deuce with some of the extra fundage. Don't get me wrong, AI is great, it is what brought me to the series orginally. But noodle out what it will take to build and maintain the car. At least at the time, you will not find better W2W than in CMC. But hey, of course I'm biased If done right, you could build to CMC2 and still be able to move to AI at a later date.

Welcome to the club!

[AllZWay]

Welcome aboard..... I would just agree with others. Build the car to meet CMC2 rules and then you could always make the necessary changes and spend money to move to AI/AIX at a later date.

[rleng1]

Casey, very cool that the wife is supportive of your racing. We all need those. Nice to visit with you and family last weekend.
About the cage and other build items. You cannot go wrong with LAW Motorsports. mitch & Glenn treated me right and their work is top of the line.
Good luck, and enjoy.

[Al Fernandez]

Welcome aboard Casey!!!

You really should to go out of your way to get to a race weekend, meet everyone, and take pictures of car details. That will be priceless as you contemplate what to build and how. Unfortunately Hallett is the next event, which is the farthest drive. I'm sure you can hitch a ride with someone (myself included) if you want to come but not drive yourself.

Just remember the song: "I fought the LAW and the LAW won." :wink: These guys know what they're doing, and they're part of our family. If you havent found frrax.com yet thats another critical resource for f-body racers.

An AI/AIX cage and a CMC cage are very different. Mike Patterson is the guy I'd talk to about the cost and benefit of going from a normal (ie CMC style) cage to a full on AI cage since he's just done that. That's the only area of concern I'd have with building a car that can run either class.

You can call me any time to discuss rules differences between the classes, or anything else. My contact info is in the rulebook.

[RichardP]

An AI/AIX cage and a CMC cage are very different.

They can be different. A fully optomized CMC cage is legal and safe in AI. A fully optomized AI cage isn't legal in CMC.

Richard P.

[HoustonNW]

If you havent found frrax.com yet thats another critical resource for f-body racers.

By the way, as someone who was pretty familiar with S197 Mustangs and has a few posts under the same username on various websites, I was also given the frrax.com suggestion.

And when you go there you'll think it is pretty much worthless as a website. However, as I just found out, you need to register, then re-register, then send the approval request email.

Then, and only then, do you see the other 15+ forums!

[Todd Covini]

Welcome Casey and it'll be great to see you around the paddock as a racer more often. Call again anytime!

(The collective wisdom of the group here is invaluable...and as folks say, keep your class options open. Car count is a moving target and varies from region to region, class to class.)

-=- Todd