[Alan Roehrich]

Money can make you fast, it will not always make you fast. It has to be well spent. I've seen people spend a lot of money in Stock and Super Stock and never get close to 1 under, and I've seen them break a lot of parts and go broke trying.

There are people who are going fast who do not, and have not, spent a ton of money. But they've chosen a good combination and worked on it for a while. There is still something to be said for buying a fairly well flogged combination for a good price, and then investing a little more money and a lot more time, wisely.

It is a myth that you must spend $50K to $100K to go pretty fast. If you buy a decent car for $20K or so, and you work on it, and test it, you can usually go 2 tenths faster for less than $10K. Provided you work hard and smart, instead of throwing money at it. There are 1 under cars for sale for $30K or less if you know where to look. I've seen a couple for $25K or so.

The new factory cars are mostly a problem for guys like us, who have a combination that fits the upper classes. Most mid class cars will not see a new factory car in their class. Being able to fit only CC, A, or B, we're going to see new factory cars in our class. It is something we've learned to deal with. The only other combinations we can afford to build right now, because we already have a lot of the parts, allow us to move up to BB, or down to C. We're stubborn, and we like our combination.

Choose a good solid combination, and choose wisely when you purchase the car. Then talk to the right people, and spend money with the right people. Be prepared to humbly ask for, and accept, good advice and help, then put it to work.

By the way, it is only cheaper to build a car rather than buy one if you have a lot of experience in class racing, and can do most, if not all of the work yourself. You can buy a car at 40-60% of what it costs to pay someone to do the work, plus what the car to start with costs. If you buy a car then pay to have most of it done, and buy new parts, you'll almost certainly pay double what you can buy one for. You'll also almost certainly make some mistakes, and some of those mistakes may be expensive. The way to buy a used class car is to get a good class racer who is familiar with the combination to help you find one, see it run, and buy it. You'll have someone there to tell you what is right, and what is wrong, with any car you look at.