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"Spoiled Brat" Racing Counts
on AMSOIL
Performance
Junior dragster racing involves the whole
family as it puts kids 8 to 17 years old in the driver’s seat in a half-scale
dragster. The cars run on five-horsepower, four-stroke engines at speeds up to
85 mph. The modified engines run on methanol or alcohol on a 1/8-mile track.
“Methanol does increase speed because it is a
much more volatile fuel than gas,” said Mark Benner, crew chief for Spoiled Brat
Racing Team in Fisherville, Ontario, Canada. “The engine will run cooler as long
as lots of methanol is being pumped into the motor. This means if you give the
motor less fuel (rejetting) it will run hot. Methanol has no lubricating
qualities. Therefore, it can be corrosive to engine parts. So a good oil is
needed to maintain engine integrity.” Benner insists on
AMSOIL Series
2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil.
Benner teaches his daughter, nine-year-old
Keely, the ins and outs of drag racing and, as crew chief, keeps her engine
running at peak performance.
Spoiled Brat Racing is one example of the
family involvement in junior dragster racing. Keely is the team’s driver in the
International Hot Rod Association circuit in Ontario. This is her second year
driving the black dragster with the gold flames, powered by a Briggs and
Stratton four-stroke motor. In her first year, she came in third in points.
Marne Benner, Keely’s mom, is crew and financial backer, and little brother
David, 6, is junior crew and future driver. David may be young, but he’s active
as junior crew member helping to refuel the car after a run, load the trailer,
change the oil and anything else he’s asked to do. “He is waiting very patiently
for his eighth birthday,” said Benner.
Keely’s grandparents are a constant support in
the stands.
“My parents never miss a race,” Mark Benner
said.
Benner and his wife raced full-size dragsters
for many years, but chose to go to the junior dragsters so the whole family
could participate in a sport they love. While he sometimes misses driving, he
gets more satisfaction watching his daughter.
The dragster has run on
AMSOIL since
it was new, Benner said.
And he kept AMSOIL
in the engine for all of the first season he owned it. “This motor had two and a
half years of racing on it,” he said.
He dismantled the engine for maintenance
between racing seasons.
“When the engine came apart this past winter,
the inside was just spotless with no sign of excessive wear,” Benner said.
“Needless to say, there was no way I was going to change to a different brand of
oil after seeing the inside of the motor.
AMSOIL
is the only oil for us.”
He puts 12 ounces in the motor and changes it
after about nine runs. “This used oil doesn’t get recycled yet,” Benner said. “I
put this used oil in my lawn mowers. The lawn mowers are running great on this
used AMSOIL.
When I change the oil in the lawn mowers, then the oil gets disposed of
properly.”
The dragsters get a lot of attention on the
tracks.
“A lot of people talk to me when they are looking at the car and the oil always
comes up in the conversation because of how high we rev these little motors.
AMSOIL
gets a plug every time I talk about the car.”
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