The Scoop
HOW LOWELL BENNETT BUILT A PAVEMENT LATE MODEL FOR UNDER $12K
Posted on: Monday August 22, 2022
Lowell Bennett’s NCAL race car, complete with a 1984 throwback paint scheme, was built for under $12,000.
Lowell Bennett has been around the sport of stock car racing for several decades and has seen the sports highs and lows in that time.
The second-generation racer knows the soaring costs to race a late model on the pavement (insert any type of handle you want super, pro, limited, crate) are prohibiting teams from running full schedules and in some cases forcing car owners to keep their piece of iron in the shop.
Bennett, along with an assist from an old friend by the name of Mike Randerson, built a late model with mostly cast off, used pieces and parts that even with a brand new $6,200 604 GM crate motor for cost under $12,000.
Bennett plans on racing the car (complete with a 1984 throwback paint scheme) at the Whelen World Championship race presented by Ken’s Sports at Marshfield Motor Speedway Saturday, August 27. The race is run under the National Crate Asphalt Late Model (NCAL) banner.
“For what I spend to freshen my WIR super late model motor I was able to build this car with a bunch of used, second-hand parts,” Bennett pointed out. “And that is with a brand-new crate motor. The only thing new on this car is the motor, radiator, fire bottle and fuel cell bladder. And at 80-years-old Mike Randerson built and designed a new front clip for the car.”
The car Bennett will race with at Marshfield Aug. 27 is an older Right Foot Performance chassis he raced at Slinger quite a few years ago. “I bought some body panels at the Luxemburg Racing show and my old friend Jerry Schneider who passed away – we have some parts off of one of his cars too,” Bennett said. “Jerry had parted out an old perimeter car four years ago and I’ve got a clutch pedal, brake pedal, throttle and distributor from that car. The rear end is a spare from years ago and we bought a used transmission from Hank Calmes. 90 percent of this car is all used stuff.”
The NCAL deal, which originated in Florida, has stirred up emotions on social media on both sides of the fence in recent months. “A lot of people are ripping on what NCAL is trying to do I feel without even giving it a chance,” Bennett pointed out. “Something has to be done to fix the cost of these race cars. They take so much time to maintain and run. I shouldn’t need a different car to go run the Snowball Derby in Florida, for example.”
One key component of the NCAL deal is an economical sealed Bilstein shock which, according the NCAL Facebook page retails at $217 per shock. Bennett feels the sport of pavement late model racing may be headed towards a “revolution” of sorts similar to when Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) implemented the 9:1 compression rule. “There was also a $3,500 claim on that motor and that was around 1980 and 1981,” Bennett recalled. “Dick Trickle, Marv Marzofka and Tom Reffner came to a Fox River Racing Club (FRRC) meeting, and we hashed this all out and it saved pavement late model racing at the time.”
Bennett points to his own home track Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna. “The other night we had 16 super lates but four or five of the cars that were there weren’t really regulars,” Bennett explained. “Something has to be done to curb costs. I took this car up to Norway (MI) Speedway a couple of weeks ago and ran it in the heat and it was competitive. A complete race car basically that costs less for an engine rebuild for my WIR super late model motor.”
Bennett honored longtime friend and sponsor John J. Mayer with this 1984 throwback paint scheme.
Bennett’s son Braison Bennett has been a feature winner in a car owned by Gene Coleman that follows the NCAL rules to a “T” at Norway. “We are doing this to prove you don’t need an expensive motor to compete,” Bennett emphasized. “When I talk to longtime friends like Brad Mueller and Rich Bickle they get it too. They know something has to give. Brad said the most fun he has racing lately is running that truck in the Midwest Truck series with that crate motor under the hood that costs $6,200. That says something in my opinion.”
As for the Marshfield special it’s been literally decades since Bennett raced on the paved half-mile. “I last raced at Marshfield in 2000,” Bennett recalled. “I won the MARS series late model title at the end of the year in 1999. And I’m looking forward to racing against Braison and everyone else up there at Marshfield.”
Bennett nicknamed this new “used” car “2nd Hand Rose” because 90 percent of the car is constructed of older, cast-off parts.
The throwback paint scheme to his 1984 ride is nicknamed “2nd Hand Rose” because it’s built with used pieces and parts. “John J. Mayer has been with me forever and we really thought he would get a kick out of this,” Bennett said. “The car was lettered by Brian Hohn at No Limits Graphics and it turned out great.”
RACE DETAILS – The race at Marshfield Aug. 27 will employ twin 55 lap features. As of Saturday, August 20, 23 different drivers were pre-entered for the event. Tracks represented where this diverse field of drivers come from includes Slinger Super Speedway (Slinger), Dells Raceway Park (Wisconsin Dells), Wisconsin International Raceway (Kaukauna), Norway (MI) Speedway, State Park Speedway (Wausau), Golden Sands Speedway (Plover), and Marshfield. Qualifying is set for 5:15 p.m. with the first green flag set to fly at 8:05 p.m.
WHELEN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRIES AS POSTED AT THE NCAL FACEBOOK PAGE
As of Saturday, August 20th the entrants are:
- Noah Eisenhower #5
- Braison Bennett #119
- Nick Egan #13
- Matt Urban #48
- Kendrick Kreyer #66
- Jonathan Eilen #77
- Lowell Bennett #2
- Jake Jump #19
- Justin Mondeik #44
- Jason Wells #31
- Ronnie Osborne #19
- Brian Henry #7
- Kody Hubred #20
- Chase Randerson #18
- Tristan Swanson #100
- Austin Jahr #42
- Bryce Miller #11
- Johnathan Knee #8
- Parker Cain #44
- Brent Kirchner #20
- JJ Vander Loop #72
- Mahlon Borntreger #25
- Brady Bill #70