Brian has a point. Initially, I was a fan of the box-stock motor as a way to keep costs down, especially for newcomers to the sport (who aren’t yet addicted and willing to deal with the costs of racing). But from what I’ve heard, the problem is that there’s really no way to define “box stock.” As I understand it, an engine builder can put an engine right to specs–without any visible milling or machining–and there would be no way to detect that visually, though it might make for a significant power difference (probably depending on how “good” the motor was to start with.) So I’m not sure if you can remove the “fat wallet” advantage, and you may even make things worse by deluding the honest racers into thinking it’s an even playing field.
It’s also debatable if it really saves money. For us, if we want to race CSC we’d need to get a second motor. I know that for a fact, because we tried racing Stars with our box stock motor and Pat was a good half lap behind at his home track. Then we got a blueprinted K80, and he got the outside pole position at Nationals. Same driver, same chassis, and even without home track advantage. I’m sure Ben Whetstone, Brian Moore, James Michael-Sullivan and others could tell similar stories. So it’s only cheaper for racers who choose to limit themselves to one track. Of course, that might be a sizable group if it applied to all the CSC tracks.
That’s why I like Brad’s (perhaps off-hand) suggestion about a Honda motor program for Junior 1s. Those of us who also want to race at CRE can use our sealed motors there, and switch for CSC events. Those who want to race Stars can do likewise with their blueprinted motors. And newbies who aren’t sure what they want to do can avoid sticker shock. That might be a very important point given what appears to be a dwindling number of entry Junior drivers. On the other hand, it once again puts Colorado outside the mainstream, and makes it more difficult for those who want to race nationally (primarily, Stars). No perfect solutions, but I personally think this might be a good one.
P.S. As an aside, in order to race Stars I purchased a Woltjer blueprinted K80 sight unseen off eBay for $900, including a kart and lots of spare parts. I had it freshened up by Woltjer for about the same amount, we raced it at Stars, and then I sold it for $900. To Sage Karam, who then used it to win a couple national championships and recently had an ad here on Colorado Karter, wanting $4000 😯 for it!!! Now that my younger son is showing more interest in racing, I’m really kicking myself for selling it!!! But, frankly, $4K for a K80 is just crazy–but some desperate dad will pay it. That’s where this “the sky’s the limit” mentality can take us.