Moparts

Anyone ever race a rental car???

Posted By: qwkmopardan

Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 06:41 AM

Allright I am in So Cal and Fontana is racing this weekend. We were supposed to get a Grand Marquis but they messed up and did not have one so they upgraded us to a 2010 Camaro. I would rather of had a Challenger, but a Camaro is better than the Mercury. Anyway there is a decal on window that states WARNING This Vehicle monitered by Orion tracking system. Has anyone raced a rental that was monitered by satelite and not got caught. I would love to get a race in in January, even if in a rental Camaro in street class. In Missouri it will be April before a money race.
Posted By: slantzilla

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 02:36 PM

I won Street Class at MATS in 2006 with a V-6 300 rental. Half the street cars being raced there are rentals.

I can not verify that it had tracking on it, however, when I turned it back in it still had all the stickers on it from the track. They never said a word and are still renting me cars.

I Googled Orion and it appears to be a variation of Lo-Jack. Mainly for vehicle recovery in case of theft.

Make sure it doesn't have On-Star though.
Posted By: Quicktree

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 02:37 PM

who cares what are they going to do? hunt you down and take the car back
Posted By: poisondart2

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 02:49 PM

Never rental car but have seen a few un-marked police vehicles doing it
Posted By: 68DART360

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 03:03 PM

I ran my charger rental car at Raceway park in Englishtown.
Posted By: DMax One

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 03:30 PM

I discovered last fall that white V6 300 rental cars are a 1/2 second faster than black V6 300 rental cars..

But I won the street class in a race in the black car.

Didn't get the chance to try red and silver cars though.
Posted By: Commando1

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 03:31 PM

The Corvette guys with OnStar have been "warned" mid-run that they were "exceeding speed limits".
True. Quite a few posts about that.
Posted By: actionange

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 03:35 PM

Some years ago ran a rental car- 4 cylinder Cavalier (what a fireball-LOL)at Firebird in AZ on a Wed. night. Left on the SECOND YELLOW, cut 5 oh lights and went to the semis...
I also raced my company car to act as a spoiler to help a friend win Street Eliminator championship many years ago at Connecticut Dragway.
Haven't run any new ones with satellite tech though.
Posted By: cheapstreetdustr

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 07:10 PM

back in my bike racing days...we ran a penske rental chevy tahoe one lap at full speed at Daytona....got pretty fast on the straightaways...no issues.
however one morning..i litterally jumped the tunnel going into the infield way too fast .....slammed the roof into the top of the tunnel..
the navigation antenea was knocked off..this triggered some issue with theft tracker and i got a call from the rental co..that the car went "off the grid" so to speek..
glad i had checked the box for extra ins. for rentals back then...
cheapst
Posted By: HEMIFRED

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 07:31 PM

The undisputed King of Bracket Rentals is none other than Bret Kepner a.k.a. MR.DIRT . His winning percentage is around 75%. Once won in a strange van that he never even made pass in the time trials.
Quote:

NHRA race announcer, drag-racing historian, TV host, and event emcee Bret Kepner of St. Louis, a.k.a. Mr. Dirt, has been bracket racing since 1990, winning many thousands of dollars in the process, including a spectacular winning performance in a rental car he had acquired earlier on the day of the races, taking home $5000. He favors renting Tauruses and Sables because they're cheap and very consistent from place to place because they are all alike. He races 40 to 50 times a year and wins $250 to $800 every time

Posted By: cgall

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/22/11 07:58 PM

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.
Posted By: Dago Red

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 12:44 AM

Quote:

I ran my charger rental car at Raceway park in Englishtown.



Charger rental: Monster Mopar. It was THEIR fault, upgrading me to a Hemi when they ran out of Avengers..................
Posted By: tubtar

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 12:51 AM

Never raced one.
Been off roading a few times though.
I've found that they will typically climb a 10 % steeper grade and ford around a foot deeper water than one I will have to fix at the end of the day..
Posted By: rowin4

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 12:59 AM

Make sure you get the extra insurance for that Camaro, I've seen three break the rear end gears at the track.
Posted By: HEMIFRED

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 01:09 AM

Quote:

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.



and the difference is ??? I don't bracket race
Posted By: fishy340

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 01:23 AM

i've put a rental car in reverse at 30mph just to see what would happen..lol j/k
Posted By: POZEST

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 01:43 AM

Quote:

Quote:

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.



and the difference is ??? I don't bracket race


I've had a terrible time racing the new cars. Maybe the drive by wire, I don't know. Cars are all over consistancy wise.
Posted By: slantzilla

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 04:34 AM

Quote:


I've had a terrible time racing the new cars. Maybe the drive by wire, I don't know. Cars are all over consistancy wise.



When I first got the 300 and felt the lag of the DBW I thought I wouldn't be able to hit the tree if I ran over it. However, at the track I found it to be both easy to stage/launch, and pretty dead nuts consistent. I could actually floor it on the line and the car would not creep.

I made 8 runs with the car over 2 days. I had 6 lights between .048 and .055, (4 were .048) 1 red on a bye when I tried to push it, and an .083. Car varied by less than a tenth over 2 days.

I had a '96 Cavalier rental once that ran 5 18:61's in a row at US 41.
Posted By: topside

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 05:01 AM

Oh yeah; used to rent 4-cylinder Stratus/Cirrus cars and run 'em against the ricer kids. Like shooting fish in a barrel.
Posted By: 10 o to go

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 01:54 PM

Quote:

Allright I am in So Cal and Fontana is racing this weekend. We were supposed to get a Grand Marquis but they messed up and did not have one so they upgraded us to a 2010 Camaro. I would rather of had a Challenger, but a Camaro is better than the Mercury. Anyway there is a decal on window that states WARNING This Vehicle monitered by Orion tracking system. Has anyone raced a rental that was monitered by satelite and not got caught. I would love to get a race in in January, even if in a rental Camaro in street class. In Missouri it will be April before a money race.


HEAH how is my motor going ???????????LOL
ready for new snow drags in STL .
enjoy the weather
DR

Attached picture 6433579-BKD9-11-01_302C.jpg
Posted By: 340B5

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 03:31 PM

HEAH how is my motor going ???????????LOL
ready for new snow drags in STL .
enjoy the weather
DR



Yeah, you better get back to draggin' snow...more comming
Posted By: jbc426

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/23/11 05:11 PM

The new rental cars also make a nice wake and float really well when being towed acrossed over-flooded streams that drain into the ocean. The thing that amazed me is how well sealed the interiors are these days.
Posted By: TMP66

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 01/24/11 12:14 AM

Quote:

Make sure you get the extra insurance for that Camaro, I've seen three break the rear end gears at the track.



News Flash: You will get hammered for the repair. The insurance is 'CDW', COLLISION Damage Waiver.
Posted By: Bret Kepner

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 05:28 AM

Quote:

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.



Twenty years ago, huh?

I thought I had been doing pretty good in them the past few years. I guess not.
Posted By: Al_Alguire

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 05:57 AM

I do every summer whne I go to San Antonio for school. I have some training that I have to attend every year in San Antonio every June. I rent a car to race at SIR every year I have gone. It is a blast. I have even had some good stuff, a couple of years ago a had a Supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix that ran 14's, woohooo
Posted By: mopartony

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 06:12 AM

Yes in 02 or 03 Mike Moran did not get his car done in time. Flew to the first race, rented a car and ran the car in Pro-Street. I think he Q-16 as he as the 16th car for the field but I was a while ago. My CSR is kicking in.
Posted By: RonTheAnnouncer

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 02:17 PM

I've been told by many people that the best way to keep a modern computerized car consistent is to keep it running the whole time. We had a guy at Norwalk racing a new 300C hemi a few years ago running within .05 all day. He said it was .3-.4 slower than when he kept it cool but VERY consistent when he let it run.
I haven't tried that with my Cobalt. I'm too cheap to keep it running and waste gas. It'll run pretty tight for a few rounds, the go + or - a tenth or more for no good reason.
Posted By: Challenger

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 11:25 PM

Quote:

Quote:

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.



Twenty years ago, huh?

I thought I had been doing pretty good in them the past few years. I guess not.



Bret

If I rent a car in St. Louis can I race it at Gateway this year? LOL!
Posted By: scatpacktom

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/02/11 11:54 PM

Runner'd up at the Mats with a Hemi 300 a couple years ago. Paid for the rental, how else do you do it?

East Coast Hemi Rules!
Posted By: 10 o to go

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/03/11 02:45 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

All that Mr. Dirt stuff is from 20 years ago, it is very difficult to win rounds in a modern rental, even in Sportsman class.



Twenty years ago, huh?

I thought I had been doing pretty good in them the past few years. I guess not.



Bret

If I rent a car in St. Louis can I race it at Gateway this year? LOL!


That was down right MEAN , Buy it and you can race anytime .
NOW you got me thinking when I go to the MATS in April rent a MOPAR
RACE it and sightsee.
DR

Attached picture 6506882-challengerfavorite.jpg
Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/07/11 05:11 PM

We did it a few years back with a Chrysler 300 that was rented through my work. It was a real "corporate" environment with lots of suits. They were puzzled at the wallpaper on my computer and why it had two seemingly innocuous street cars launching at the dragstrip. They didn't realize they'd paid for the fun!
Posted By: WadeMetzinger

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/07/11 11:50 PM

One guy from the east coast got pretty famous doing this, flying into a city that was having a big money bracket race, rent a Chevrolet Z24 Cavalier and won a bunch of big money races. His name is Steve Taylor.

He's also the guy that really push hard to get support for changing the NHRA and current timing systems rules on "First or Worst" red lights. He thought it should be the worst red light that got the loss not the first, which currently gave an advantage to the faster car.

I think it would be more fair but it never got enough support...

If the first car went red, the red light wouldn't illuminate until the 2nd car left and which ever was worst, it would turn their red light on and then turn the win light on for the other guys.
Posted By: slantzilla

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/07/11 11:51 PM

Ahhhh yes, the Steve Taylor "pink light" rule.
Posted By: maximum entropy

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/08/11 12:57 AM

Quote:

Ahhhh yes, the Steve Taylor "pink light" rule.


personally, i think that's the way it should be. oh, and i would never race a rented car.
Posted By: slantzilla

Re: Anyone ever race a rental car??? - 03/08/11 03:20 AM

Quote:

Quote:

Ahhhh yes, the Steve Taylor "pink light" rule.


personally, i think that's the way it should be. oh, and i would never race a rented car.



When I started racing at US 30, if both went red, both lost. If one went red and one broke out both lost. Double break-out, 2 losers.

Yeah, I like the pink light rule too, but today is still way better than it used to be.
© 2024 Moparts Forums