What is a S.O.S. sprint car?
			The Southern Ontario Sprints (S.O.S.) sprint car is one of the most pure and basic of all racecars. Like the name implies the races are very quick in duration – 30 laps of extreme hard core racing at most – and they are EXTREMELY FAST! They compete on the most exciting, unpredictable and challenging surface in racing – DIRT! Sprint carts are a contradiction; the technology is extremely simple while at the same time very advanced. In the last 40 years improvements have been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Today the cars are lighter (1300 lbs.), the 360 cubic inch V-8 engines are more powerful (600+ horsepower) and the tires are larger, wider and provide far more grip on the race track.. The most striking feature of a sprint car is the extremely large overhead airfoil, usually referred to as a “wing”. The wing’s purpose is to help the car stay planted to the racing surface when the car is at speed. As a bonus, the large wing provides a huge moving billboard for sponsors to display their company's logo and product names.  In spite of many team’s best efforts and due in part to a massive amount of torque, it is not uncommon to see a sprinter with 3 wheels or less in contact with the racing surface. The source of the mayhem is a methanol powered, fuel injected, 360 cubic inch V-8 engine. In essence a sprint car consists of the engine, a tubular steel frame, a drive shaft, steering system, fuel tank, wings and a seat. Anything else is considered excess.   Fortunately with the advent of the aforementioned wings (providing a crush zone when the car is inverted), better roll cages, an improved racing seat and 5 point safety belts, the cars are now very safe for the drivers. If you’ve never heard of a sprint car you may have heard of some of the drivers who have competed in them including; Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al and Bobby Unser and more recently Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
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