Proposed EPA rule on converted race cars worries some in industry

Four members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at stopping a rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they and motorsports enthusiasts say would sink a certain niche of the race car industry.

“It would be devastating to our industry,” said Steve Earwood, president of Rockingham Dragway, about 10 miles north of Rockingham and Hamlet.

The proposed EPA rule would prohibit emissions-certified vehicles made for the road from being converted into race cars.

“Certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emission control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition or if they become nonroad vehicles or engines,” the EPA rule says.

For Wayne Vernon, the owner of Vernon Racing & Automotive in Winston-Salem, the proposed rule would cause problems.

Vernon has been cutting up cars for 35 years. He can strip a car down to a hole. Frame rails, roll cage — he can put them in. One of his projects, a Pontiac Sunbird with 592 horsepower, ran an 1/8- mile drag strip in 6.4 seconds, at 106 mph.

“If it passed, (the rule) would affect all car builders,” Vernon said.

The proposed rule would affect, for example, production cars, the type that anyone can buy at a dealer.

In fact, it would affect any vehicle that starts life as a street car or motorcycle if it was originally certified to federal emissions standards, according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association, or SEMA. That includes sports cars, sedans and hatch backs. Because emissions standards have been in effect since 1968, the proposed rule would cover all motor vehicles dating back to that year.

Not affected would be race cars built for the sole purpose of racing, including sprint cars, open-wheel dragsters and cars that currently compete in NASCAR, according to SEMA.

So, for example, much of the racing at Farmington Dragway would not be affected because most of those cars are dragsters. Still, some of the racing there includes street cars that have been converted into race cars.

“It won’t affect us much, but it will affect us some,” said Sandy Collins, the manager of the Farmington Dragway.

Last weekend, Earwood had 297 entries at his Rockingham Dragway. Half of them were street cars, Earwood said. The weekend before, he had about 150 cars; about 120 of them were street cars — Chevrolet Corvettes and Dodge Challengers, for example. When Earwood found out about the proposed rule, he contacted Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, whose 8th Congressional District includes Charlotte Motor Speedway.

“It’s just a classic example of bureaucrats out of control,” Eastwood said, referring to the EPA.

Efforts to contact the EPA on Friday were unsuccessful.

Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA regulates motor vehicles.

The proposed rule concerning race cars is part of a broader proposed regulatory framework, supported by the Clean Air Act, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption for new on-road and heavy-duty vehicles.

Race cars have been exempt in the past.

Hudson’s aides said that Congress affirmed this exemption in 1990 when it authorized the EPA to regulate non-road vehicles and explicitly excluded any “vehicle used solely for competition” from the non-road definition. Despite the intent of Congress, aides said, the EPA’s proposed rule attempts to amend the Clean Air Act concerning race cars.

Along with Hudson, U.S. House Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry, R-10th, introduced the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act of 2016 last week. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is a co-sponsor.

“Even if I didn’t represent Charlotte Motor Speedway and a whole lot of racing enthusiasts, I would be outraged by this ridiculous government overreach,” Hudson said in an email.

Later last week, GOP U.S. Sens. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem, Thom Tillis of Huntersville, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Dean Heller of Nevada filed a companion bill.

“The EPA is attempting to tell the American people what they can do with their own cars, even though there is a deep tradition of hobbyists who have chosen to upgrade their vehicles for their own personal enjoyment, even when they are removed from public roads,” Burr said in an email.

The proposed EPA rule is set to take effect in July.